LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 914 AnSdlEb v.l b e fors this s re- which it J: withdrlwn "* '"^ fro " lo,es0o,e sta f before the L161O-1096 p E T'S BAZAAR. FROM THE DANISH OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. AUTHOR OF "THE IMPROVISATOR E." BY CHARLES BECKWITH, ESQ. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON : RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1846. LONDON: Printed by Schulze and Co., 13, Poland Street. V, CONTENTS THE FIRST VOLUME. Page Biography of Hans Christian Andersen . . 1 GERMANY. The Spanish Dancers . . . .31 Breitenburg . . . , .36 A Reminiscence from the steam-boat, Storen . 44 Liszt . . . . ' . .47 The Maid of Orleans . . . .56 The Railroad . . . . .60 Gellert's Grave . . . . .71 Nuremberg . . . . .73 A Wish accomplished . . . .88 Munich. . . . . . .92 Tyrol . . . . . .113 IV CONTENTS. ITALY. Page Entrance into Italy . . . .127 A Night on the Appenines . . .141 The Bronze Hog . . . . .150 Travelling with the Vetturino . . .176 Arrival at Rome ..... 215 The Borghese Family . . . . 223 The churches in Rome .... 229 Fairy palaces in reality .... 238 Christmas Eve in Rome .... 253 Three Roman boys . . . .258 Religious customs .... 265 The Cascades of Tivoli . . . .278 My boots ...... 287 BIOGRAPHY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDEfiSEN. IN these days it is indeed rare to find a man of genius emerging out of obscurity by the sheer force of his own abilities. He seems at the present time more frequently determined to his particular profession, by the compulsion or the advice of his family, or his friends, than pre- cipitated into it by his own uncontrollable impulses. Parents will have their children to be such or such , and they send them to school to be educated for geniuses. We Danes still VOL. I. B BIOGRAPHY OF acknowledge a religious veneration for the inherited yoke of the schools, and are content to accept a feeble reflection of our ancestors' superannuated wisdom. Thus, it happens that when a genuine poet arises, he is considered as a sort of foundling, whom no one is bound to protect ; worse than this, as one, the development of whose talents all, or nearly all, with more or less virulence obstruct. Yet true genius will force its way. Outward and untoward circumstances may delay its manifestation, but they only reinforce the inborn principle. Our literature has not to show two instances of a fixed determination to excel in spite of every obstacle, more re- markable than those of Oehlenschlager and Andersen. The former, long after it was vain to deny his extraordinary powers, has often been the subject of the most bitter critical attacks, while the latter first gained a plenary acknowledgment of his claims on the conti- nent, where a more enlightened civilization has HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. 3 broken down the dogmas of the schools, and substituted a taste for the fresh and the natural. Let us briefly show what the subject of our memoir has had to encounter, and how he has conquered. Andersen was born in Odensee on the 2nd of April, 1805, of poor parents. His grand- parents had at one time been wealthy villagers, whom various misfortunes had reduced to necessity, and who had, in consequence, been compelled to remove to Odensee. Here, their son carried on the trade of a shoemaker. He had, at an early age, exhibited a peculiar dispo- sition of mind, (probably inherited from his father, who was insane,) and would sometimes vent in verse the feelings of strong dislike he entertained to his condition in life. When he was about to be married, his means were so narrow that he was compelled to construct his bridal bed out of the pedestal of a Count's coffin, which he had bought at an auction. B 2 BIOGRAPHY OF The grandmother of our poet plays an important part in the history of his childhood. She had the care of the garden of the hospital ; and here the intelligent boy, who was suscepti- ble of the most vivid impressions, and who frequently spent entire days with the old lady, listened with heart and soul to the fables and ghost stories which were related to him by the inmates of the hospital, and had his mind filled with superstitious and religious images. It is told of him, that one day he went out with his mother and some other children to glean on a property, the steward of which was well known to be morose and ill-natured, and who per- ceived them at their employment. The rest fled at his approach ; he alone stood his ground, and with his childish, naive exclamation, " How dare you beat me when God can see you?" he softened the severe man, whose stick was already lifted against him. Sometimes his father took him on his lonely walks into the forest. He made a HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. 5 doll's theatre and other playthings for the lad, and in the evening would read to him from his small library, which consisted of Holberg^s works, an old translation of Shakspeare, and a volume of story and rhyme books, which the child soon began to study of his own accord. The Spaniards had been in Fyen : they had again left, and the war approached its termina- tion. Andersen's father, however, knew not this. His melancholy enthusiasm was excited, and would not suffer him to be at peace. He enlisted suddenly as a private, expecting that the war would carry him to promotion and fortune. But he only reached Holstein ; the conclusion of peace dismissed him back again to Odensee, where he soon afterwards fell ill and died. Meanwhile, the son received a very poor education in a parish school : his leisure hours he sometimes spent with a Madame Bunkea- flod, the widow of a clergyman, who, in 1784, 6 BIOGRAPHY OF was included in a published list of Danish poets. Here for the first time he heard the name of a poet spoken of with reverence ; and now he himself determined to be a poet, and when only nine years of age, began to write comedies and tragedies, in which he sought to discriminate the characters of persons of rank from merely ordinary beings, by interlarding their speeches with French and German words. But his public was not at all grateful: the street boys called him the comedy-writer : with his strange frankness and extraordinary man- ners, he was exposed to many kinds of taunts, which in a very high degree mortified his affectionate and irritable mind ; and when once, on the schoolmaster's birthday, he presented him a little poem, he was laughed at for his kind intentions. Meanwhile his mother's circum- stances became worse, and she sent him to a manufactory to gain something. Here he amused the workmen by his fine voice, and by reciting scenes from Holberg ; but as his girl- HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. 