(to IPX) 5<* Book ' Gr ^ fc OLD FACTS AND MODERN INCIDENTS SUPPLEMENTARY TO IMPRESSIONS OF GERMANY. \AMhM (%0^sUJ 0. (I V ' V\ Was ist c des Deutschen Vaterland? So nenne endlieh mir das Land! "So weit die deutsche Zuiige klingt, "Und Gott im Himmel Lieder singt" Das soil es sein, Das, wackrer Deutschcr, soil es sein! DRESDEN. Printed by C. Heinjuch. MDCCCLXVtri. PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION, j 3 The privelege of translation reserved. "I this infer As many arrows loosed several ways Fly to their mark; As many several ways meet in one town; As many fresh streams run in one self sea: As many lines close in the dial's centre ; So many a thousand actions, once afoot End in one purpose, and be all well borne, "Without defeat." TO M rs. BANCROFT These P a g e s are Inscribe d AS A TOKEN OF KEGAKD FROM HER OLD FRIEND PREFATORY. Hardly had "Impressions of Germany", been issued from the press, when that great change passed over the land, the Prussian Invasion. From the placidity in which the nation had been indulging for some fifty years, they were suddenly roused to the certainty of War. We, who were merely sojourners among them, partook of the general excitement. During the short period the war lasted, I kept a Journal for private use, a record of small events, and daily occurrences; later, finding there w T as an intrin sic interest in the account of the days passed in Dresden during the Prussian investment, I resolved to shape it into a supplementary volume. Historical facts though grown old and thread- bare in the places that gave them birth, are many of them new, or perhaps forgotten by the gene- rality of that far removed circle of friends to whom my books are restricted, and who under the pressure of existence in the New world, have very little time to occupy themselves with the fossilated remains of the old. They are familiar with the historic chronicles of England and of PREFATORY. France, while the curious annals of all the petty courts of Germany, have no special attraction for them, or are thoroughly ignored. Germany is daily gaining new importance in the eyes of the world, behind whose advance she has hitherto "dragged her slow length along". Men now turn their attention to the investi- gation of causes and effects which have operated in bringing new things to pass, and in so doing will discover many curious and obsolete facts, many old prejudices and hidden traditions, which have served to weaken and bind down with the strong cords of habit the divers states, as with a Gordian knot, rendering them helpless, and per- haps contemptible, and which it seems nothing but a conqueror's sword could undo. The political questions still quivering in the Balance, uncertain yet which will preponderate, prevent all decision as to the future; I attempt nothing here beyond detailing what has passed before my eyes, and what I have honestly adopted for my title page, a few old facts, and modern incidents. CONTENTS. I. Dresden 186G 1 II. The King's Return 37 III. Koenigstein 46 IV. The Minor courts of Germany . . ' . 76 V. Court Chronicles 100 VI. The Wasunger War ....... 124 VII. Old Dresden 135 VIII. Plauensche Grund 153 IX. Freiberg 171 X. Herrnhut 209 XI. Berlin 232 XII. Potsdam 281 OLD FACTS AND MODERN INCIDENTS. CHAPTER I. DRESDEN 1866. God's most dreaded instrument For working out a pure intent Is man arrayed for mutual slaughter ; Yea. Carnage is thy daughter. All eyes are turned hitherward; men's minds are bent upon the problem, still unsolved, will there result from the great events of this year, a United Germany? The "Vaterland", is a fine poetical term, but I fear me, only a term. University students tone their lyres to that key, and there are men who still worship Liberty, as the Athenians did their "unknown God", but the mass of Germans are content to dwell in passiveness for ever, uncon- cerned by the great events that are transpiring 2 CHAPT. I. around them, hardly roused beyond the feeling of the hour, to resent the mighty changes which are to shape their future destiny. I have thought, if the Prussian Conqueror had been magnanimous enough to plant the grand old National flag, and rouse the enthusiasm of the people, whether they might not the more readily have saluted him "Imperator", and accep- ted at once the idea of Union, and Nationality; whereas to bow before the lugubrious black and white stripes of Prussia, approximated somewhat to the feeling of bowing before the cap of Gessler. The masses are more guided by instinctive feeling, than by reason; you may argue that wealth, and order, and religion, will follow in the train of Prussia's conquest, reason acknowledges it; but feeling has woven around the old homes of the princedoms, memories, and early attachments, and family pride, hard for men to set aside, and accept at once a new order of things imposed by arbitrary power. ( )n one occasion Henry IV. and Sully were looking over the map of Europe with intention of remodelling it, they concluded Prussia was such DRESDEN. 6 an insignificant territory, it needed not to be taken into account! Prussia at this moment, in the magnitude of her power, chafes the borders, if not the temper, of Imperial France. She has submerged principalities and powers ; Saxony alone has escaped, with a shadow of royalty in its palaces, and foreign military governors and gar- risons in its towns, while its brave little army dispersed about the country, sees its homes occupied by strangers. Men's passions, prejudices, and interests so excited, hinder a fair judgment of the present period; it must be left for the next generation to take an impartial view of this great era; those who have lived among the scenes just enacted can but give the impression of the moment. I have presented to my friends a view of old Germany in her repose of fifty years of peace; there had occurred during that period it is true, a bubbling up of revolutionary effervescence, soon quelled, and the volcanic matter apparently dried up, but it was smouldering only, and ready to assume new form according to the appliances brought in action. 1* 4 CHAPT. I. Men listened and conjectured how all the hurly-burly at Franckfort would end; most thought it would be but a war of words among diplo- matists, to be settled eventually by intervention; some shook their heads and said war was in- evitable; thus things stood till May 1866, which found all Europe under arms, and a general war threatening. The political horizon grew blacker and blacker; when finally the blow was struck. On the fifteenth of June, the king of Prussia demanded Saxony's answer in twenty four hours, whether she remained friend or foe; the reply was, "we - will not yield", whereupon the Prussians began their advance over the frontier. On the sixteenth Dresden was evacuated, and the king issued the following Proclamation: w To My MtMil. 8axon8. An. unjustified attack forces Me, to take up arms! Saxons! Because we faithfully stood by the side of right of a Brother race, because we firmly held to the ties which embrace the great German Fatherland, because we did not comply with demands contrary to the con- federation, We are treated with enmity. DRESDEN. 5 However painful the sacrifices may be which fate will impose on us, let us courage- ously go on to combat for the holy cause! It is true, our numbers are small, but God is powerful in helping the weak who confide in him, and the assistance of the rest of Ger- many true to the confederation, will not fail us. Although for the moment, I am forced to yield to superior forces, and to part from you, yet, I shall remain in the midst of My gallant army, where I shall still feel Myself in Saxony, and I hope, if Heaven grants success to our arms, I shall soon return to you. I firmly trust to your faithfulness and to your affection. As we held together in the hours of prosperity, so let us hold together in the hours of trial; therefore confide in Me, you whose welfare was and remains the aim of My endeavours. With God for our right! Such be our device. Dresden, the 16th J une 1866. 6 CHAPT. I. All the troops assembled around the king at Pima. The Royal ladies retired into Bavaria, with the exception of the Queen dowager, who remained, and assumed the post of protectress of Dresden. The king of Saxony then moved with his army beyond the Bohemian frontier, in expectation of being joined by an Austrian or Bavarian force, but neither were ready. The original program proposed was, to give battle to the advancing foe. The promptness and alacrity of the Prussians, the very audacity with which they carried out their design staggered men's minds; whether the Austrian commander changed his plan of action, or from whatever cause, no advance was made from the quarter whence it was expected. The thorough organization of the Prussian troops constituted their great power; their men went to war reluctantlv, we had it from their own lips every day while they were quartered upon us; on the other hand the Austrians were enthusiastic to be led to fight their insolent rivals, who so recently in the Schleswig-Holstein war, had made them feel their superiority. DRESDEN. i The Hungarians a lively spirited people, were readily roused to arms from their instinctive dislike to German influence; there needed but some powerful mind to organize all these, and lead them on; such failed, and all was lost. There was a moment at Koeniggratz, a Saxon artillery officer told me himself, when he turned to a companion and said "The battle is ours". Hardly were the words uttered, when he saw the Austrians turn their backs and fly; at that moment he thinks had they had, a daring energetic com- mander, to instantly order a trumpet rappel, the panic would have been arrested, and the troops rallied, but no such leader was there. The race of great marshals seems extinct; their mantles have not fallen upon the shoulders of their suc- cessors. The wonderful power of Napoleon's armies lay in the talent and genius of his generals, men for the most part raised from subaltern ranks, by the strength of their own capabilities. The Austrian service ignores such; the clumsey old machinery built oh rank and pride of blood, hampers all chance of progress. Not that among the luxurious and pleasure loving Austrians, there lurks not many an Alcibiades who can rise from 8 CHAPT. I. his purple couch , fling off the festive rosecrown, assume the sword and helmet, and fight valiantly when the time comes, but for such to be shackled, and subjected to leaders whose principal merit lies in their quarterings at the herald office, is a degradation of all military spirit. The Prussian character partakes more of a Roman element, perfect organization, coupled with great natural energy; in the latter quality they stand alone in all Germany, and to their own supineness, the smaller states owe their subjection; and Austria its humiliation. Saxony alone was an exception. When the alarm was sounded, she was ready. The king had pat his house in order, all his officials and domestics were paid three months in advance, Dresden was prudently evacuated to save it from a bombardment. After the departure of the troops, and Royal family, a gloom settled upon men's minds; here and there about the town a movement was felt, a, "mounting in hot haste'', among a few cowardly people, not on "barbed steeds", be it understood, but in any old vehicle they could command, high piled with trunks and luggage, seeking refuge from they knew not what. DKESDEN. 9 Sunday the seventeenth was stilled with the hush of expectation. Not a soldier remained in the town; the citizens generally keeping within their homes. That night passed in most pro- found silence. Monday the eighteenth dawned , calm and beautiful ; as it always is here in June. The Prussians were approaching nearer and nearer. I cannot say the interior of our domicile was as tranquil as the aspect of things without; there were packings of valuables, and boxing up of plate, and family consultations as to the best way of securing these; whether a hole should be dug in the garden , or a place should be walled up in the cellar! I own to some such cowardly procee- dings. We were not afraid of the Prussians marching through, nor of the garrison they might leave here, but in case of defeat, we feared the inroad of half civilized Croats, and unprincipled soldiery from among the heterogeneous medley which composed the Austrian army, and which might be liable to commit any irregularity in case they were victorious. I stood in my garden room this lovely eigh- teenth of June, when I heard a man in the court 10 CHAPT. I. say to one of my domestics, "They are there, the Prussians are crossing the new bridge". My parlors front upon the avenue, I went forward, and my eyes fell upon five Hussars, in red uniforms mounted, carrying their short carabines levelled. They walked their horses slowly past; a dead silence prevailed; a few pedestrians stopped and gazed after them ; not a dog barked, not a peasant wagon was to be seen; evidently it was a reconnoitre. At the same time a troop of hussars, rode into the other extremity of the town, and defiled on the open square in front of the southern rail road station; there too all was empty and silent, the officials had been paid off, and the rail carriages transported to Bohemia. A considerable force then marched in under the Georgian gate by the palace, and Dresden was invested. I own the sight of those five red Hussars appalled me; war was really at our doors, an undefined sensation of fear took possession of me; war, — of which as yet I had had no know- ledge but that derived from descriptions of valiant deeds emblazoned on the pages of history, or the ringing of battle axe and shield in epic poetry. We were conquered, without bloodshed it is true, DRESDEN. 11 but who could calculate the future. The enemy took possession of the vacated barracks and guard-houses, the citizens looked on in dismay, closed their shops, and waited. Another day passed, "the cry was still they come". The direct road into Bohemia by the rail road or the river was closed for the Prussians, both ran within gun shot of the formidable fortress of Koenigstein, consequently their whole corps d'armee was forced to march to Bautzen, a town near the Silesian frontier, where numerous rail- ways converge, and near the point where Bohemia, Silesia, and Saxony geographically embrace each other. At six o'clock on the morning of the twentieth the march of that formidable force known as the army of the Elbe, began commanded by General Herwarth von Bittenfeld. The avenue under my windows terminates in the direct post road to Bautzen, it is very wide, and the houses recede somewhat , so that we had a full view of the splendid pageant. Eegiment after regiment passed, their golden Eoman helmets glittering in the sun; troops of cavalry, gorgeous Hussars, Lancers , Hulans , long trains of cannon and 12 CHAPT. I. ammunition wagons; drums beating, pennons flying, military bands, hour after hour, from six in the morning till three in the afternoon, one unbroken mass of troops; one's eyes became weary looking at them, but turning from the windows to find rest within, the tramp of feet, the heavy roll of the artillery carriages, rung in our ears, and grated upon our excited nerves, the din of war, in very truth. The following day more troops arrived, they were live hours marching past in the same direction. On the twenty second detached regi- ments passed at intervals during the day, with long trains of cannon, and ammunition wagons. The Prussians are tall strong line looking men, in physical appearance and structure far beyond, the delicately framed Saxons; but as far as endurance, and discipline, and courage go, our brave Saxon boys have proved to the world there can be no better troops. Soon the rumor spread that the Bavarians and Austrians were on the advance with intention of giving battle to the Prussians, and we looked for their approach from the south west, over those very fields where the battle of Dresden DRESDEN. 1 3 was fought in 1813 under Napoleon, against the allied forces; there, where General Moreau fell, shot by a ball projected from the town walls. There is a tradition here, that it was Napoleon himself who ordered one of the artillerists to take aim at a small eminence where a knot of officers distinguished by their white plumes had assem- bled, the ball struck Moreau, and shot off both his legs; on learning this Napoleon exclaimed: "So perishes the traitor to his country", later he caused the distance to be measured and found it extended two thousand yards. A monument marks the spot, a plain granite block surmounted by an helmet; his body was carried to St. Petersburg. When before the battle of Waterloo the French general Bournent deserted the French ranks and presented himself to Blucher, having mounted a white cockade, "No matter what color a traitor assumes, said the brave old soldier, he remains a traitor still". The Prussians evidently expected an attack, they began throwing up breastworks, and planting cannon; the inhabitants occupying villas, or houses fronting on that quarter, were warned to retire. 14 CHAPT. I. Some only came into the centre of the town, but many fled in hot haste to the Rhine, England, or the Ultima Thule, for what I know, as if the red hot cannon balls were already at their heels ! The excitement was of short duration; one night of suspense, when the soldiers were under arms, and officers upon the house tops, watching with their glasses, and all was over. The Bavarians have acquired the character of lag lasts, like the inhabitants of Colophon in Ionia; whose name passed into a Greek proverb, they always coming in hindmost; well Bavaria sustained her reputation in this war, and Dresden remained tranquilly appropriated by the Prussians. Of course they took possession of the tele- graphs, the post offices, and the press; making all subservient to their own purposes. The people winced under it all, cui buono? we were con- quered, it was but the fortune of war. All communication was cut off from the south, we knew not what was transpiring there. A proclamation from the king of Saxony however was smuggled in, assuring his people he had not abandoned them wilfully, but was unequal to meeting Prussia alone, and would not expose his DRESDEN. 15 domains to the devastations of war. So the Saxons took patience, and resignedly crossed their hands, and waited the result. Every household had soldiers quartered upon it, some more, some less, according to the means of the proprietor. I had my quota, and can truly say, better disciplined, orderly, respectful men, I have never met. I had seventeen in all, at different periods; some for only three or four days, some for two weeks at a time. There was a regulation exacting from every family so many meals a day, and so much beer and tobacco, I confess I never gave grudgingly, and I found them grateful, only they gently intimated to the servant who waited upon them, that "her honored lady" (gnadige Frau), did not know tobacco from cabbage leaves! I was fain to acknowledge the fact even in this age of female proficiency, so we compromised matters for a small sum per day, which they were to invest in tobacco of their own choosing; in fact I rather petted my soldiers ; poor fellows they do not get much pampering during service, and many a day's march is made in time of war, with nothing but the bit of black 16 CHAPT. I. bread they carry in their pouches to stay their empty stomachs. Thus for days we remained shut up within our houses ; profoundly ignorant of what was passing beyond the circuit of Dresden. Rumor, "with her thousand tongues", did find her way in, but what was told to day, was contradicted on the morrow, and we grew weary at last of false excitement, and sick at heart from hope deferred; . we had dear ones in that little Saxon army. At length the fatal day dawned. From the quiet of our retirement we were roused by the loud booming of cannon, repeated, and repeated. We looked at one another, "the battle has begun", rose to every lip. We remained very still, we were only women and children in the house. Finally a maid was sent out to learn the truth; I retired into my own room and listened, I almost immediately became convinced it was no battle, the firing was too regular, no sound of the con- fusion of war; our servant returned and brought us the intelligence that they were firing a salute in honor of a great victory won by the Prussians. The battle of Koeniggratz, that, wich will be DRESDEN. 17 marked with a red cross hereafter, on the map of Europe as one of the great battles of the world, altering the destiny of empires. The news was soon confirmed; the slaughter had been immense and the brave Saxons had been cut to pieces. A week of mental anguish followed, which can be felt, but not described. Then an official despatch arrived, telling that the infantry had suffered severely, the cavalry hardly at all, and the artillery, in which we individually were most interested, had come off with the loss of very few. This was owing, I learnt later, to a well chosen position from which they could pour down upon the enemy, whilst the Prussians did not level their guns high enough; most of the Saxon artillery were wounded in the legs, few mortally. I had seen pass before me the grand panoply of war, that which inspires enthusiasm in old and young, "the pomp and circumstance of glorious war", the proud bearing, the resolute step, the confidence of brave men; who then heeds the end? yet come we soon to the terrible result. With the news of the battle came long trains of wagons loaded with wounded soldiers, and for 18 CHAPT. I. weeks and weeks afterwards, the mournful shriek of the rail -road whistle reverberated through the midnight air, telling of suffering and anguish, for it was in order to avoid the heat that the wounded were transported during the night. And now opened upon us that beautiful phase of humanity, sympathy and self denial, which redeems mankind in part, from their great heritage of Sin; hospitals were opened in all directions; some, organized in haste, but soon amply supplied with all that could relieve suffering. Now woman shone forth in her attribute of "ministering angel", tending the bed of anguish, as she ever is found in all lands, and under all calamities. I am proud to say that several of these devoted women were personal friends of mine, through whom I learnt many interesting particulars. The heroism, the endurance, the patience, with which young and splendid men bore suffering, amputation, dis- figurement; the death bed seems, the child taught prayer of faith, recalled in the dying hour; the gratitude for kindnesses received, all going to prove noble traits of human nature, "that have survived the fall". I was told how wonderful, how frequent it was, that these great stalwart DKESDEN. 19 men, used to the rough hard military life, would like little children murmur, "oh that I could see my mother", the first deep feeling of the heart, the first word lisped in infancy, was upon the lips of the dying. What a balm to the hearts of bereaved women. The letter of a young soldier was copied for me; he sent it home just before he marched to battle; I never learnt his name, nor whether he survived the war, but going forth in such a spirit at least he was prepared to die. It is worth keeping, and I transcribe it here. It was addressed to his parents. M B©arp©rt p^citee It is with the deepest and most heartfelt emotion that I am writing to you to day from a foreign land ; I have been to church service and heard a beautiful sermon from our field preacher on the text, "be true unto death." We partook of the holy bread and wine after- wards, about two thousand of us. My soul is glad to know the blood of the lamb has been shed for me too, and that the arm of the Almighty will receive me if I fall. I had 2* 20 CHAPT. I. never been in such a church, nor celebrated the holy communion in such a way. We were in an open space in the midst of a wood; the branches of the trees formed the walls, over which the blue sky spread like a canopy, speaking of eternal peace. High and strong beech and fir trees were the columns, the music bands of both regiments accompanied the voices of two thousand men; the very beautiful organ, of that unparalleled church; two hours afterwards we marched, perhaps to battle. Do pray fervently that God may keep me safe, ajid protect me with his powerful hand. Thanks for your forgiveness, it has done my heart good, it has made me happy to perform my duty to day. Adieu, farewell my most beloved father and mother, should I fall, send my love to my brothers and sisters; a kiss from your son who is so happy at this moment, pray for me dear and best beloved parents/' DRESDEN. 21 This is a literal translation of the young soldier's letter; beautiful from its tone of deep piety, beautiful too for that appreciation of nature which seems inherent in all German hearts; he felt the calm cathedral silence of the forest , and from Nature, he rose upwards to "Nature's God". I am told these field services are peculiarly solemnizing, prayer and praise rising to that mysterious heaven above, so far off to the eye, so near to the spirit working within. "Here you can stand Adore and worship when you know it not, Pious beyond the intention of your thought, Devout above the meaning of your will." I met with such a beautiful translation of the young hero Korner's battle hymn, I have been tempted to introduce it here: Korner's battle Hymn. Father, I call on thee! Roaring the cannon hurl round me their clouds, Flashing the lightning bursts with its shrouds. God of battles, I call upon thee! Father, oh guide thou me! 22 CTTAPT. I. Father, oh guide thou me! Lead me to victory, lead me to death, Lord I '11 acknowledge thee with my last breath, Lord as thou listest, guide thou me! God, I acknowledge thee! God, I acknowledge thee! As when the first autumn leaves fall to the ground, So, when the thunders of battle resound. Fountain of mercy, I recognize thee! Father, oh bless thou me! While I watched the marshalling of that splendid army , and the proud bearing of so many fine young men, my heart ached, and my eyes moistened with the feeling , how many will be sacrificed, how many will be missing in those ranks when they return; even then, I little under- stood what was meant by war, I have learnt the horrors of it since. Why is it so? every great event in the world's history, has been baptized with human blood, and how will sovereigns and rulers expiate this great sin? The second great act in the drama of the world was a deed of bloodshed. From the times of the patriarchs, onward to the victories of the Israelites, all through the pages of sacred writ, one finds a continuous DRESDEN. 23 relation of battles lost and won. The advent of the Lord, he who came on a message of peace and good will towards men, was followed by all the horrors of war, Christianity was watered by the blood of martyrs, and the so-called religious wars, devastated the world for centuries. Ambition, revenge, lust of power, pride of conquest, have been glossed over by the achievements of heroism, bravery, and mighty conquest, but the fact remains, the crime of slaughter is no less true. The summer was long and dreary. The rapid advance, and conquest of Prussia within the Austrian dominions, gave her the power of dictating the terms of peace, almost under the walls of Vienna. The rival powers settled their differences promptly, but our poor little Saxon land found itself in a sad position. Her affairs were not so soon arranged. The people began to despond at the long absence of their king. He issued a second proclamation stating, his return was re- tarded until he could come to satisfactory terms with Prussia. Gloom pervaded every thing, even nature. July and August were dark, cold, and rainy: high north winds prevailed for weeks at 24 CHAPT. I. a time, sweeping up the valley of the Elbe as if the wild huntsman and his pack were on the tract of the blast, whooping and shreaking as they flew. Then came the fear of pestilence. Cholera appeared in several towns; a few cases occurred in Dresden, but as in former times, it gained no foothold here, owing as is conjectured to the formation of the soil. We were spared at least that terrible consequence of war — pestilence. It was also averred that the cold north winds purified the atmosphere, and were certainly most favorable to the hospital patients in their fevered state. Meanwhile the Prussian soldiers made them- selves perfectly at home; settled down in the bar- racks, and stood sentinel at the doors of the public buildings, and before the gates of the royal palaces. The gloomy black and white -flag swung from the attic window of the guard house by the bridge, down to the very ground, awakening every Saxon's grief-feeling as it waved to and fro with the wind, fanning them as they passed. One felt as if the brooding black eagle sat there aloft, like Poe's "Raven", croaking, "never — never — never more." But the unkindest cut of all was, when they began to bore our beautiful old bridge. It was DRESDEN. 25 purposed it should be sprung, in case of need, as it was served by the French in 1813, when one of the arches was destroyed; this was accom- plished under General Davoust to facilitate his retreat to Leipzig. This bridge built entirely of stone, is considered the finest in Germany; it commands a beautiful view of the town, the pictu- resque bend of the river on the one hand, and the hills of Meissen on the other, with a fine perspective of the new bridge, erected within twenty years, traversed by a railway made to connect the Leipzig and Prague lines. Of course I sympathized very deeply with the Saxons in their humiliation, but could not view things entirely from one side, as they did; I look upon the Prussians as having been very just and moderate, considering they had every thing in their power. There are certain require- ments to which the conquered must submit, how- ever galling to their feelings; I found I could reason thus coolly probably because the amor pa- triae chord, was not wrung in me. One day an order was issued that all citizens having arms in their houses of whatever descrip- tion, should forthwith yield them up to the pro- 26 CHAPT. I. per authorities, an inspector having been appoin- ted to see that the law was enforced. This pro- duced considerable stir in the households where only womankind remained, and it was amusing to hear their devices "to cheat the Prussians !" The women were much more virulent than the men against the enemy, they always are; feeling over- leaps judgment, and they vociferate what men more wisely keep within their thoughts. So the women set about saving their husbands' fancy arms, and I can vouch for two dress swords being sewed up in flannel and deposited under a plank in the kitchen floor; whilst an old rusty pistol that would not go off by any chance, was delivered up to the enemy, much to the regret of our eight-year-old Max, who had been exercising with it all summer in the garden, and had there killed heaps of imaginary Prussians. This hero was only consoled by a new toy gun, when "thrice he slew the slain." Another sore annoyance to the Dresdeners was the throwing up of intrenchments and other means of defense, all about the circuit of the town; these had been abolished, the town walls levelled, and the ditches filled up, since 1818. ' DEESDEN. 27 People had forgotten it had been a fortified place in the olden time, and that it was a strong point of defense on the Elbe; so that there was great wailing and grinding of teeth when they saw their pleasure grounds beyond the town, invaded by planted cannon, and troops of workpeople busy digging trenches, or raising powder houses. It was not so much at what was actually accom- plished, as the display of ownership, and the mor- tification of being considered a Prussian garrison town. After the peace was concluded with Austria, the southern rail -way being reopened, the bulk of the Prussians returned home by that route, but Dresden was nevertheless crowded with them, coming in detached regiments, remaining a few days, and then off, while others followed to fill their places; they were well disciplined, but very jolly, as they had reason to be; they drove about, officers and men, in every kind of vehicle, and the tops of the omnibuses were generally crow- ned with a mass of glittering helmets, singing- choruses at the top of their bent ; this singing in chorus, is a marked feature in the teaching of the schools for the people all over Germany, and 28 CHAPT. I, very much encouraged among the Prussian troops, if I may judge from the many small bodies of men coming in from a march passing under my windows, who seemed to relieve their fatigue, by martial songs. As to the omnibus warriors, I rather attri- buted their high spirits to a return from a cam- paign in the Waldschlosschen territory, that being within a mile of us, where some of the best beer in Saxony is brewed, and where a fine terrace overlooking the river, is an attraction the more, for people to congregate and drink it. When the choral roaring from the omnibuses reached my ears, I could not help thinking of the remark of an old red Indian at home, pretty well ex- perienced in such matters, /'that a barrel of whisky contained one thousand songs, and fifty fights." Beer is not so soul - stirring it appears, for when the Saxons returned, and found them- selves in a measure obliged to fraternize with the Prussians, there were only a few squabbles, soon settled by the admirable discipline on both sides ; but they never were amicable together. I learnt later it was a part of the caserne discipline in Prussia, for the officers, who are DRESDEN. 29 generally good musicians, to give the soldiers singing lessons. The songs generally are patriotic, but they also use religious hymns, and sometimes pieces of a comic turn; the habit, while it con- duces to their amusement, keeps the men from frequenting the beer houses too often. There was a concert given soon after the war in Berlin, for the benefit of the wounded, entirely performed by officers, and the leader was Colonel Drigalsky ; the king was highly amused to find an entire opera orchestra composed of his officers. As far back as the sixteenth century Trotzen- dorf the celebrated school master, encouraged his scholars to learn music by singing, giving as a reason, in the spirit of those times, "learn to sing boys, and then if you go to heaven the angels will admit you into their choir." I was witness to one skirmish, in which some of the heroes, "bit the dust" as Homer's did. A returning troop of Prussian cavalry passed , fol- lowed by a train of baggage wagons, led horses, and three or four dogs. When they had reached midway down the avenue, from each porch, court- yard, and garden, there rushed forth dogs of every degree; they flew upon the strangers; they 30 CHAPT. I. barked, they bit, they tosseled, they rolled under the horses, the soldiers thrust at them with their swords, the people stopped and laughed, boys with bundles, workmen in their leather aprons, peasant women with baskets strapped to their backs, nursery maids with children, all stood enjoying the fun ; the provoked soldiers grew red in the face, the dogs had foisted them, so they trotted off at a brisk pace soon followed by their canine detachment, tails downward; the Saxon dogs had gained the victory, and retreated to their respective domiciles growling out their satis- faction on the door mats, all but Pfeffer, our little yellow terrier, who stood in the avenue barking snappishly at the retreating foe, as long as they remained in sight. This I believe was the last battle fought, and so the war was ended. There is an institution of which I only be- came aware during this last season of war, known in Germany as the "Johanniter Ritter", or knights of St. John, an order revived by the late king of Prussia. The old order of Hospitallers died out DKESDEN. 31 as is well known, three centuries ago. Proud and overbearing during the period of the crusades, the Templars and the Hospitallers both forgot the end and aim of their mission, and by broils and quarrels disgraced their vocation ; it ended in the Hospitallers being expelled from Palestine. They found their way to north Germany where a small district called Prussia, still remained Pagan ; there they established themselves, gained influence and prospered, but the little Pagan district in time developed, and eventually gave its name to a kingdom. The order of the Teutonic knights of St. John developed also, and by their overbearing arrogance, and political intrigues, became obnoxious and were driven out of Germany, they dispersed, and only a small body joined themselves to the knights of Malta and established a house on that island. These Teutonic knights owed their origin to some benevolent Individuals of the Hansa who continued to succour their compatriotes at the siege of Acre, where the wounded Germans were dying for lack of aid. The leader in this pious work was one Walpot, "not a nobleman," says one of the old chroniclers, "but his deeds were noble". From such small beginning rose the powerful 32 CHAPT. I. order of the Deutschen Kitter or Hospitallers of St. John. The revived order is a charitable institution ; its members are now all noblemen, but are only elected into the body on proof of high moral character, generosity, and good works ; they wear the silver cross of the order, and Prince Carl the king's brother, is now Grand master. During war they occupy themselves in superintending hospi- tals, and ministering supplies. Prince Reuss opened a depot here in Dresden where every thing that was wanted for the sick and wounded could be obtained; the officials were recognized by a white band round the arm marked with a red cross, and those terrible little blue wagons with canvass covers, and the great red cross badge painted on them, how they made one shudder, they transported to the hospitals the poor woun- ded suffering soldiers. When the knights find coadjutors in good works, women who devote their time and ener- gies to these hospital duties, volunteers, perseve- ring unto the end, they acknowledge such services frequently by presenting a gold cross of the or- der as a token of regard, many ladies in Dres- DRESDEN. 33 den received them. The Johanniter Ritter in Prus- sia have a "Commendator" in every province of the state; they are divided into " Baileys ", that being the name by which the different companies go. "The Bailey of Brandenburg" &c. While speaking of benevolent actions, I must not omit the energetic self- sacrificing example set by Mrs. Simon, to whom the Emperor of Austria has sent a gold medal, the Queen of Prussia a brooch, and the King of Saxony a bracelet with his likeness encircled with diamonds. A Bohemian by birth, the first language she spoke was her native Tschechische. Removed to Saxony, she became a Saxon in heart, and after the battle of Koeniggratz, when reports reached Dresden of the dreadful neglect and destitution of the woun- ded, she collected what she could and went per- sonally to the battle field. Familiar with the language she influenced the Bohemian peasantry to have mercy ; in their hatred of the enemy they had destroyed the cords and buckets of the wells, and the dying had not a cup of cold water to wet their lips. The Austrians in their flight had left six hundred wounded men in the village of Harsenewes near Koeniggratz, and not a soul to 34 CHAPT. I. care for them; Mrs. Simon discovered the fact, made it known to the medical staff, and was the means of saving many a wounded man; it is said however half had died from want of aid. Mrs. Si- mon's energy was great; she immediately retur- ned to Dresden, promptly collected the necessaries of life, and went back to the battle field; she found nine hundred men at Mei si ow it z equally forsaken; she went from one hospital to another, arranged and directed with all that quiet pre- cision so requisite in such emergencies; women generally are too excitable but this lady's presence indicates repose of character, and simplicity of nature. She does not appear to feel she has done any thing great, and I will contend those souls are greater, who can venture on the battle field the day after the slaughter, to relieve the dying, than the heroes, who under powerful ex- citement, and smoke and din, exterminate their fellow men Napoleon never could visit a field after a battle, a case in point. When a convention was held at Geneva of army surgeons to determine the laws by which they would abide in case of war, it was agreed that surgeons and medical men should be free- men, distributing their care to all indiscriminately. DRESDEN. 