7 ish looks and manners soon exposed him to rude treatment, he fled from thence. He was now twelve years of age, and had read with eagerness all the books he could procure, and as he could not attain the object of his most earnest desire, viz. a visit to the theatre, he sat at home and performed alone in his puppet theatre the whole of Shakspeare's " King Lear," and " The Merchant of Venice. 5 ' When an itinerant troop was in the town, he procured the play- bills, sat at home with them, and composed from the dramatis persona whole comedies, such as they were, so that his mother began to fear that he was taking leave of his senses. His intense interest for dramatic affairs, and the acquaintances he made, when the Copenhagen actors visited Odensee, enabled him to succeed in obtaining small, and generally mute parts to perform. Sometimes he sang in the chorus, a privilege which enabled him to learn a number of songs, even large portions of operas. But his uncommon manners and peculiarity of 8 BIOGRAPHY OF disposition had now excited an interest in his fa- vour in several families of rank, and he was par- ticularly well received by Colonel Hoegh Guld- berg, brother to the poet. His mother marrying a second time, he was intended for the trade of a tailor, a distinction with which he felt for the time satisfied, on account of the resources which here disclosed themselves for the wardrobe of his puppet theatre. At his confirmation, he wore boots and respectable clothes for the first time ; and his joy upon this was so extravagant, that it disturbed his devotion in the church, a mood he has expressed so poetically in the tale of the " Red Shoes." He had, by degrees, saved a sum of thirteen dollars j and now he entreated his mother to let him go to Copen- hagen, in order to get an engagement at the theatre, or to become an "illustrious man," like those of whom he had read. But the good woman first applied to a fortune-teller, and as this oracle predicted for him fortune and great- ness, and that even " Odensee should hereafter HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. be illuminated in honour of him/' he obtained permission to travel. He arrived at Copenhagen on the fifth of September, 1819, just when the well-known Jewish feud, described by him self in his "Only a Fiddler/' had set the whole town in an uproar. He wandered, in the first place, to the theatre ; but he only regarded it from the outside, with the same holy devotion that a lover regards his first ideal of love. The next day he put on his confirmation dress, and went to Madame Schall, a danseuse, to whom he had a letter of recommendation. He made his wishes known to this lady, and on her asking him what character he thought himself able to perform, he answered, " Cinderella \" and at the same moment began to sing and dance this well-known female part, but in so strange a manner and with such uncouth actions, that she thought him insane, and bade him begone. After this repulse he proceeded to the chief B 3 10 BIOGRAPHY OF manager of the Royal Theatre, to seek an engagement, but got for answer that " he was too thin." All hope now seemed gone. Never- theless, in this deplorable state, he bought a ticket for the gallery, and saw the ballet of " Paul and Virginia." The separation of the lovers made so deep an impression upon him, that he burst into tears, and with his usual sincerity told those who sat near him the whole particulars of his distressful condition, applying the contents of the ballet to himself, and his unfortunate love for the theatre. Meanwhile, his stock of money was reduced to a dollar. In his despair, he went on trial to a carpenter, who had advertised for a work- man ; but the first day he was frightened away by the indecent conversation he heard in the workshop. He now remembered his voice, which had so often been praised in Odensee. Accordingly, he waited upon Professor Siboni, who happened to have a dinner party, and amongst other guests were the poet Baggesen HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. 11 and the composer Weyse. He approached the table, sang, and performed, until, the thought of his own forlorn situation suddenly coming into his mind, he burst into tears. Baggesen predicted that he would one day come to something. Weyse collected seventy dollars for him, and Siboni began to form his voice. But it was already in a state of transition, and was soon lost. By the assistance of several noblemen, however, he was enabled to remain in Copenhagen. The poet Guldberg taught him Danish and German; and at last he became a pupil at the theatre, under the in- struction of Lingdreen, frequenting the dancing school daily, and performing in some ballets. Still filled with superstition, he sneaked into the theatre on a New-year's Eve, to pronounce some words on the stage, (he said the " Lord's Prayer" on his knees,) hoping that by this propitiation he might be permitted to make his debut before the year's end. At home in 12 BIOGRAPHY OF his room, he still occupied himself with his puppet theatre. But the slumbering call of nature, which had hitherto expressed itself like an indeterminate passion for music and the drama, now began to awake in another direction : he wrote a tragedy in verse. Mrs. Rahbeck of Bakkehuus, had, half in jest, called him a poet ; he took the hint, and sent some dramatic works to the theatre, which were, however, rejected as immature. But the present conference-coun- cillor Collin, who was a member of the direc- tion of the theatre, had discovered traces of mind in this performance, which promised something extraordinary; and this excellent man into whose house and family Andersen afterwards was adopted, as a son in an affec- tionate home by his influence procured him free lodging and education in the Latin-school at Slagelse. He now studied very diligently, and withdrew himself almost entirely from all HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. 13 sorts of poetical reading; but the rector, in whose house he resided, and whom he after- wards accompanied to Elsinore, misunderstood his pupil's naturally mild and ingenuous nature, and the strong impulses that stirred within him ; and as the mode of scholastic discipline, adopted by the stern pedagogue, was altogether a mis- taken and a vicious one a fact he had afterwards the candour and generosity to acknowledge, Collin took him out of the school as soon as he was made acquainted with it. He now en- joyed private instruction under Cand. Theol. (now priest,) L. C. Miiller, so honourably known by his zeal for the northern languages and historj', and a year afterwards, he took his " examinatio artium" with the next best degree. During his stay at this school, he had written some very promising poems, amongst others that of " The Dying Child," which met with general approbation, but for which at the time, and then only after many and vain trials, he obtained a publisher: it is now translated 14 BIOGRAPHY OF into many languages, even into the Green- land. In his walks to and from the house of his teacher, Miiller, who then lived at Christians- havn, certain humorous ideas from time to time floating in his brain, at length fixed themselves upon and united themselves to the prosaic localities that met his eyes daily ; and the con- junction produced his " Pedestrian Journey to Amack," an essentially literary satire, in the shape of a humorous story, of which some fragments first appeared in Heiberg^s " Flying Post." It was published some years after he had become a student, and had such an extra- ordinary success, that a few days afterwards a new edition was published, and in 1839, even a third, besides a Swedish reprint. The principal reason why his earlier notice- able works appeared in a negatively ironical form was undoubtedly the treatment he had endured at his first school, by which every effusion of his lively and excitable feelings had been repressed and ridiculed. He was now HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. 15 kindly received in different highly respectable families, as, for instance, in H. C. Orsted's and Commodore WuliFs, a circumstance which had certainly a fortunate and improving in- fluence upon him. The injustice of pronounc~ ing a decided judgment on a young poet was signally shown in some circles, where several persons because of some less mature works condemned him irrecoverably, whilst they at the same time praised poems printed by him without his name. In autumn, 1829, he took his second ex- amination with the highest degree, and the same year wrote " Love on Nicholas' Tower/' an heroic vaudeville in one act, which on its performance at the theatre was received with immense applause by his fellow-students, who were justly proud of him ; but although it exhibited wit and humour, it was in itself a faulty work, particularly since it satirised something which does not exist amongst us. Shortly after, in 1830, appeared his first col- 16 BIOGRAPHY OF lection of poems, which were so full of fresh- ness, humour, and natural sentiment, that they were received with unusual applause, both by the public and the critical tribunal. In this volume appeared likewise his first attempt in that direction, which he afterwards pursued with such extraordinary success the " Prosaic Popular Stories." He now undertook a journey through the Danish provinces, and then edited, in 1831, a new collection of poems, " Fancies and Sketches," which in their more serious and melancholy intonations, showed that a change had taken place in his mind. If he had before sometimes approached Hoffmann, one here perceived the influence of Heine. But the truth is, he had been for a space driven from the natural and darling bias of his poetical mind. The author of the well-known " Spectral Letters," H. Hertz, at- tacked him with so much talent and unsparing ridicule, because of the haste and incorrect- ness which are to be found in the language HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. 17 and verses of several of his works, contrasted with the flowing and natural versification of his earlier performances, that the joyous aban- donment to which he had heretofore surrender- ed his muse, chilled and mortified, was changed into the direct contrary. In the summer of 1831, he made an excur- sion into northern Germany, the Hartz Moun- tains, Saxony, &c., of which he gave a lively and poetical picture in his "Shadow- Images." On this tour he became acquainted with Tieck and Chamisso, who translated some of his little poems, and were the first who brought the Germans . to notice his abilities. In 1832, he edited a little collection of " Vignettes to Danish poets " here we find sharp and dazzling wit conjoined with ardent and tender sentiment. It is well-known, if even a poet succeeds, and even if he be prolific, that he will not be able to live on his works amongst so small a reading public as the Danish as yet supply. 18 BIOGRAPHY OF The journal-literature was at that time not developed amongst us, and there was no notion of any payment on the part of editors for the contributions sent. Andersen was therefore obliged to translate pieces for the theatre, for in- stance, "The Ship," and "The Queen of Sixteen Years," and to write words for the operas of several of our composers; "The Bride of Lammermoor," for Bredahl ; " The Raven," for Hartmann, 1832; and "The Feast of Kenil- worth," for Weyse, 1836. The shackles he was obliged to place upon his muse, could not but operate disadvantageously in a poetic sense ; but his restraints or an ex- cusable carelessness, if such it were, resulted in this, that "The Maaneds Skriot, (The JSsthetical Critic)," by Molbeck, who had hitherto spoken favourably of him, from that moment became his declared adversary, so much the more, because just then the polemic author of " The Spectral Letters," and another poet, (Paludan Miiller,) who appeared subsequently to Andersen, HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. 