35 Austria alone sent no representative , and blind as she ever is to her own interests , sub- scribed to no such agreement, and after the battle did not free several Prussian surgeons who had been taken prisoners. In the panic of flight the hospitals and every thing seemed to have been forgotten. The Prussians though amply provided, had not calculated on the enormous carnage, nor on the numbers of the enemy they would have to care for; orders were immediately transmitted to Berlin that contributions for the sick and wounded were needed, and should be forwarded whith all speed. The usual process seemed too slow to the citizens, and the plan was adopted that on each square a large wagon should be placed, a guard to watch it, and every one who felt disposed should carry there what he chose to give for the wounded soldiers; in less than two hours the wagons were filled to their full extent, every body came, even the poorest brought their mite: horses were in readiness, and they were driven to the rail -road station where per- sons authorized forwarded the contents; other wa- gons followed and were filled in still less time. A charming incident is told of a little child who, 36 CHAPT. I. led on by the prevailing feeling , came with her breakfast roll in her apron and asked the guard to let her send it with the other things. The soldier smiled and patted her cheek saying, "she might eat it herself, there was enough already"; the little one was so unhappy and cried so much because her offering was rejected, the man was touched, and held her up to the wagon that she might put it in herself, and she went her way comfor- ted. — Many ladies and gentlemen announced they were ready to receive contributions in money, and were astonished at the kind of persons who presented themselves to give. One in particular a man of mean appearance opened an old leather pocket book and took bills out to the amount of eight thousand Thalers; the gentleman stared at him, and asked the name. "Never mind that, said he, whether it is Schmidt orMuller provided the money reaches its destination." This fact I learnt through the gentleman's wife. That great emer- gencies bring out great deeds is a received axiom. I do not know which to admire the most, the donation of eight thousand, or the little child's roll of bread. CHAPTER II. THE KING'S RETURN. The presence of a king engenders love Amongst his subjects and his loyal friends. Henry VI. .finally it was announced that the King would return to Saxony on the last day of October, and re-enter the summer palace at Pillnitz. The people yearned for his presence , and when he and the queen travelling like simple gentle folks, crossed the frontier, every station along the rail -road route was crowded with rich and poor, old and young, to welcome them. On that day every vehicle in Dresden was in requisition ; every boat upon the Elbe, every rail-road carriage was over- flowing with people bound Pillnitz - wise. The 38 CHAPT. II. crowd was dense on both sides of the river there, where the ferry boat plies near the castle. The royal pair have suffered many sorrows, but I think that one day's demonstration of ge- nuine feeling must have somewhat sweetened their cup of bitterness. As the rail-road train stopped, one spontaneous cheer rent the air, the dense mass crowded about the King, the common people in their zeal and ignorance put their hands upon him, it would seem as if they could kiss his feet. The King was overcome, his emotion was visible; one old farmer observing this, placed his hand tenderly upon the King's shoulder, saying, "don't cry land-father, you have got us all back again." I was told this by one who heard it; and I class those simple words dropped from a peasant's lips, as among the few sayings worthy to be recorded. We sympathise with heroism, those brief words of Francis I. written to his mother after the battle of Pavia, "Tout est perdu hors l'honneur," ring in our ears, as if they were spoken yesterday, and the tender simplicity of the Saxon farmer has a grandeur in it also, which will in many a future day be remembered by his coun trymen. THE king's return. 39 Their majesties crossed in the flat - bottomed ferry boat, and were received on the opposite shore by another dense mass of people, the noblest of the land, the working man and farmer, with their wives and children, all crowded up together, numbers having travelled far to be present. All brought together, not by the call of public author- ity, but by a feeling of affection and respect for their sovereign, in which I believe the whole of Europe sympathized. His probity and honor, his piety, his discretion, are now universally acknow- ledged, he is called "the good King of Saxony"; all are grieved for his painful position. As the ferry boat touched the shore, a crowd of ladies loaded with flowers came forward to greet the queen, there they stood with their pro- fusion of splendid exotics, but the queen already held in her hand a nosegay, which she had ac- cepted from a peasant child, a bunch of common Asters, and rank smelling Marygolds gathered in some cottage garden*, each represented the po- sition in life, each was offered from the same emotion of the heart, the deepest, the best. Chil- dren and ladies went forward strewing flowers in the path up to the palace door, and even when 40 CHAPT. II. all was over, and the King within his domestic walls, the people would not disperse, the cheers resounded so heartily, that he re-appeared upon the balcony, and bowed his thanks for this great free will offering of affection and loyalty. It may not be inappropriate here to relate an incident that occurred at the Pillnitz ferry some two years since, in which the King played a touching part. There was an old soldier who had served Saxony nearly fifty years, he never attained a higher rank than that of corporal, but his son who had been brought up in the army was finally promoted to the rank of officer. "Old Klemm", as the corporal was familiarly called, disabled from service by his years, was appointed superintendent of the ferry, every body knew him, and every body felt disposed to press a little more than was required into the old man's hand; the King was particularly kind to him, and friendly. Two years ago the old man died at an advanced age, the funeral was to take place at Pillnitz; it was attended by all the officers of young Klemm's regiment; the old soldier was ferried across for the last time, and carried to the village cemetery, followed by a numerous cortege; at the gate of THE KING'S RETURN. 41 the grave yard the King was waiting with a laurel crown in his hand, he advanced, and depositing it upon the coffin said, "thus I would do honor to the oldest, and one of the most faithful soldiers of my army". About a week after the King's return, the authorities of Dresden resolved he should re-enter his capital with public demonstrations of welcome, and a day was appointed. The people vied with each other in adorning their houses, and making it a general holiday: garlands and crowns, and the green and white colors of Saxony re-appeared everywhere*, all along the bridges, public buil- dings, and hotels, waved again the national flag: „now, was the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer", by this change of hue, might well be applied. The black flag was laid aside, and the green refreshed one's eye like spring starting suddenly from the gloom of winter. Yet beneath all this, I felt there lay a deep hidden feeling of sadness; the pall that covers the dead may be strewn with flower crowns, but they allay not the heart's anguish. 42 CHAPT. II. The royal cortege entered by the Pirn'sche gate. In the first carriage the King and queen; in the second the prince and princess Royal; and in the third the prince and princess George. The people had assembled in crowds; the side-walks were thronged, the windows filled with spectators, the cheers were loud and earnest, the King and queen bowed their thanks, but their faces were pale and careworn; "verily the heart knoweth its own bitterness". They passed through the whole length of the city and entered the palace gates, where Prussian sentinels no longer stood, it is true, but Prussian soldiers filled the guard houses, and paraded daily under the King's windows; every one felt the false position of the Royal family. Affairs now began to assume a more cheerful aspect: the army returned into Saxony, the troops were settled in various provincial towns to await final arrangements ; court receptions were resumed, shop keepers cheered up, and so things fell into the old tracks. Christmas came, and in every house-hold the Christ-Tree was lighted. Around many of them, little groups were gathered whose fathers lay beneath the sod on the battle field the king's return. 43 of Koeniggratz; many more were blessed by a father's return, but sad and thoughtful; there was no glee this year, only among the little children, unconscious of the terrible crisis that had been passing around them. In every quarter one felt that sorrow had cast its shadow; widows and children demanded relief; wounded soldiers filled the hospitals, all the benevolent societies were active ; the Diaconess Institute had its emissaries about, searching to do good among the squalid homes of the poor, and reports of misery from want of work, leading almost to starvation, opened many a rich man's purse to what he had never imagined before. It is a singular fact, and I do not know how my towns people will relish it, the most miserable, low abodes of poverty are in a district on the remote confines of the Neue Stadt, known by the name of NewYork! whether emigration goes forth from thence to seek the el dorado of the western world, or whether in derision, both being the last resource of broken-down people, there is no doubt here, that this fag-end of creation, is the name- sake of that other receptacle of the outpourings of the scum of the earth, who manage to reach 44 CHAPT. II. its shores. This Dresden quarter lies north east far removed from the patrician quarter at the south west, where genuine New-Yorkers and others, display their wealth and elegance perfectly ignorant of the wretched miserable district and its half starved people, who have honored our great metropolis by adopting its name. In January the King of Saxony and the Princes his sons went to Berlin by invitation, to visit their Royal cousin. They were received not only cordially, but with an excess of friendly display, which we all thought savored of affecta- tion; an over -acted demonstration of friendship, to disguise the real feelings. We may be mista- ken, time will shew. What transpired at that interview, was not made public. In February the King of Prussia returned the visit, coming one day, and leaving the next; this was just before the opening of the great northern parliament. His arrival caused very little sensation among the Saxon people. The usual cortege of royal car- riages, and royal personages, were at the station platform to welcome him, but spectators were few and indifferent. It so happened that on the day of his arrival, the funeral of an old and re- the king's return. 45 spected citizen took place, it is the custom in Dresden among old fashioned families to have the death knell tolled when the corpse leaves the house, and continued until it reaches the grave; the arrival of the King of Prussia was under these lugubrious sounds , and in crossing the bridge the cortege of Royalty, and the cortege of Death went on side by side. The omen was-- a sad one, every body seemed to feel it. An omen! to whom? that, the future alone will reveal. A lesson, yes, which all they that run may read. There they rode, the two conquerors; he of Germany in proud array and gratified ambition ; He , the conqueror of the World, the king of terrors, on a hearse, his car of triumph; the ominous death knell rang through the air; was it the dirge of Saxony? CHAPTER III. KOENIGSTEIN. Unscathed by War The fortress stands in proud humility; Grand type of him who bowed his princely head And simply uttered, "God thy will be done, Bless thou my people and the Vaterland". IVoenigstein the proud old fortress, has been forced to succumb, not by strength of arms, but subjected by the heavy pressure of political emer- gency. The Saxons retain a nominal power over it, but have been obliged to submit to its being garrisoned half by Prussians, reminding one of those delectable homes in Menageries, where a cat, a mouse, a hedgehog, and an owl live toge- ther, "a happy family", restrained by policy, but with the pleasurable desire lurking in their hearts, KOENIGSTEIN. 47 to scratch each other's eyes out. The fortress of Koenigstein , like every thing else in these old lands, has its individual history, and it is worth recording, if only for its present importance as the key of Bohemia. On an isolated mountain rock rising 779 feet from the river, stands the fortress of Koenigstein, almost the only one in Europe which has never been taken. It rises from a plain, entirely de- tached from all other heights; the neighboring eminence, the Lilienstein, being three thousand yards distant. The Elbe makes a bend like a horse shoe, round the Koenigstein. The summit of the fortress measures 2500 ells (an ell is about two English feet). The side facing the Elbe is the longest, measuring 500 ells. The south east side, where numerous gaps in the rock necessi- tated over-archings, is 600 ells long, and the south west portion about the same; while the north west face is the smallest, and presents the deep inden- tation which has been formed into an entrance way. The rulers of Bohemia early recognized the importance of this post and safeguard against northern invasion, and as early as 1241 Koenig- stein is brought into notice as the place where 48 CHAPT. III. Wenzeslas IV. and the bishop of Meissen, settled the boundary deeds, between the Sclavonic pro- vince Zagost, and the diocese of Meissen. From this we may fairly infer, that Koenigstein was in the thirteenth century (if not before), one of the boundary fortresses where the Bohemian king's stationed their chiefs. In 1396 Wenzeslas mort- gaged Koenigstein and Lilienstein, together with the castle and town of Pima, to his chamberlain Bur- chardt von Janowitz, for six hundred thousand Groschen, but should the king die without issue it was understood his successor must pay the full sum. Either the mortgage did not remain long in force, or its power was limited to farming the estates/ for in 1397 and 1402 we find the king- appointing captains to the fortress, then known by the Latin name, „Lapis regis" (King's Rock). In 1425, the Hussites completely destroyed all the buildings and fortifications on the Koenig- stein, which by this time had come into the pos- session of the Margrave of Meissen. Frederick the second, Elector of Saxony, in- herited the fortress from his uncle the Margrave, in 1436. The claims which Bohemia raised every now and then, were all laid at rest by the treaty KOENIGSTEIK. 49 of Eger, in 1459 , and Koenigstein remained in the undisputed possession of Saxony. It is in- teresting to note that by this treaty ; Albert the youngest of the princes kidnapped from the castle of Altenburg, 1455, ancestor of the present royal Saxon family, became son in law to the King of Bohemia, to whom he had been compelled to serve as an hostage, five years before. That no strate- gic importance attached itself to Koenigstein in those times, is clear from the fact that the Elector Frederick farmed it out to private individuals for three years, and later gave the governor of Meissen a life interest in it for 30,000 Groschen. Then we hear of the provincial governor of Pirna receiving the property, together with the accom- panying Elbe dues for 30,000 Groschen ; but these leases from the King to private persons seem only to have included the use of the land, while electoral officials continued the superintendence. On the death of the Elector in 1500, his son George succeeded him. He caused the walls and buildings at Koenigstein to be restored, but for a very peaceable object he having formed the plan of establishing a cloister there. He requested twelve monks should be sent from a Celestine 4 50 CHAPT. III. convent in the neighborhood of Zittaw, but the monks and the duke soon became mutually dissatisfied with each other , and when the latter finally ordered an investigation to be made in their affairs , they, fearing the duke's severity, disappeared, with the exception of two, whom he sent back to their prior, to be dealt with as he thought best. With the death of this Elector, 1539, began to a certain degree a new epoch for the place. From this date, it was devoted to purely military purposes, without undergoing however any mate- rial change. About 1550, they commenced hewing out the famous well through the rock, a labor only accomplished in 42 years. This well is cut through sand -stone, its diameter is twelve feet, and its depth to the water six hundred Saxon feet. The water is raised at the rate of a ton in ten minutes by a tread-mill worked by four men. Among other things the Elector John George caused the Magdelenburg to be built for court fetes; beneath this edifice was hewn out an im- mense cellar, where three mammoth wine casks were successively placed. The last and largest of these tuns, was finished in 1725. It was thirty KOENIGSTEIN. 51 four feet long, and twenty four feet high; the upper part of the cask was reached by thirty two winding steps. It was encircled with a rai- ling , and so arranged that a large party could assemble on it to dine. Under the next Elector, John George II. the military works at the fortress were continued ; he caused the old cloister to be pulled down, and with the stones erected the present garrison cha- pel , and furnished the steeple with three bells; heretofore the commencement of the service had been announced by the sentinel striking on a bar of iron, so soon as he saw the clergyman ap- proach. In this reign occurred the incident which gave rise to the name of the "page's bed". There was a grand entertainment given at the fortress, in honor of the English minister Sir William Swan; on this occasion a page named Heinrich von Grunau became very much intoxicated, and about midnight staggered toward an embrasure, climbed over it, and to cool himself lay down upon the shelf of rock outside, unconscious that the slightest motion would precipitate him down below. Towards the end of the festivities about dawn, the page was missed; they hunted for him 52 chapt. in. a long time in vain; finally he betrayed his po- sition to a sentinel by snoring. An officer of the guard after securing him firmly by his clothes, announced the discovery; the whole court ap- peared, and after all danger had been obviated by binding the page firmly with cords, the Elec- tor summoned all the trumpeters to blow a grand flourish; Grunau awoke, he thought himself in the dance hall, and as if speaking to another page said, "I will come directly Schonberg". A second trumpet blast, together with the laughter of the assembled crowd, and the cons- ciousness of being bound, soon aroused him to a comprehension of his situation; he was carefully drawn inside the casement and freed from his bonds; shame now seized him, he fell at the Elector's feet and sued for pardon. The Elector jokingly said, "In future go to bed through your chamber door, and not through a port hole". In spite of the paltry pension of sixteen thalers a year, Grunau did not starve to death! He lived to reach the age of 107, and in his 97 th year went up to visit, "The page's bed". It was during the reign of Augustus II. sur- named the Strong, whose court was so renowned KOENIGSTEIN. 53 for headlong extravagance, and pleasure running riot, that the stern old fortress partook in a mea- sure of the follies of the period reaching from the year 1679 to 1733. During this time the command was in the hands of Friederich Wilhelm von Kyau, a man distinguished as much for his wit and gaiety, as for his military capacity. Festivities of all kinds, balls, illuminations, fire- works and theatricals, followed each other in rapid succession; the Elector and his court often spent days together at the merry old fortress. But amidst all this folly, the strengthening and ornamenting of Koenigstein was never lost sight of; numerous bomb-proof buildings, and officers', quarters were erected, and the huge cask already mentioned, was put into the cellar. The mania for building these big tuns, had inspired several German princes, but that of Heidelberg alone remains at the present day, a witness of one of the absurdities of the past. On the northwestern aspect of the fortress, overlooking the wide inner country, rises con- spicuously the great building containing the pri- sons of state. If walls had tongues, as well as ears, these could recount many a strange tale? 54 CHAPT. III. and none more strange than that hallucination of the last century , which led men into the belief in Alchemy, and peopled the prisons with Arch- imposters. At the close of the thirty years war, and for long time after, Germany was overrun with vagrants, rogues, and adventurers from every land. Bands of strolling actors; itinerant char- latan doctors; gipsey fortune tellers; treasure dig- gers and exorcists. "The marvellous Venetian remedies, and the Harlequin jacket, mask, and felt hat of the Italian fool, found their way over the Alps, and were added to the old stock as new fooleries." An extract from Freitag's "pic- tures of old Germany", will convey better than I can the state of things at the period. Besides the numerous companies who wandered about either modestly on foot, or in carts, vagrants of higher pretentions rode through the country, some of them still more objectionable. To be able to prognosticate the future, to gain dominion over the spirits of the elements, to make gold, and to renew the vigor of youth in old age, had for many centuries been the desire of the covetous and inquisitive. Those who promised these things to the Germans were generally Italians or other KOENIGSTEIN. 55 foreigners, or natives of the country, who as the old saying was, "had been thrice to Rome". When the new zeal for the restoration of the church brought good and bad alike before the tribunal of the Inquisition in Italy, the emigration of those whose lives were insecure, must have been very numerous. It is probably from the life of one of these charlatans, that the history of Faust has been derived, and construed into the old popular tale. After Luther's death it is evi- dent they penetrated into the courts of the Ger- man princes. It was an adventurer of this de- scription named Jerome Scotus, who in 1593 in Coburg, estranged the unhappy Duchess Anna of Saxe Coburg from her husband, and brought her into his own power by villanous arts. Vain were the endeavors of the Duke to obtain the extra- dition of Scotus from Hamburg, where he lived long in princely luxury. There was at Berlin about the time of Sco- tus, one Leonhard Turneysser, a charlatan, who worked at gold making, and drawing of hor- oscopes ; he escaped by flight the dismal fate that awaited and almost always overtook these men, when not prompt enough to change their location. 56 CHAPT. III. The Emperor Rudolph became also a great adept ; and amalgamated in the gold crucible both his political honor, and his own Imperial throne. The princes of the seventeenth century at least shew the intense interest of dilettantes. During the war the art of making gold became very desirable. At that period therefore the adepts thronged to the armies ; the more needy the times, the more numerous and brilliant were the stories of alchemy. It was proposed by an enthusiastic worshipper of Gustavus Adolphus, to make gold out of lead, and in the presence of the Emperor Ferdinand III. many pounds of gold were to be produced with one grain of red powder from quicksilver ; a gigantic medal was also to be struck from the same metal. After the peace the adepts resided at all the courts; there were few dwellings where the hearth and the retorts were not heated for secret operations. But every one had to be- ware how he trifled with the reigning powers, as the paws of the princely lions might be raised against him for his destruction. Those who could not make gold were confined in prison, and those who were under suspicion, and yet could fabricate something, were equally placed in confinement. KOENIGSTEIN. 57 The Italian count Cajetan was hanged in a gilded dress , on a gallows at Kustrin, the beams of which were adorned with cut gold, for having failed! At Wurtemberg a gallows was erected made of the iron which the Alchymist Honauer had attempted to turn into gold; he himself first ador- ned it 1597, then the Jew Suss, then three Al- chymists in succession, Montani, Muscheler and von Mtilenfels, and finally a thief who had at- tempted to steal the iron of the same gallows. There is no doubt with Alchy mists and Astrologers that they began by believing them- selves in the art they practised ; but they had strong doubts of their own power of accomplish- ing , and they deceived others, either because they were seeking the means to attain to greater results, or because they wished to appear to the world to understand what they considered of im- portance. These were not the worst of the lot. The most mischievous of all were perhaps, the skilful imposters who appeared in France, England and Germany with foreign titles of dis- tinction, shining with the glimmer of secret art, sometimes the propagators of the most shameful vices, shadowy figures who by their worldly wis- 58 CHAPT. III. dom, and the limited intercourse of nations, were enabled to bring themselves into notoriety. Their experience, their deceptions, their secret successes for a long period overpoweringly excited the fancies of Germans; even Goethe considered it worth his while to repair to the spot, and set on foot serious investigations as to the origin of Cagliostro. After the war, astrology and horoscopes fell into disuse. The princes continued to seek for the red powder, and unknown tincture, while the people dug for money pots. Dilettante occupation with physical science, introduced again among the people the ancient divining rod, by which springs, murders, thefts, and always hidden gold, were to be discovered, and the uperior classes even were tinctured with the belief of men en- dowed with supernatural powers. On the sixth of August 1706, there arrived at the fortress of Koenigstein a stranger accom- panied by three servants, and escorted by an officer of standing, who ordered that he should be accommodated in the best possible manner, but be kept under strict surveillance; his name was not divulged, but he had been sent in a royal KOENIGSTEIN. 59 equipage. This proved to be the alchymist Bott- ger. A fugitive from Berlin, where he had failed in his experiments in search of the philosopher's stone; in the year 1701, he was encouraged by Augustus the Strong to come to Dresden , where he was established near the schloss in a private laboratory, and for three years continued his ex-, periments at the king's expense ; here it was that in 1 703, he discovered the red earth, and it was proclaimed the age of gold was at hand. About this period temptations were held out to him by the king of Sweden, to which he lent a willing ear, but the king of Saxony who had the prize within his grasp, gave the peremptory order that the Alchymist should forthwith be transported to the fortress of Koenigstein, there detained, and allowed to prosecute his experiments. The result we all know; the red earth developed into the beautiful porcelain , which became world renow- ned. Bottger laid the foundation of the fabric at Meissen in the year 1710, and superintended it till his death. 60 chapt. m. About fourteen years after Bottger's confine- ment at Koenigstein ; another Alchymist appeared there, whose story more filled with incident, had not so agreeable a termination. John Hector baron von Klettenberg, born at Franckfort, was forced to fly his native city, he having killed in duel, a young nobleman named von Stalburg. He roamed through the length and breadth of Ger- many under an assumed name ; but managed his affairs so well that he was enabled to keep a secretary and a valet, and introduced himself at the court of Weimar as the baron von Wildeck; he was recognized by one of the chamberlains who reported him to the duke, but this last kindly allowed him to depart quietly and unmolested. He came to Dresden, and having given out he had discovered a new metal, was taken into the employment of the king, in which he remained three years. He wrote a book denouncing all the old gold makers as false Alchymists, he alone had accomplished the art, and had made the im- portant discovery. In his experiments he pro- duced some gold by means of a ruse. He was honored by the king with all sorts of titles and emoluments, and was exempted by special favor KOENIGSTEIN. 61 from all legal jurisdiction, the king alone having power over him. He was given a house near the schloss, and three thousand thalers to furnish a laboratory, also fifteen hundred thalers monthly to carry on the experiments, and a salary of eighteen thousand yearly. He was nine months preparing to begin operations. Meanwhile arrived from Vienna a baron von Reven and settled him- self near Dresden. He brought forward claims to a very large amount against Klettenberg who shielding himself behind his exemption from the law, refused to pay; von Reven appealed to the king, who angrily ordered his alchymist off to be tried, and sent him to the Hohnstein for two years, where he was shut up in a dark dungeon. The castle of Hohnstein lay among the precipi- tous rocks of the Saxon Switzerland, and one of the pinnacles in its neighborhood still goes by the name of Klettenberg. At the end of this term, he was sent to Koenigstein where he was received with open arms by the facetious com- mander von Kyau, who invited him to dinner, and regaled him afterwards with the king's order that he should be strictly incarcerated, and allowed sixteen groschen a day for his maintenance. From 62 CHAPT. III. here he made two attempts to escape. With a penknife which he had managed to conceal in his shoe, he worked seven weeks, making a hole in the flooring of his chamber in the Greorgen- burg, the building in which he was confined. Tea- ring his mantle into strips he made a cord by which he let himself down over the rocks and escaped as far as the village of Pfaffendorf, where the peasants detected him by his red silk stock- ings with silver clocks, and carried him back to the Koenigstein, where he was placed this time in a room paved with stone. The second attempt was through a window, but he missed his footing, and fell sixty feet into the ditch, which being at the time filled with snow, he escaped death; he was discovered by the sentinel, and brought again into the fortress. Upon the demand of the city of Franckfurt that he should be hung, and on account of various other misdemeanors, he was finally condemned to be executed. When the commander of the fortress came to announce the sentence to him, he laugh- ingly answered, "The bird still sings upon the tree out of which my coffin will be made". How- ever when a catholic priest was sent to shrive KOENIGSTEIN. 63 him, he learnt they were in earnest , whereupon he dressed himself in a court suit of velvet em- broidered in gold , with a fashionable elonge peruque on his head, and thus equipped went forth; as he laid his head upon the block his last request was to be placed in his coffin dressed as he was, and that they would replace the peruque upon his head; he was executed in 1720. This curious trait of the weakness of human nature, the desire of appearing well after death, is by no means unusual in people of the world. Pope's sarcasm on the dying countess who called Betty, "to put a little rouge", is true to nature. The last request of Lord Byron to his valet was that his feet should never be uncovered. The last request of a celebrated beauty who had mar- velously retained it to a very advanced age, was that after death her face should be veiled, and no one allowed to lift it, came within my own know- ledge; hundreds of similar instances might be quoted. Klettenberg sinned no more than many of his fellows in this respect. 64 CHAPT. III. Connected by a small bridge with the Georgian bastion, on the Elbe side of the Fortress, stands a little tower, called the Hunger Thurm; it was a place of punishment, and its name but too vi- vidly impresses one with the remembrance of the cruelties practised in the middle ages; various traditions are connected with it, but trivial and unreliable; sure it is however, that a deep narrow dungeon once existed, capped by the little tower built a short way beyond the precipice; that the tower still exists, and that the dungeon is filled up, but the terrible name has ever been retained, suggestive of suffering, such as we know was enforced under the jurisdiction of the old law. The modern tradition trivial and unreliable also, as were the older ones, yet clings to the tower. It tells it has become a place of torture now for domestic fowls! Chanticleer now sounds its warder horn, and the executions take place within the precincts of the tower walls. Sometimes it is called the "Turk's dungeon", in memory of one said to have escaped from there. To us in the present day, a Turk is an exceptional animal, confined within certain boun- daries of his own, beyond which he does not care KOENIG STEIN. 65 to show himself, but in 1684, the invasion of the Turks, called in as allies to Hungary in revolt against Austria, was a terrible fact, and there assembled beneath the walls of Vienna a force of 300,000 strong besieging the city, which was reduced almost to famine. Then Saxony, Bavaria and Franconia joined to march to its succor, but were anticipated by Sobieski, at the head of his brave Poles, who threw himself upon the Mussulmans; the battle soon became general, and the allies arriving, it continued fifteen hours; finally the Turks gave way in disorder, leaving their camp and 25,000 men in the hands of their conquerors. It may well be then, that Saxony brought back in its suite a Turk or two, and found homes for them on the Eoenigstein. In the latter part of the sixteenth century, 1598, the Hungarians had been mortal enemies with the Turks, and it was an ancient custom that none should wear a feather in his cap, unless he had killed a Turk, and he shewed the number of his slain enemies by the number of his feathers; thence the proverb, "that's another feather in your cap". The lettre de cachet system existed in Saxony also in the last century, if not under the 66 CFtAPT. III. same name, at least as arbitrary and mischievous, as ever disgraced the annals of France. Not only were state offences punished by incarceration within the prisons of Koenigstein, but the whims and vengeance of individuals carried prisoners to the same. A domestic incident of the kind which occmTed in the last century, has been made the subject of a Novel. The son of Sebastian Bach, dared to lift his eyes to the daughter of the minister Bruhl ; she returned his passion; the fear of a mesalliance prompted the powerful favourite to demand an order of imprisonment from his facile monarch, who was prevailed upon by the plea, that the young man was deranged, and might prove dangerous. Later his father through in- fluential persons, obtained a hearing from the king, who convinced of the injustice committed, secretly signed an order of release, and gave it to Sebastian Bach, unknown to Bruhl. The father hastened 1o accomplish his purpose; ar- riving within a short distance of the fortress, he remained hidden in the forest, while a trusty messenger left him, and proceeded to present the order, which should liberate the son. Hours of suspense passed; at length in the darkness of the KOENIGSTEItf. 67 night, the messenger returned accompanied by the young man, the father opened his arms to embrace him — his form was there indeed but reason had fled. — The poor young lover had in truth found his prison, the Tower of Oblivion. It was during the reign of Augustus III. son, and successor to "the Strong", that Frederick the Great invaded Saxony, August 1756, in spite of her declared neutrality. Frederick pretended he had information of a secret understanding between the Elector, and the Austrian and Russian em- pires. Augustus a weak and indolent prince, entirely guided by his minister Bruhl, allowed himself to be persuaded to take refuge in the fortress, it was from those walls he beheld the first scene in the tragedy of the "seven years war". The audacity of the king of Prussia, and his unwillingness to believe in the neutrality of Sax- ony, hastened the catastrophe. The Saxon troops put upon a war footing in haste, were insufficiently provided; Augustus sent couriers off to every sovereign in Europe, crying out against the in- 68 CHAPT. III. justice of Frederick, and imploring aid. The Saxon army assembled at Pirna, was soon hem- med in by the enemy; the choice was offered the Elector to join Prussia , or be considered her enemy; Augustus replied he would not fight against his old friend and ally Maria Theresa; Frederick advanced, and gave battle to the Austrians at Lowositz, where the Prussian arms triumphed, and prevented the junction of the Austrian and Saxon forces. On hearing of this defeat, the Saxon general Ratowski resolved upon a forced inarch, breaking through the Prussian line, and endeavoring to join the Austrian force, which had retained its position, in spite of the recent triumph of the enemy. At midnight the Saxons began their march ; every impediment which nature could offer, presented itself; the heavens were dark, and the rain poured down in torrents; this how- ever favored them, and they escaped the obser- vation of the Prussian sentinels ; but after passing the Elbe on bridges thrown over in haste, there remained the high hills on the opposite shore to scramble over, no roads, nothing to direct their way , but the crooked footpaths worn by the peasants; the drawing up of cannon over such KOENIGSTEIN. 69 rough places, the incessant rains, all combined to retard their movements, though the Saxon zeal and perseverance were admirable, but time was wanting. The Elector who had retired to the fortress, received a letter at five in the morning describing the obstacles which retarded the ad- vance of his troops, but saying they would be overcome before nightfall. Hardly had the letter been despatched when the Prussians were , down upon them, traversing the heights of Pirna, di- rectly through the abandoned camp ; the Saxons were attacked in the rear, no hope before them, cannon imbedded in the mud, horses dying from fatigue and want of food, and men who had not eaten for twenty four hours. Heroism was of no avail, the hour of doom had struck, there re- mained no resource but to surrender. The marshal Ratowski assembled a council of war; the gene- rals were of but one opinion, their decision was transmitted to the Elector. Augustus uttered a cry of despair: "Surrender, while the Austrians are there! surrender, without firing one gun! have my generals thought well on what they are about ?" So writes the unfortunate Augustus, and at the same time he sends a private billet to Ratowski, 70 CHAPT. III. urging him to do all that humanity can suggest, for his unfortunate troops. Finally the sacrifice was accomplished, the whole army capitulated, and Saxony became a mere Prussian province. Up to the present period strangers have been allowed to visit the fortress, but always under military restrictions. The rail -road to Prague passes under its shadow, and at the Koenigstein station a little town has sprung up; from this a toilsome ascent, winding among the woods on the side of the mountain, brings you to a slanting way, cut in the living rock, which rises on either hand like a wall; thence over a drawbridge into a portcullis entrance, through the solid rock, the only point by which access can be obtained. When the draw - bridge is removed in time of war, this portcullis entrance is left high up in the cliff. Scaling the walls, which are perpendicular in the whole circuit of the fortress, was deemed an impossibility till within a few years, when for a wager, a person was found to undertake it, and at the risk of his life succeeded; that hero was a chimneysweep; he reached the top, but his exhaustion was such, it was thought he would have died; he lived however to enjoy his fame. KOENIGSTEIX. 