19 entirely monopolized his critical amenities. Thus, Andersen's " Collected Poems," which before had been favourably reviewed in a separate form in the same journal, were now noticed in an almost hostile spirit ; which was the case likewise with his " Twelve Months of the Year 1833," though in this poem every impartial person must discover a peculiarly fresh and cordial lyrical power, and some portion of it, for instance, July month, is equal to the most beautiful poems he has written. The same year he, and his literary foe, Hertz obtained a stipend from the government to travel. Abroad, one feels with double force the tie of a common country : the two literary adversaries first met in Rome, but being noble poetic natures, they met as friends, and tra- velled together to Naples. Andersen first went to Paris, and from thence accepted an invitation to Switzerland, where he finished his dramatic poem, " Agnete and 20 BIOGRAPHY OF the Merman," which, though it evinces an extraordinary development of poetic talent, though his poesy here bursts forth in deeper, fuller, and mightier tones than before, pro- duced much less effect or attention at home than his earlier and less perfect works. On the same day on which he, fourteen years before, poor and helpless had arrived at Copen- hagen, he stepped on Italian ground, and a new world now opened to his glowing fancy. At Rome he formed a friendship with Thor- valdsen, and the encouraging acknowledgment of that great sculptor, the contemplation of the treasures of art, the richness of nature, the mixed manners of the people, were of a deep and beneficial effect upon his poetic soul ; and the fruit of this was his most renowned work, "The Improvisatore," which he finished shortly after his return in 1835. Even amongst his friends doubts had arisen, whether his uncommon poetical temperament would expand itself into a higher development; but HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. 21 these doubts vanished when "The Im- provisatore" appeared. One is enraptured with the prodigious truth and warmth with which Andersen, in this extraordinary work, conjures up the body and spirit of Italy, and Italian moving human life, in a series of charming scenes, and a cluster of capti- vating images. Persons, who before had been adversaries, changed their opinions and feelings on the appearance of this book ; a second edition soon appeared, and was received with extraordinary success in Germany. Persons of distinction and consideration, as for instance the noble Count Rantzow of Breiten- berg, sought the author in the best spirit, and emulated each other in receiving him into their domestic and social circles with a kindness and esteem not generally bestowed amongst us on literary men. But at the same time that Andersen gave into the allurements of such a life, his fecundity seemed to increase. In 1835, his first "Tales 22 BIOGRAPHY OF and Stories" appeared, which were every where received with uncommon success. In these, particularly in some of the latter, we discover the culmination .of his genius. In 1836, he pub- lished the novel of "O. T. or Life in Den- mark," which is distinguished by a lively description of national manners ; the same year, the pastoral drama, " Parting and Meet- ing," which by-the-bye we could wish to see resumed at the theatre ; and in 1 837, the novel, " Only a Fiddler," which with no small humour portrays interesting and strongly - drawn characters. The next year he published three poems. In 1839, he wrote (for scenery and decorations prepared for a piece by Hertz,) the vaudeville of " The Invisible on Sprogo," which is so filled with lively and frolicsome humour, that it has retained the favour of the public, often as it has been performed. A still larger amount of prosperity has attended his first greater attempt in the drama, the romantic drama of u The Mu- HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. 23 latto," produced in 1840, the subject of which was taken from a French novel. The piece met with great success in Sweden, where his poetical genius had been at an earlier period acknowledged ; and when Andersen in the same year remained some days in Lund, he was received with a mark of honour which made an ineffaceable impression upon him. He was invited to a splendid dinner, and was serenaded by the students of Lund, who were proud of being the first to pay him such public homage. The same year he published a " A Picture- Book without Pictures," a series of admirably poetical and fantastic ideas, which was received with universal success, as well at home as abroad ; and after having submitted a tragedy to the theatre, " The Moorish Girl/' which had less success on the stage, he set out, (still in 1840,) on a tour to Italy, Greece, and, Asia- Minor, which he has enthusiastically and poeti- cally commemorated in a (e Poet's Bazaar." 24 BIOGRAPHY OF After his return, he published three collec- tions of new tales and stories, which have served to increase the acknowledgment of his mastery in this direction ; and lastly the dra- matic tale, " Fortune's Flower," which was performed last winter with great success, although the critic in his wisdom in this instance, as well as on many earlier occasions, has not quite agreed with the unlearned public, which judges, and will still continue to judge, of the value of a dramatic performance, by the impression it makes upon its fancy or its feelings. In the winter of 1843 he again visited Paris, and was kindly received by V. Hugo, A. Dumas, Lamartine, Alfr. de Vigny, and others. Last year, on an excursion into Germany, he was received with great attention and hospita- lity, particularly by the Grand Duke of Saxe Weimar, and spent the twenty-fifth anniver- sary of his first arrival in Copenhagen at Fohr, where their Majesties, the King and Queen of HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. 25 Denmark, who at that time resided there, showed him much favour and kindness. If we compare Andersen with several other existing Danish poets we must allow that, in energy of expression, psychological profundity, national cordiality, reflective depth, and formal correctness, he is inferior to several of his contemporaries ; but in creative fancy, in affluence of imagery, in warmth of colouring and sprightly humour, he certainly far sur- passes all our Danish poets younger than Oehlenschlager. An ardent, ingenuous nature, an unaffected national feeling runs through all he has written, and his genuine unsophis- ticated language of the heart, well understood by all, of whatever nation, has certainly con- tributed very much to the applause and welcome reception given to him in such abundant measure out of his native country : while it is this foreign encouragement^ per- haps, that has operated less favourably for him with his critical countrymen. His individuality VOL. i. c 26 BIOGRAPHY OP has, as a German author observes, " by its harmless and open presentment, in which an affectionate and truly poetical mind reflects itself, procured him friends every where." To this may be added, that he has never hidden his less successful works from the public, and never observed the calculating prudence and little finesses in life, of which less richly gifted authors often make a success- ful use to gain or to preserve a literary reputa- tion. If, however, he enjoys a reputation which is not to be denied, and a very high one too- let it be all the more attributed to the real poetical worth of his works. He who has conversed often with Andersen, will know how steadfastly and cheerfully he acknowledges a beneficent Providence, whose guidance has led him through many strange vicissitudes to a station in which he finds him- self happy ; where he understands himself and life will know, how warm his heart beats for his home, and for those Royal, noble, and gentle, HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. 27 who, with unusual kindness, have promoted the development of his character and talents. Most of his works have been translated into the English, the French, the German, the Russian, the Swedish, and the Dutch lan- guages, and some of them in each of these nations have gone through several editions. At the close of the year 1845, Andersen again set out on his travels, with the intention, (as he informed the translator of this work,) of visiting Germany, Holland, France, Italy, Spain, and England on his return. During his stay at Berlin, he was received with much cordiality by the King of Prussia, who in January 1846, created him Knight of the Order of the Red Eagle of Prussia. c 2 A POET'S BAZAAR. GERMANY. I. THE SPANISH DANCERS. IN the summer of 1840, some Spanish dancers, who were staying in Copenhagen, drew all the inhabitants of that city to the old theatre in Kongens Nytorv, (the King's new market, which is no market.) The whole town talked about the Spanish national dance, and the newspapers spread the report of their fame throughout the land. I was at that time on a visit to Baron Stampe at Nyso, that home which our immortal Thorvaldsen found, and which, by the works he executed there, has become a remarkable place in Denmark. 82 THE SPANISH DANCERS. From Thorvaldsen I got the first verbal account of the Spanish dancers ; he was trans- ported and inspired, as I had never before seen him. " That is a dance ! there are atti- tudes ! there are forms and beauty !" said he, and his eyes glistened while he spoke. " See ! one is in the south when one sees that dance \" One forenoon when I entered his atelier, I saw a bas-relief representing a dancing Bacchus and Bacchante completed in clay. " The Spanish dancers have given me the idea,' 5 said he ; ' f they also can dance thus ; I thought of their charming dance when I did this. I was very desirous of seeing these children of Spain of seeing the charming Dolore's Serral. The Copenhagen public has now forgotten her. T went to Copenhagen, and saw a dance that made me forget the painted scenery and the lamp-lights. I was with them in Valencia's dales ; I saw the beautiful beings whose every motion is grace every look passion. THE SPANISH DANCERS. 33 After my arrival in the city, I saw Dolore's dance every evening ; but I never met her off the stage, I never saw her except when she danced in public. It was now the end of October, as cold, rainy, and stormy as we generally have it in our dear country. The Spanish dancers were going ; Dolores said like Preciosa : " To Va- lencia \" but the way from Copenhagen to Valencia is over Kiel. She must go with the steamer, " Christian the Eighth" in a northern autumn, cold and stormy. Half of the good folks who had collected together to bid their friends farewell, were sea-sick on the little trip from the land to the steam-vessel. It was a northern billow dance! Dolores was immediately faint; her pretty limbs were extended for a rest, which was no rest. One sea after the other washed over the deck; the wind whistled in the cordage ; once or twice the steamer seemed to stand still, and as if bethinking itself whether it were not best to turn c 3 34 THE SPANISH DANCERS. back again. The decanters and plates, although they were lashed fast, trembled as with fear or by instinct. There was such a clattering and creaking; every plank in the vessel groaned, and Dolores sighed so loud that it pierced through the deck. Her fine pliant foot stretched itself convulsively against the thin, wooden partition her forehead touched the other. A ship is, however, a strange world ! To the right we are separated from a death in the waves to the left another thin plank is as a cherub's sword. Dolores sighed, and I sighed also. We lay here a whole night, and literally sighed for each other ; and the waves danced as Dolores could not dance, and they sung as I could not sing ; and during all this the ship went on its powerful course until the bay of Kiel encompassed us, and by degrees one passenger after the other went on deck. I told Dolores what an impression her dancing had made on the first sculptor of our age ; I told her about Bacchus and the THE SPANISH DANCERS. 35 Bacchante, and she blushed and smiled. I really fancied that we danced a fandango to- gether on the green plain under the fragrant acacias. She gave me her hand, but it was to take leave she travelled direct to Valencia. Many years hence Dolores will be an old woman, and she will dance no more ; but then the towns and cities which she had delighted with her presence, will dance before her ; and she will then remember the metropolis on the green isle in the north amidst the stormy sea which she sailed over ; she will think of that bas-relief in which she still soars so young and beautiful : and her fingers will glide down the rosary which she sits with in the balcony and she will look over the mountains. And they who stand around the old woman, then will ask her : " What are you thinking of, Dolores ?" And she will smile and answer : " I was on a voyage to the north !" IL BREITENBURG. MY carriage turned off from the highway between Kiel and Hamburg over the heath, as I wished to pay a visit to Breitenburg : a little bird came twittering towards me, as if it would wish me welcome. The Liineburg heath is year after year more and more covered with plantations, houses, and roads, whereas its continuation through the Duchies of Sleswick and Holstein, and into Jutland, has still for the most part the same appearance as in the last century. There are character and poetry in the Danish BREITENBURG. 