71 The platform on which the fortress is built is several acres in extent, containing pleasant walks and gardens, and groves of forest trees; it can be made to furnish pasturage for two cows, and supply garden - stuff for a full garrison of six hundred men. In times of peace the number is limited to two hundred. There is a regulation that all artillery officers, serve their turn one year in the fortress, and so far is it from being con- sidered an exile from society, I have never heard an officer's lady express other than the great en- joyment she experienced living in barracks at Koenigstein. The salubrity of the air conduces probably very much to that contented frame of mind, atmospheric influences adding or taking from our pleasurable sensations, go very far in this world to make up the sum of our happiness. A clever French woman once said, "tout notre bonheur depend de la maniere dont notre sang circule". — It is indeed a glorious old place, with its magnificent outlook, its solitary grandeur, its proud bearing, which may well appropriate the words, "I am monarch of all I survey". 72 CHAPT. III. A monarch indeed, "the king's rock" as the old Wends dubbed it, and with its power and strength, is mingled the beauty of nature. While wandering beneath its lofty forest trees, I felt, I too could be very happy if my doom were fixed within the precincts of the grand, old Koenigstein . CHAPTER IV. THE MINOR COURTS OF GERMANY. As on some mimic stage the puppets play, And strut in tinselled robes and paper crowns, Making proud royalty a paistboard thing For men to smile at. lhe great Prussian invasion, which within a year has submerged the little German powers, leads every one to reflection. The newly applied Napoleonic term, "conglomeration", is adopted; not annexation, be it observed; more the idea of fusion, the pouring in of a foreign element. The word conglomeration serves a good many turns, masses of pudding stone for example. I deem those odd bits of territory of all forms and sizes belong to this latter category, certainly there has been no ring of metal in them. 74 CHAPT. IV. A glance back at the history of the minor courts, will not be inopportune nor unamusing in the present era, and though the sketch be but a superficial one, it will at least suffice to give some idea why Napoleon looked upon them with such supreme contempt, when they prostrated them- selves at his feet. Since his day, things have assumed a better aspect; the struggle between the lavish expenditure of princely depravity, and plebeian means to sustain the effort, with the desire to appear what they were not, all that has passed away with their perukes, lace ruffs, and lappel satin waistcoats. Thereafter they shrurnk into their shells, and were known only as places capable of furnishing husbands to protestant prin- cesses, or others. These little princedoms have had their uses too in civilizing society; though ostensibly preten- tious on narrow grounds, they patronized art, and men of letters, thus diffusing taste and learning in small places which would otherwise have lapsed into mere country towns, indifferent to every thing but their own material interests. This was the bright side of the German organization in sepa- rate states. THE MINOR COURTS OF GERMANY. 75 This division favorised and multiplied the means, and the fruits of culture ripened the quicker. Each little court, or city, had it in its power to direct the advance of science and learning: each university stood apart uninfluenced by the pre- ponderance of others. Centralization in this re- spect has not worked well in France, nor will it in Germany. These Liliputian courts, with their standing armies, ministers of war, ministers of finance and the rest, were viewed with undisguised disdain by Napoleon; conscious of their own weakness, they promptly conglomerated themselves into "the confederation of the Rhine", and allowed Napoleon to use them for his own purposes. There was one little spot on the continent of Europe overlooked by this mighty conqueror, and which by its very insignificance, became of great use to its neighbors ; I refer to Kniphausen, on the north sea, which counted barely two hun- dred inhabitants. It is only a countship, con- taining a castle and a village, situated at the ex- treme end of the tongue of land which Olden- bourg protrudes into the sea, meeting Heligoland by a short distance. 76 CHAPT. IV. The great pride of the family consists in having always been an independent state, possess- ing the right of its own colors; so under the great flag of Kniphausen they defied Napoleon himself. This is a sample left of those small count- ships the follies of which were almost incredible in the last century. Barons of the empire even held a petty court, and aped the pretensions and titles, nay even the military show of their power- ful neighbors. A count von Limburg Styrum kept a corps of hussars, consisting of a Colonel six officers, and two privates. There were court counselors attached to the smallest baronetcies belonging to the empire, and in Franconia and Suabia the great lords had their private gallows, the symbol of high jurisdiction. The principality of Reuss for example is di- vided into two branches. The older rules over a territory 6 1 / 8 square miles in extent with a population of about 43,000. The younger branch owns 15 square miles of territory with a popula- tion of 86,000; the united army contingency amounts to about a thousand men. A curious custom has always existed in this family, all its THE MIXOR COURTS OF GERMANY. 77 princes, bear the same name, "Henry", they are numbered accordingly, and you hear of prince Henry de Reuss 70 th or 84 th &c. as may be; it is said when they have reached the numerical 100, that they begin over again. Frederick the Great once asked a prince de Reuss, "in your family are they numbered like hackney coaches" ? "No Sire", replied he "like Kings". Frederick pleased, took him into favor. The origin of so many small principalities arose from the policy of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries of partitioning the inheritance among all the sons of the family. The great houses of the empire thus were frequently reduced to insignificance. Saxony was divided into two branches, one reigning at Wittenberg and the other at Lauenburg. Brandenburg, Bruns- wick, and Misnia were likewise so split. Bavaria also into two parts: strange the princes should not have seen the absurdity of so weakening their hereditary domains! When Napoleon enforced the continental sys- tem, and every port was closed against English commerce, little Krriphausen, overlooked in the general order, became a regular depot, and pro- hibited merchandise found its way through this 78 CHAPT. IV. tiny estate, into the warehouses of its mighty neighbors, verifying the fable of the Lion and the mouse. Thinking of the minor courts of Ger- many, suggested this place to my memory, and the absurdity of its pretensions. A friend of mine (within twenty years) was in the Austrian con- sul's office in New -York one day, when a man came in, of an ordinary stamp, dressed in a frieze great coat, and asked to see the consul. Mr. B. presented himself, when the other said, "I want your help in signing some papers, I am come to abdicate". The word was novel on our side of the Atlantic, and excited surprise; "I am the Herrschaft von Kniphausen, resumed the stranger, I have sold my birthright to my brother, I wish the bargain clenched, in order that I may invest my funds in western lands". So the next gene- ration of the Kniphausen's will be found taking root among our wild western forests, and their story will contribute some day to the tales of romance hitherto wanting in our new land, but which must rapidly accumulate from the mass of strange ma- terial pouring in from every portion of the globe. Of Kniphausen I have no more to say; may it rest in peace, among the fogs of the north sea. THE MINOR COURTS OF GERMANY. 79 When I say the small courts of Germany, I literally mean them, Saxe Weimar, Saxe Gotha, Saxe Coburg, Saxe Meiningen, Nassau, Darm- stadt, Carlsruhe, Hesse Cassel ; there are a bunch of them at once ! Gloomy tiresome little places to live in, where people walk about without any purpose in life, a sort of social hermitage for scholars, who in the everlasting monotony enjoy that quiet which calms the brain, and which they could not find in the more irritating atmosphere of large cities ; I picture to myself the court circle too as a sort of orrery, or planitary machine, where his highness the Erzherzog, is the great luminary round which revolve in regular rota- tion, bodies, the measure of whose titles far ex- ceeds the measure of their usefulness. There you have of course a minister of foreign affairs, and a minister of the interior, and a minister of finance, and a minister of war; then follow the grand dignitaries of the court: the grand Master, the grand marshal of the court, the grand chamber- lain, Grand master of ceremonies, the first Grand huntsman, Grand master of the horse, vice Grand huntsman, then the corps diplomatique, not to mention the ladies of honor, and all the feminine 80 CHAPT. IV. array belonging to the above Grandees, and one can comprehend what complicated little machines these courts are! In one of my summer wanderings I stopped two or three days at Hesse Cassel, one of the most important of these hereditary princedoms, and which has its history too, a prominent chapter of which tells that the then styled Elector, set the example of selling his subjects to foreign sov- ereigns for troops to carry on their wars ; among those who took advantage of the traffic was George the III. of England, who sent them over to fight his battles in America, during the war of Inde- pendence. The territory of Hesse has been sub- divided, patched up again, and bits appropriated here and there by its neighbors, till it becomes perplexing to discover the meum and teum, which however are very unimportant to me , and my remarks. The city of Hesse Cassel is divided into two parts, the old town, black and dirty, and the new one, airy and spacious, the principal feature of which is the Koenigsplatz , a great oval space on which the hotels and other buildings face, giving an air of grandeur and importance to a place THE MINOR COURTS OF GERMANY. 81 which only counts thirty thousand inhabitants. The churches , libraries ; and museums are not deemed worthy a visit by old experienced tra- vellers; those who have seen so much better things, and who consequently experience at Cassel an indescribable relief, for if there be one fever worse than another, it is that of a conscientious seer of sights; so we remained in supine idleness all day Saturday, having so timed our visit in order to be present Sunday, at the exhibition of water works at Wilhelmshohe, the Elector's summer palace, where, as at Versailles, the great fountains only play twice a week. I have been told since by a connoisseur, that the collection of pictures in the palace is the finest after Dresden, in North Ger- many, but having been strictly private, has hitherto remained unknown to travellers, but under the new order of things, it is to be opened to the public. At two in the afternoon we left the Wilhelms gate of Cassel from which in a strait line, stret- ches an avenue, shaded by lime trees, the vista terminated by the colossal figure of Hercules standing on a hill top. 82 CHAPT. IV. The day was fine, and troops of citizens in their holiday clothes were scattered about; the more sedate plodding onwards along the strait road, the young and agile plunging into the wood paths, "thro' brake, thro' briar", and reaching finally the same end we each proposed, the "Giant water fall" : unable to compete with any of them, I was borne along in a low open carriage, from which I could view men and things at my ease. The driver drew up exactly in front of the Giant stairs, a flight of white marble steps, known as the cascade of the Carlsberg. This flight of steps, is nine hundred feet long, leading up to the sta- tue of Hercules, 31 feet high, of beaten copper. A carriage road zigzagging up the side of the mountain conducts you to the foot of the statue, but I was content to view it from below, my day was past for climbing towers, Herculean legs &c. I am told eight persons can stand in the hollow of his club, and out of a little window formed in it, enjoy a prospect extending as far as the Hartz. The octagon building which serves as a pedestal for the statue, is fancifully called the temple of the winds, and from the base of this, the great flight of steps descends. About midway up the THE MINOR COURTS OF GERMANY. 83 stair, upon a sort of platform, a rudely cut statue of the Giant Enceladus lies upon his back, with a mountain of rocks heaped upon his breast; ori- ginally there spouted from his mouth a jet of water 50 feet high, but that no longer plays. This giant Enceladus, was one of the band who conspired against Jove, and who, warring against Olympus, were routed and fled; Minerva flung after Enceladus the island of Sicily, and it is from his struggles to free himself, that the con- vulsions of Etna proceed. The aquatic staircase, with the temple and statue surmounting it, and the extravagant works connected with them, are said to have employed two thousand workmen for fourteen years. When the whole was com- pleted, the cost was found to be so enormous that all record of it was destroyed in order that it should never be revealed. On both sides of the aquatic stair, a space is left for pedestrians to climb; a ridge of marble dividing it from the water course, but "Ah, who can tell how hard it is to climb The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar. Ah, who can tell how many a soul sublime Has felt the influence of malignant stairs, And waged with patience an eternal war. 6* 84 CHAPT. IV. somehow the jingle of that verse seemed to suit at the moment , the time and place, but far be it from me to admire the ridiculous extravagancies of that age of Louis XIV., which led to so many poor imitations among minor sovereigns, whose people were ground down under taxes to pay for absurd, useless constructions, which only served as monuments of vanity to those who erected them, and wonderment to us in this our day of better taste, and practical utility. While such reflections were occupying my mind, the sluices were opened, and the water came deliberately pouring from step to step, until finally the whole were gained, and the white froth rose, and you were beginning to feel an interest in the mere sight off rushing water, when snap! and we were off hurrying down to the Devil's bridge, where the water was to perform the second act of the farce, the whole performance being restricted to 50 minutes. I was the first to arrive by the road, in front of the new scene ; the crowd of pedestrians coming round another way. I saw before me a chasm between two hills, covered with dark fir trees, which shed their blackness upon it; across this chasm was cast THE MINOR COURTS OF GERMANY. 85 high up, a one - arched bridge with nothing deve- lish about it that I could divine, however it might have obtained its cognomen. Presently, left and right emerging from the wood, appeared now a group of girls with red petticoats, looped dresses, and comical little hats; then a knot of flat- capped students; here an old man leaning on his stick, there a young one in velvet shooting jacket and flapped hat; one after another emerging from under the shade, presented to me sitting there, the illusion of a theatrical scene; here the chorus of peasants, there the bridge in the back ground, behind which the water now poured down in a beautiful cascade, making one feel sorry it could not remain free so for ever, but it is captured here also, and soon drawn off to serve some other purpose; this water is supplied from reservoirs high up the hill behind the summer palace. A drive through the very fine park, filled with grand old trees, was an en- joyment more to my taste, but I did not even descend to examine the interior of Lowenburg, another expensive folly of an old Elector, a toy castle built to imitate a strong-hold of the middle ages, with turrets, donjon-keep draw-bridge, and 86 CHAPT. IV. all, evincing an absence of the sense of fitness, in a country like Germany where the genuine article meets the eye at almost every turn, and where the stern old ruins can look down with contempt upon these, as a giant might upon a dwarf; why, the very ivy which gardeners train against these modern walls, green glossy, shining in the sun, has a pert air of innovation to my eye. Those great dark masses thickened through centuries, shielding falling portals, or clenching the weather-beaten stones, bear a solemn pall- like look fitting the desolation it attempts to cover. After the fall of Napoleon, the Elector of Hesse returned to his dominions from which he had been ejected to make room for Jerome, brother to the king- maker, Buonaparte. He said he had slept seven years, and immediately set to work to restore things on the same footing he had left them. To quote from Menzel, "he turned the hand of time back seven years", degraded the counsellors, raised to that dignity by Jerome, to their former situations, as clerks; likewise cap- tains, lieutenants &c. all in fact to the station where he had formerly placed them, and even reintroduced into the army the fashion of hair pow- THE MINOR COURTS OF GERMANY. 87 der and queues; prohibited all those bearing an official title from being addressed as "Heir", and resumed the soccage duties, which had been abolished by Jerome. This attachment to old usages was accompanied by insatiable avarice. He reduced the government bonds to one third, retook possession of the lands sold during Je- rome's reign ; without granting any compensation to the holders; compelled the country to pay his son's debts to the amount of two hundred thou- sand rix dollars; lowered the amount of pay to such a degree that a lieutenant received but five rix dollars per mensem, and offered to sell a new constitution to the Estates for the price of some millions rix dollars, which he afterwards lowered to two millions, and a tax for ten years upon liquors. This shameless bargain being rejected by the Estates, the constitution fell to the ground, and the prince Elector practised the most un- limited despotism. Discontent was punished by imprisonment. The Herr von Goor, who by chance gave a fete on a day when the Elector was suffering from illness, was among the victims. Every petition for a redress of wrongs was either rejected, or its originators imprisoned. 88 CHAPT. IV. What a state must Hesse Cassel always have been in, when they hailed with joy the hope of better things under Jerome Buonaparte that prince of libertines , named king of Westphalia. What cared he for the people he was called to govern! He cast aside the trouble of state affairs upon his ministers ; and provided he had money enough to furnish his own pleasures ; little cared he how the state prospered; Hesse gained small profit under the reign of the usurper. The morality of the fair sex was on a par with that of the circle of ladies of honor who accompanied the Empress and the czar Peter the Great , when they paid their visit to the court of Berlin in the last cen- tury , so humourously described by the princess Wilhelmina, sister of Frederick the Great. When presented, each lady of honor to the number of a hundred or more, had an infant on her arm richly dressed, and when complimented upon its appearance, curtesied saying, "The czar has done me the honor to make me mother of it". Honor! a word that goes through strange transmutations. Jerome was not a bad man; they nicknamed him "King Lustick" (Joyous), the careless enjoy- ment of the hour was his prevailing sin; he even THE MINOR COURTS OF GERMANY. 89 quarreled with his brother when the latter in- sisted on too strong measures against the people. It is said too he had judgment, and did all he could to persuade Napoleon against the Kussian campaign. It is certain Jerome went with him no further than the frontier , and then returned to Cassel, where he preferred playing a part on his own private theatre, to performing a part on the tragic theatre of war, under the deadly in- fluences of a Russian winter campaign, The restored Elector of Hesse died 1821, and was succeeded by his son who abolished none of the existing abuses, nor shewed the least intention of granting a constitution to his people ; the only reform he introduced was the abolish- ment of queues and hair powder in the army! Those fashions which Napoleon ridiculed so poig- nantly, when in his derision of the Prussians, he called them, u ces perruques\ The French revo- lution swept all the queues and hair powder out of France, when in their subsequent aspirations after classic models, hair "a la Titus", cropped close became the fashion , and was promptly adopted by the military, as more cleanly and suitable. Not so however, outre Rhin; the mili- 90 CHAPT. IV. tary costume of the reign of Louis XIV. remained a stereotyped fact; leather breeches, high topped boots , queues and powder, and a heavy chapeau, were absolute requirements ; the only infringement made was by Frederick the Great who introduced the little three cornered hat which characterizes him. This digression on military costume sug- gested itself while dwelling on the abuses to which the miserable Hessians were subjected after a short period of liberty and reform. The crush- ing influence of the Elector's government im- poverished the people, and discouraged all classes to such an extent, that nothing was left them but to seek protection in foreign lands; fhe tide of emigration drained Hesse of its best peasantry ; thousands found their way to America; many wandered about Europe seeking names and em- ployment where they could. In the poorest quar- ters of Paris, pursuing the most abject trades, numbers of miserable Hessians have been dis- covered since the establishment of a German mis- sion church in that capital; poor creatures to whom the sound of the Gospel in their own ton- gue, came like a far off forgotten memory of childhood. Many touching scenes were recounted THE MINOR COURTS OF GERMANY. 91 of faith and hope revived, in cellars where knee- ling around the dying , a few poor wretches by the light of a farthing rush- candle partook the Lord's Sacrament. Matters finally came to that pass in Hesse that travellers avoided it as they would a district infested with malaria. "The Elector was governed by his mistress the countess von Reichenbach, superadded to the other miseries of the state. These petticoat counsellors always using their in- fluence for their own private ends; flattered by a set of greedy retainers , or pressed by needy re- latives, like canker-worms they eat into the very core of the state, and blight the existence of an already oppressed people, by their rapacity, and insolent disregard of right. The fashion for such acknowledged* court dependencies was going out, but this pig-headed Elector re-established the pre- cedent of his forefathers. I only wonder among the dignitaries of state, Grand Veneur, Grand Ecuyer, and the rest of them, that the Grande Maitresse du Roi, was not a standing title. At length there came a crisis in Hesse, as there did in many other parts of Germany; the people de- manded their rights, the Elector would concede 92 CHAPT. IV. nothing; they revolted , insulted the Reichenbach who was forced out of the country. The mis- erable Elector followed her, having yielded up his sovereignty to his son William , who was not much better than his father. A bit of court scan- dal of that day proves to what an abject state a man may be reduced under the influence of such degradation. The Reichenbach was of low extraction, the daughter of an obscure jeweller in Berlin, Upon one occasion the Elector intruded her upon the society of his lawful wife, a Princess of Prussia, who indignantly but calmly resisted; whereupon her husband hit her a box on the ear at dinner before the assembled company. The aide de camp en service, Monsieur von Radowitz, rose and offered his arm to the princess and led her away, forfeiting of course thereby his position with the Elector, but protected later by her bro- ther, the crown prince. It so happened the day after this scandal occurred, a great review took place, and the Elector looked on from the bal- cony of his palace in the Koenigplatz, with the countess of Reichenbach beside him ; he said some- thing to displease her, whereupon she hit him a THE MINOR COURTS OF GERMANY. 93 stroke with her parasol, and belabored him there before his people till she had shattered her in- trument in pieces. This achievement following close upon the other, proves sufficiently to what point of degra- dation the whole had reached. It is a sad retrospection to look back upon the scenes presented in the last century, the de- pravity, oppression, and reckless extravagance of Sovereigns; but it also has a satisfactory result upon the mind, inasmuch as we feel the pro- gress of justice and civilization, as also, what was then a barefaced fact, could not now be tolerated by public opinion. The grand old Maria Theresa was compelled by adverse political events, to lower her dignity to the degree of writing to La Pompadour, asking her influence with the French King, addressing too this Scarlet Lady, as "ma cousin e". The object was to form an alliance with France, joined by Elizabeth Em- press of Russia, against Frederick the Great, who jeeringly called it, "The three petticoat treaty". At the time of the French invasion, when the Elector of Hesse fled, and Jerome Buonaparte took possession, the former placed a large portion 94 CHAPT. IV. of his private fortune in the hands of a banker at Cassel whose reputation was well established. This person used the money with great judgment and integrity , and with such successful results, that not only was he enabled when the Elector returned, to hand him over both principle and interest, but also by his operations he had trebled his own private means. This man was the father of the Rothschilds, he who, calling his five sons to his bed-side when dying, enforced union upon them as the source of all strength and success. The brothers have been wise enough to follow their father's counsel, and have made themselves a power before which cringing empires have so- licited loans, and been refused; what would our pig-headed Elector have thought of this! The father Rothschild promulgated the grand principle, "Union is strength", but the disjointed German empire heeded not the fact. Sixteen princes con- cluded a treaty in 1806, by which they separated themselves from the mother country, and formed an alliance with France; every one knows with what contempt they were ultimately treated by Napoleon. All those princes to whom their own petty interests were dearer than the fate of Ger- THE MINOR COURTS OF GERMANY. 95 many, hurried on the fall of an empire which had stood a thousand years. Union is born of patriotism; patriotism was a mere empty sound in Germany; they knew little of that impulse which leads an Englishman or a Frenchman "to do or die" for their country. Theirs, has ever been till now, a divided interest; a perpetual friction of individual selfishness to which no remedy seemed to apply; let us hope that the time is at hand, when broader and higher aspirations will develope, under the proud title of "United Germany". When we look back to the period of 1814 - 1815 after the final fall of Napole*on, and his imprisonment at St. Helena, we find Germany in a frightful state of confusion. The old empire in- stead of being re-established, was replaced by a German confederation consisting of thirty nine states : Austria, Bavaria, Saxony, Prussia, Hanover, Wurtemberg, Baden, Electoral Hesse, Darmstadt, Holstein, Luxemburg, Brunswick, and the re- mainder, consisting of those petty princedoms which had a name to live, and nothing to live on; the same, which having verified their own impotency, were prostrated in one fell swoop, 96 CHAPT. IV. before the scythed chariot of Prussia, in the re- cent war. The supremacy of Prussia had become a necessity for a people so subdivided; the idea was by no means a new one, the desire for union had long agitated the land ; how it was to be accomplished remained an unsolved problem. How- ever like most great crises it was slowly cul- minating towards completion ; it required but one Will and character strong enough to strike the blow; the great prime minister Bismarck proved the man; he believed in no half- measures; tem- porizing had kept the country in an eternal state of ferment; as he said himself. "A surgeon to save life, does not scruple to cut off a gangrened limb, no delay, what is to be done, if well done, 'twere well it were done quickly". Stein the great Prussian minister in 1815, in his correspon- dence says, „My desire for the aggrandizement of Prussia proceeded, not from a blind partiality to that state, but from a conviction Germany is weakened by a partition, ruinous alike to her national learning, and national feeling". At another time he writes, "It is not for Prussia, but for Germany, I desire a closer, firmer international combination, a wish that will follow me to my THE MINOR COURTS OF GERMANY. 97 grave; the division of our natural strength may be gratifying to others, it never can be to me." On the ruins of the old German empire was raised that confederation of thirty nine states, represented by the Diet ; permanently established at Franckfort, and represented by their respective ministers. The eleven principal states had a vote ; the inferior princedoms, free cities &c. a half and even a quarter vote; such was the constitution of the German Diet, none better could be devised after the peace of Paris. It was opened by count Buol Schauenstein in person , but without en- thusiasm. An American orator of that day said, "It appears a predetermined policy to stop the growth of any good seed that may be germina- ting in Germany". But the national sentiment which had been aroused by Napoleon, could not be extinguished. Metternich endeavoured, but in vain to crush it ; on every occasion it burst forth, and led to the complications and disturbances of these past years. The Union movement has its source from traditions of the old Empire, from community of language, habits and customs; it had been prepared by literature, poetry, and the intellectual movement of the Universities; it fer- 7 98 CHAPT. IV. mented gradually, but finally became a febrile excitement for liberty and reform; the feeling universally prevailed that in her disjointed state Germany, surrounded as she is by powerful neigh- bors , could never be true to herself so long as dissension and jealousy existed in her interior relations; after years of uneasiness and excite- ment , she has now found her level beside the great powers of Europe, as has been aptly said, "At Sadowa, they decapitated the Hydra". To cast another glance back at 1815, the movement which then took place led to the vo- luntary conception of constitutions, on the part of the princes, as a concession to their peoples, a concession arbitrary it is true, but from which the people had a right of appeal; a great step gained for them from the abject dependence upon the will of their liege lords in the last century. The demand for constitutions finally merged into absurdities, bringing to light pretensions, like that of Lichtenstein for example, whose whole area is but two miles square, with a population of barely five thousand souls. It became a great joke after the late Prussian invasion, and the triumph at Koeniggratz, that the men of Lich- THE MINOR COURTS OF GERMANY. 99 tenstein marched valiantly forward to defy the conquering Goliath! The insurrections of 1830 tore the veil that had covered many abuses. The constant dis- content ; the constant wavering to and fro, like a troubled sea, demanded a remedy; there remained but one, the subjugation of territory, and Prussia has had the courage to adopt it; every thing was carried with a high hand, and now, the paraphar- nalia of courts, the chaunt of poets, will resound with the watchword "Union"; religious and lit- erary education will sound the same note; such is the future reliance of Germany; submission is ever hard to bear, but if universal good is to accrue from it, the reward is close at hand. 7* CHAPTER V. COURT CHRONICLES. But Man , proud Man, Drest in a little brief authority, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven As makes the Angels weep. Measure for Measure. 1 his page of History is not often read, most of it belongs to the scandalous records of courts, but without wading through that mire, I will here transcribe facts gathered from a German historian who in short space gives all that is necessary to know in order to form an estimate of the period. The degraded state of morality, and the licence of the French court during the reign of Louis XV. had diffused its example more or less, over all the courts of Europe; where French manners, COURT CHRONICLES. 101 French scepticism, and French depravity, became the mode, and shed a moral leprosy on all those chosen sons of earth, whose clay is made of finer stuff than the pottery we call "the people", what in the days we speak of was known as canaille. "The greasy rank scented many". The exqui- sitely refined taste and elegance of the French, threw a veil of glitter over depravity which dis- guised it in part; but not so when engrafted on foreign stocks, where it shewed itself barefaced, coarse, and vulgar. In Germany French taste was everywhere paramount. In Bavaria our histo- rian tells us, "The Elector entirely perverted by French courtiers, used that language altogether, was surrounded by dancing girls, and singers, and practised every vice. His consort Theresa Cunigunda, daughter of Sobieski the noble king of Poland, became so disgusted with the licen- ciousness of her husband's court, that she retired and became a devotee. In order to escape the reproaches of his subjects, the Elector on his quality of stadtholder of the Netherlands, resided at Brussels, where in one continued maze of pleasure he lavished enormous sums wrung by tripled taxes from his Bavarian people. He kept 102 CHAPT. V. twelve hundred horses, and mistresses without number. In fact "kept every thing but the ten commandments", as a witty friend of mine once said, speaking of a rake. It was entirely owing to his disloyalty, and the treacherous diversion induced by him in the rear of the Imperial army, that France was not completely beaten in the war of the Succession, and his close alliance with France gave the lead to all the princes of Western Germany. He was succeeded by his son Charles Albert who was equally a slave to luxury. Besides horses and mistresses, he kept immense numbers of dogs. Keyssler who visited Bavaria in 1732, wrote a very interesting book in which he gives the following account, "The Electoress Maria Amelia, a little and delicate lady, shoots well at a mark, and often wades up to her knees in a bog, whilst following the chase. Her dress is a green coat and trowsers, and a little white peruke. She has a great fondness for dogs, which is plainly evident at Nymphenburg by the bad smell of the red damask beds, and the carpets. The little English greyhounds are most valued, and when the Electoress sits at table she has one COURT CHRONICLES J 03 on each side of her, who snap at every morsel she eats. Near her hed a dog has a little tent with a cushion. There is a couch for a dog close by the Elector's bed, and in the cabinet adjoining couches for twelve more. The Electoress be- coming jealous of her husband's mistresses, there ensued a great quarrel, in which he gave her a drubbing with his own hand". Here closes my informer's account of this delectable society. The dog episode was accor- ding to the taste of the times. I remember a de- scription ot the person of Henry III. of France when he appeared all perfumed and rouged, and curled, elaborately dressed, with a small basket suspended by a ribbon about his neck, filled with little dogs, which he was wont to amuse himself fondling. The description of his chamber and private rooms was pretty much the same as that of the Electoress of Bavaria, corresponding also with those of Charles I. of England. Speaking of this weakness for animals, Lady Morgan relates an amusing trait of it in more modern days, which makes a pendant to the foregoing. "The first time we dined with the Archbishop of Taranto at Naples, he said to me, 104 CHAPT. V. you must pardon my passion for cats, but I never exclude them from my dining room, and you will find they make excellent company. So between the first and second courses, several large and very beautiful Angora cats were introduced under the names of Desdemona, Othello, Pantaleone, &c. They took their places on chairs near the table, and were as silent and quiet as the strictest London bon ton would require. On the Arch- bishop's requesting one of his chaplains to help the signora Desdemona to something, the butler stepped up to his lordship and observed, "The Desdemona prefers waiting for the roasts". After dinner they were taken out on the terrace to amuse themselves, and later all of them slept in the bishop's dressing room, on cushions prepared for them. The Archbishop of Taranto so well known in Italy as the author of many clever books, has written one also on Cats, considered very ingenious and clever". To return to the manners and customs of courts during the past century, not an agreeable picture surely, but one from which ne must derive instruction. Depravity among the great had reached its acme; reaction is the law of all things; COURT CHRONICLES. 105 the alarm note was sounded , and through the horrors of the French revolution, and the sub- sequent remodelling of society , a new order of things sprung up. Nations now ; are distinguished by their people; monarchs seem to me now adays like sign -boards to an Inn, they give their name to it ; but it is mine host below , and his subalterns who govern and regulate the affairs, of "the Emperor of Austria", or "The King of Ba- varia", and the rest of them. The imperious declaration of Louis XIV. "Fetat, c'est moi", has dwindled into an absurdity. One smiles now at the pomposity of the u Grand Monarque" ', whose personal diminutiveness had to be helped out by high -heeled shoes, and alonge perruques, where curls on curls heaped high upon the brow, were calculated to add dignity of sta- ture to the king; and so it came about that both short and tall, in all civilized Europe, must needs encumber their heads with that monstrosity, and become Great! In the following reign, the top knots came down, and the grandeur too somewhat; the wigs now only presented large rolls of hair over the ears, known as cannons; the voluminous curls that 106 CHAPT. V. once fell over the shoulders, were condensed into the thing known as a club, and later into the little rat -tail queue. The successor of Louis le Grand pronoun- ced also his famous saying, when warned of the dangers of the state, "cela durera autant que moi". And so it came to pass, the great collapse ensued, shaking kings and thrones to their very base, crowned heads now appear au naturel, and have learnt they are but men. Baden offers some strange historical reminis- cences. The city of Carlsruhe a dull sort of a place which I visited some years ago, and which is now the capital of Baden, owes its origin to the caprice of one of its princes about the year 1715. This Margrave Charles built a hunting seat in the forest, called the retreat, "Charles' rest" (Karls-Ruhe). In imitation of the celebrated park au cerfs of Louis XV. He kept there an hun- dred and sixty garden nymphs, who bore him a countless number of children. When he travelled he was accompanied by girls disguised as Hei- COURT CHRONICLES. 107 ducks. This disreputable hunting lodge became in time the nucleus of a new city ; and the streets radiate from it in the shape of a fan. The scan- dal caused by the Margrave's conduct induced him to reduce his establishment, and he confined the number of his beauties to sixty , whom he shut up in the great leaden tower which forms the handle of the fan. It is from the summit of this tower, known as the Bleythurm, that you ob- tain a view of the singular plan on which Carls- ruhe is constructed. The town is nearly sur- rounded by forests through which avenues radiate, and beyond, are seen the wanderings of the Rhine, the distant glimpses of the Voges mountains, and the picturesque outline of the Black Forest. Stultz the tailor who was monarch of the London world of fashion some forty years ago, he who alone had the art of confining within elegant dimensions the exuberance of the prince Regent's form, he who stultified all England, and produced that race called "dandies", which has died out; well this immortal Stultz, founded here in this his native town, a hospital which he endowed with a hundred thousand florins, and was in consequence 108 CHAPT. V. honored with the title of Baron. Tell us after that if "l'habit ne fait pas Thorn me". The last part of the eighteenth century pro- duced too a strange growth of women ; with good capacities, but finding no proper, or rational vent for their minds, they diverged into a thousand eccentricities to employ their faculties, the fashion of which was adopted by others , and so have been left here, in Germany particulary, monu- ments of follies and extravagancies among high born ladies, which, though more innocent than the amusements of their liege lords, certainly helped to drain the government exchequer, with very little profit accruing. Among such is the country- house near Baden, known as the "Favorita", built by the Margravine Sibylla. It was furnished in a tawdry style according to the taste of the times, now dilapidated. She was a great beauty in her day, and left here in her boudoir sixty likenesses of herself, in every variety of costume. There is also a collection of those Delft curiosities then in vogue, which were used to ornament dining rooms, and kitchens; for fancy kitchens were then in- cluded in these frieks of extravagance, with tables and dressers, on which were displayed, now a COURT CHRONICLES. 