37 heath ; here the starry heavens are large and extended, here the mist soars in the storm like the spirits of Ossian, and solitude here gives admittance to our holiest thoughts. Groups of crooked oaks grow here like the ghosts of a forest, stretching out their moss- covered branches to the blast; an Egyp- tian race with chesnut skin and jet black eyes here leads a herdsman's life, roasts in the open air the stolen lamb, celebrates a marriage, and dances outside the house, which is quickly raised with ling-turf, in the midst of this soli- tary heath. My carriage moved but slowly on in the deep sand. I really believe one might be sea- sick from driving here. We go continually forward through a desert and deserted region ; the few houses one comes to are extended barns, where the smoke whirls forth through the open door. The houses have no chimneys ; it is as if the hearth were wanting, as if within BREITENBURG. there was no home, as if only the stranger, in wandering over the heath, had kindled a hasty fire here in the middle of the floor, to warm himself a little, and had then proceeded on his way. The chimneys on the peasant's house, and the curling smoke make it homely ; the chimney ornaments enliven almost as much as the flower-beds before the house; but here the houses were in harmony with the heath and the cold autumn day. The sun certainly shone, but it had no warm rays ; it was perhaps not even the sun itself, but only its shining garb which glided over the sky. We met not a human being not a drove of cattle was to be seen. One might almost believe that everything was asleep, or bound by enchantment. Late in the afternoon a fertile landscape for the first time presented itself; we saw a large wood, the sunshine gave its brown leaves the appearance of a copper forest, and just then, as a large herd of cattle came out of the BREITENBUBG. 39 thicket, and stared at us with their large eyes, a whole adventure arose before me of the enchanted city in the copper forest. Behind the wood we passed through a large village which, if it did not lead me into the land of adventure, yet brought me back into another century. In the houses, the stable, kitchen, and living-room seemed to be in one. The road was deep mud, in which lay large blocks of stone. This was very picturesque, but it became still more so, for in the midst of that thick forest, a knightly castle with tower and gable front shone in the evening sun, and a broad and deep stream wound its way be- tween it and us. The bridge thundered under the horse's hoofs ; we rolled on through wood and garden- grounds, into the open castle-yard, where busy lights flitted behind the windows, and every- thing appeared rich and yet homely. In the centre of the yard stands a large old well, with an artificially wrought iron fence, and 40 BREITENBURG. from thence flew a little bird it was certainly the same that had twittered a welcome greeting to me when I began my drive over the heath. It had come hither before me it had announced my coming ; and the castle's owner, the noble Rantzau, led his guest into a pleasant home. The dishes smoked on the table, and the cham- pagne exploded. Yes, it was certainly enchant- ment! I thought of the stormy sea, of the solitary heath, and felt that a man may, never- theless, be at ease in this world. The birds twittered outside whilst I looked out of the window ; the light fell by chance on the well, and it appeared as if the bucket went up and down of itself, and in the middle of the bucket sat a little brownie or fairy, and nodded a welcome to me. I certainly did not mistake, for the brownie's grandfather once presented a golden cup to a Rantzau of Breitenburg, when the knight rode by moon- light through the forest. The goblet is still preserved in the old carved oak press in the BREITENBURG. 41 knight's hall over the chapel. I have seen it myself, and the old pictures on the wall, all proud knights, moved their eyes ; it was in the clear sunshine : had it been on a moonlight night, they would assuredly have stepped out of their frames, and drunk a health to the worthy Count, who now rules in old Breiten- burg. " The happiness of Paradise has no history !" says a poet ; " the best sleep has no dreams," say I ; and in Breitenburg night brought no dreams. By daylight, on the contrary, old sagas and recollections anticipated thought : they greeted me in the ancient alleys of the garden, they sat and nodded to me on the winding stairs of the watch-tower, where the Scotch lay on the alert, when Wallenstein's troops had encamped without. Wallenstein put the men to death by the sword, and as the women in the castle would not, at his command, wash the blood from the floor, he had them also killed. BREITENBURG. In the beautiful scenery around were old reminiscences ; from the high tower of the Castle I looked far and wide over the richly fertile Marskland, where the fat cattle wade in the summer up to their shoulders in grass. I looked over the many forests in which Ansgarius wandered, and preached the Christian religion to the Danish heathens. The little village of ~ Willenscharen in this neighbourhood still bears evidences of his name ; there was his mansion, and there he lived; the church close by Heiligenstadte, where the ground was grown up around the walls, is also from his time ; and it is still, as it was then, reflected in the Storen over which he rowed in his miserable fishing- boat to the little path between the reeds. I wandered in the castle garden under the old trees by the winding canals ; elder-trees and rose-bushes bent themselves over the watery mirror to see how prettily they flowered. The gamekeeper with his dog took his way into the copper-coloured forest. The post-horn clanged, BREITENBURG. 