109 platter on which a red lobster sprawled; another with a cabbage done to the life*, a fish, a roasted chicken, all wrought in Delft ware, exhibited for the benefit of visitors; shelves crowded with pots, pans, and platters, of the same, not rising to the dignity of Old China however, which has its his- tory and a name. A word more on this Margravine Sibylla; in the garden of this her "Favorita", she erected a chapel of most extraordinary form, in which she did penance for her sins, whatever they might have been. In a chamber designedly gloomy she passed most of her days and nights in the latter part of her life, inflicting upon herself all kinds of penalties and mortifications. Here are shewn the hair-shirt she wore next her skin, a scourge of whip -cord with iron wire points, with which she disciplined herself. Her bed was only a rush- mat laid on the floor, her only companions two wooden figures as large as life, of the Virgin and St. John. These were her guests ; with these she sat down to table ; the food was divided into three portions, and their share ofterwards was given to the poor. 110 CHAPT. V. Directly one would set all this down as de- rangement had there not survived even, to the day I am writing, relicts of those eccentric beings, who between ninety and a hundred, have brought such singularities even before my eyes, and of whom I will speak later. Turn we now to Wurtemberg, all modelled on the same French pattern, miserable degrada- tion all, one wearies of the theme. The historian from whom I derive my in- formation carries back the history of this court to the period of Louis XIV. conquests, and the shameful taking of Strassburg. While the Duke of Wurtemberg went to Paris to pay his respects to the French monarch, the general of the latter, plundered his kingdom. Unroused by such un- heard of insolence, the princes of Wurtemberg continued to patronize every thing French, and in the absence of native nobles, who had retired in disgust, foreigners were attracted to the court to heighten its splendor. It was in this manner that Mademoiselle Gravenitz, and her brother COUET CHRONICLES. HI came from Mecklenburg to Stuttgart, evidently for a purpose. Their end was soon gained, and the duke scandalised the public by marrying the Gravenitz, though he had a wife already. The Emperor insisted the woman should be sent off, to which the duke consented only upon condition that the Provincial Estates gave her a sum of two hundred thousand florins by way of compen- sation. Hardly did he have the money in hand, when the Gravenitz returned under the name of Wurben, a count of that name having been in- duced to marry her for a consideration, and who, after being created Grand provisional governor of Wurtemberg, was sent out of the country. His wife, the Grand provisional governess remained however, and for twenty years governed the duke, and the country in his name. Her brother figured as prime minister, and as she furnished the court of Vienna with money, and Prussia now and then with giants for the army, she was in a manner protected by foreign powers. She was called, and with truth, "the de- stroyer of the country", for she sold offices and justice, commuted all punishments by fine, ex- torted money by threats, bestowed the most im- 112 CHAPT. V. portant commercial monopolies on Jews, mort- gaged and sold the crown lands, &c. She ma- naged the duke's treasury, and her own. His was ever empty, hers was always full; she lent the duke money, and he repaid her in lands. By means of spies, a strict police, and the violation of private correspondence, she managed to sup- press the murmurs of the people. Osiander the churchman, alone had the courage to reply on her demanding to be included in the prayers of the church, "Madame, we pray daily: Lord preserve us from evil". It was forbidden under pain of punishment to speak ill of her. The pro- princial Estates wishing to defend themselves against the enormous exactions, the duke threa- tened the "individuals" in case the Assembly any longer opposed his views. On the increasing discontent of the people and of the Estates, the duke quitted Stuttgart, and erected a new residence, Ludwigsburg, at an immense expense. On laying the foundation stone of this palace, he caused such an enormous quantity of bread to be thrown to the assembled multitude, that several people came near being crushed to death under it. The general want in- COURT CHRONICLES. 113 creased, and in 1717 the first great emigration to North America took place. The countess at length demanded as her right, as possessor of the lordship of Wetzheim, a vote, and a seat ; on the Franconian bench of counts of the Empire , which being granted to her brother in her stead, a great quarrel ensued, and he took part with her enemies against her. Success too had made her insolent towards the Duke ; her youth and beauty had long since passed away, and on the presentation of the countess Wittgenstein, her influence entirely vanished; she was imprisoned and deprived of her immense demesnes. On the death of the Duke she lost also part of her ill-gotten wealth, and the Jew Suss, privately robbed her. So fared Wurtemberg at the commencement of the last century, and succeeding Grand dukes did not do much better for the happiness of their people. To the Graevenitz succeeded the Jew Suss, to whom was intrusted the helm of state, and who shamelessly robbed the country." Enough has now been said to shew upon what foundation court habits were formed. Better times awaited the oppressed people, but it was 114 CHAPT. V. only in 1789, that prince Charles Frederick abo- lished villanage, which still existed in certain parts of his domains At Eutingen a small pyra- mid has been erected by the villagers, to comme- morate the fact. Before this date the peasantry were serfs, bought and sold with the land, and obliged to work a certain number of days for their landlords. Wurtemberg was made a kingdom by Na- poleon. It is the most densely populated state in Germany. Agriculture is its chief source of wealth, it produces wine to the value of upwards of three million of florins annually. The timber of the Black forest is sent down the Rhine into Holland for ship building purposes ; enormous rafts guided by a dozen men or more, are constantly seen upon the river at certain seasons. A hut in the centre serves for sleeping accomodation, and a cooking stove sends up its fumes into the open air. How often have I imagined the poetical luxury of such a voyage down the Rhine; smile at it who may. The freedom from all restraint, the clear open view on all sides, and above all the silence to enjoy nature and your own impressions. The rapidity suffices all moderate desire of speed ; COURT CHRONICLES. 115 the strength of the current carries you onward. I wonder no "eccentric" Englishman has ever thought of it. To avoid those nasty little stuffy steam boats, where the passenger luggage is al- ways heaped up in a mass just in the midst, and the passengers sit in two lines facing each other on deck, with their backs to the shores; a po- sitive bodily effort required every time you pass some favourite point, and an eternal smell of hot grease from the engine ! To rid oneself of all this, to be alone with the elements, to see where, "The river nobly foams and flows The charm of this enchanted ground, And all its thousand turns disclose Some fresher beauty varying round." To be alone upon the Rhine, no pushing, no staring, no hot vapor, it would be an enchant- ment, this voyage upon a raft. The next German court which our historian dwells upon, commencing at the same period, is Hanover, whose story is quite if not more re- plete with specimens of French morality. I will 116 CHAPT. V. 4 transcribe it verbatim. "The first Elector of Han- over Ernest Augustus who suddenly restored the power of the divided and immoral Guelphic house, was not free from the faults of the age. Although champion of the honor of Germany, he was the slave of French fashions. Unprincipled and licen- tious, faithless and ungrateful to his noble con- sort Sophia, in whose right his son mounted the throne of Great Britain, he built „Montbrillant" for his mistress the countess of Killmansegge, and "The Fantaisie" for the other, the countess Platen. His Italian chapel director, Stephani, con- trolled the government. His neglected consort Sophia, a woman of high intelligence, consoled herself by patronizing men of letters, among whom conspicuously stood Leibnitz', the greatest genius of his day. Her son George married a near relative, Sophia Dorothea, daughter of the last duke of Celle; she became enamoured of a count Koenigs- mark, and prepared to fly with him, and turn catholic. The plan was discovered; the count was beheaded, and she was imprisoned for life. COUET CHEONICLES. 117 The Elector was not so severe in his own personal experiences, he kept numerous mistresses, particulary Irmengarde Melusina von Schulenburg who gained such undisputed sway over him, that he took her to England when he ascended that throne, created her duchess of Kendal, and in- duced the Emperor to bestow upon her the title of Eberstein, which made her a princess of the Empire. He devoted himself completely to the interests of Great Britain; Hanover became only a province of the same, but the absence of the prince afforded no alleviation to the burthens of the people. The Electoral household was kept up on its usual footing, for the purpose of im- posing upon the multitude, and affording lucra- tive offices for the nobility. The palace bore no evidence of being deserted, except for the ab- sence of the Elector himself, not a courtier, not a single gold -laced lackey was wanting to com- plete the court. The courtiers assembled every Sunday in the Electoral palace. In the hall of Assembly stood an arm - chair on which the por- trait of the sovereign was placed. Each courtier on entering bowed low to this portrait, and for about an hour the company remained conversing 118 CHAPT. V. in low tones as if in the presence of royalty; then a splendid repast at the Elector's expense was announced." Meanwhile the Hanoverian diet merely vege- tated; arbitrary laws depressed the people, and Munchhausen the patriotic govenor, alone shewed some interest in the state ; it was he who founded the university of Gottingen. Brunswick and Mecklenburg also gave them- selves up to the scandalous fashions of the day. Leopold von Dessau was the only one of the fallen princes of the house of Anhalt who earned distinction. He reformed the Prussian army, introduced the use of metal ramrods, and the rapid movement of closed columns, and pre- pared Prussia for the great part she was to per- form on the theatre of war in Europe. He was the darling of the soldiery , and the „ Dessau march", long after his time, led the Prussians on to Victory. He was extremely rough in his man- ners, a drunkard, and tyranized over the people of Dessau, but he made an excellent husband to a young girl he had married for love, Anna Louisa Fohse, an apothecary's daughter who, re- cognized by the Emperor, bore him ten children. COURT CHRONICLES. 119 If we turn to the memoirs of Wilhelmina Margravine ofBaireuth, which, though written in a frivolous style , convey a complete idea of the pomp and poverty combined of the smaller courts, we find that of her father-in-law for example described; there the suits of rooms were thread- bare and frouzy, which they appropriated for her use, and there at the ceremonious repasts, when a royal health was drunk, it was responded to by a salvo of cannon without, and a clashing of cymbals within. The fashion existed in Baireuth as elsewhere , to erect magnificent residences, costing enormous sums wrung from the people, and which the revenues of the state did not warrant. A slight glimpse at the courts of the Prince Bishops at the period, will terminate the list. These Ecclesiastics emulated the temporal princes in luxury and licence. Clement of Cologne, brother to the Elector of Bavaria, had fixed his voluptuous court at Bonn. Here French alone was spoken, and luxury was carried to such a height, that even during 120 CHAPT. V. Lent there were no fewer than twenty dishes upon the Archiepiscopal table. He had a hundred and thirty five chamber- lains, and passed the greater part of his time at Paris, where he associated with the licentious courtier s, and conducted himself in such a manner as to excite the astonishment even of the French themselves. The city of Cologne was completely ruined under his administration; the industrious manufacturers and traders were driven by reli- gious persecution to seek refuge in the neigh- boring towns, till at length Cologne was inhabited mostly by monks and beggars. The bishops to whom the venerable episcopal cities and cathedrals offered a silent reproof, with- drew into more modern residences, where they could revel in luxury and display. Bonn, Bruch- sal and Dillingen, severally offered a voluptuous retreat to the Archbishops of Cologne, Spires, and Augsburg. John, bishop of Wurtzburg, held an extremely splendid court. His palace and grounds were built on the plan of Versailles, and even up to the present day, are objects of admiration. He COURT CHRONICLES. 121 was also bishop of Bamberg, where he held a separate court and entertained thirty chamberlains. Father Horn who ventured to preach against ecclesiastical luxury and licence , was imprisoned in a dungeon at Wurtzburg, for twenty years, until death released him in 1750. The Archbishop of Salzburg had twenty three chamberlains, and owned the chateaux of Mira- bella, Klesheim and Hellbrunn, with gardens, temples, fountains, grottoes, statues of naked nymphs, menageries, orangeries, and every luxury. This example was followed by numerous Ab- bots, and prelates of every description. They paraded in gilt carriages drawn by six horses, Heiducks standing behind, footmen run- ning before, followed by a train of gay cavaliers. They chased the Boar in their forests, or lounged with their mistresses in their luxurious boudoirs. The depravity of the women in all the Episcopal demesnes, had become proverbial. Facts like these, which present the manners and spirit of the age, suggest reflections unnecessary for the writer to express. That vast question which ab- sorbs all minds at the present era, the question of power and justice, is near its solution. This 1 22 CHAPT. V. recital of facts however superficial , must lead one to the conclusion, that the order of society and morality, with the sense of right, have made giant strides, and from the vicissitudes and cala- mities of the past, civilization has emerged upon the present, unshackled by the manifold restric- tions of petty power, and narrow views, and with still nobler aspirations glowing on its future. Taken from a higher point of view, there is al- ways a moral sentiment pervading human nature, calling for the necessity of amelioration, deeply planted in man's heart by the hand of God; it fructifies silently but surely, and at particular epochs evinces itself; it has germinated even under the blight of moral depravity, and under the iron tramp of war, crushed but not killed. Enough has now been said to shew the state of things in Germany during the last century. The first glimpse presents inexplicable con- fusion. Thirty or more small sovereigns, little and big; free cities, prince prelates, absolute monarchs; one is at first confounded with the extraordinary mixture of names and things, each one only look- ing to his own particular interests, an Empire in name, but made of disjointed parts agreeing in COURT CHRONICLES. 123 nothing but a servile adulation of France, and imitation of its depravity. At length came the remedy. Napoleon by his conquest overthrew all feudal rights, and antiquated customs. He broke down the old wall of habits which the petty so- vereigns had erected about them, he trampled upon prejudices, he ridiculed ideas already be- come obsolete in France, he tyranized, but he reformed. CHAPTER VI. THE WASUNGER WAR. But truce with Kings and truce with constitutions, With bloody armaments and revolutions, Let Majesty your first attention summon, Ah, ca ira, The Majesty of woman ! Burns. It has been averred that never was mischief brewed, without a woman's being at the bottom of it; I cannot vouch for the fact, I know that when Eve made all that mischief about the apple, the nobler sex, after helping to eat it, cast all the blame upon the woman, which though it be a trait true to human nature, is a very mean one. The Wasunger war had no very terrible conse- quences but is amusing as developing the state of feeling in the small states during the past century. THE WASUNGER WAR. 125 The Duke of Sax Meiningen had made a mes- alliance, and the princes of his house would not recognize his children as legitimate heirs; morti- fied and chagrined he never would live on his estates of Meiningen, but passed his married life partly in Amsterdam, and later in Franckfort; the duchess was lovely, and worthy in every respect, but her father was only a Hessian cap- tain; the Duke who was deeply attached to her, resented openly the pretensions of the lower no- bility, who were more virulent in their demon- strations than those of higher rank, and after the death of his wife, it was quite in accordance with his character, to display his hatred when opportu- nity offered. In the royal palace at Meiningen, the Frau Landj agermeisterin (wife of the Grand Master of the chase), Christiane Auguste von Gleichen, held the highest rank. Among the other ladies who had a right to be there, was a Frau von Pfaffenrath, born countess Solrns, but as yet only the wife of a counsellor, who had but just been ennobled, and to whom she had not been married in a very regular way; her husband had been tutor in her father's house; she had eloped with 126 CHAPT. VI. him, and after many troubles had become recon- ciled with her mother, and obtained a diploma of nobility for her husband. Now the Duke residing at Franckfort protected her, because as it was then whispered, her sister was in his good graces. Naturally she ought only to have rank according to her husband's patent, but she placed herself by right of birth, on a footing with the high nobility. Therefore in October 1746, when the doors of the dining room were to be opened, and the page was standing ready to repeat grace, the master of the horse entered, and said to the Frau Landjagermeisterin, "His most serene Highness has commanded that the Frau von Pfaffenrath shall take rank before all other ladies." Frau von Gleichen answered she never would consent to that, but the Frau von Pfaffenrath had placed herself so favourably that she managed to take precedence of the Frau Landjagermeisterin before she could prevent it. Yet, this determined lady was far from submitting tamely. She hast- ened round the table to the Duke's cabinet mi- nister, and declared to him, as became a woman of spirit, after such an insult, "if Frau von Pfaffen- rath again goes before me to table, I will pull THE WASUNGER WAR. 127 her back even to the sacrifice of her hooped gown, and will say a few words which will be very disagreeable for her to hear." The cabinet minister was in great embarrassment, for he was aware of the violent character of the Frau von Gleichen ; at last he advised her to rise from table before the grace, then she would at all events go out first, and gain the precedence. Thus the Landjagermeisterin maintained her place, but she was much offended, and the whole court split into two parties. This lady's quarrel made a commotion in the holy Roman Empire, occasioned a campaign between Gotha and Meiningen, and was only ended by Frederick the Great in a manner which reminds one of the Lion's feast, who took the best share for himself. Frau von Gleichen appealed to the absent Duke, and received an ungracious answer; irri- tated, she put in circulation an anonymous letter in which she maliciously exposed all the love affairs of the countess. The Frau von Pfaffenrath entered a complaint against this Lampoon, and instituted proceedings against the Gleichen, which even in those days were deemed cruel; she was called upon to crave pardon on her knees; she 128 CHAPT. VI. answered ; "she would die first"; whereupon she was taken in arrest to the council house , and there guarded by two Musketeers; her husband also was put into prison. She wrote a letter to the Duke petitioning for her husband's release, and her own dismissal from the court; all this was denied her. On the contrary she was con- ducted into the chamber of the Pfaffenrath, in order to beg pardon, and when she again refused, was led to the market place under escort of a band of musketeers, and there the sheriff read aloud a decree, proclaiming the lampoon should be burnt by the hangman before the people, under the eyes of the Landjagermeisterin, and every one was forbidden on pain of six weeks imprisonment, and a fine of one hundred dollars, to speak on the subject; then Frau von Gleichen was taken back to prison. The Gleichen's appealed to the Imperial court, which ordered the Duke of Meiningen to set them free. No notice was taken of this decree; upon which the Duke of Gotha was commissioned by this same tribunal to pro- tect Frau von Gleichen and her husband from further violence. This created between Meiningen and Gotha great bitterness of feeling, and end- THE WASUNOER WAR. i29 less quarrels, and the struggle which took place thereupon. In the centre of Germany, in the Thuringen states, this is known by the name of the Was- unger War. In a military point of view, it is of no importance, but is characteristic of the period. All the misery in the German Empire, the decaying state of the Burgher life, the coarse immorality of the politics of that time, the mean- nesses, pedantry, and helplessness of the Imperial army, are shewn to such an extent, they might become a source of amusement if they did not give rise to a better feeling, Pity. — During the period the war lasted, the Duke of Weimar died, leaving the guardianship of his son to Gotha. This led to new complications, and Gotha being pushed to extremities appealed to the king of Prussia for help, which was granted on condition that two hundred picked men from the Weimar guard, should be made over to his army, and so the Wasunger strife was settled by men being chaffered away like a flock of sheep. Such is one of the pictures of German life which I have transcribed from Freytag's book, treating of such subjects, and which he gathered 9 130 OH APT. VI. from documents written at the period , in good faith, and which at the present day have become curious lore, and proof of the weakness and in- stability of a house divided against itself, as was the much magnified German Empire. These chapters being written as supplements to the "Impressions of Germany", I am induced to repeat here an episode bearing upon the article "Vienna", which has lately come under my eye, and which has its bearings upon the subject just treated , the exposition of the miserable state of the European courts during the past century. The beautiful young Archduchess Josepha> daughter of the Empress Maria Theresa, was be- trothed to Ferdinand IV., King of Naples, a youth of seventeen. Her nerv r ous antipathy to the match was evident, but the Empress unused to opposi tion from her children, enforced obedience. Be- fore leaving Vienna the young princess was obli- ged by her mother's order to descend into the THE WASUNGER WAR. 131 Imperial vault, and perform her devotions at the tomb of her father; there she was seized with a fainting fit, carried home, the small pox proclaimed itself 7 and she died. Sir William Hamilton then resident at the court of Naples, gives some graphic pictures of things that happened there; he says, "no Euro- pean sovereign has been so ill educated as this prince; he is master of no language, and the Italian which he speaks, is the commonest dialect of the people. It is true he understands French, and when indispensable can make himself under- stood with difficulty. Ferdinand indeed never reads, and looks upon a rainy day as the grea- test of misfortunes, because it prevents his fol- lowing the chase. On such occasions recourse is had to every expedient which can be discovered to kill time, in order to dissipate his Majesty's ennui ; even to the most puerile and childish pas- times. Betrothed to the Archduchess Josepha who was represented as charming in person, as well as in disposition, he awaited her arrival with im- patience, and when the fatal news came that she was dead, he shewed as much feeling as could be looked for from a person of his mean capacity, 132 OHAPT. VI. for a person lie had never seen; but what con- siderably augmented his chagrin on the occasion was, its being considered indispensable he should desist from his usual diversion of hunting or fishing, on the day the news reached Naples. Ferdinand reluctantly submitted to such an unu- sual renunciation of his pleasures, but having yielded from a sense of decorum, immediately set about endeavouring to amuse himself within doors ; in the best manner circumstances would admit; an attempt aided by the gentlemen in waiting about his person. They began therefore with billiards, a game which his Majesty likes, and which he plays with skill. When they had con- tinued this some time, leap-frog was proposed, to which succeeded various feats of agility. At length one of the gentlemen, more ingenious than the others, proposed they should celebrate the funeral of the Archduchess. The proposal far from shocking the King, appeared to him, as well as to the rest of the campany, most entertaining, and no reflections either on the indecorum , or want of apparent humanity in the proceeding, interposed to prevent its immediate realization. Having selected one of the chamberlains remar- THE WASUNGER WAR. 133 kable for his youth and beauty, to represent the Princess, they habited him in a manner sui- table for the mournful occasion; laid him out on an open bier ; according to the fashion of Neapo- litan interments, and in order to render the cere- mony more appropriate, as well as more accura- tely correct, they marked his face and hands with drops of chocolate, designed to imitate the pustu- les of the small pox. All the apparatus being completed, the funeral procession began, and pro- ceeded through the different apartments of the palace at Portici, Ferdinand officiating as chief mourner." Sir Win. Hamilton goes on to say, that having heard of the Archduchess' death he had proceeded to the palace to offer his condo- lence in private to the King, and was witness to the above extraordinary spectacle which, he re- marks, "in any other Country in Europe would be considered impossible, and beyond belief." Not so with us at the present day, who can look down upon the great Diorama of the last century presenting one after the other scenes and achieve- ments among the rulers of nations, that we would recoil at seeing enacted now in the meanest Bur- gher's domicile. The moral pestilence had reached 134 CHAPT, VI. its acme; thrones had become but whitened se- pulcres, all rottenness within, the awful revolution that shook France to its centre, like a volcano sent its shocks over the length and breadth of Europe, the revulsion we live to witness. CHAPTER VII. OLD DRESDEN Grim visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front; And now-instead of mounting barbed steeds, To fright the souls of fearful adversaries — He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber To the lascivious pleasing f a lute. Vt hile the lesser sovereigns were thus dis- playing their follies and vices, Saxony was not behind hand in extravagance and depravity, the only difference was, this last did things on a scale of magnificence, astounding men's minds, and disguising in part, the vice that suggested it. The world knew the king of Saxony had the Freiberg silver mines to back him, and they were believed inexhaustible. I have alluded in rav 136 CHAPT. VII. former volume to these reigns of Augustus the Strong ; and his son and successor Augustus the III., and of the prince minister Bruhl's rapacity. French luxury was so important to the well being of these, that even the latter sent to Paris for all the pastry and confections served at his table, and his wardrobe Was furnished from there with every article. The richness of his attire exceeded that of the King himself; he had every thing by hundreds, such as shoes, &c. and a cabinet tilled with peruques. This superfluity of peruques might seem too great an absurdity, did not one know that besides the fashion of covering the head with one, as a daily habit, there were constantly mas- querades, fetes, carousals, going on, in which the whole court took a part in various costumes, making the country to resemble a great theatre. In 1728 the King of Prussia, Frederick William, came to Dresden on a visit, accompanied by his son the crown prince, afterwards Frederick the Great. On this occasion the palace was me- tamorphosed into an Hotel, (Gasthof) under the name of the " White Eagle", and all the court appeared in appropriate characters. The King himself as host, twenty four of the principal la- OLD DRESDEN. 137 dies and gentlemen of the court dressed as wai- ters , and chambermaids , cooks and houseknights. Four companies of peasants, each numbering six pair, French, Italian, Mountain peasants (the lace makers), and Norwegians, were headed by count Flemming and his wife ; to these the crown prince of Prussia joined himself as first peasant. A peasant wedding was celebrated, in which the court poet performed the part of bridegroom, and amused the company with verses adapted to the occasion. The dancing, music, and above all the eating, completed the remainder of the entertain- ment. The list of food consumed, is so enormous that we may well infer that the stewarts of the King's household followed the example of his minister, and mistresses, who openly robbed the country. On this occasion the amount of wine con- sumed was, 2266 flasks of Tokay, 800 flasks of Burgundy, 250 Champagne, 4000 gallons of Rhine wine, not to speak of beer and landwine amoun- ting to several thousand gallons. Perhaps we might be able to believe the truth of this consumption of liquors, since it was the fashion of the day to drink deep, but as the same enormous provision of eatables is mentioned, 138 OHAPT. VII. we must infer that the Germans possessed as in- finite a power of digestion, as they had of suction. Think of 15 Deer, 8 wild Boar, 300 pheasants, 400 partridges, 2 oxen, 50 tongues, 300 capons, 150 young chickens, 9000 fresh oysters, and a wonderful list more, not worth repeating, but all in proportion to the above, and you will have some idea what a peasants wedding at "The White Eagle", cost. In reading these old chronicles, and looking back to the childish follies of a hundred years ago, we cannot but be astounded at the wonder- ful change society has undergone. Kings have descended to a level with other mortals. No longer are their visits hailed with salvos of can- non, and a royal guard to accompany them, or an excited rabble crowding to see the pageant. Many sovereigns have visited Dresden during my residence here, and hardly was one aware when they came oir went. A private rail -road con- veyance brings them, a few royal carriages carry the king and princes to welcome them, and ac- company them to the palace, where they remain one, two or three days enjoying hospitality quietly ; perhaps are seen in the royal box at the theatre, OLD DRESDEN. 139 where they come in and out without ceremony, Russia, Austria, Prussia, and various minor princes have been here and gone again, with no more display than a few extra carriages and four. Er- mined velvet robes, and gold crowns and scep- ters, remain alone for the dignitaries of the stage : and the gentlemen in plain uniforms, who sit in the royal state box there above them, must be pleased to feel themselves rid of those inter- minable trappings, the fashion of which was set by King David, or Solomon. In 1807 a remnant of past grandeur was exhibited in Dresden on the occasion of Napo- leon's first visit. He came dashing up as far as the town walls in a carriage drawn by eight horses; all the bells were set ringing, and a sa- lute of many cannon tired; a line of life guards- men extended from the palace to the Elbe bridge, across, and up the avenue of the Neue Stadt, where the line Avas extended by the brigades of prince Maximilian, as far as the " Black Grate", (Schwarzes Thor), where a state carriage and eight black Neapolitan horses awaited the Em- peror. The hurras and vivats rent the air from 140 CHAPT. VII. an assembled multitude, whose voices drowned the military music! At the Schloss, Napoleon was received and presented to all the royal family, The next day he visited the fortifications, and in church a grand Te Deum was sung, amidst a salvo of cannon. At night a great illumination; triumphal arches and obelisks, in honor of "Napoleoni Magno, Vic- tori, Pacificatori". After two or three days had passed examin- ing the museums and collections of Dresden, the Emperor departed for Meissen, amidst the clangor of bells and cannon again repeated. Such was the first transit of this great luminary over the disk of poor little Saxony, and well did she even- tually pay for her allegiance to France. On the Emperor's second visit 1812, he brought with him his newly made wife Marie Louise. The King and Queen of Saxony went as far as Frei- berg to meet them. The Emperor had one hun- dred and seventy seven persons in his suite, among whom were most of his distinguished ge- nerals: Berthier, Murat, Bessieres, Duroc &c. and a number of titled dignitaries of state; they all entered Dresden in the midst of a clashing of OLD DRESDEN. 141 town bells ; and cannon; and the next day a Te Deum, and more cannon; and the day after, the Emperor and Empress of Austria arrived as in- vited guests ; more cannon ; then the crown prince of Prussia; more cannon. Then came a grand ceremonial dinner where nobles served, and Em- perors eat off gold plate ; and the royal chapel musicians performed. Then fanciful illuminations, with great obelisks of lights, and the Initials of the two Emperors in letters of fire. Next evening an entertainment at the theatre, called "the temple of the Sun". The scene pre- sented a landscape, and the Temple of the Sun in full view, upon which was inscribed, "di lui men grande e men chiaro il sole". (The sun is less great and less brilliant than he.) It seems hardly credible that obsequience could bow so low before mortal man, in days when the spirit of liberty bad been roused, and the people had begun to feel they too were men in the sight of God; yet it was so. The little Corsican was placed upon a pedestal, "and the people sat down to eat, and rose up to play", he was the idol of the hour. This reminds me of an anecdote I read somewhere, of the ambassador 142 oh apt. vi r. of Louis XIV. who gave as a toast at a banquet, where were present the representatives of Eng- land and Holland, "Le grand monarque, the sun, whose brilliancy pervades the whole earth, eclip- sing all others". The Dutch ambassador gathered up what re- mained of the heavenly glories, and toasted, the united states of Holland, as, "the moon and six planets". The Englishman, not behind them, li- kened his sovereign to Joshua the son of Nun, who caused the sun and the moon to stand still. The day following, the Austrian sovereigns took their leave, and the city bells did duty again, and again the cannon roared out the old tune of ''Welcome, the coming, speed the parting guest". Another day, and the French party left for Paris, as they say, "midst a thunder of artillery and the voices of the bells". It was during this visit that Napoleon shewed such arrogance and contempt for the German princes, as to alienate even his most enthusiastic admirers: tears were seen to start in ladies eyes, and men bit their lips with rage at the humiliations heaped upon them. The Empress of Austria, and the King of Prussia felt this most bitterly. Napoleon was not OLD DRESDEN. 143 Great, he was not a true gentleman, the highest most honorable title this world knows. A man of consummate valor, and decision in war, but without the social virtues even of a soldier of fortune. Of matchless activity and boundless am- bition, but entirely selfish, cruel, and overbearing; despising those who submitted to his pretensions, and pursuing with hatred all who presumed to resist him. As a military commander, great, as a man, base. On the opening of the Russian campaign 1812, all Germany was under his con- trol ] he led an army of half a million to the frontiers , composed chiefly of Germans under French commanders , and so skilfully mixed among the French, they were not aware of their numerical superiority, there were also Portuguese, Spaniards, and Italians, who had been pressed into the service. Napoleon said at the time to a Russian, "If you lose five Russians, I lose but one Frenchman and four pigs" (cochons). The third visit of Napoleon to Dresden was after the terrible disaster in Russia, when that great army was destroyed by famine, the sword, and the horrors of the winter climate. Napoleon escaped in a sledge; he stopped a few hours in 144 CHAPT. VII. Dresden , had a conference with the King, and departed , this time silently and alone 7 reaching Paris before the news of his utter defeat. He issued a bulletin to the astonished world, telling the story of his defeat in his own arrogant man- ner, winding up with the assurance, that he never was in better health in his life. He took care not to add that of the half million of men who crossed the Russian frontier, scarce eighty thou- sand alone returned alive. "Europe proclaimed him as barbarous as Attila himself, or any Cor- sican bandit, who prompted the holocaust of half a million of men, in the disastrous Russian cam- paign; he left them to their fate. France began to feel her exhaustion (Napoleon himself said, "The revolution destroyed the clergy and the nobility, I have destroyed the Revolution"). Should he not have said "France"? The year 1813 dawned, and we lind Napo leon once more in Dresden established in head quarters, with an army of two hundred thousand men in, and about the town. Germany had been roused, the alliance between Russia and Prussia had been cemented; the poetry of the people now rang upon one theme, "the sword", and free- OLD DRESDEN. 145 dom from the tyrant's yoke. It is singular that just about this period, Goethe, Ernst Arndt, and Korner met in Dresden. Theodor Korner , a volunteer Jager, whose songs were universally sung; whose father also was a patriot; Goethe said to them pettishly, „Well, well, shake your chains, the man Na- poleon is too strong for you, you will not break them". Up to June the results of conflict had been about equal. Austria had not declared herself for either side; each was anxious to secure her, and an armistice was proposed and accepted. Napo- leon by recent victories had obliterated the me- mory of his Russian defeat; he remained still a terrible leader on German soil. The King of Saxony who had repaired to Prague, under Aus- trian protection, returned to Dresden, and was received with great magnificence by Napoleon, who did not scruple to call him "une vielle bete", behind his back! The declaration of Austria in favor of his son-in-law, was almost deemed cer- tain. The interests of Austria favored an alliance with France, but they mistrusted Napoleon, and signed a treaty with Russia and Prussia, to com- 10 146 CHAPT. VII. bine against him, unless he listened to their pro positions of peace. Thus things stood. Napoleon occupied in Dresden a villa -palace on the banks of the Elbe. It has since been changed into the city hospital in that district we now know as Friederich Stadt. Here he held a sort of court, and hither came one day count Metternich. This profound politi- cian in his silent watchings, saw the star of Na- poleon was waning; he saw the dark and threat- ning clouds upon the horizon, and chose rather to guide the coming storm, than trust a falling star. During the armistice he paid a visit to Napoleon, who surmising there was something undeveloped, said to him abruptly, "If you have come to mediate you are no longer on my side". Metternich evaded the subject, but Napoleon re- sumed in a tone of insolence, "Well, Metternich Iioav much has England given you to play this part towards me'?". This taunt towards an anta- gonist of whose superiority he was conscious, masked a deadly hate. Napoleon let his hat drop to see if Metternich would raise it, he did not, and war was resolved upon. OLD DKESDEN. 