43 and it was as if wood and field were made vocal, and joined in the death-hymn of autumn : " Great Pan is dead !" When the sun was down, the sound of glass and song was heard in the castle. I wandered through the saloon, whose dark red walls en- compass bas-reliefs by Thorvaldsen, and give relief to the beautiful busts and statues. A hedge of roses and sweet briars outside leaned up against the windows with its leafless branches, and it dreamt of the summer life within the saloon that it was itself young and flourishing and that every briar was a bud that would open itself on the morrow. The brownie sat on the edge of the well, and kept time with his small feet; the little bird twittered, " it is pretty in the North ! it is well to be in the North \" and yet the bird flew to the warm lands ; and the poet did the same. III. A REMINISCENCE FROM THE STEAM-BOAT " STOREN." BY the waters of the Storen there lay two small houses, one on each side of the river, each of them snug and pretty, with a green gable and a few bushes ; but outside the one hung an outstretched net, and a large vane turned itself in the wind. How often had not two pretty eyes looked from one of these small houses over to this vane when it turned itself, and a faithful heart then sighed deeply. We took a pretty young woman on board here ; she was of what we call the lower class, THE STOREN. 45 but so neatly dressed; so young, so pretty, and with a beautiful little child at the breast. The good folks nodded to her from both the houses, they wished her joy and happiness! The weathercock turned so that it creaked, but her pretty eyes did not look up to it ; for now she did not care to know which way the wind blew ! and so away we went. All was green, but flat, and always the same on each side; the little river runs in one continued curve. We were now on the Elbe, that great high road from Germany ; and vessels came and went on it. Our boat darted across ; we went over to the Hanoverian side to fetch passengers, and then to the Holstein side, and then again to the Hanoverian and yet we got no passengers. I looked at the young woman ; she seemed to be equally as impatient as myself; she was always at the forepart of the vessel, and looking intently forward, with her hand over those pretty eyes. Was it the towers of Hamburg she sought ? Sh kissed her child, THE STOREN. and smiled, yet tears were in her eyes ! Two steam vessels darted past us; and a ship in full sail was taking emigrants to America. Before us lay a magnificent vessel ; it had come direct from thence, and was now sailing up against the wind. The flag waved ! as we ap- proached, a boat was let loose, four sailors seized the oars; a strong, active, black- bearded man, who appeared to be the steersman on board, took the rudder ; we lay still, and the young wife flew, rather than ran, with her sleep- ing child. In a moment she was in the light rocking boat, and in the arms of that black- haired, sunburnt man. That was a kiss ! that was the bouquet of a long year's sweet longing : and the child awoke and cried, and the man kissed it, and took his wife around the waist ; and the boat swung up and down, as if it sprang with joy, and the brown sailors nodded to each other : but we sailed away, and I looked on the flat and naked shores. IV. LISZT. IT was in Hamburg, in the hotel Stadt Lon- don, that Liszt gave a concert. In a few moments the saloon was quite filled. I came too late, yet I got the best place, close up to the tribune where the piano-forte stood, for they conducted me up the back stairs. Liszt is one of the kings in the realm of tones ; and my friends, as I said for I am not ashamed to acknowledge it conducted me to him up one of the back stairs. The saloon, and even the side rooms gleamed with lights, gold chains, and diamonds. Not far 48 LISZT. from where I stood lay a fat, dressed-out young Jewess on a sofa j she resembled a walrus with a fan. Wealthy Hamburg merchants stood walled up against each other as if it were an important matter " on Change" that was to be discussed. A smile sat on their mouths, as if they had all bought Exchequer bills and rail- way shares, and gained immensely. The Orpheus of mythology could set stones and trees in motion with his music. The mo- dern Orpheus, Liszt, had electrified them already ere he played. Fame, with her many tongues, had opened the eyes and ears of the multitude, so that all seemed to recognize and hear what was to follow. I myself felt in the beams of those many sparkling eyes an expectant palpi- tation of the heart, on the approach of this great genius, who with magic fingers defines the boundaries of his art in our age ! Our age is no longer that of imagination and feeling : it is the age of intellect. The technical dexterity in every art and in every trade is now LISZT. 49 a general condition of their exercise ; languages have become so perfected that it almost belongs to the art of writing themes to be able to put one's thoughts in verse, which half a century ago would have passed for a true poet's work ; in every large town we find persons by the dozen who execute music with such an expert- ness, that twenty years ago they might have been accounted virtuosi. All that is technical, the material as well as the spiritual, is in this our age in its highest development. Our world's geniuses, are they not the mo- dern scum or foam wrought on the ocean of our age's development ? But real spirits must be able to suffer a critical dissection, and raise themselves far above that which can be ac- quired: each in his intellectual sphere must not only complete the work, but add some- thing more. They must, like the coral insect, make an addition to art, or their activity is as nothing. In the musical world our age has two pianists VOL. I. D 50 LISZT. who thus fill their allotted place they are Thalberg and Liszt. When Liszt entered the saloon, it was as if an electric shock passed through it. Most of the ladies rose ; it was as if a ray of sunlight passed over every face, as if all eyes received a dear, beloved friend. I stood quite near to the artist: he is a meagre young man, his long dark hair hung around his pale face ; he bowed to the auditory, and sat down to the piano. The whole of Liszt's exterior and movements shew directly one of those persons we remark for their peculiarities alone ; the Divine hand has placed a mark on them which makes them observable amongst thousands. As Liszt sat before the piano, the first impression of his personality was derived from the appearance of strong passions in his wan face, so that he seemed to me a demon who was nailed fast to the instrument from whence the tones streamed forth, they came from his blood, from his thoughts ; he was a demon who LISZT. 