147 All the next chapter of history is well known. The Alliance , the Battle of Dresden , Napoleon's retreat to Leipzig. That battle of Nations , and Napoleon's defeat and flight: Germany was freed from foreign influence. It is a confirmed axiom that the decay of empires follows consequently upon the increase of luxury and extravagance of the people , and I could not but apply the same remark to con- querors. Confident of victory , Napoleon at last deviated from the strict military discipline he had at first enforced , and of which he had set an example in his own person; he allowed later, a vast number of attendants for the purpose of pomp and ceremony, to follow in his train; permitted his marshals the same licence until the private carriages, servants, women, &c. amounted to an incredible number, consuming provisions intended for the campaign. While at Dresden he sent to Paris for his company of comedians, among whom was the celebrated Talma. In these respects he seems with a royal crown, to have put on some of the royal follies of his predecessors. The armies of Louis XIV. and XV. were, if I may use the grandiliquous 10* 148 CHAPT. VII. language of that day, like comets, whose brilliant trails exceeded even the splendor of the planet itself. All remember the signal victory of Fre- derick the Great at Kossbach, on the fields of Leipzig. The enemy with a view of surrounding the little army of the Prussians, reduced by re- cent combats, formed a half circle; certain of victory they had brought the usual resources of amusement together, and their camp was a scene of confusion and gaiety. Of a sudden Frederick ordered his Gen. Seidlitz to dash in among them; in an instant dispersion took place, and they went flying in every direction. The scene more re- sembled a chase than a battle. The booty con- sisted chiefly of objects of boudoir luxury; an army worthy of having been moulded under the auspices of Madame de Pompadour, she who ac- companied the troops dressed as a young mus- keteer, under the wing of the marechal Richelieu who called her his elegant baggage. The extraordinary career of Napoleon, the rapid transitions that occurred during the whole period, dazzled men's minds, it was impossible to be just in the estimation of his character. Time now has mellowed all, and like Frederick the Great, OLD DKESDEN. 149 his portraiture is a fixed fact, which no one can now gainsay. A recent French writer, Mons. de Meaux, has given a most impartial sketch of the hero unhedged by prejudices, unbiassed by adu- lation to the reigning dynasty. "Ignoring alike the rights of the Christian faith and the inde- pendence of human reason, keeping the Pope in prison, and gagging the philosophers; closing monasteries in the south, and universities in the north; dethroning princes without liberating peo- ples; shaking, in order to compress, and overset- ting the world in order to enslave it, he dried up all the sources of public spirit in France, and turned against him all the currents of public feel- ing in Europe." Twice have the plains of Leipzig been wit- ness to the grand defeat of the French, and a saying is rife among the Germans that, "three times upon the plains of Leipzig will the honor of Germany triumph". The third still remains in the darkness of the future. In these old lands superstitions and prophecies yet keep their hold upon the people; they are transmitted from generation to genera- tion; with enlightenment they become feebler, 150 CHAPT. VII. still they do exist, and are believed in by the many. When any great misfortune threatens the royal Saxon family, strange sounds, neyer accoun- ted for, pervade certain parts of the palace. Last year these frightened many of the household, so said rumor, and there were those who believed it. The celebrated "White Lady", who presides over the destinies of the house of Prussia, was always seen likewise, when danger or misfortune threatened the Hohenzollern. The tradition received is, she was a countess of Orlamunde, a widow, in love with prince Al- bert of Brandenburg. She murdered her two chil- dren in hopes of removing any impediment in the way of securing his affections, but being spurned by him, died of grief in the nunnery of Him- merskrom near Baireuth. Superstitions and tra- ditions are fostered more particulary among the country people, and when occasion offers, you will be sure to hear of some wonder or prophecy transmitted to your household through the milk- woman, or the butter -man, fresh down from the mountains One night in the autumn preceding the recent Prussian invasion, the sword of the OLD DRESDEN. 151 bronze equestrian statue of Augustus the Strong, which stands in the Neue Stadt market place, fell to the ground. It was not promptly restored to his Majesty, it takes longer to do things in Saxony than elsewhere, so that little by little the common people took hold of the fact, considered it an omen, confirmed afterwards by events; and so from small beginnings grow important things. The presence of the Prussian soldiery garris- oned in Dresden, gave rise to various ribald ver- ses, sung or said by the rabble as opportunity offered. One string on which they all harped was "robber", robbery being the people's notion of annexation! Just so, when a rich man has the constitutional weakness to pocket silver spoons, it is called "monomania", and when a poor man does the same, "petty larceny". I heard peels of laughter issuing from my kitchen one morning, and knew the Milchfrau was recoun- ting some of her experiences. She is a quaint little body, and has a vein of fun in her; I en- quired what the joke was about. It seems the Prince royal of Saxony, who goes around a good deal on foot, was caught in a sudden gust of hail, and took refuge under an arched passage where 152 chapt. vn. two or three persons had gone before him; he wore his new Prussian uniform. One of those little bare -footed street Arabs, those Gamin s, who crop up in every civilized city , stood near, and examined the Prince attentively from head to foot, continuing his survey till the storm held up, then stepping out into the street, and finding the coast clear, he turned, put his thumb to his nose, sa- luted the Prince with " Adieu you old Prussian thief", and fled off as swift as the wind. Prince Albert was so delighted with the whole thing, he wanted to run after the brat, and give him a shilling. Straws shew which way the wind blows. I find myself diverging from "old Dresden", into the modern times, but must turn back again, to recount the story of an individual who died here some two or three years ago, at nearly ninety years of age, and who was the connecting link between the days when Napoleon swayed public opinion, when the world prostrated itself before him, and the present era. CHAPTER VIII. PLAUENSCHE GRUND. There's a dance of leaves in that Aspen bower, There's a titter of winds in that Beechen tree, There's a smile in the fruit, and a smile on the flower, And a laugh from the brook that runs to the sea. Bryant. Une of the greatest attractions of Dresden is the beauty of its environs , walk or drive which way you may, and you find yourself in rural scenes. The subburb on the north west, has gradually extended itself into what is called the Plauensche Grund, where opens the lovely valley through which a two hours drive brings you to Tharand. Precipitous rocks, and hills covered with woodland close in this valley, through which runs a rapid stream, known by the name of the Weise- 154 CHAPT. VIII. ritz; shallow and rippling over stones in summer, but in the spring-time a rapid torrent pouring down from the Erzgebirge mountains, bringing along with it winter -fuel from the royal forests; this stream skirts the western side of the town, sweeps round the Friederich Stadt. and falls into the Elbe, just at the foot of the Ostra Allee. Every stream has its votaries, every streamlet has its own romantic passes, they belong to that beautiful grooping of Nature's attributes, which are ever charming, ever new, and which the master hand of the great poet so exquisitely sketches. a But when its fair course is not hindered, It makes sweet music with the ennamelled stones, Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge It overtaketh in its pilgrimage 5 And so by many winding nooks it strays, With willing sport to the wild ocean." Up to within forty years, Dresden was en- circled with walls, and fortified. This little river now free, was used then to furnish water for the ditches. There were various gates to the town, each opening on to some road, and known by the name of the city, or village, to which they PLAUENSCHE GRUND. 155 led: Willsdrufer-, Dippoldiswalder-, Dohna-, Pill- nitzer-Thor, all now levelled, only the names re- tained in the streets. Just beyond Plauen lies the "Grund", as it is called , or meadows where the famous cherry orchards grow, and where the people walk in spring-time, to feast their eyes with the blossoms, and later in summer-time, their palates with the finest cherries in the world. The valley of the Weiseritz is narrow in places, and then expands leaving room for villas, and hamlets, and factories, of which last there are not a few, and pleasant public gardens where the citizens resort. At the opening of the cherry-ground, stands an old manor-house over which a mystery has hung for the last thirty years. It is built upon a notch of land round which the stream sweeps in a semicircle, forming a natural moat on two sides. On the road -side a high massive wooden gate closes in a court -yard, the low walls of which overlook the stream. A row of ancient poplars with trunks bossed and distorted by age, stand like grim giant sentinels along this court, all else is cold and empty, not a blade of grass, not a vine to indicate, that human sympathies 156 CHAPT. VIII. lurk within. The rear of the house overlooks a garden overgrown with dank grass , and frouzy black looking trees; dark and cheerless it has caught the shadow of the house. A wall closes in this garden, but of late years all communica- tion with it has been shut out, every window on that side of the old house being closely boarded and nailed up. The mansion is large and mas- sive, built a century or more ago, if one may judge from the line of its facade which, as it ad- vances to the corners rounds off in projections, and which, with a very little more, would have become "tourelles", as we see them in old French villas. In this case they have not so aspired, and are content to terminate with the roof, which is of coarse red tile, such as covers all the old buil- dings in, and about Dresden, and throughout Germany. The house is of two stories, perforated with innumerable windows; those on the basement story all barred with iron, those above, all closed up with stout outside shutters, weather-beaten and grey with age; the four windows facing the moat are shut up with Venetian blinds of the same PLAUENSCHE GRUNI). 157 weather-beaten hue, fixtures, that only let in light partially. Within that chamber, lived for the last thirty or forty years, the old countess von Kielmansegge, who died two years since, aged eighty six. A guard watched her premises by night, and nine dogs surrounded her day and night 5 she was not deranged, she was only a remnant left, a waif, of those "good old times " we have seen des- cribed in a preceding chapter. A woman of great intellect and capacity. On her table were found all the works of clever modern writers, and on her desk piles of manuscript; she was busily employed inditing a memoir of her own times. No one ever entered her doors, nor was she ever seen beyond them. What is the meaning of it all? Of course rumor had long since told its tale, embellished by successive additions; then, time had dulled the public interest, when a hearse drew up before the gate of the mysterious man- sion, and its proprietor was carried to her last home. Now again public curiosity was awakened, a new generation had grown up to whom the story was unknown; things were printed which hitherto had been only whispered. Such publi- 158 CHAPT. VIII. cations were suppressed by family interest , she belonging to the high aristocracy of the land, but not before a few plebeians like myself ; had ap- propriated the strange story which I take the liberty to repeat, as living evidence of the extra- ordinary sort of individuals which the influences of the eighteenth century produced. Charlotte Augusta von Schomberg was born in 1777, of a noble Saxon family. She married at the age of nineteen the count Lynar, a young man, and in every way a suitable match for her. By him she had one son, but their married life proved very unhappy. We hear of her next on an estate in Hun- gary. Whether taken thither by this modern Petruchio, to tame the shrew, is uncertain, be that as it may, it is proved she remained unsub- dued. One day on the count's return from the chase, some refreshments were served up to him, among other things a cherry-pie, said to have been too highly flavored with Prussic acid; im- mediately after eating it he was seized with cramps and died. The family pronounced it cholera mor- bus, the public, — poisoning. The lady wife must have had a pretty bad reputation, that people PLAUENSCHE GRUND. 159 dared say such things of her. There was a move to bring her before the public tribunal, but that also was quashed by family influence; the stigma however remained fixed upon her. I may be permitted here to remark that the same case occurred at the death of Francis, dau- phin of France, who returned from the chase heated , eat something which made him ill , and he died in two days, suspected of being poisoned. Those were the days when his mother Catherine de Medicis had established the precedent, and the art of poisoning had reached its height, but in the case of the dauphin Francis II. there was no ostensible motive; heir to the throne, and son of Catherine, feeble enough for her to govern at her will, his was evidently no death by poison, and probably that of count Lynar was produced by the same causes. We find the countess two years afterwards, married to the count von Kielmansegge, minister of war at Hanover , and later appointed minister to the court of Dresden. The countess still young, beautiful, and brilliant, engaged in all the cabals and political intrigues of the day, making her husband very unhappy, and later, she is said to 160 . CHAPT. VIII. have betrayed Lira to Napoleon. She had been presented at the court of St. Cloud where she first saw the Emperor. She was then beaming with beauty and splendid in talent. The luxury of her toilet was so excessive, that she alienated all the fortune she had received from her father to carry out her extravagance. She attracted the attention of Napoleon, and later , when he made Dresden his head quarters , he renewed his ac- quaintance with the fascinating countess. Napoleon then at the culminating point of his power, was worshipped as a hero. Intoxi- cated with success, he had already proclaimed himself sovereign of all Europe. It was at this period the countess renewed her acquaintance with him, and the mighty conqueror became the slave it is said, "de ses beaux yeux"; no slight triumph for an ambitious intriguing spirit like hers. About this period she was divorced from her husband. After the fall of Napoleon, and all the subsequent changes, she went to Rome, where she abjured the Lutheran faith, and obtained absolution for all her sins, on condition of her paying a large sum to the church, and incurring the penance of wearing for ever after, a halter about her neck. PLAUENSCHE GRUND. 161 Whether this latter clause has any truth in it ; or whether it was only one of those whispers the public so delight to listen to, I have not been able to discover; it was embellished too with the report that the city hangman appeared once in the week in her presence ; to examine whether the rope held its own; this had been so managed to disguise its hideousness, as to form a "torque", or twist, covered with silk and silver, undetected by casual observers. There is a dash of romance in all this, which would not have so developed itself in our day, but which corresponds exactly with what we have been reviewing in the habits of the noble classes in the last century. The better part of her life she passed mixed up in political intrigues. She was prominent among the Liberals and all the revolutionary parties of 1830, and it is said she conspired with others to carry off the young Duke of Reichstadt, and pro- claim him Emperor of France. The plot was dis- covered, and she was sent out of Vienna to Dres- den, under military escort. The year after the Duke of Reichstadt's death, she retired from the world, which now seemed to have lost all interest for her. From 11 162 CHAPT. VIII. this dates the life she led in the old house at Plauen. She rarely shewed herself, and few were admitted to her presence. On one occasion a Mr. H. who was collec- ting documents in order to compile a life of Na- poleon; called and begged an interview, the coun- tess being the probable person who could enligh- ten him on the subject. After some demur he obtained an audience, and it was from himself I heard the following particulars: "Seated in the upper chamber in a dim light, I found the old countess, who received me with courtesy. She was wrapped in common ill fitting clothes, and a cap that was pulled low about her face ; her features were rigid, and mar- ked by her indomitable will, no sign of come- liness about her but the eye, which retained its intelligence and fire. About her were heaped books and papers upon a table, with two minia- ture cases, one containing the likeness of Napo- leon, the other of his son when infant King of Rome, painted by Isabey, and set in diamonds. Several hounds were playing and bounding up and down the room, the only furniture of which consisted of a few chairs, tables, and a camp bed- PLAUENSCHE GRUND. 165 stead covered with leather, probably once the property of her hero. The conversation naturally turned upon Napoleon, and she exclaimed, "moi, je l'adore! il est Tetoile de ma vie", and with such paltry French sentiment she consoled her old age, and obliterated the memory of two hus- bands made miserable by her. It is said no female servant would remain long under her roof. The dark dismal mansion, and the perversity of its mistress, were enough to prevent them. They said she wandered at midnight like an evil spirit, wringing her hands, it may be like the Thane's wife, striving in vain to rub off the fatal stain. Be that as it may, she lived on for years, a miserable old woman. She employed herself compiling a memoir which, to- gether with her correspondence with Napoleon, is not to see the light until fifty years after her death; such being the injunction to her heir in her will. She left her property to her grandson, child of the son by her first husband. The year she died, the whim took her to have her photograph taken; she sallied out one day, and accomplished it. "There, said she to the artist, when I am dead you will make your 11* 164 CHAPT. VIII. fortune upon it." Whether he did or not I never learnt, I only know as soon as I heard it was for sale, I immediately secured one. She appears precisely as Mr. H. described her. Wrapped in a great grey woollen shawl, and identical cap with a broad frill pulled down to her eyes, a large oval face, prominent features, not a wrinkled bad face as one might be led to suppose, but an old face lighted up by a pair of remarkable eyes, full of fire and intelligence, perhaps of temper too; there must have been an immense fund of constitutional strength and energy to have sus- tained in such good keeping, a woman approach- ing her ninetieth year. It is said that original characters are dying out, that with the enlightenment of the present day ; and general diffusion of knowledge, no one has a chance of becoming morbid and leading strange lives. Some say that in the moral pro- gress of society the change is only in the new forms which originality assumes. Similar idio- syncrasies exist, but they shoot into new growths. We certainly hear no longer of " queer old wo- men". Dowagers of eccentric habits, as they existed a hundred years ago. It would seem old PLAUENSCHE GRUND. 165 women have their phases as well as other things, from Witchdom, down to placid inanity. Cer- tainly more of these fossilated individuals exist in the old towns of Germany, than any where else that I know of. New ideas have worked their way slowly, and only within the present generation; the old German grossmutter is the same old grossmutter she was a hundred years ago. I do not seem to remember any such old people in America; numerically old, yes, but active, alive, bright and intelligent they never seem to collapse into nonentities. The whiz and whirl of our New world leaves no time to petrify, I sup- pose; but the numbers of stupid, vapid uninteres- ting old bodies I have stumbled over in my wan- derings, surpasses belief; knitting is their chief resource, and I believe that concentrating the mind to the mechanism, hour after hour, day after day, year after year, must gradually con- tract the intellect down to the narrow focus of toeing, and heeling. A road winds beside the stream through the valley of the Weisseritz and brings you by car- 166 chapt. vra. riage in two hours to Tharand, which can also be attained by rail- road , but the latter convey- ance gives you no time to enjoy the sudden turns, and various developements of the scenery, which is charming. Tharand is a resort in summer for afternoon excursionists. There are beautiful rural walks in the contiguous valleys, and a lovely view obtained by climbing to the ruin, a remain of an old hun- ting seat belonging to the early Kings of Saxony. At Tharand there is a school for foresters, a craft that at first an American can hardly under- stand, we, to whom forests are rather an "em- barras de richesses"; we, who in our western march of civilization, "lay low the forest fathers as they stand", demolish in one fell swoop, the innocent sapling- growths; exterminate root and branch, those "lords of the soil whose genealogy extends back to the deluge". So likewise has been done in generations past, in these old lands; denuded hill -sides now warmed by genial suns, run down with new vines; plains then o'ershad- owed by black forests, now glitter with golden grain ; towns and thriving villages now stand where Druids worshipped beneath their sacred oaks; PLAUENSCHE GRUND. 167 and so forests are hewn down and disappear, till at length civilization begins to learn the use of wood, and they must coax and cherish, what once they demolished unsparingly. So grew up schools for foresters, and gentlemen's sons now study the craft. That of Tharand, known as the "Forst Academie", has attached to it a Forst garden, or nursery of trees and shrubs amounting to about a thousand specimens. Here young men are taught the forester's art, every thing relating to the planting and tending of trees. When they have finished their course, theiy find employment either in superintending the large estates of others, or as gentlemen farmers themselves. It is considered in Germany a profession, and only includes supervision over the workmen, and judgment in the work; frequently in travel- ling, I wondered at the plantations of infant ever- greens along roads leading through what my Ame- rican perceptions considered wild lands, I learnt later that those . wild lands are all under super- vision, belonging to government, or some pro- prietor, and that those little bits of sandy soil, where at home we should find mullens and poke- berry bushes, are not left to choose their own 168 CHAPT. VIII. vegetation, but are all brought under control, and made to do their duty with the rest of the world, and it is incalculable how many Christmas trees a strip of road -side land, can be made to pro- duce. After having learnt all this, no one knows *with what tenderness I regarded those little ever- greens growing in phalanxes, a real little "tree school", as the Germans call them, and I used to tell them softly, try hard, grow fast, Christmas is coming, and a beautiful destiny awaits you. Poor little things, it will be short lived it is true ; the "Lichter Baum", plays out its brilliant part, but ask not what becomes of it when a week has passed away, and it begins to dribble its little crisped leaves on parlor floors. These Lichter baums, or lighted trees, are the remnant of an old heathen custom. The gods of the ancient Germans were worshipped under trees, on heaths, or in sacred groves. The English derives its term "Heathen" from the first. Public worship was solemnized under a gigantic tree, upon whose branches the heads of the sacrificed animals were suspended. They killed the beast and sprinkled the sa- cred tree, the place of sacrifice, and all the by- PLAUENSCHE GRUND. 169 standers with blood; the flesh was then cooked and served as a banquet, the head of the animal being hung on the tree. As they generally kil- led and ate horses, the eating of horse flesh became a mark of distinction between the heathen and the christian. On one occasion a christian king was forced to eat horseflesh in sign of apostacy, and at a later period every one who ate it was regarded as a heathen, and put to death. There was the great oak at Geismar in Hesse which St. Bonafacio cut down, and the pear tree on the Malserheath, also sacred. The names of "Alteich-old oak", "Eichstadt oak town", and "Dreieich three oaks", have all a similar origin. We know that in the attempts to christianize the German tribes, in most cases the missionaries were wise enough to overlook minor customs which were harmless, and only abolished the more sinful. It was at the great Yule feast which corresponds with our Christinas, the winter solstice, the twelve darkest nights in the year, that fires were built in the woods, perhaps to scare off those evil spirits which were supposed to wander abroad at that period. These wood illuminations are said to have suggested the lighted tree, which Christianity later 170 CHAPT. VIII. endorsed by the name of the Christ tree, till time and association have made the little heathen iir tree, the joy of our households, the cynosure of all eyes, the beau ideal of infant minds, exem- plified by a little child's remark who, from a crib in his mother's room, saw her dressed for a ball ; his little wondering eyes opened upon her with unfeigned admiration, he exclaimed "Mama you are beautiful as a christmas tree". CHAPTEE IX. FREIBERG. No fairies dance in the Miner's land, Gaily tripping there hand in hand, No flower blows, and the stern cold sod Lies grim and grey where the Miners plod; There while the pale faced Miner sleeps, The Kobold alone his vigil keeps, Plying the tiny hammer and pick, Or roaming abroad on some elfish trick : Sterile and bleak is the country round, All nature's treasures lie under ground. lhe rail -road which passes through Tharancl brings you to Freiberg, in all , about two hours distant from Dresden, exemplifying the triumph of engineering in making its way along rocky passes, and abrupt turns. Freiberg, an old Imperial city, owes its origin to a stronghold erected there by the Margrave 172 CHAPT. IX. Otto of Saxony, between the years 1160 — 70, to protect the then newly discovered silver mines. It gradually extended itself into a city, and coun- ted at one time a population of forty thousand, now reduced to twelve. It is the capital of the mining district of Saxony, and this constitutes its prosperity; the silver mines in its vicinity having at one period, been the most productive in Germany. The early Electors of Saxony made it their residence for a period, but later when Dresden assumed the importance of capital city of their dominions, the sovereigns established their court permanently there, instead of moving bet- ween Meissen, Wittenberg and Freiberg. The result was, Dresden gained the advantage, and the others relapsed into mere provincial towns. A certain importance, however, always remains attached to Freiberg derived from its vicinity to the mines, and the establishment of its celebrated Academie, or school for miners, founded in 1766, where young men congregate from every part of the world, and where the professors are among the most able in Germany: Breithaupt, Naumann, Weisbach, and Theodor Richter now fill the pro- fessors chairs. Among the past are Werner, the FEEIBERG. 173 Geologist, Lampadiere , Mohs, and Pladtner who reduced blow piping to science; Alexander von Humboldt received here his scientific education. Freiberg has of late become the favourite resort of young Americans who number from forty to fifty generally resident; if I may be allowed to introduce the opinion of one of them, a real hard working student, it may perhaps, like seed cast upon the Nile waters, vegetate somewhere. Our youths, without any knowledge of the Ger- man language, arrive in Freiberg unprepared to join any class. Strangers and lonely, they naturally fraternize with their own countrymen, and ge- nerally the first six months are spent to very little profit; the gentleman, my informer, advises first, a knowledge of German, and attendance on a preparatory coarse of chemistry in some in- stitution, which enables a young man to enter on the autumn course at Freiberg with ad- vantage. Freiberg retains in part its antique stamp; it is enclosed by a wall and ditch, the wall sur- mounted, as at Nuremberg, with little towers at equal distances, about fifty feet apart. These in case of siege, sufficed to shield the arquebusiers 174 CHAPT. IX. who discharged their arms through the slits, but later, when heavy artillery was invented, they be- came mere ornamental appendages. As men's minds and wants expanded, these walls and towers about old towns seemed to bind them in too tightly, just as the girdle of our youth can seldom clasp the dimensions of our middle age, so most old towns have burst their bands asunder, and actually trampled upon their shackles, for in most cases the levelled walls and filled moats become public walks. As yet at Freiberg this has only been partially executed, and in a town too, where a promenade is so de- sirable; the country beyond is arid and denuded of trees, as is generally the case in mining dis- tricts, where nature seemingly exhausts her efforts below the surface. The reason is, that water is attracted toward the various veins of ore, draining the surface of the earth, thinning vegetation above, while its intrusion into the mines is a source of great annoyance, and in time has filled impor- tant sections, rendering them entirely impracti- cable for working; a great work is slowly ad- vancing in the construction of a tunnel to with- draw the water from the old mines, conveying it FREIBERG. 175 into the Elbe; the expense is enormous, and the annual sum provided by government very inade- quate to make much progress. The vapors from the smelting furnaces are very deliterious to vege- tation. Germans are slow, Saxons are slower, and Freibergers slower than all. The public pro- menade is to be completed, when the moat is fil- led up. The moat is to be filled up, when ashes and rubbish enough are collected from the towns people, who are permitted to throw the same into the ditch; a few wagons full daily may be seen dragging their slow lengths along; Rome was not built in a day, nor will the public walks for the Freibergers likely be finished in this generation. Several of the early Electors of Saxony were interred in the Domkirche of Freiberg, where their monuments remain. This cathedral has been a good deal injured by fire, and repairs; it was founded 1484. The golden gate, a richly orna- mented round portal in the Romanesque style, saved from the Frauenkirche which was burnt down, alone makes the cathedral interesting. It is in a very good style. It was going rapidly to decay, when a distinguished professor of design, 176 CHAPT. IX. Heuchler, from the mere love of art, restored it on his own responsibility. In the choir behind the altar, stands the tomb of Maurice of Saxony ; a great sarcophagus richly adorned, with his effigee kneeling; in a nich above is placed his armor, worn at the battle of Sievershausen, where he was killed, after gaining the victory. This was not the renowned Maurice, son of the beautiful countess Aurora von Koenigs- mark, and Augustus the Strong, as one might at first mistake; this latter, abandoned his country, sided with France, and became that celebrated Marechal de Saxe, of whom the annals of the reign of Louis XV. speak so proudly, and of whom a Frenchman said, "ce brave marechal de Saxe, qui lave si bien par sa valeur la honte d'etre ne AllemancT; truly a bastard son of Ger- many! what an epitaph! That he was a hero in arms, and a great commander is not to be dis- puted, but that he was a court intriguer, is as cer- tain. I saw his celebrated monument at Strass- bourg in the church of St. Thomas, erected to his memory by Louis XV. executed by the French artist Pigald, who spent twenty five years in the work. FREIBERG. 177 The marechal de Saxe being a Lutheran, was interred in this church; his body was trans- ported hither from France in 1777, and an elo- quent discourse, was pronounced by Bessig on the occasion. There are parts of it so beautiful, I am tempted to translate a few passages, but cannot give the full force of the original: "In almost all ages, eulogiums on the dead, have been profaned ; we have heard vile adulation and mercenary sophistry prostituting themselves before vice in power; and the holy temple of God him- self, that citadel of truth, has been profaned by praise of shameless individuals. Speak! ye who listen to me now; dare I here pronounce the name of the Marechal de Saxe? They whom he has conquered, they whom he has saved, France who adopted him, warriors whom he has trained to victory, answer all of ye! is Maurice a great man? and I hear the response from both banks of the Ehine, "yes". „The Danube, the Meuse, the Sambre, and the Escaut, all raise their voices to respond in one simultaneous acclamation ! Such is the funeral Eulogium to which cities and nations respond; all Europe echos back his praise. He secured 12 178 CHAPT. IX. our possessions, the heritage of our forefathers, and respected meanwhile the rights of humanity, and softened, as far as lay in his power, the miseries of War." The elder Maurice lying in the cathedral of Freiberg, with the tattered remnants of many battle trophies, still hanging above his tomb, where they have hung these three hundred years, was another sort of hero ; one of the old German type, clad in corselet and mail, a strong rugged warrior, impelled by higher, more powerful motives, than those which actuated a Frenchified petit maitre, who bold and talented as he was, answered that description of the nobility of France in the last century, who as Dumas describes them, were ready with their chapeaux bras, their lace sleeve- rufnes, and their ribbon shoulder -knots, to fight the battle of Fontenoy." It was indeed a strange anomaly that chivalry of France, boldest in war, and vilest in court debauchery; among whom stood foremost Maurice, Marechal de Saxe. Turn we now to that other Maurice de Saxe Thuringia. During the stormy period of 1540, when the question of religion ran high, when Charles V. unwilling to have recourse to violent FREIBERG. 179 measures , tried every method of subterfuge and hypocrisy to induce the protestants at the Diet of Ratisbon to recognize the council; while he secretly informed the Pope he intended to extir- pate the Lutheran heresy. Then the pope, fully aware of the duplicity of the Emperor, and op- posed to him politically, published the fact to all Germany. The anger of the protestants was justly roused. In August 1546, the princes of Saxony and Hesse mustered an army of 40,000 men, and might easily have surprised the Em- peror at Ratisbon, had they listened to the advice of Schertlin, who had invaded the Tyrol, and who pressed them to march forward. Their re- gard for Bavaria, which had declared itself neu- tral, prevented the advance over her territory; the Emperor escaped, placed himself at the head of a force of twenty thousand men, which had been sent for his use from Italy, and threw him- self into Ingolstadt; he was there besieged, but disunion among the German princes caused them to withdraw, and give up the siege. One might quote many long pages of history that tell of the disorders and dismay of that unhappy period: The revolt in upper Germany ; the bloody tribunal 12* 180 CHAPT. IX. at Prague, where the heads of a confederacy for constitutional and religious liberty fell under the hands of the executioner; numbers of the nobility compelled to emigrate, or to purchase their lives with the loss of their property; the pope opposed to the Emperor; the accession of Henry II. to the French throne, his alliance with the pope against Charles V. the proposal of the Interim in- dignantly refused by the North Germans ; — in fact just that want of union in a common cause which has ever been the bane of the land, of which it has been forcibly said, "like the dogs of Scylla the princes of Germany spent their rage in tear- ing the bowels of their mother". Here a weak prince, half willing to conciliate; there another, canvassing for his own interests; again another, fitted for the right, but with no one to support him. The whole tissue of fraud and impotence was suddenly rent asunder by Maurice of Saxony, who secretly assembled a great force, entered into alliance with Henry II. of France, and raised the standard of revolt. He marched upon Insbruck where the Emperor lay ill; but a mutiny broke out in the Electoral army, which gave the Em- peror time to escape; he was carried in a litter FREIBERG. 181 to Villach, among the mountains of Carinthia. He was at this time without troops, the enemy in full pursuit, the whole of Germany in confusion at this unexpected stroke. The Catholics panic struck, the protestants full of hope. Every town through which Maurice passed expelled the priests, and the ancient burgher families rejected the In- terim, re-established the pure tenets of the Gos- pel, and restored corporative government. Had the reaction spread, the Emperor would have been obliged to sue for peace. Maurice finally made terms. Albert the Wild was the only one among the princes still desirous for war, he marched directly through central Germany, murdering and plundering as he went along, intent upon once more laying waste the Bishoprics of Franconia and Strassburg, in the name of the Gospel. The princes at length formed the Heidelberg confe- deracy against this brigand, and the Emperor put him under the bann of the Empire, which Mau- rice undertook to execute, though they had been formerly brothers at arms. Albert was occupied plundering the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, when Maurice came up to him at Sievershausen (1553). A murderous engagement took place, three of the 182 CHAPT. IX. princes of Brunswick were slain , Albert was se- verely wounded, and Maurice fell at the moment* of victory, in the thirty third year of his age, in the midst of his promising career. The trophies of that battle hang over his tomb in the cathe- dral at Freiberg. At the present day the school of mines gives the prominent character to Freiberg; the mines themselves have so diminished in value that the work is carried on with very little spirit. The workmen enjoy no immunities at present; formerly they were exempted from military duty, but since 1830, that privilege has been withdrawn. There are said to be 130 mines of silver, copper, lead and cobalt, around Freiberg, the prevailing rock in which they are situated, is a primary gneiss; most of them are one or two miles from the town. The principal mines have particular names attached to them, some designedly so cal- led, others from accidental circumstances. For instance there is the "Kurfurst" (Elector), because it is spacious and high; the "Alte Mordgrube" (old murder mine), from a tradition, or legend. Many are consecrated by holy names, instance the "Himmelfahrt ", "The Ascension", probably FHEIBERG. 183 discovered on that day. "Neue Hoffnung", "New Hope", "Gott wird helfen", "Help in God". Others named after prince Electors, probably discovered during their respective reigns. The traditions of the "Old murder mine" vary. Some tell of an overseer so tyranical towards the workmen, he was seized and walled up alive within it, by the exaspirated miners. Another legend in verse, tells of a dying sinner shrived by a monk, while the miners and their sweethearts were dancing and carousing under the same roof; that when the priest had left, and the man died, the foul fiend was seen to hover over the building, that the earth opened, and all were swallowed up; for a hundred years thereafter, not a blade of grass was known to grow upon the desolate spot. The German love of the marvellous is nowhere more developed than in the mining districts. According to the heathen belief the different partitions of the universe were inhabited by spirits of good or evil; that called the Schwartalfaheim, belonged to the black Elves, or Kobolds, who watch over subterranean treasures and metals, these generally hurt and corrupt men. It is said that even Mar- tin Luther himself remained tainted with the 184 CHAPT. IX. early superstitions imbibed in infancy, he having been reared among the mines of Mansfeldt, where his father was a workman; these superstitions, hallowed later by religious belief, were trans- ferred by him to the devil and his machinations, by which he tormented the Reformer during his retreats from public life, under the meanest dis- guises. Such are the traditions you meet with in every corner of Germany, where progress has not yet diffused its light. At the present period, 1867, the produce of the Freiberg mines is very small; but it varies essentially in different years. For instance forty years ago, shares in the "Himmelfahrt" were sold for ten groschen (twenty five cents), and now it pays a dividend of six hundred Thalers yearly. In 1865 the mines produced about 1,318,000 Tha- lers. At the present day not more than thirty of the mines are worked, some by private com- panies, and some by government. Two of these companies only dig the ore, then sell it to the government which has two smelting houses where the silver is separated from the lead, sulphur, and antimony, with which it is conglomerated, each making a separate source of revenue; these pro- FREIBERG. 185 duced a million last year (66). The miners are a primitive class, they always accost you with the words, "Gliick auf" — "Good luck to you". They form a kind of military corps, of which the common workmen are the privates, and the super- intendants and managers, are the officers. They are called out several times a year, for inspection or parade, and are conspicious in every public demonstration, when they usually shew them- selves in a torch -light procession. They came in this guise to serenade the king in Dresden, after his return from the disastrous events of the late war. Demonstrations also take place at Frei- berg on the discovery of a rich vein, or the visit of a royal personage. They wear a kind of costume, and are never without the black leather apron worn behind under their shortfrock, which is considered the badge of their order, and a dis- grace if taken from them. The miners are rarely able to work after attaining the age of forty to forty five years. They begin as children from seven to eight years old working above ground, and doing about half a day, for which they are paid 5 groschen (about twelve cents). The highest class of workmen, "Doppelhauer" are paid eight 186 CHAPT. IX. groschen (20 cents) for a Scheit, about eight hours work. A man makes from seven to nine Scheits a week, not quite two dollars of our money. The little boys are called Hundejunger, and are employed breaking the rough ore as it comes from the mine, and separating the lumps which contain silver. From these small beginners have sprung men of science. One professor of distinction prides himself on having been a hunde- junger, reminding one of the poor singing charity boy of Eisenach , whose name became world re- nowned. Such cases are not rare in Germany where the public school system opens to all, the advantages of education, and where, if a lad at- tract attention by his capacity, he is advanced to a place in a free university. The forcing power of genius will, like the material forcing power of nature, push its way through all impediments, as we see a sapling struggle into light through the rigid soil of a rock crevice, and become in time a tree upon whose growth wondering eyes specu- late. From their mode of life and the uncertainty of existence, from the dangers always attendant upon mines, these men acquire a serious passive character, which is entailed upon their children, FREIBERG. 187 most of whom follow in their father's trade, from a sort of tacit understanding that they are so born. A school on the territory where they are educated free, and the difficulty in old states of obtaining a fixed employment, binds these people to the one routine from generation to generation, and though the wages are small, yet they are sure, and besides a portion of the day they are above ground, and able to cultivate a bit of land, which produces something towards the family sustenance. In the chronicles of Dresden there is a mi- nute account of a Miner's fete in the last century, curious from its details, and evincing the taste of the times. It was called the feast of Saturn, and was one among many entertainments given on the occasion of the marriage of the then crown prince Augustus III. to the princess Josepha of Austria. Entertainments followed each other dur- ing the course of an entire month, and the miner's feast was considered among the most magnificent. On the occasion of this marriage a splendid vessel, was constructed by an Italian ship builder, after the model of the Doge's barge, in which he went forth to wed the Adriatic, The gilding 188 CHAPT. IX. alone of this vessel cost six thousand Thalers. The cabin -saloon was decked with looking glas- ses, and red silk damask. This was intended to sail up the Elbe, and bring the bride from Pirna; the sailors were dressed in yellow satin Holland fashion; there sailed along with it an escort of fifteen yachts, the sailors neatly got up in red and white satin. The barge was called, "The Bucentauro". "The barge she sat in like a burnished throne Burned on the water ; the poop was beaten gold Purple the sails, and so perfumed The winds were love sick with them; the oars were silver Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke ; and made The water which they beat to follow faster As amorous of their strokes." So, with a difference! Cleopatra's crew were "dimpled cupids"; here Dutchmen in hose and doublet, decked in yellow satin too; it is to be hoped my lady had none of Olivia's antipathy, "to the trick of singularity, commending yellow stockings"; and Malvolio playing the goose with his yellow legs! On the Vogelwiese grounds, near Dresden, were encamped six regiments of infantry, and FREIBERG. 1 89 four of cavalry. At this spot the bride landed at ten in the morning, under a salute of 110 can- non , here she breakfasted. Meanwhile an escort formed, of officials and citizens, to accompany the bride to the palace. Fifteen hundred burghers dressed in white and red, were put in line ex- tending to the Pirnasche gate. Six thousand in- fantry stood in line from the gate to the palace, where the royal guard, and the corps of cadets were drawn up. The procession itself contained 19 hundred persons; there were 106 state car- riages; 100 postillions; 157 huntsmen (Jager); 12 foot runners; 12 heiducks. Then came the prince on horseback, dressed in purple and loaded with diamond ornaments; in front of him went four, dressed as Turks in gold embroidered habits, bearing horse-tail standards, then followed him 120 body -and life guards, with 24 Moors dressed in white satin with scarlet tabbards (Jalanda). Next appeared the bride, seated in a carriage drawn by eight horses, she was dressed in a Spanish costume; and the astonished people looked on at the wonderful display. A century later I was witness to the entrance of a Royal bride and bride- groom, which offered a wonderful contrast here 190 CHAPT. IX. beneath these old arch -ways, and palace walls, which witnessed the other. The bride of the 19 th century (sister of the King of Portugal) was clad in a light elegant green silk, a French white crape bonnet, and shaded by a pink parasol covered with white lace, seated beside her lord, in an open carriage drawn by six black horses, with postillions in blue jackets and silver buttons. The prince Greorge of Saxony, wore the cavalry uniform; there was a military escort of many regiments, with music, and finally burghers, not clad in red and white satin however, but in their Sunday clothes, of plain broad cloth, and beaver hats, those the Saxons call cylinders! These came by twos and twos, representing the old guild- meisters, of which they are the remnants. Then the butchers as a priveleg ed order, who ride upon horses (why ?), they do so in our republican land ; a corps of cavalry always stamped with its own belongings, unmistakable; horses whose outstret- ched noses, and gaunt necks ; bespeak plebeian uses. So escorted the cortege moved before houses hung with garlands and tapistry, and under ar- ches of evergreens stretched across the streets, and the diamond sword-hilts, and agraffes, and FREIBERG. 191 necklaces , remained quietly reposing on their velvet cushions in the Green vaults , and the people looked on awhile with an indifferent gaze at a spectacle, which offered no positive attrac- tion, proving princes are no longer right worship- ful, though a thousand fold more worthy than when, that same people was ground down under the iron heel of their power. But to return to our story of the old usages. After this grand reception followed innumer- able fetes, one of which was the "Saturnus Feat". The arrangements for it were made in the Plauen- sche Grund, a wild romantic glen, whither all the court repaired as spectators. The object seems to have been to shew the products of the mines, the way of working them, the different processes by which the precious metals gained form and comeliness, and also to present to the new future queen, an important portion of her subjects, the miners always having been con- sidered a distinct body of men, and on all state, or public occasions they appear, even to the pre- sent day in torch- light procession, probably the torch being symbolic of their underground life and occupation. In the last century, when My- 192 CHAPT. IX. thological subjects were in vogue, they gave the name of Saturn to the Miner's fete, in as much as he was the god of primary nature. A temple to his honor was erected on this occasion (Anno 1719) in the Plauensche grund, and a statue, the whole garnished with minerals, implements, and all things appertaining to the mines; the facade of the temple was composed of four pyramidal columns, on which the likenesses of the king, the queen, and the newly married pair hung, as also their escutcheons, with Latin mottos in their honor; the interior was illuminated, the lights reflected back from great mirrors, and within, the royal personages and their attendants were seated, where through open arches, between the pyramids, they could view the miner's procession. Rows of flambeaus below, and bond fires on the heights around, lighted the whole scene, indepen- dently of the large body of men who arrived, each bearing a torch. These were accompanied by their band of music, trumpeters', &c. and sang a chorus in ho- nor of the occasion, they then defiled in order before the worshipful company, all dressed in their respective gala suits; the superintendents FREIBERG. 193 heading the different corps of men, before whom were carried models of the mines ; the specimens of ore, and all other minerals found in the Frei- berg mines , as also representations in miniature of the modes of working them. This exposi- tion of the wealth of old Saxony closed the series of public entertainments given on that occasion. So now as of old, the miners always play their part in all public demonstrations, always by the light of torches, typical of their subterraneous occupation, where the dull yellow lamp-light, car- ried upon their breasts, alone makes darkness visible, as they ply their weary trade. While we of the upper crust grumble if the sky be grey more times than we think our due; when there is gloom and dark days about us, let memory but rest upon the miner's doom, and thank God we are free in the light of heaven; and those poor wretches too, let them remember the dark deep dungeons of the prison house, all hope shut out, and they too will feel, however gloomy their vocation, however approximating to the cell of a prisoner, theirs is a voluntary sacrifice, they are free men. 13 194 CHAPT. IX. I do not know whether I can lay claim to a discovery, but as the Italians say, "se non e vero, e ben trovato". I had read somewhere that in the times of the commonwealth in England, the Puritans prohibited the drinking of healths because derived from the heathen observances of oblations, &c, they were called "the Devil's shoeing- horns to draw on drunkeness", and also the eating of mincepies, as savoring of papistry. This latter clause puzzled me, and I found no means of enlightenment; it remained for after years when visiting Freiberg, to discover the origin of the above heretical pasty. Many old customs and traditions brought into England by the Saxons still retain their hold; feast days, yule logs, the legends of Christmas Eve, but that the profane Mince -pie should have had so remote an origin none ever dreamt of ? I opine, but as I have re- marked elsewhere, national cakes have their story as well as other things. It seems some famous Abbot, principal of a cloister in this same old town of Freiberg, ages ago, was distinguished for his love of good eating, and notorious for the talent of his chief cook. It so happened during a season of Lent, when all FREIBERG. 195 good prelates discard their carniverous appetites, that the chef de cuisine was put to his wits end to compose something tempting for the Abbot's table, without infringement on the canonical law. Finally his racked invention teemed with a new idea, and the following day he placed before the fasting Abbot a roasted hare, extended in all its length and breadth upon a platter. The Abbot eyed it wistfully; had he been alone there is no knowing what the consequences might have been ! The tint of brown was exact to a shade; the grilled pork -strips stood up, like quills upon the fretful porcupine; the hind legs flattened out, seemed ready to take the leap, it was irresistible after a four days fast, and yet our Abbot stood firm; turning angrily toward the presumptuous cook he exclaimed, "Sirrah, whence this foolery in fasting times"; the cook stood unabashed, and advancing struck his carving knife directly through the body of the hare, and discovered it to be a composition of fruits and confections. This pre- paration is still in vogue about Christmas times, and goes by the name of a "Freiberger Hase", exclusively belonging to the bakeries of that town, as the „Stollen", does to Dresden; these wares 13* 196 CHAFT, IX. being exchanged between the citizens of the two places, as holiday presents It seems the papist gentry took wonderfully to the new invention, and improved upon it too, for we see the mince pie emerging from the "Freiberger Hase", a medley to be found nowhere else in German land. It may be fairly presumed with other old things this Multum in parvo concoction, travel- led to England, and was registered among Christ- mas observances which, in after times, were denounced by the Roundheads as papistical abominations. There were a good many, "papal abomina- tions", in the eating line which are now exploded; one was a roasted porpoise, another the flesh of the Beaver, an animal w r hich has only disappeared from Europe in later times, for it is averred that in the seventeenth century, and later, Beavers were still found on the Danube and the Rhine, An old cookery book entitled, "Liber Benedic- tionum", by Eccard, fourth Abbot of St. Gall, mentions the flesh of the Beaver as a delicacy. The monks who were very strict in their obser- vance of the rules, found out the Beaver was a Fish, and could be eaten in Lent; Bear was also FREIBERG. 197 on their bills of fare, but they decided Bear was not a Fish. I remarked in my former notes on Germany, the peculiarity of certain descriptions of cakes being baked, and eaten only at fixed anniver- saries; there is a long list of such, the origin of many dating back to the times of the Romans, whose habits and customs we know were adopted by the provinces which they conquered, and which became later amalgamated with Christian obser- vances, and so continued on from generation to generation, untill men forgot their origin. Among these may be classed the small, light breakfast- rolls called Heruschen. in the from of a cres- cent, used mostly in the south of Germany. The festival held in autumn, now known as the Kirch- weih, was originally a feast day dedicated to Thor, by whose horn it is designated on the Runic stones. On this day wheaten cakes in the shape of horns were baked in honor of the God, which now, in some parts of Germany, are still baked on St. Martin's day, a day by the bye, in which men are compelled to eat Goose, for the same sapient reasons probably, 198 CHAPT. IX. Grimm has proved , in his laborious resear- ches that the religion of southern Germany was in the time of Tacitus essentially the same as that of Scandinavia , and that all the German nations before their conversion to Christianity, called then superior gods by the same names, and had the same ideas of nature, consequently the same superstitions, fables, and legends. Thor or Dunar, the god of thunder, also the god of War and locomotion, was one of the prin- cipal divinities , he was supposed to travel through the air in a chariot drawn by black goats; here we can detect the poetic imagery of a thunder- storm, the black clouds flying before the blast, carrying along the terror inspiring Thor, bearing in his hand the hammer of destruction, and the great drinking horn, with which he once nearly drained the ocean, thus causing the ebb and flood. He is come! lie is come! do ye not behold, His ample robes on the wind unfurled? Giant of air! we bid thee the hail! — How his grey skirts toss in the whirling gale! How his huge and writhing arms are bent, To clasp the zone of the firmament, And fold at length in their dark embrace From mountain to mountain the visible space. Bryant. FREIBERG. 199 So mighty was this divinity , that he with a few others , have stamped their identity even upon our present day, and we rarely remember that our Thursday , is "Thor's Day", dedicated to him by our uncivilized Teutonic progenitors; transmitted to us like "Wodens-day", "Frey-day", and others, from the inexhaustible Past ; used by generations of christians, unheeded by missionary reformation, unregarded even by Roundhead puri- tanism, while they were persecuting the heathen Mince -pie. In Germany "Thor's day", is called "Donners-Tag", "Thunder day". It was left to the Quakers alone to innovate upon the established custom; their first day, second day, &c. were sub- stituted in the place of Sun-day, Moon-day, Tyr's- day, Woden's -day, Thors-day, Freyr's-day, Sa- turn's-day. No one else adopted the example so set; nothing is more arbitrary than names; once fastened, and impressed by the seal of antiquity, they remain indelible; association has riveted them, and no power can dislodge them. Names which probably owed their origin to some personal pe- culiarity, and which were given in joke, have descended in all their obloquy upon succeeding, generations, and are uttered in simplicity as un- 200 CHAPT, IX. meaning things; whereas, "Sheepshanks", "Cruik- shanks", and "Man-devil", not to quote dozens of others, are not pleasant derivations to cap a family Tree. I made a list once of these curious ap- pelations taken from the daily list published in the Dresden advertizer, and it is beyond belief droll. The individuals might take it in high dud- geon to find this part of their identity coarsely dealt by, but a man has no responsibility for a few letters of the alphabet shook together as it might seem by accident, ages ago. A man's name, is his reputation. Good name in man or woman dear my lord Is the immediate jewel of their soul, And he that filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him But makes me poor indeed. My present intention is not to rob any body of their reputation, only to present the funny complications of A. B. C. that have fortuitously combined, and which I leave to philologists to conclude, how and why, merely stating facts as they appeared to my eyes in printed characters. FREIBERG. 201 First and foremost stood "Langbein". "Long shanks", a Royal English sobriquet be it remem- bered; (query whether Arachne belonged to this category?) Plaster — Beef — Quack — Frolick and Fox, wound up with Feuch-kowskin. Then fol- lowed a whole menagerie — Wolf — Lion — Buck — Monster — Fox — Hund — Goslin — Unicorn — Grander — Schneevogel (Snowbird) terminating in Adlersfliigel (Eagleswing). Of course all the names of trades are repre- sented, also Spring, Summer, and Winter, with every hue and color ever devised by either of them, but such are not uncommon; I could not help thinking sometimes of our American ab- original chieftains, Tiger-tail, Red-Jacket, Flying- Arrow, and others, when I read Rothschuh (Red shoe). Morgenstern (Morning star), Brastfeder (Breast feather), and Gansaugen (Goose eyes). The old saying about "the rose by any other name would smell as sweet", is all true enough, but I would rather be called Rose, than Frau Oberappellationsrath von Katzenbogen, or Frau Oberconsistorialdirectorin Kloppfenhammer, titles by the bye derived from the ladies husbands, 202 CHAPT. IX. the one, "Judge-of-the-court-of- Appeals", feminized! The other, "direetress-of-the-upper-consistory-court". This extraordinary way of stringing syllables to- gether, seems an absurdity until you obtain a knowledge of the language, and learn to dissect these apparently unpronounceable words. The title is not unusual with us as applied to wives; but we abbreviate it into simple, "Mrs. Judge Brown'', "Mrs. Doctor Black", "Mrs. Major White", &c. only the German title has a feminine termination when applied to the wife, which makes it sound very comical to strangers ears. The clergyman is al- ways called Herr Pastor ("Shepherd"), so his wife is introduced as the Sheperdess. The ab- surd love of titling people is made ridiculous in Germany, and never so much so, as when af- fixing some paltry appellation to names, which shine by their own merit with a more brilliant light, than any court Kalender can provide. The account a traveller visiting Weimar gives, is to the point. He asked the waiter at the hotel where Goethe lived: the man stared at him vacantly, saying he did not know, but would enquire of the host, who came in saying, he supposed the stranger meant the Herr Geheimrath Goethe? FREIBERG. 203 (privy counsellor.) The grand name that had ennobled Germany was hidden behind the Geheim- rath of a petty court dignitary. It reminds me of what Napoleon once said, speaking of Cor- neille, "If he were alive , I would make him a prince". Louis le Grand was satisfied to pension "Le Grand Corneille". Genius had given him her patent of nobility, kings could not aggrandize it. This passion for titles has been ridiculed by their own authors, Kotzebue, and others on the stage, and Hoffman in one of his tales has the word, Steuerverweigerungverfassungsmassig- berechtigt, the meaning of which is, a man-who- is - exempt - by - the - constitution - from - paying - the- taxes. I have heard too of a member of the Marionettenschauspielhausgesellschaft , who per- formed admirably upon theConstantinopolitanische- dudelsack. The Germans pride themselves on the richness of their language which is said to contain twenty thousand words more than any other. The aboriginal language of the Five Na- tions, of North America, presents a maze of letters, run mad as it were, but which the ex- cellent Eliot managed to combine, and translated the whole Bible into it; for instance, Sayanert- 204 CHAPT. IX. siriotaggiwaghnereaghsheagh , stands for, "Good Lord deliver us", and a prayer for all conditions of men, is rendered , Yondaddereanaiyont dagh- kweanietha Siekniyagodaweaghse Onwehogough. "Look here upon this picture, and on this, The counterfeit presentment of two brothers." The euphony of a language displays itself in the proper names of its people as much as in the pages of its writers. This is signally exem- plified in France where you remark the sonorous grand old aristocratic family names, and where even among the plebeian appellations, the vowels have combined to give a pleasant sound. Thankful should we be, born with Anglo Saxon utterance, that among the various impor- tations from foreign tongues, English never ap- propriated that dreadful "Schw" which shocks my ear even when enveloped in immortal verse, or sent from the lips of some musical enchantress: Schwache, Schwer, Schwapp, Schwank, which latter I wind up with, its translation being, "droll", and to that "Schw" page of the dictionary, I refer my readers. Foreigners condemn our "th", and English has been called the language of Serpents, from its continual hissing; so each flings FREIBERG. 20f> the glove in the other's face. The Teutonic prides itself on its pure unadulterated issue from some unrevealed ancestry, buried in the far East. The English on the contrary , is a conglomeration, which I saw once thus described. In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1803, there is a Fable of the origin of the English language, by William Friend; he says, "The poor English who could do nothing but hiss, petitioned the devil for a vocabulary. The infernal professor picked up a number of Folios, in all languages, with swathings of Mummies, and boiled them to- gether in a caldron ; skimming off the froth , he sent it to his petitioners, who thus got what they wanted. They did not, however, get rid of the hissing, and when their benefactor paid them a visit, which he was in the habit of doing every six or seven years, they entertained him with the same sounds at Borough elections. It seems as the boiling process was procee- ding, the devil was lucky enough to pick up a lot of books and paper cheap, the council of Nice having just broken up; these too were thrown into the caldron, but the hard Greek words had not time to boil, the consequence is when a 206 CHAPT. IX. preacher gets hold of them, he may as well be talking Arabic." The mutability of language, the strange trans- formations it undergoes, are among the most in- teresting studies of an enlightened age, when the march of improvement, and the increased inter- course with strange lands and consequent devel- opement of new ideas, create the necessity for a new nomenclature, which the discoveries of science tend also to elaborate. Nor can we pass over the change of style which each successive age produces, from the quaint simplicity in the early developement of modern language, to the bom- bast and bad taste of subsequent writers, who took strange flights in search of novelties, which eventually became absurdities, and which true taste soon discarded, to again resume the sim- plicity of elegant diction. One can hardly credit the fact that the phraseology of Du Bartas, could ever have passed current, and yet James of Eng- land ordered a translation of his poems. How the conceits were rendered into English, I know not, but the critics of the day tell us he called Thunder, a le tambour des Dieux". The winds, "Les postilions d'Eole", and the- sun, "Le due FREIBERO. 207 des chandelles", instead of, "Le Roi des lumieres", which cardinal du Peron thinks ought to have been his title. Sylvester, his English contem- porary, closely imitated this model, made the sun a "swift Coachman", and represented the thunder, "it groans, and grumbles". "It rolls and roars, and round and round it rumbles", the lines on winter, so often quoted are more natural. "To glaze the lakes, and bridle up the floods, And periwig with wool the bald pate woods." Such specimens of bad taste soon gave way, and language softened down into the elegant dic- tion which signalized the ages of Queen Anne, and Louis XIV. One began to feel the polite nations of Europe had found the true musical ring, when behold, in the present rage for some new thing, the barbarous importation of slang terms is insinuating its way into polite language, and the silvery tongue is degenerating into base metal; it will pass current for a time perhaps, as did the inflated parlance of the "hotel Rambouil- let", but good taste and good sense will again react, and bring about the simplicity of diction which is natural. 208 CHAPT. IX. Madame de Stael in her remarks on Ger- many, gives an illustration of its language, com- paring it with her sprightly French idiom, to which no possible affinity can be found; but as a professed Parisian conversationalist she seemed to be seeking the why and wherefore ponderous German could not be made to perform feats of agility, and she discovered that, when obliged to wade through long paragraphs before reaching that key-note at the end, which explains the drift of the sentence, there can be no rebound, no flashing of wit in such a tongue ; like the people of the two nations, the one is best fitted for deep reasoning, the other for volatile repartee. The physical temperament of a people shapes its ut- terance; the impetuous variable Gaul caught the impulse of the moment; there was no depth of feeling; his music proves it. The deep - souled Teuton, grave and thoughtful, weighed well his speech, and developed the strength of his nature in a redundancy of language, and in the grand sublime depth of his musical combinations, rich and exalting the soul, as does the sublime, mys- tery of his Gothic architecture. CHAPTER X. HERRNHUT. "Yea the sparrow hath found her an house, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young, even thy al- tars o Lord of hosts, my king and my God. About three hours distance by rail from Dresden , on the Silesian frontier, lies Herrnhut the original settlement of that sect known in our day as the Moravian brethren. I had always had a particular desire to visit this spot, and one fine October day accomplished my object. The road leads you through Bautzen, a pretty and prosperous town, enjoying the unenviable renown of having given its name to two great battles ; the one under Frederick the Great, the bloodiest 14 210 CHAPT. X. in the Seven Years War, fought at night; the other that of Napoleon against the Allies in 1813 ; when he compelled them to retire, and where his attached friend Duroc fell at his side. At the next station after Bautzen - Lobau - a branch rail-road about six English miles in length, brings you to Herrnhut. Lobau is the centre of the Wendish populations, which remain distinct from the German even to the present period, in speech, dress, and habits; they are of Slavonic origin. Arrived at the Herrnhut station, you are im- mediately impressed with a sensation of loneliness ; no vehicles, no beast, and hardly a man seems stirring. A few straggling individuals descended from the carriages with us, and took their way along the road, disappearing soon left and right, leaving the path free and solitary before us; we did meet a small boy dragging a hand cart, but no other sign of life. The village lay just before us in a fertile region of fields and meadows; the strait, quiet road, merged into a strait, quiet street, with a row of small insignificant houses on either side, built close together, with little windows, all ex- HERRNHUT. 211 hibiting the most scrupulous neatness; nothing however, gave sign of habitation ; not a face looked out of a window, not a dog lay on the door-mat, not a sparrow flew down from the housetop, all was dead silence as in a grave; not a shop gave evidence of the existence of a population, and the daily wants of humanity; the quiet was oppres- sive; the sun shone cheerily, but none of God's creatures were abroad to enjoy it. After about ten minutes walk, we reached the Inn where travellers find refreshment of the commonest des- cription ; here the same stillness and neatness pre- vailed; I would defy any one, endowed as he might be with imagination, to draw one sun-beam out of that cucumber. An Inn -yard with its multifarious inhabitants, its rubbish, and vile ac- cumulations, seen through some dingy window pane, has ere now been suggestive to Geoffrey Crayons, and some of his compeers, but nothing of the kind existed, and I sat me down upon a wooden settle by the door way, and looked at the paving stones, and a pump opposite, where nobody came to fetch water. This pause in our progress was enforced owing to the midday meal being about to be served. We asked if we could 14* 212 CHAPT. X. procure a vehicle of some kind to make an ex- cursion around the environs ? No — there was but one horse in the town, and he belonged to a private individual for his own use. The gen- tleman who accompanied me, called and asked the loan of it for an hour; he was graciously re- fused upon the plea that being Saturday, the owner was obliged to be by oppointment in the neigh- boring town. While this parley was holding, ac- cident favored us, a one horse phaeton drove up to the Inn door conveying a travelling merchant from Lobau, and we secured it as its return freight, so while the horse rested, and munched his pro- vender, we did likewise on pale watery soup, boiled beef, and stout, yellow pickled cucumbers; this repast was served of course in the traveller's room, a place very clean, and very oderous of stale tobacco smoke ; the company not numerous ; we two occupied the end of one table, and at the remote extremity one other man, an individual classed among those inveterate starers whose per- tinacity was one of my first "Impressions" of German life, as I met it on the Rhine steam- boat, and which I have dilated upon in that chapter. HERBNHUT. 213 I have speculated often on this marked pe- culiarity of Germans; I never was annoyed by it in any other land; were there any thing ec- centric in my dress, or demeanor, I might set it down on that score, but being decidedly of the commonplace order, youth and beauty registered among things forgotten, I cannot satisfactorily account for the scrutiny I often undergo. In the present instance my man kept his eyes fixed upon us strait over his soop spoon, pale blue, watery eyes like the soup; he kept up his investigation during the whole of the beef and pickle course, he prolonged the stare while he sipped his coffee, and finally settled himself with a segar to gaze at his leisure. There is no meaning, no impudence in all this; it strikes me as a sheer absence of refined consciousness , an absence wonderfully common in this land, where people ask you the most trying questions about your private affairs seemingly unaware they are committing an error in good breeding; it does not bear the mark of frank earnestness, but rather that of a poor cu- riosity which is very annoying. The Anglo Saxon reticence is deemed coldness, but save me from the warmth of asking questions which delicacy 214 CHAPT. X. and tact should discover were improper. I am not alone in making these remarks, "A childe's among ye taking notes, And faith he '11 prent it", wince who will at it! Some pretty severe truths we hear from travellers, of which hitherto the natives, have taken no note; thus Frauen and Frauleins, when you meet one of us strangers in the land clothed in black crape and bombazine, do not fly up to us in the street exclaiming, "Whose dead!", as I have had evidence more than once. Having concluded our repast, we went out to take a view of the town, and making our way over sharp flint stone pavements, turned a corner, and found ourselves opposite the building known as the Sisters House; a square edifice standing back in a court -yard, with two lateral wings closing in the two sides of it, and a high iron railing shutting all from the street; the great iron gate stood wide open however, and by a strait gravel walk we went directly to the door of en- trance where, mounting five steps, we reached a massive lion -headed brass knocker, the which lifted resounded through the building as through a cavern. A quiet old lady in black opened the HERRNHUT. 215 door to us; the inner appearance corresponded with the whole; long, wide corridors paved with stone, doors on either hand all closed ; dormitories on the upper floor filled with beds ; hospital fashion, not an individual seen, not a voice heard. Our conductress, a plain, mild, middle-aged woman, opened a door, and introduced us into a room where six or seven young girls were at work with their needles, a little hum and titter issued from it, the first sign of life I had heard in the monastic silence of the place; these girls are scholars educated by the sisters, and among them you may oftimes find a young lady from Lap- land, or perchance from the "Islands of the Sea", the missionaries frequently sending their daugh- ters here to be trained, and most probably to take their place some future day as wives of missionaries. Leaving these poor little humming bees to improve the shining hour, we were intro- duced into another room where, laid out in glass cases, similar to those we see at home, were all the varieties of women's handiwork, sold for the benefit of the makers; these were only the usual specimens of knitting, netting, and worsted work, flimsy pin - cushions , pursy, red cloth strawber- 216 CHAPT. X. ries ; and needlebooks, which from time imme- morial have graced the missionary cases , but which one buys for the intention, not the gain. The old lady now told us we must see the kit- chen , considered the finest part of the establish- ment. It was a large stone -arched hall paved with stone, and furnished with an enormous kit- chen apparatus. At the hour of two, when we visited it, all was clean and in perfect order; two women sat with a hamper of vegetables before them preparing for the evening meal, these too were silent as the salads they were washing; there were a hundred inmates served every day with three meals, for which they pay about a dollar a week. With this ended the inspection of the Sisters House ; this kitchen formed one of the side buil- dings which enclose the court; a small side door offered us an exit, and here we bade farewell to our kind conductress; she had nothing peculiar about her, nothing ascetic, and, above all, none of that peculiar intonation of voice which religious people are so apt to adopt, and which falls upon the ear like the funeral death bell ; none has more right to be cheerful, than the true christian, HERRNHUT. 2 1 7 "hoping all things , believing all things", but un- fortunately most adopt a tone more apt to weary wordly people, than to attract them to the way of godliness; "a kind of crook which, when once it gets into the human throat, is as ineradicable as Sin ; the effect is as if the voice had been dyed black, or, if we must use a more moderate simile, this miserable croak , running through all the variations of the voice, is like a black silken thread on which the chrystal beads of speech are strung, and whence they take their hue; such voices have put on mourning for dead hopes, and they ought to die and be buried along with them". All will recognize in this quotation Hawthorne's words from, "The house of the seven gables". I never saw the idea so forcibly expressed before, though the fact has grated upon my nerves over and over again. Well our sister was not one of these, a plain, simple, mild spoken German Frau, with a black, fringed lace -kerchief tied over her head, and dressed in a black stuff gown. We again crossed the court -yard with its gravel walk, and close cropped grass plots, where neither bush nor flower were to be found ; flowers ! useless frivolous things that they are! flaunting 218 CHAPT. X. in such wordly colors too! Nature never produces any thing black or grey in her vegetable king- dom, I believe, but tree moss, and toadstools. I saw no flowers at Herrnhut, none of that grace- ful tribute to nature, and beauty which makes most other Germans garnish their window sills; how that beautiful apostrophe to flowers flitted through my brain at this marked absence of them, and which in my accepted desultory moods, I would fain transcribe for those who may have forgotten it. „Do you wonder why the poets talk so much about flowers? Did you ever hear of a poet who did not talk about them? No, they will bloom over and over again in poems as in summerfields, unto the end of time, always old, always new; why should we be more tired of repeating our- selves, than the spring of blossoms, or the night of stars. Look at nature. In the crevices of Cyclopeian walls; in the dust where men lie, they dust too; on the mounds which hide great cities; the wreck of Nineveh, and the Babel heap, still that sweet prayer of benediction, the Amen of nature is always a flower." HERRNHUT. 219 Our one horse chaise waited for us at the gate, and trotted us about the empty streets, pas- sing the different large houses appointed for the "Brothers ", and another for the widows, these congregating under different roofs, which they leave in case of a matrimonial alliance, and oc- cupy one of the small houses which form the town; marriages are made too by lot with mis- sionaries abroad, who send hither to the mother settlement for helpmates; the girl, or woman on whom the lot falls, has the privelege of declining the offer, but it seldom happens, and* this matri- monial lottery is about as successful as the or- dinary picking and choosing process, where men draw more blanks than prizes. Among the Herrnhuters at least, it is entered upon as a reli- gious duty. No one gazed out upon us during our clatter over the stones; no child's voice, no cock's crow, no fluttering of domestic pigeon, broke the La Trappe silence. It was Saturday, I did not think of enquiring then, but since have thought the Sabath stillness that prevailed might have been preparatory to the coming day, even then, this total absence of sound had something strangely 220 CHAPT. X. unnatural about it, seemingly like a stricken city/ where all the inhabitants had been turned into stone, or abandoned by a plague. We left the town by a fine turnpike, shaded with trees for a considerable distance; it is the direct road to Lobau, leading through a soft un- dulating country highly cultivated; we hardly met a vehicle on this road, saw no men at work in the fields, no cows, no sheep, no urchins tending flocks of Geese in stubble fields, as elsewhere; not a crow, nor a magpie to give life to the scene, all was in keeping with the silence of the town we had left; it was a fitting frame -work however, for that "Court of Peace" we were about to enter, the cemetery of Herrnhut, which lies a little off the road, about ten minutes distance from the town. A large square piece of ground is enclosed by a high clipped hedge, kept even as a wall; at regular intervals Linden trees are planted in the hedge, which have been trimmed with the same precision, presenting to the eye the same even, green barrier raised a few feet above the other, the trunks of the trees representing a row of columns seemingly supporting it; at regular intervals openings are left in the hedge, like door HERRNHUT. 221 ways. Within the enclosure a broad, closely shorn green sward extends over the whole surface, but not a bush, not a flower shews itself; the grave stones all of one dimension are laid upon this sward, beside each other, and in regular rows, the last deceased taking his place in the ranks; the name, day of birth, and date of death, only in- scribed; here indeed, death levels all men. "These dalesmen trust The lingering gleam of their departed lives To oral record, and the silent heart; Depository faithful and more kind, Than fondest epitaphs. When if it fail What boots the sculptured tomb?" So Wordsworth sings, but a wail has gone up from our American bards, over the cold neg- lect , and unseemliness of our rustic burying grounds, particularly in New England. The Puri- tans held to no heathenish observances of flowers on graves, for heathenish in truth was its origin, emanating from the sensuous Greek love for the beautiful. Some rude uncooth lines were now and then inscribed on stones beneath which, "The rude forefathers of the hamlet slept", but all else 222 CHAPT. X. was stern , cold, repelling , in the "God's acre", where they sowed their dead in corruption, to rise again in incorruption. "The dreariest spot in all the land To death they set apart, With scanty grace from nature's hand, And none from that of art. A winding wall of mossy stone, Frost flung and broken, lines A lonesome acre, thinly grown With grass, and wandering vines." The rest of Whittier's description is wonder- fully graphic and sweet, but too prolonged for full quotation. It marks, however, the peculiar views of the Puritans, and in a measure here among the Moravians we find the same principle prevailing; both would testify, "the emptiness of human pride, the nothingness of man". It is far better perhaps, this simple, even row of stones with name and date, than those rude attempts at inscription found in old burial places, which pro- voke a smile, and raise a wonder how men ever HERRNHUT. 223 could have reconciled the absurdity with the reverence due to the dead. I am reminded of the touching little incident which Hawthorne relates in visiting the old Graveyard in Leaming- ton; he says, "I observed one of the stones lay very near the church, so near in fact that the dropping of the eaves fell upon it. It seemed as if the inmate of that grave had wished to creep under the church wall. On closer inspec- tion, we found an almost illegible epitaph upon the stone, and with difficulty made out this for- lorn verse : Poorly lived And poorly died, Poorly was buried And uo one cried. It would be hard to compress the story of a cold, luckless life, death, and burial into fewer words, or more impressive ones." The cemetery at Herrnhut is far from pro- ducing the effect of neglect; its perfect neatness corresponds with the habits of the people, and the whole appearance of the town; it is tended by careful hands, and if no sign of adornment ap- pear if the daisies and blue bells are kept crop- 224 CHAPT. X. ped down, there is an order and symmetry, a feeling of repose, induced from this very mono- tony, more healthful for the soul, than the elaborate fancies of modern cemeteries, where the wealth and fashion, and display of mortal men is evinced, even in the ornamentation of death's domain; per- haps I owe to my Puritan descent some such re- pugnance for ornamentation; I cannot but feel that fashion has had its influence far too widely in these offerings of grave flowers, originally de- voted to the manes of the dead wandering in Hades, and adopted by the Roman Catholics from their belief in the intermediate state of souls after death; repulsed by the Puritans and Pietists as a frivolous wordly observance, savoring more of fancy, and imagination, than of devotion, the memory of loved ones lies too deep within the heart to be ever forgotten; we reverently place the marble to mark their resting place, but to me they have passed into the regions of the Si- lent Land, and in the silent recesses of our own feelings alone, mementoes of our love and affec- tion are to be offered. Just beside the cemetery rises the Hutberg, or Watch-hill, a sort of cliff, or group of rocks HERRNHUT. 225 on which a look-out tower has been erected com- manding a fine stretch of undulating country highly cultivated , and totally denuded of the forest which existed in 1722, the period of the first settlement. Let us turn back a moment to take a glimpse of things as they appeared in the eighteenth cen- tury, and of which I have already attempted to give a cursory view in the preceeding chapters. Li- berty of thought which had rapidly degenerated into scepticism, had widely spread through Ger- many; the Lutheran church had become a dead letter, all life and spirit seemed to have vanished; the degradation of morals, of which their rulers set them the example, abuse of right, all finally created a reaction, and though scoffing and scep- ticism remained rife in the land from the laxity of Princes, yet there did spring up afresh that germ of true faith, which once sown among a people can never be entirely exterminated. Spener began 1680, to preach a religion of the heart, as opposed to the dead letter of cold belief, and he founded a Collegium-Pietatus at Franckfort on the Maine; in 1705, he was appointed chaplain at Dresden, and prevost at Berlin. He replaced 15 226 CHAPT. X. christian love on her rightful throne , and to him is the Protestant church indebted far more deeply, than to the philosophers of the day. From his teachings sprung what were known as Pietists, who eventually were persecuted for- their extra- vagant tendencies. Franke, the worthy founder of the Orphan school at Halle , followed in Spe- ner's steps. Of this denomination also was Count Zinzendorf, who founded a new church of love and fraternity, the members of which obeyed par- ticular laws, and w^ore a particular dress. The gentleness and simplicity of this community con- trasted forcibly with the wild licence which pre- vailed during the reign of Augustus the Strong, and which had produced that revulsion of feeling in good men leading to reform. Zinzendorf, a young man of distinguished birth and fine un- derstanding, had been born and tutored by pious parents ; the seed had fallen upon good ground, and produced a hundred fold. His peculiar views and feelings rendered him distasteful to his natural associates in the great world, and he formed the plan of retiring and leading a life more suited to his principles. He married the sister of his dearest friend prince de Reuss, a lady whose HERRNHUT. 227 religious views were in accordance with his own, and they retired to his estate Berchtoldsdorf, on the confines of Silesia, which soon became the resort of those pious people, who sought repose and abstraction from the turmoil of the world; this spot obtained the name of, "Herrnhut", — "The Lord's protection". About this period one of those wonderful awakenings , and consequent persecutions took place in Bohemia , that land once almost ex- clusively Protestant, but which after the fatal battle of the White Mountain, passed into the hands of Ferdinand II. and the Jesuits, 1620. Till then the states had enjoyed more priveleges than the parliament of England; they enacted laws, imposed taxes, and chose, or confirmed their Kings; but under Ferdinand they lost all their priveleges. Previous to this the Bohemians were a warlike nation, and had often won military fame, but they have now become blended with other people; no longer distinguished as a nation on the field of battle, no historian has consigned their posterity to glory. Till this fatal period the Bohemians were daring undaunted, enterprizing, emulous of fame; but they allowed themselves 15* 228 CHAPT. X. to be trampled under foot by the Swedes , their courage all lay buried beneath the White Moun- tain. "Now blended with other nations, they like the waters of the Moldau which join those of the Elbe, unite their streams, bear ships, overflow the lands, overturn rocks, yet the Elbe alone is men- tioned." In 1722, during one of the severest persecutions of the protestants, numbers made their escape, and a few fugitives found their way from the province of Moravia into Silesia, and took refuge at Bertholdsdorf under the protection of count Zinzendorf; these eventually obtained per- mission to build, and the place fixed upon was the declivity of the Hutberg on the great road from Lobau to Grottau. It was a wild marshy spot covered with bushes; the wife of Neisser ex- claimed, "where shall we get bread in this wilder- ness!" March e solemnly answered her," have faith, and ye shall remove mountains", upon which he levelled his axe, and gave the first stroke in the nearest tree of the forest which then covered the land, saying, "The sparrow hath found her a house, and the swallow a nest, even thy altars o Lord of hosts". Such was the nucleus of that sect known in after times as the Moravian breth- HERRNHUT. 229 ren, who have spread their missions far and wide over the whole earth's surface. In Germany they are known always as Herrnhuters, the word Herrn- hut signifying, "the watch of the Lord". The Stewart of count Zinzendorf in writing to him, he being absent on the first arrival of the Mora- vian refugees, says, "We have called the place Herrnhut to remind us on the one hand that the Lord is our protector and keeper, and on the other, that it is our duty to stand in the Watch- tower and keep ward. The constant accession of numbers from other lands finally attracted the attention of govern- ment, and Zinzendorf was banished from Saxony fbr ten years. His zeal did not abate; he went about proclaiming, "peace and good will towards men"; twice he visited North America on mis- sions to the Savages; finally the good cause pre- vailed; the simplicity and straightforwardness of the brethren, their unobtrusiveness, brought about the conviction that rather than being a dangerous in- novation, they were examples of probity and good conduct, intruding in no way upon government restrictions, raising no flag of defiance to church or state, and as such their influence prevailed to 230 CHAPT. X. the recalling of count Zinzendorf, who thereafter was merely considered as a harmless enthusiast by people of the world ; but revered as a saint by his own followers. From the wonderful increase in numbers , it became prudent to separate, and colonies in dis- tant lands were formed as missionary enterprizes, and also as cities of refuge for such as professed the same faith ; and who were auxious to find a retreat from the scoffs and gibes of wordly people. The brethren have continued their Missionary labors in the same unostentatious self-denying spirit with which they were begun, and have been very extensively useful. The history of their opera- tions is very interesting, and presents some of the noblest specimens of christian heroism, both in action and suffering ever recorded. They seem to have gloried in undertaking what to other men appeared impracticable, and their perseverance has equalled their courage. More than a century has elapsed since the first missions landed in the West Indies and in Greenland. Their great ob- ject has been steadily pursued ever since, with unabated ardor. The "United-Brethren", are con- sidered in the light of a Missionary church, none HERRNHUT. 231 other compares with them in this department of duty ; every brother and sister stands ready to depart, prepared to go wherever the general voice shall determine. From the burning tropics, to the bleak shores of Labrador, from the far islands of the sea, and from the wild Indian wigwam, the mild benevolent Moravian brother sends up to heaven his prayer of faith, and reaps his re- ward if he turn but one sinner from the evil of his way. CHAPTEE XI. BERLIN. vities like individuals impress one favorably or otherwise from some internal emotion difficult to define. As far as individuals are concerned, it proceeds from mesmeric attraction, or repulsion according to the jargon of the day; but when heaps of stone and mortar sometimes attract, and at others are viewed with cold indifference, it can but be traced to want of association. There are some people and places, like some plants, which offer no outward attraction of flower, but rub them hard, and you are sensible of a sudden pleasing exhalation; plain and unpretend- ing their hidden merit can thus be brought to BERLIN. 233 light. I acknowledge I have been in places which offered no claim to attention , where I have en- joyed more pleasure than in my four several visits to Berlin. People tell me that unless I describe it, my German notes will lack an im- portant feature. Destined as it now is to become the heart of a great Empire, whose pulsations are to send strength and vitality into all the ramifi- cations of an integral body, Berlin, famous as she has ever been, has now assumed a moral dignity and power, which raises her from the capital of the kingdom of Prussia, into being the metropolis of Germany, and any ennui I may have ex- perienced during my visits there, must be erased from my "Impressions", and I must make amende honorable before the altar of public opinion. Like Galelio however, while I conform to the exigency of the times in a measure, I grumble between my teeth — "nevertheless I found Berlin very dull", ("e perche c'e muove"). A great big chessboard spread out on a wide, flat, sandy plain ; long, straight, monotonous streets; long rows of low, monotonous houses, such is the old Frederickstadt, basking in the sun, without one shadow to soften its uniformity 5 where 234 CHAPT. XI. one may imbibe the sand ad libitum , which the high winds from over the plains playfully deposit in your eyes and nostrils, when you undertake to wander into those far off regions. Remain then "unter den Linden", the whole interest of the place is concentrated there, between the "Lust- garten" at the one extremity, and the "Branden- burger Thor" at the other, a concentration of Art and wealth equal to that of any city in Europe. If we consult the pages of history to learn the causes of the superiority Prussia assumed over all the other German states, we will find it in the elevated character of its early monarchs. While the other courts of Europe were degraded by vice and infamy, the sound good sense of Frederick I. and his son and successor Frederick William, laid the foundation of the future greatness of their kingdom. This quality transmitted to him from his grandfather and father, prepared the way for Frederick the Great, not by feats of arms, but by advancing and protecting the welfare of his people. Frederick I. though fond of pomp and luxury, was fully aware of the importance of sowing for the future. He assumed the royal dignity, a hint for that future. He protected men BERLIN. 235 of letters, and opened his gates to the persecuted of other lands; two noble traits which have had their fruition. He took great interest in the Huguenot refugees from France, and encouraged their settle- ment in his states; this was repaid to him four- fold by the piety they infused, the polish of man- ners, and the various trades and acquirements they introduced; many of which up to that time unknown in Prussia. Then came his son Frederick William, who succeeded him in 1730, the odd, eccentric monarch, whose contemporaries branded him with the name of old savage, because he had energy and virtue enough to defy the degeneracy of the age. It is to his own daugther's memoirs, we are indebted for the information that when the king was drunk he kicked his counsellors, and beat the ladies of his family, and was a domestic tyrant, and tor- ment. The Margravine de Baireuth has written a very curious book, but it tells not either for her heart or head ; even if it be truth, it is truth so loaded with exaggerated phraseology, and vul- gar diction, that one invariably only takes half for granted of what she says. Her sketches all bear the mark of caricature. Immediately on the 236 CHAPT. XI. accession of Frederick William he reduced his father's court ; and placed it on a simple economi- cal footing. Gold embroidered dresses, and enor- mous peruques, were no longer tolerated; the king appeared in a little blond wig, a tight fitting dark blue uniform turned up with red, a sword by his side, and a strong bamboo in his hand. French tastes and habits, which had proved the bane of his contemporaries, he utterly abhorred, and in order to disgust his good Berliners with such frippery, he ordered the provosts and jailers to be dressed in the last French fashion. Often when tempted like the other German princes by the French court, he would exclaim, "I will not be a Frenchman, I am thoroughly German, and would be content were I only a president of the Imperial court of finance". On another occasion he said, "I will place swords and pistols in my children's cradles that they may chase the for- eigner out of their country". He did not succeed as it proved with his son and heir, but if Frede- rick the Great did protect Frenchmen he inherited and practised many of his father's principles. He encouraged agriculture and all the liberal arts; he caused the sandy districts about Berlin to be BERLIN. 237 enriched by the mud scraped from the streets, and after succeeding in bringing these districts under cultivation , he proudly exclaimed , "there is a province conquered". " Unlike Louis XIV. who said, ,,1'etat c'est moi", he called himself, "le premier employe de Tetat". Frederick the Great had too much genius to be led away by the frivolities of France ; his tastes made him aspire to literature which however tinctured by French influence , had the property of elevating him above the gross sensual depravity that disgraced the Sovereigns of other courts. Thus the two reigns of father and son extending as they did through the worst period of the eigh- teenth century, kept Prussia in a great measure un contaminated from the licence and excess of depravity which prevailed all over Europe. The Berliners laugh to this day at the many anec- dotes recounted of the old king and his bamboo, which became the bug-bear of all slovenly house- wives and indolent workmen. The king went peering about, examining the state of things for himself; scolding apple -women for sitting idle at the corners of the streets, "knit dame, knit, lose 238 CHAPT. XI. no time", and if she did not mind, she stood the chance next time of a rap over the knuckles from the bamboo. The king wanted people to do right upon principle; the good of his subjects was ever uppermost in his mind. Manly and courageous himself, he had a horror of effeminacy and cowardice; he was impressed with the idea that such were the characteristics of his heir, thence the constant antagonism between them. It is pleasant to know that this father and son learnt to appreciate each other at last. The old Frede- rick William died satisfied he left an heir behind him worthy of Prussia, and Frederick the Great always acknowledged he owed much to his father's precepts. At this crisis the prince was in close cor- respondence with Voltaire, and the letter written on the occasion of the King's death is worthy being many times read, and I transfer a portion of it here. "I arrived at Potsdam Friday night; the situation of the King indicated his end was approaching; he received me with many demon- strations of affection, and conversed a long hour on affairs of government both foreign and domestic, with his usual justice and good sense; these con- BERLIN. 239 versations occurred daily till the following Tues- day; he was firm and entirely submissive under great suffering, and was perfectly aware of his situation; he resigned the crown to me at five o'clock on the Tuesday , and took leave of my brothers and myself, as well as all the officers of distinction, his friends; the Queen, my sisters and I, remained with him during his last moments, he sustained himself with a stoicism worthy of Cato; he departed with the heroism of a great man leaving us all regretting his loss, and im- pressed with the example he had set us The immense accumulation of busi- ness which fell upon me after the event, left no time for indulging grief; I saw that in losing my father, what a debt I owed to my country, and in that spirit I worked, as far as lay in my power, to arrange every thing for the public good. I began by augmenting the national force by sixteen batallions; five squadrons of Hussars, and one squadron of guard de corps, I laid the foun- dation of one new Academy, I have secured the services of Wolf, Maupertius, Vaucanson, and Al- garotti; I have established new schools of com- merce and manufactories; I have engaged pain- 240 CHAPT. XI. ters and sculptors; and now I am about to de- part for Prussia where I shall receive the horn- mage of my subjects without recourse to the ceremony of a holy coronation, so much in vogue in these days." It was to the old King and his bamboo that Berlin owes its extension and importance as ca- pital, he found it an insignificant cramped little town, and he traced out an extensive plan, start- ing from this nucleus; his idea being to concen- trate the power of the state by the foundation of a great metropolis. Partly for this purpose, partly to turn his people from other means of extravagance, he compelled those who could af- ford it to build new houses. Simplicity of dress and manners, economy, thrift, honesty, public morality and truth, were strictly enjoined, and he set the example himself of economy and moral conduct. That he was coarse, domineering and harsh, which may have unfitted him for refined society, had no effect in alienating his people; he went upon the bible principle of "spare the rod and spoil the child", his people were his pride, and their prosperity and advancement his governing desire. Such was BERLIN. 241 the founder we may call him of Berlin, and whatever Frenchified habits may have crept into the next reign, and however much they ma}' have tainted the early career of Frederick the Great, yet Berlin went on culminating to the high point she has attained, that of being one of the first cities in Europe, where learning, and the fine Arts are equally encouraged. The army excellently organized by Dessau, was the object of the king's greatest care; he al- ways wore a uniform, and it was from him the whole state assumed that martial appearance, still one of its strongest characteristics. If the will of the monarch was strong, so was that of his duti- ful subjects the Berliners. They submitted pa- tiently so long as they felt the King was solely intent on their interests, but when his mania for the army finally developed itself, and the city of Berlin was over burthened with a huge garrison, the people remonstrated, and the king marched his troops off in a huff to Potsdam, where he built caserns, and paraded his regiment of big Grenadiers, without saying, "by your leave" to any one. 16 242 CHAPT. XI. I presume all who know how to read at home, have heard of the "Unter den Linden", of Berlin, a broad promenade lined with a double row of Linden trees; on either side beyond these a street; and all the museums and public buil- dings collected together at the one end, within a stone's throw of each other, while at the other, it terminates in a great place, closed in by the celebrated "Brandenburg" gate. The Arsenal, a magnificent building of brown stone, first attracted my attention; it is isolated, and is considered a perfect specimen of Architec- ture. It was begun 1695, finished 1705, its or- naments sculptured by Schlliter, who was named the Michael Angelo of the North. It was under the Great Elector Frederick William, that he was called to Berlin and executed the Royal palace, as also the embellishments of the Arsenal. This stands alone, a huge quadrangle, each side mar- ked by a grand portal; there are twelve smaller doors, and innumerable windows, adorned on the outside with all the insignia of war, and within with masks sculptured to represent the various contortions of pain and misery incident to the battle field. BERLIN. 243 Schluter p erpetuated the memory of the Great Elector , and his own fame, by the equestrian statue on the Elector's bridge where he sits firmly on his war horse, having at his feet four fettered slaves which represent the Passions. The inner halls, I acknowledge, filled me with a sort of awe: their vast dimensions, where a hundred thousand stand of arms are ranged, and where against the walls and pillars, a thousand stand of colors rest; there was a sternness in it all, which impressed me solemnly, this mighty preparation for the death struggle. It is said the attraction women always feel toward the military proceeds from the consciousness of their own weakness, and the necessity of protection ; I know not, but I took an immense interest in all this parapharnalia of war. On the lower floor are cannon, and field pieces of various kinds, and among them the reverend forefather of all can- non, the old leather gun used by Gustavus Adol- phus. There too are fire arms, from the first un- wieldy specimens used at the invention of gun- powder, down to the light, elegant instruments, with which men must be put to death in this our day. I could dwell upon all this with deep 16* 244 CHAPT. XI. interest, though I never pulled a trigger in my life ; when to look at a surgeon's array of healing, life -helping knives, makes me feel faint. What an anomaly is this our human nature, — associa- tion controling our Will. I have known men who brave in the thickest of the battle, could not stand the sight of a surgical blood-letting. Guns and women rarely establish an intimate acquaintance, and it is amusing to learn that among the curious things collected in the museum at Stockholm there is a long carabine, which can only be loaded with small shot with which Chris- tina of Sweden amused herself in her private apartments killing flies ; she was very expert it is said, in bringing down her game. Though the diversion have the same aim, killing time, me- thinks the Queen of Sweden accomplished her end with more dexterity than Diocletian who speared them with a bodkin! Here is a new ex- position of the old version of the shooting folly as the flies, and catch the manners living as they rise. War is said to be the death of Architecture. Frederick the Great embellished the old royal residence at Potsdam, but war was the art he BERLIN. 245 loved the best to cultivate. It was not until after those days of warfare with Napoleon that Berlin became adorned as we now find it. The then King of Prussia had no particular tastes developed, but he was urged to do for his capital what Lu- dovico at Bavaria was effecting for Munich, and what was engaging the attention of the petty princes of Germany. Though without taste him- self, the duty to the state, which rules almost entirely the Prussian mind, induced him to raise those statues to great men whereby a sovereign can pay back a debt of gratitude to his people, by perpetuating their courage, their devotion, and their virtues. Mr. Schinkel, an architect of vast capacity and lively imagination, was called to carry out the proposed designs, and accomplished many beautiful monuments. The guard - house , the Theatre, the Royal museum, and various chur- ches, he impressed with the stamp of his genius; many of the smaller palaces owe their beauty to his creations. It remained for Rauch, the great modern sculptor of Germany, to adorn his native city with the products of his genius. In face of the 246 CHAPT. XI. Guard -house erected by Mr. Schinkel are placed three statues, the generals Scharnhorst, Biilow, and Bliicher. The two former in Carara marble, that of Bliicher cast in bronze, representing him in accordance with his character in a bold posi- tion, sword in hand, his foot resting upon the mouth of a cannon. Probably the artist had in his mind that incident at the battle of Wahlstadt gained by Bliicher in Silesia, where after drawing the French general Macdonald across the Katz- bach, and the foaming river Neisse, he drove him, after a desperate fight, into the waters swol- len by recent rains. The muskets of his soldiery being rendered useless by the wet, Bliicher drew his sabre, and dashed onwards exclaiming, "For- wards!" Several thousands of the enemy were drowned, or fell by the bayonet, the victory was decisive; for two days the French fled in dis- order, and were finally taken prisoners, together with their general Pathod. Macdonald returned almost alone to Dresden, and reported to Napo- leon — "Your army of the Bombre no longer exists". It was upon this occasion Bliicher received the title of prince von der Wahlstadt; but the army dubbed him „Marschall Vorwarts", a BERLIN. 247 nick -name which proved their respect and pride in him, a name pronounced with the same heart- feeling as that of "Old Fritz", by which the Great Frederick, was grafted on the memory of his people. — On the pedestal of Bliicher's statue a history in relief is inscribed by the artist's chisel. No higher encomium can be passed upon it, than in the words of Forteuil, a Frenchman who wrote on German art, and (a marked exception in his nation) shows a genuine taste for things of merit, belonging to other lands besides his own. He says, "A whole poem remarkable for its variety and the consecutiveness of its episodes, written with an incomparable spirit and originality, un- folds itself around the pedestal of Bliicher's statue; it is the poem of the deliverance of the Germanic nations, watered by our tears and our blood". The great triumph of Rauch's life and talent is concentrated in his equestrian statue of Frede- rick the Great, which stands between the Uni- versity and the palace, at the opening of the Linden. Tardy as was this national tribute, it was finally accomplished in a masterly style. Rauch went expressly to St. Petersburg in all the 248 CHAPT. XI. splendor of his renown, to study under an artist who had devoted all his skill to the nature of the horse, and who had succeeded in modelling them to perfection. There is an easy fall from the sublime to the ridiculous, but for the life of me I cannot refrain from the irresistible impulse of repeating here the anecdote of the old poet, Ga- briel Naude who, before writing a description of a horse, shut himself up in his chamber and be- gan to neigh; then went down upon all fours, ambled, trotted, galloped, imitating in every way the paces of a horse! On Rauch's return to Berlin he compared the horses of Phidias with fine natural specimens, and finally produced that one, sixteen hands high, which carries the old warrior-king who is habited in the same costume we always see him repre- sented, the only insignia of royalty, an Ermined mantle hanging from the shoulder, and as I heard a charming Berlin lady say, "His old bronze eyes lighted up with pride as they look down upon what his successors have accomplished for the glory of Prussia". The pedestal is adorned with bas-reliefs depicting incidents in his life, and the four noble figures that adorn the corners represent BERLIN. 249 the cardinal virtues, Temperance, Justice, Wis- dom, and Strength. Under these, groups of ge- nerals and statesmen of his time, and tablets attached to the memory of seventy four celebrated persons. The inauguration of this statue was a day to be remembered by the inhabitants of Ber- lin. It stood unrevealed to the public till then, when purple curtains alone hid it from view. The whole place in its vicinity was filled up with an amphitheatre of seats, which the people hastened to appropriate hours before the event; every win- dow and housetop was crowded, the scene was described to me by a student who was present, but the minutia of detail has escaped me ; I know the excitement and enthusiasm was vociferous when the courtain fell, and "Old Fritz's" bronze eyes glittered once more upon his people! Those who saw, and those who did not see were un- animous in their cheers, the city rang again with the loud hurrah; a vast body of troops paraded and presented arms as they passed the old hero; it was a complete ovation, and the merry burghers who had not had the luck to approach near enough to see the ceremony, invented for the nonce a humorous distich turning on the present tense of 250 CHAPT. XI. the verb "to see", wherein they laughed at each other. The Berlin ers are remarkable for their shrewdness and wit, and a sort of dialect among the lower orders, in which they bandy words at one another, and which has been adopted giving raciness to the translation of Pickwick; no other lingo on the continent, could serve the purpose so well for transmitting Sam Weller's peculiar phraseology. Some fifty years ago, when the great moral revulsion took place, and conscious of the de- gradation the whole of Germany had undergone, there was a reaction against the French dominion, then, when Arndt roused the students by his pat- riotic strains, and Jahn used his influence over the rising generation, the latter introduced the Gymnasium , hoping to strengthen, and raise moral courage by athletic exercises; it is said he never passed beneath the arches of the Branden- burg gate, without pulling one of his scholars by the ear, and asking, "What are you thinking of now?" If the boy did not know what to answer, he would hit him a cuff saying, "you should think of how you can bring back the four bronze horses the French carried off". The Branden- BERLIN. 251 burg gate was designed after the Propylaeum of Athens; the car of Victory surmounting it, was carried off to Paris as a trophy by Napoleon, and returned only after the battle of Waterloo, with the petty observation that is was never al- lowed to decorate the French capital being only a work of patience rather than of art, hammered out by some old iron pot -maker in Berlin". At all events the Berliners could in both senses once more outcry the Frenchman, "La Victoire est a nous!" Those "old iron pot -makers", have somehow, in spite of French contempt, managed to make themselves famous by the elegance of design, and delicacy with which they execute the minutest articles. At the time of the final struggle between Prussia and France the patriotism of the Prussian ladies impelled them to cast their jewels into the public treasury for the expenses of war; then were fabricated at the iron works, rings, crosses, and other ornaments inscribed with the words, "Ich gab Gold urn Eisen". I gave gold for iron; these were presented as a memento to all the ladies who had made the sacrifice, and' are cherished in families as an hereditary honor. Later they beame a fashion; so the iron found- 252 CHAPT. XI. eries of Berlin can produce a pair of elegant fragile pendants for a lady's ear, or the rafters of a house, according to order. A pretty incident occurred during the above period of exaltation, worthy of record; a young lady unable to com- pete with the others in casting valuables into the treasury, in the true Roman spirit sacrificed her beautiful head of hair, which she sold for three Thalers*, this instance of patriotic zeal, inspired so much admiration that the blond tresses were converted into chains, bracelets, rings, which were eagerly bought, and the proceeds amounted to a considerable sum. The magnificent building of the old Museum, facing the "Lust garten", was designed by Schinkel, and its elegant colonade supported by Ionian columns, was painted by Cornelius, the grandeur of its central hall, or "Rotunda", inspires admira- tion. As to the Allegorical designs, 1 confess at once my ignorance and incapacity to enjoy them, nor do I grasp the idea. The genius of Corne- lius inclined him to embody grand poetical con- ceptions in his frescoes, but the forms by which they are conveyed are mostly an unknown lan- guage to the uneducated, and even when the BERLIN. 253 myth is discovered, it Las this inconvenience for the spectator, that it requires an effort of the mind to carry him through the labyrinth of thought, and such effort is incompatible with the enjoyment of Art. Endowed with a genius which overleaped all obstacles, Cornelius with his gift for combinations of the most abstract nature, forgot to enquire whether the spectator could fol- low him. The poem frescoed on the walls of the colonade is the history of the formation of the Universe, and the intellectual developement of Mankind. The confusion of ideas while endeavoring to trace out these Allegorical combinations, is only equalled by the fatigue of the physical effort, thus the grand fundamental idea of rendering Art up to popular favor, and humanizing the people thereby, has missed its aim by the mystery of its adornment; the imagination can follow the vagaries of a poet, but the same vagaries in pal- pable form, no longer float in the ideal, they be- come of the earth, earthy, and tifesome tasks to unravel the meaning. Passing over the galleries of Art and collec- tions in this museum, I pause enthralled among 254 CHAPT. XI. the mystic symbols of old Egypt. The Atrium or Vestibule is a perfect copy of the Atrium of Karnack; beyond are the tomb -like chambers supported by the lotus crowned pillars , all deep mystery; the sepulchral silence , the ignorance of the meaning, the solemnity of the "dim religious light", combine to produce a fascination difficult to describe. Those gigantic Idols sitting there on the great blocks of dark granite, miserable re- presentatives of a god, with their "still eyes and marble lips, and the gloom of an expired divinity"; again the chamber of tombs where sarcophagi with their mummied inmates, are assembled, dat- ing a thousand years before Christ; those curious memento mori that graced Egyptian feasts, em- blematic of the vanity of all things, they impress that lesson more forcibly here, and now, than they probably ever did among the wine cups and revelry of yore, whatever one may say. A Ban- quo's ghost, but sits at table beside a troubled conscience. It is to be presumed each Egyptian household had its own skeleton in the closet, on which they closed the door when they went forth to regale themselves; the mummied remains of their neighbor's friends were of little account to BERLIN. 255 them at a feast of fat things. I do not wish to appear wiser than that generation, but I do know, habit weakens impressions. This collection is the finest in Europe, and contains specimens of every art practised by the Egyptians, and also of those mummied and sacred animals, vipers, &c by which their worship was debased; there was a hidden meaning in the forms of their great divi- nities, but all the rest is shrouded in mystery, even as the Sphinx which guards the entrance to their temples. Noxious and destructive reptiles have received honor and adoration; mothers re- joiced when their children were devoured by a crocodile. No writer, not even among the an- cients, has been able to give a reason for this degraded worship; one only, thinks he has seized the truth, when he says, "the divinity pervades all things, he pervades animals also, and man worships wherever he is found", this Pantheism may have been the basis, but may it not also have been a propitiation to Evil, a worship of Devils, proceeding from the danger incident to many of these reptiles, being multiplied in hot prolific countries. We know the Egyptian priest- hood was the most enlightened body of their age ; 256 CHAPT. XI. they were the highest caste in the nation, a sort of hereditary princes, who stood by the side of the monarch, and enjoyed almost equal priveleges. Thus the distance was nearly impassible that di- vided them from the people. They were judges, and had charge of every department that was in any way connected with learning or science. Their policy was to humor popular prejudices, not to enlighten; therefore when the mass ser- vilely worshipped repulsive animals, the priest rising in his might, looked upon it all only as symbolic of a higher emanation. Thus it is easy to perceive that what passed for a god with the people, was only considered an emblem by the enlightened caste. It has struck me, Aaron must have had some such mental reservation in his mind, when he set up the Golden calf; for he made a proclamation, "To-morrow is a feast to the Lord", would he have dared so to designate it, had he not looked upon the gol- den emblem of divinity in a higher light. The Egyptian priests did not worship the Bull Apis otherwise than as the representative of a God. Aaron , tainted probably by vicious example, com- mitted an unpardonable act, "he feared that stiff BERLIN. 257 necked people". He never could have given in to these proceedings in his heart; overwhelmed by numbers ; he was forced into this great sin; as he explained it to Moses afterwards, '"thou knowest the people that they are set on mischief". So he had salved his conscience by proclaiming, "a feast to the Lord", and so individually ob- serving it, as did the Egyptian priest who wor- shipped the pure element while he submitted to the loathsome symbol; I see no other solution to so extraordinary a proceeding. All that mystery of an extinct nation awakens our sense of its reality; satisfies curiosity, and our reverence for truth; truth under whatever aspect convinces, and tranquilises whereas the vague, the imaginative require efforts to reach, proving the maxim true, "there is more inertness in the mind, than in the body". Among the numerous collections in the mu- seums of Berlin, every individual taste will find subjects of interest, but one naturally seeks what suits him best. Long halls lined with cases of specimens of natural history, are to me an awful bore; to another they offer hours of amusement. The scientific man would regard perhaps with 17 258 CHAPT. XI. contempt the things on which I dwell with the most interest. The collections of natural history attached to the university are the richest, and most extensive in Europe; particulary in Orni- thological specimens. The mineral department is enriched by the collections brought from Asia and America by Alexander von Humboldt. It was in the historical museum I passed most time. A bit of silver ore brings up no association in my mind beyond that of a dollar; lumps of Amethyst and Rubies in the rough, only the com- parison with polished brooches ; Bats and Reptiles, a creeping of the flesh, and a sincere thankful- ness that so many of the tribe, are dead and stuffed; and decidedly the same feeling towards the wild beasts, with their glass eyes; but carry me on to a chamber filled with dead men's relics, there association with its magic wand peoples the scene, and vivifies old memories. The early curiosity of children tends towards the animal creation, perhaps the simple minded little Adams partake in this respect the benevolence of their great progenitor; later, humanity becomes more the subject of interest; the workings of the hu- man mind, the achievements of science; the BERLIN. 259 government of empires, and all this moving mass about us, and when man has achieved greatness under whatever form, we learn to venerate his memory, and look upon any little memento of him with respect or curiosity, as a part and lot of his identity. So in the historical collection in Berlin, may be found strange seeming incongrui- ties. These four or five old common black pipe- bowls, filthy to the eye, such as any good house wife, would have flung into her ash-heep ages ago, what mean they here? — They come from the renowned "tabagie" at Potsdam, where the king, of bamboo memory, regaled himself and his counsellors in a very vulgar low way it is true, but where through the smoke of those very pipe- bowls, there rolled good practical ideas of govern- ment, and staunch opinions, which had their bearings on the future of Prussia, and well may she preserve those smoke vents of words, which have not proved themselves smoke to her, at all events. The various relics of the Great Frederick which so amusingly depict the man, economical towards himself, prodigal for the glory of his nation, are here preserved. His old sword -scab- bard, mended by his own hand with sealing wax, 17* 260 CHAPT. XI. and his pocket-handkerchief, now as well known a relic, as the windmill at Sans Souci: A yellow flimsy rag, with a patch on one side. An old traveller Dr. Moore, who visited Prussia during the life -time of the king, describes the wardrobe as exhibited to him in the palace. "The whole wardrobe consisted of two blue coats faced with red, the lining of one a little torn; two yellow waistcoats, a good deal soiled with Spanish snuff; three pairs of yellow breeches, and a suit of blue velvet, embroidered with silver for great occasions. I imagined at first the servant had got together a few of the king's old clothes to amuse strangers, but upon inquiry I was assured, that what I have mentioned, and two suits of uniform he keeps at Sans Souci, are the complete wardrobe of the king of Prussia". Peter the Great is represented in this museum by a model windmill executed by his own hand during his memorable apprenticeship in the ship yards of Holland; Gustaphus Adolphus by a camp stool; and Napoleon by his little three cornered military hat, found in his travelling carriage after the battle of Waterloo. Among the miscellaneous articles gathered together in this collection, are BERLIN. 261 the robes of the order of the Garter given by- George IV. ; and those of the order of the Holy Ghost presented by Louis XVIII. to the late King of Prussia, and between them the scarlet dress of a doctor of civil law, presented by the University of Oxford on the occasion of his visit in 1814, the which calls to mind old Blucher's remark on a similar occasion, when Oxford offered him this strange honor, "Make Gneisenau apo- thecary, for he it was who prepared my pills". Ben Johnson says, "Hood an ass with reverend purple, so you can hide his two ambitious ears, and he shall pass for a Cathedral doctor". The protection of men of letters has always been a marked feature of the Prussian sovereigns, and Berlin eventually became the literary focus of North Germany, where the republic of letters found its place unshackled by those prejudices of rank and position which usually divide society in German life ; unfortunately Frederick the Great had imbibed such taste for French literature, that his antipathy to the German language became a deep rooted prejudice; he despised his mother tongue as much as ever did the Emperor Charles V., and even went so far as to propose an ameliora- 262 CHAPT. XI. tion of its harshness by adding a vowel to the termination of each verb; he soon learnt there were stubborn facts in this world, not to be over- come even by the will of an arbitrary monarch; the German contemporary writers turned away, denouncing Berlin as the "Great Casern". The day had long passed when rhymes were classed into, "stumpfe Reime", and "klingende Reime", and "stumpfe Schlagreime", and "klingende Sehlagreinie", when poets counted the syllables on their fingers, and provided the exact number were in each line, it mattered not whether they were short or long "Then took the harp in glee and game, And made a lay, and gave it name." The Grand old German tongue had experien- ced the benefit of the Reformation and Luther's influence, it was rivetted in the sublimity of the scriptures, in the heart of the people. Probably the King was instigated by the example of his quondam friend Voltaire, who in the last year of his life, having visited Paris, and being elec- ted honorary president of the Academy, used all his remaining energy in reviving the question of BERLIN. 263 improving the French language, the necessity of revising its grammar, and of introducing new words. "French is a proud beggar, exclaimed he, the more indigent she is, the more she seems to disdain the succor required;' The old Patriarch spoke long and well; he urged upon the mem- bers the necessity of a new Dictionary; he pres- sed the question so earnestly, the Academy yiel- ded to his arguments; the project was confirmed, and the old man, then 84, insisted before they parted, that the letters of the alphabet should be distributed among them, reserving A for him- self, that being the most affluent; triumphant in his success, Voltaire turned to his audience say- ing, "I thank you gentlemen in the name of the Alphabet", "and we", replied the chevalier de Chastellier "we thank you in the name of letters". The desire of transplanting French literature into German soil ended pretty much as did the forcing houses at Sans Souci, where the King at great expense had collected tropical plants and fruits, which would not assimilate with his nor- thern climate, however carefully tended, and which elicited that compliment from de prince de Ligne, when Frederick complained of his want 264 CHAPT. XI. of success ; "It appears Sire nothing flourishes with you but your language laurels". As early as 1680 barbarisms and foreign words had been introduced; during the period of the thirty years war, destroying that fine pure phraseology which distinguished it under Luther and his contemporaries. About this period; nu- merous Academies of science were established under the auspices of different German sovereigns ; among them, that of Halle by Frederick I. of Prussia; and six years later ; that of Berlin. As in times of war 7 or great emergencies there always appear men fitted for the occasion; so happened it for these receptacles of learning; through all the troublous times thereafter; the Universities steered their course, guided by supe- rior minds who allowed no obstacle to interrupt the proposed end they had in view. The Uni- versity of Berlin fell somewhat into the shade during the reign of Frederick William; but Fre- derick the Great reinstated it under French pro- fessors; he named Maupertuis president, which did not please Voltaire who wrote a sarcastic pamphlet on the occasion; the King ordered it burnt; this was the cause of their first quarrel. BERLIN. 265 In one of his letters to Voltaire , the King says, "If I have an ardent desire for any thing it is to be surrounded by men of letters, and talent, and I do not consider it lost labor to endeavour to attract such". Frederick's protection of scientific men, stop- ped there; he left them to their own devices, he looked upon Germans as artisans, the French only as artistes. Meantime the tone of national literature became independent, and proved itself powerful enough to combat the evil of French influences, which Frederick had encouraged. Scep- ticism had its day, but according to the inevitable law of human things reaction took place; the danger of the evil awakened men to the means of opposing it. The year that Voltaire was esta- blished at the Prussian Court, Klopstock was in- vited to that of Copenhagen, where the patronage of the King enabled him to continue his great work, and where the sublime poem "The Mes- siah", was completed. "Klopstock personifies the true German poet. None before him had sung those noble high wrought sentiments of religion, of patriotism, of friendship and love in so pure a strain; penetrated with the enthusiasm of the 266 CHAPT. XI. northern bards ; all seemed united in him; he will ever remain the pride of Germany." About the same period there entered Berlin, attached to a company of strolling players , a young man named Lessing, a student from Leip- zig , who had joined the troop from embarrassed circumstances. Through the influence of a friend, he was introduced to Voltaire, but recoiled from this one's superciliousness. Lessing had not been appreciated by the professors of his University; amidst the versatility of his mind, he had not been able to fix on any one particular subject; he distinguished himself by profound criticisms in several reviews, and published anonymously Anacreontic Poems, which were received with great favor. Constrained by his father, a severe clergyman, to continue his studies at Wittenberg, he amused his leisure with literary pursuits. He returned to Berlin 1753, and soon distinguished himself in a new order of criticism. He dared to analize the French Drama, then all the vogue in Germany, and advance the opinion that Eng- lish genius was more analogous to the German; this too in the very teeth of Voltaire, whose venom had already been spitted against Shakes- BERLIN. 267 peare. His littleness in this respect evinced itself one day in conversation with a lady, to whom he observed, "Shakespeare! c'est du fuinier", she replied, "oui du fumier qui enrichit les sols etrangers". Voltaire being himself indebted to the great Dramatist for hints. It was Lessing's bold- ness, as much as his undoubted talent, which at- tracted all eyes towards him, and arrested public attention; that a German dare criticise a great French poet like Voltaire, and dare face this prince of irony with his own weapons; that he dare declare each land had its own national taste, and that grace and dignity could be reached by different roads, startled the world. A new im- pulse was given; Germans dared to acknowledge they were Germans. The old ban was removed, the rights of originality were established, Lessing has the honor of laying the foundation of the National Drama. It would seem that in the re- public of letters, as well as in the political world, general disorder and agitation have always been succeeded by a rapid and memorable advance- ment. Men's minds, it would appear, must be deeply and roughly stirred, before they become prolific of great conceptions, or vigorous resolves: 268 CHAPT. XI. a vast fermentation must pervade the whole mass of society, to infuse that warmth by which alone the seeds and germs of improvement can be ex- panded; the revolution was effected, and a sove- reignty of German literature established. It is entertaining at the present day to read Frederick the Great's animadversions upon the taste of his countrymen, now that another phase of things has been established, now that Goethe and Schiller, and the rest of them have confirmed the sovereignty of German literature. In another letter written to Voltaire, he freely discusses his opinions and says, "our Germans have the desire in their turn to enjoy the fine Arts, and litera- ture; however much I may love my countrymen; I must confess till now, they have not succeeded very well; two requisites are wanting, taste and language; the language is too verbose, in good society French is spoken, but they have not at- tained that elegance, which can only be acquired in refined circles; add to this the diversity of dialects. Their taste has not been developed, and a vicious imitation of the Koman, and French, and German styles prevail, where none discern the varied shades of merit; provided there are a BERLIN. 269 crowd of R's on their lines, they deem their ver- ses harmonious, when for the most part they are inflated rhapsodies. As far as History is concer- ned they do not omit the smallest circumstance even when it is useless; Germany no w, is where France was under Francis I. Taste is beginning to shew itself, and later, genius may expand ; the land that has produced a Leibnitz, may produce others; I shall not live to see this but I pro- phecy it." After the wars of 1813 — 14, and their vic- torious ending, the university of Berlin became endued with new life under the fostering care of the prime minister William von Humboldt, brother of the renowned Alexander. Carl von Raumer and Ranke, the historians; Neander, called on ac- count of his profound theological knowledge, "The New Father of the church"; Schleiermacher, also on the same category; Heim, Dieffenbach, and Schonlein, in the medical department; Schelling and Stephens with Alexander von Humboldt, in philosophy and natural sciences ; the brothers 270 CHAPT. XI. Grimm, all names which have given lustre to the institution, were assembled at Berlin. Some of the above distinguished men having been dismis- sed by the King of Hanover, from the University of Gottingen, on account of their freedom of speech, were welcomed by Frederick William III. These last were named from their number, "T h e Pleiades". Among them were Schelling and the brothers Grimm. It has been objected that a great city and Royal Residence is prejudicial to student life, offering so many objects of diver- sion. They form no particular class at Berlin, and are received into general society, where they acquire a polish unknown among the "Burschen" of provincial places, who are generally but rough diamonds. Negligence of attire seems to have been an accepted fact in the world of letters, distin- guishing its votaries. At a diplomatic dinner Alexander von Humboldt horrified the guests by coming in an hour too late in a frock-coat, heated and dusty from an inspection of the mountains of Baden, and the company only reconciled them- selves to the fact, when it was whispered he was a "Gelehrter" (learned man). I can add a pen- dant to this related to me by a friend at whose BERLIN. 271 house it occurred, During one of the public fetes so often celebrated at Cologne, when the great ones of Germany assembled there, a breakfast was given by my friend Mr. Leiden in honor of prince Metternich the elder. After being seated at table a servant whispered to the host, there was a man in the antichamber asking to see prince Metternich, "What kind of man". "He wears some sort of livery". Tell him said Mr. Leiden we cannot now be disturbed; the servant returned and said the man would wait till they were through, but he must see the prince. This pertinacity induced Mr. Leiden to go out and inspect the individual, whom he found rather a shabby looking person, and abruptly asked his name ; Alexander von Humboldt he quietly replied ; the rest requires no comment, he was ushered into the presence of the invited guests on the arm of the host. The University stands among the distinguished buildings of the city. It was originally the palace of Prince Henry, brother of Frederick the Great; it contains one of the finest libraries in Europe, and also extensive zoological, and other collec- tions, with a botanic garden attached to it. Not 272 CHAPT. XI. far from the University in a building of its own, is found the "Academy of Song", as it is deno- minated; this institution is considered by com- petent judges as the best in Europe for the execution of grand oratorio and church music, where the works of the great masters Haydn, Handel, Graun and Mendelsohn are executed with unrivaled precision and taste. In the grand concert saloon another assemblage is held, which does honor to the appreciative intelligence of the people. Some twenty years ago, von Raumer established the precedent of gratuitous public lec- tures on history for ladies; this example was soon followed, and has continued up to the present day. Twelve professors of the University alter- nately lecture every Saturday afternoon during the six winter months, on a great variety of to- pics; it needed but this opportunity to collect audiences composed of both sexes, which filled the hall to overflowing; the higher circles atten- ded, and tickets which were originally issued for a small sum to supply the expenses of lights at- tendants, &c. were rigidly kept by the owners from year to year, in order to ensure a seat. The Queen and Royal family patronize these BERLIN. 273 lectures, and set the example by regularly atten- ding , of a respect for culture and expansion of intellect. Thus has been generated an atmosphere of taste and learning which, pervading all ranks, gives its distinctive character to Berlin society, influencing the education of its women, who there- from have been admitted into the sacred precincts of learning; diffusing a new element of grace and harmony among the rigid pursuits of science, or abstract study, which are apt to encrust solitary professors, unfitting them for appearing beyond their own dens. The name of Mendelsohn above, leads one to speak of the influence of what was called the Jewish aristocracy, not the monied, be it understood, but that of intelligence, art, and science, high capacity and intellectual attainment; that coinage of the brain, which all the coffers of the Rothschilds' cannot outweigh! Moses Men- delsohn the philosopher; Felix Mendelsohn Bar- tholdy a relative of the other; Fanny Mendel- sohn the sister of Felix, and as good and learned a musician as he; it is even said some of his best melodies originated with her. The house of their father was open to every artist, professor, and student, in a simple patriarchal fashion, far 18 274 CHAPT. XI. removed from the parvenuism of monied aristo- cracy. Besides this coterie there was another of the Beers. Meyerbeer the universally known com- poser, and Michael Beer who was an author; he wrote the tragedy, "Struensee", with overture and entr'actes by Meyerbeer; the third son was pro- ficient in Astronomy, these last did not attain old age. An anecdote is related of these celebrated sons of Beer (pronounced as we do Bear). The tutor of the three boys was demonstrating to his pupils some constellations on the celestial globe, and was just explaining the relative positions of the lesser and greater Bear, when the father, who was passing through the apartment, stopped, and concluding the tutor had reference to a feud which existed between the two branches of the Beer family, and their comparative positions in life, said, assuming himself to be the "Great Beer", don't make my boys too proud, I do not wish to encourage jealousy in the family." The mother was distinguished not only as a clever woman, but as a general benefactress to the poor, and uncommonly respected. Besides these circles, there were others more unapproachable. In the beginning of the century the house of the count RERUN. 275 Alopiius had great attraction; then, between the years 20—30, the circle of Madame de Cragan's, a lady renowned for her wit and ready answers. About the same time Bettina Arnheim, the friend of Goethe, principally extended her protection to the youth of the University, not only by enter- taining them at her house, but by a book written expressly for their benefit; among these youths were the crown princes of Bavaria, and Wurtem- berg, and the prince Waldemar of Prussia, known later by his travels in India, and the part he took in the Afgahnen war. Bettina Arnheim was a woman of genius, but far removed from all that external attraction of grace, or manner which becomes a gentlewoman. About this period also the two Countesses, who regardless of their fame had attached themselves to their favourite authors, appeared upon the scene. The Countess of Recke Volmerstein following Tieck to Berlin, invited there by the King Frederick William IV., who loved to protect genius and art; then the Coun- tess Ahlefeldt Laurwig, friend of Immermann, more generally known as the wife of General Lutzow; he who in the war of Liberty, formed the famous, "free corps", which Korner celebrated. 18* 276 CHAPT. XT. This lady by her enthusiasm and energetic bear- ing, played no small part in the events of the day; prompting and encouraging the youth, who threw themselves into the tumult of war. The latter period of her life sbe devoted to her friend Immermann, author of "Munchhausen", a satirical composition of much humor, but embittered as with gall and wormwood, against Raupach, an- other author whose place at the Royal Theatre he had ambitioned; Raupach had been appointed critical register, and had written some nice come- dies, besides a Cyclus of tragedies illustrating the history of the Hohenstaufen. He had also the merit of banishing from the stage the bad translations of French pieces, unworthy of a royal German theatre, and thus to have given a new impulse to German talent. Immermann offended by the preference shewn to Raupach, retired in disgust from Berlin to Dusseldorf, where he lived a misanthrope, and died in 1840. The habit of the Prussian monarchs to assemble around them clever men, without regard to rank, has tended much to give a tone to society in Berlin. In the other Courts of Germany titles and lineage were requisite to bring a man in familiar contact with BEEL1N. 277 his sovereign, as we have already observed in the far famed literary patronage of Saxe Weimar, where Goethe was better known as the Geheim- rath of a puny princedom, than as "the king of Poets", the title by which his countrymen later designated him. Whether Goethe's "von" fitted him for these regions of the blessed, or whether raised to that felicity by his counsellorship, I know not, but Schiller's name had to be purified with the lustral waters of nobility before he could become "hoffahig", that is — admissible to the native courts! The late King of Prussia preferred the so- ciety of scholars and artists, and liked men of knowledge to be appendages of his court. Alexan- der von Humboldt, Kauch, Schinkel, Olfers, Spon- tini, Meyerbeer, all were invited to the Royal coterie. His brother, the present King, though amiable and courteous, did not take this turn; his tastes were all military, so much so the King said of him, "he is the best sous officier in the Kingdom". The reorganization of the army and its perfection, was his hobby, and the present era has developed the fact that his care was not directed in vain, since the thorough discipline, 278 chapt. xi. promptness and efficiency of the Prussian troops, accomplished in so short a space of time, the grand project of uniting permanently the German states, and consolidating their power. Whether the predominance of the military element will effect any change in the social at- mosphere of Berlin, or whether the diffusion of learning and taste is so thoroughly impregnated that it can never be weakened, remains to be proved; the annual assemblage of the Parliament drawing members from every state in the Con- federation, naturally leads to a stirring interest in political matters which will creep into domestic circles; women we know are strong partisans, and is it not to be feared this new phase of ex- citement will supercede the calmness of Academic pursuits? I hope not. Berlin boasts at the pre- sent era a long list of names, professors in every department, known to the world for their deep scholarship, and extended acquirements; but no one name exclusively rings upon the public ear. Poetry and Art at the moment have no marked divinity for the world to worship; the curious fact so often remarked, that great men spring up in groups, and that there are periods wherein a pau- BERLIN. 279 city of them exists, holds good in all lands, and has become a matter of curious speculation, not depending it would seem on outward circum- stances, not alone traceable to patronage, but a sort of spontaneous burst of genius, adorning par- ticular epochs, and giving glory to certain reigns. I have particularly avoided dwelling upon many things of interest which Berlin contains, but the thrice told tale, multiplied again, and again a hundred times repeated, has deterred me. I shall imitate the prudent conduct of the Persian author of the "Shah Nemeh", who consoles his readers on every page, by telling them he has omitted many particulars, "lest they should get the head -ache". Its past history somewhat mel- lows its hue, imparting to the broad modern light which pervades it, some graceful shadowings, but let us view it in what aspect we may, it is a new place, a modern city, unhallowed by centuries of association, a vara avis in this land of old things, a something we Americans find enough of at home; a town stirring with life and energy; a 280 CHAPT. XL population of independent spirit, and strength of purpose; opposing all obstacles, marching straight forward in progress and moral power. We ad- mire the energy of young manhood, and wish him, "God speed", but we turn with a tenderer feeling to that which has passed the hey day of youth, bending under the burthen of many ex- periences and many sorrows, but retaining that grandeur of repose inherent from an illustrious past. CHAPTER XII. POTSDAM. VV e now turn to that favourite resort of the Prussian Princes , Potsdam — there where the old residence , Sans Souci , calls up a deeper feeling of association than Berlin itself. Forty minutes by rail, brings you into that pic- turesque district, watered by the Havel, offering a powerful contrast to the monotonous plain coun- try about Berlin. Potsdam was always the fa- vourite retreat of royalty, but owes its chief cele- brity to Frederick the Great, who erected four palaces there, and caserns for a large garrison. His example was followed; others built palaces in the taste of the age, and Potsdam became 282 CHAPT. XII. famous. The little river Havel has done its part too in beautifying the district ; feeding green slopes, expanding into a lake, with wooded shores, and pleasing the eye with those various caprices which little rivers are prone to indulge in. The old palace of Sans Souci sits there above, on its terraces, rising one above the other, gained by flights of steps, looking down upon all this, and bringing to mind the loves and hates of Voltaire, and his king -friend, and cynical protector; a comical page of history, one which is always amusing. Those two sharp nosed wizened faced old men, bore a strange physical resemblance to each other; somewhat too, in the vanity of both. In looking over the correspondence bet- ween them, how clearly one discerns the lurking- weakness of both, hidden beneath the laudatory phraseology which could deceive no one. Frede- rick in his youth a dilettante in literature, took pride in being deemed the compeer of the most distinguished literary man in Europe, and Vol- taire gloried that Kings should bow down and worship him. The lavish prodigality of flattery on both sides is sickening, its false glare shines out in every line; could a clever man like Fre- POTSDAM. 283 derick be blinded to such an extent? On one occasion he had sent Voltaire a walking-stick surmounted by a head of Socrates, Voltaire writes to thank him; "I have received the charming letter from your royal highness, and some verses which Catullus might have written in the time of Caesar, you mean then to excel in all things? 1 understand the head you send me is that of Socrates, and not that of Frederick, as I sup- posed; once more then Sire, I say, I detest the persecutors of Socrates, without caring much for that flat nosed philosopher Socrates is nothing to me, it is Frederick whom I admire! What a difference between an old gossiping Athe- nian with his familiar demon, and a prince who is the delight of mankind, and who will create the happiness of the world. You do not go from house to house as did Socrates, telling the master he is a fool, the preceptor he is an ass, the little boy he is a dunce, you content yourself with thinking it is so, of most of those animals we call Men, and in spite of all, you endeavour to make them happy." There is an edition of Fre- derick's works which I saw some years ago, with marginal notes and observations in Voltaire's hand- 284 CHAPT. XII. writing, about equal in absurdity to the foregoing 5 notes of admiration abound , looking rnethinks very like wasp stings! That old malicious viper spit his venom even from beneath his honied phrases; could the King have been blinded by the fumes of such incense? I hardly think it ; for he despised Voltaire in his heart. Frederick's authorship however, was his weakest point, and he prided himself as much, if not more, on or- ganizing his ten feet heroic stanzas moulded on the most approved French model, as he did on organizing his phalanxes of ten feet Grenadiers, thus he laid the flattering unction to his soul. On such foundation was erected the celebrated friend- ship, which furnished inimitable comic scenes for the amusement of the world at large, and which men have not wearied laughing at. I saw the well known suit of furniture bespoken by the King, for his pet philosopher's private apartment. Aware that Voltaire hated La Fontaine bitterly, an order was sent to the Gobelin manufactory, to execute a series of designs on the subjects of La Fontaine's Fables, with which all the sofas and chairs were covered. Upon this Voltaire got an old Ape who snapped and bit at every one, POTSDAM. 285 and in his private correspondence designates the King by the same name he gave the Ape. Fre- derick improved upon the Ape idea, by causing Voltaire's private rooms to be newly decorated with a paper representing monkeys ; and parrots. This visit of Voltaire to Prussia , propelled by his pique against the French Monarch who would not patronize him, nor his opinions, is graphically described in his correspondence; Fre- derick received him right royally, provided an apartment next his own to which Voltaire had the key; the order of Merit; twenty thousand crowns pension; his own table and carriage; and all this to correct the King's French verses! Vol- taire imagined he was to find here perfect liberty with his King-friend, but Kings always are Kings, even when they are philosophers. Voltaire recounts his experiences thus in a letter to Count Ar- gental. „I salute you from the heaven of Berlin, but I had to pass through purgatory to reach it; however, behold me now in this home embellished by the Arts, embellished by glory; a hundred and fifty thousand victorious soldiers; opera, comedy, philosophy, poetry, a hero combining 28G CHAPT. XII. within himself both these; grandeur united with grace; grenadiers and muses; trumpets and vio- lins; repasts, liberty; who would believe it?" He continues furthur on, in another letter — "It is true, Potsdam is inhabited by mustaches and Grenadier caps, but I do not see them, I work quietly in my chamber to the sound of the drum", he was uncertain already whether he had changed for the better, but admired a king who governed without the intervention of women, or counsellors; and so Voltaire lived gaily without being happy (as a recent French author has ex- pressed it) "with a jovial company of pagans, who formed that academy of Atheists which the King of Prussia had instituted, but where no Prussian appeared; Frenchmen alone aspired to that honor. La Metrie, the King's physician, was foremost in wit and ribaldry, he said to Voltaire, "do not imagine this will last for ever — the King will weary of us; yesterday some one ex- pressed surprise at the favors conferred upon you, he answered negligently, "one sucks an orange and throws away the skin." This weighed a good deal with Voltaire, who kept the moral of it in his mind. Voltaire POTSDAM. 287 remained long feted and petted by society, but the orange skin always remained a bitter morsel in his mouth. After about three years, the quar- rel with Maupertuis occurred, then Voltaire resol- ved to shake off the trammels that bound him, and escape — every one knows how he effected it, and what a ridiculous denouement the whole af- fair had — Voltaire wrote, "it- was easy enough to enter Prussia, but it required the devil to get him out of it". A visit to Sans Souci recalls these old stories, but every spot in Potsdam is associated with the memory of Frederick the Great, beyond all others. About two miles further on stands the New palace, built after the seven years war as a bravado, to prove to the world the public exchequer was not exhausted, it took six years to complete; marbles have been lavished upon it, but it is a vast, cold, uncomfortable place, and one hurries through, without stopping to admire any special thing it contains ; a witty Frenchman called it the "Palais Sans-Six-Sous". Turn we now to an object of deeper in- terest, the tomb of "The Great Frederick", in the Garrison church, a plain metal sarcophagus, 288 CHAPT. XII. standing there beneath the pulpit ; from which the word of God is heard purifying the memory of that would be Sceptic ; for never will I be- lieve ; Frederick Avas one in reality; it was his way of paying court to Voltaire ; and the learned French coterie; it was his egregious vanity that led him into that great sin. May he be for- given. On his sarcophagus once lay his sword, but when Napoleon, as conqueror of Prussia, visited the tomb of Frederick, he put forth a sacrile- gious hand, and seized the sword with the same sentiment, if not the words used, when he placed the iron crown of Lombardy upon his self- crow- ned head, "gare qui me la touche". The sword was never recovered, but they brought French Eagles, and standards there, after the great defeat of Napoleon, and hung them above the tomb of the old warrior, a just retribution. Napoleon appropriated also the alarmwatch of Frederick, which had been worn in all his campaigns, that pointed the hour of his death at St Helena. There is no city in Germany so well known abroad as Berlin. A prestige was attached to it from the circumstances I have related. French- POTSDAM. 289 men did not ignore it > because their national vanity was gratified by the adulation paid to their great men, while the remainder of Germany was looked upon by them with contempt, as a mixture of visionary enthusiasts, or bearish stu- dents. Probably at all times conquerors have displayed more or less, their pride of success, but Napoleon was brutal. The following instance lately read, is a striking instance, not only of the character of the man, but of his conduct to- wards Prussia. In 1807 after the peace of Tilsit, Daun governed Prussia, and every thing remained on the same footing as it had eight months before; Barante refunded to the governor what he had collected in Silesia, which amounted to three mil- lions, over the expenses; Daun says — "when I parted with the Emperor at Koenigsberg, just as he was mounting the carriage step, he turned and said, "you will remain with tha army, you will supply it, and you will bring me back two hundred million". I exclaimed again s it — he re- plied, "va pour cent cinquante"; the carriage door was closed, and he drove off."' 19 290 CIIAPT. XII. Some one called Kings, — "crowned pirates". Conquerors are robbers on a large scale ; and yet we raise statues to their honor, and magnify their deeds into virtues, deeds stamped with the sacrifice of tens of thousands of immortal souls. May these War -heroes cease upon the earth; may the nations acknowledge a higher aim, in the grand moral progress of society; may the soul-stirring words of Uhland warm all hearts: Onward for ever! Russia loudly cries "onward", Prussia has learnt the cry, her echos shout "onward!" Rise potent Austria, onward, march onward! Up thou old Saxony, hand in hand onward. God help thee Helvetia, Bavaria, rush onward, Franconia, Alsacia, Hesse, Suabia, all onward. Onward England and Spain, grasp the hands of thy brothers, Onward ever, push onward, the goal lies before ye, Onward concmerors, onward, your leader's name's Onward *). *) Blucher. These lines of Uhland, roughly cast as they are into English, are so spirit-stirring, one may well apply to them the remark, "pour ceux qui POTSDAM. 291 sentent, il n'y a pas de langue etrangere"; a chord" is struck to which all hearts must respond. They once roused the people against the usur- pations of France, and now may they rouse them, not to the din of arms, but to the onward march of Union. VALE. Printed by C. Heinrich at Dresden.