51 would liberate his soul from thraldom ; he was on the rack, the blood flowed, and the nerves trembled; but as he continued to play, the demon disappeared. I saw that pale face assume a nobler and brighter expression : the divine soul shone from his eyes, from every feature ; he became beauteous as spirit and enthusiasm can make their worshippers. His " Valse infernale" is more than a Daguerreotype picture of Meyerbeer's " Robert le Diable !" We do not stand apart and con- template this well known picture, we gaze fixedly into its depths, and discover new whirling figures. It sounded not like the chords of a piano ; no, every tone seemed like trickling water-drops. He who admires art in its technical dexterity must respect Liszt ; he who is charmed by his genius must respect him still more. The Orpheus of our times has caused his tones to resound through the world's great emporium, and they found and acknowledged, D 2 (VRY ,:Sin OF SLUNOiS LISZT. as a Copenhagener has said, that, " his fingers are railroads and locomotives ;" his genius still mightier in drawing together the intellec- tual spirits of the universe than all the railways on earth. The modern Orpheus has caused the European counting-house to resound with his tones, and at that moment at least, the peo- ple believed the Evangelist : the gold of the spirit has a mightier sound than the world's. We often hear the expression " a flood of tones" without defining it ; but it is indeed a "flood" which streams from the piano where Liszt sits. The instrument appears to be changed into a whole orchestra ; this is pro- duced by ten fingers which possess an expertness that may be called fanatical they are led by the mighty genius. It is a sea of tones, which, in its uproar, is a mirror for every glowing mind's momentary life's problem. I have met politi- cians, who conceived, that from Liszt's playing, the peaceful citizen could be so affected by the tones of the Marseillaise Hymn, as to LISZT. 53 seize the musket, fly from hearth and home, and fight for an idea. I have seen peaceful Copenhageners, with Danish autumn's mist in their blood, become political bacchanals from his playing; and mathematicians have become dizzy with figures of tones, and calcu- lations of sounds. The young followers of Hegel the really gifted and not the empty- headed who only make a spiritual grimace at the galvanic stream of philosophy, beheld in this flood of tones the billowy-formed progress of science towards the coast of perfection. The poet found in it his whole heart's lyric, or the rich garb for his most daring figures. The traveller, thus I gather from myself, gets ideas from tones of what he has seen, or shall see. I heard his music as an overture to my travels I heard how my own heart beat and bled at the departure from home I heard the billows' farewell, billows which I was not to hear again ere I saw the cliffs of Terracina. It sounded like the organ's tones from Germany's 54 LISZT. old minsters ; the avalanche rolled down from the Alpine hills, and Italy danced in her car- nival dress, whilst her heart thought of Caesar, Horace, and Raphael! Vesuvius aud JEtna. threw out their lava, and the last trumpet sounded from the mountains of Greece where the old gods died ; tones I knew not, tones I have no words to express, spoke of the East, the land of imagination, the poet's other fatherland. When Liszt had ceased playing, flowers showered around him: beautiful young girls, and old ladies who had once been young and beautiful, cast each her bouquet. He had cast a thousand bouquets of tones into their hearts and heads. From Hamburg Liszt was to fly to London, there to throw out new bouquets of tones, which exhale poesy over that prosaic every- day life. That happy one, who can thus travel all his life, always see people in their poetical Sunday dress ! Yes, even in the inspired LISZT. 55 bridal dress ! Shall I again meet him ? was my last thought ; and chance would have it that we should meet on our travels, meet at a place where my reader and I least could imagine ; meet, become friends, and again separate : but it belongs to the last chapter of this flight. He went to Victoria's capital, and I to Gregory the Sixteenth's. V. THE MAID OF ORLEANS. A SKETCH. WE were on the opposite side of the Elbe. The steam-boat glided down on the Hano- verian side between the low green islands, which presented us with prospects of farm- houses and groups of cattle. I saw happy children playing on the half drawn up boats, and thought how soon this play must be over, how they would perhaps fly far forth into the world, and then would come the remembrance of these small flat islands, like the Hesperian THE MAID OF ORLEANS. 57 gardens with their childhood's golden apples and oranges. We were now at Harburg : every one looked after his own baggage, and saw it placed on the porter's barrow ; but a tall and rather stout lady with a proud carriage not in harmony with her faded chintz gown, and a cloak which had certainly been turned more than once, shook her head at every porter who stretched out his hand to take her little travelling bag, which she held in her hand. It was a man's bag in every way, and she would not give it into other hands, for it was as if it contained a valuable treasure. She followed slowly after us all into the quiet town. A little table was laid for me and a fellow traveller, and they asked us if a third could be permitted to take a place at the table. This third person arrived it was the lady in the faded gown ; a large boa, somewhat the worse for wear, hung loosely about her neck : she was very tired. D 3 58 THE MAID OF ORLEANS. " I have travelled the whole night," said she ; " I am an actress ! I come from Lubeck, where I performed last night ;" and she sighed- deeply as she loosened her cap strings. " What is your line ?" I asked. " The affecting parts," she replied ; and threw her long boa over one shoulder with a proud mien. " Last night I was The Maid of Orleans/ I left directly after the close of the piece, for they expect me in Bremen. To- morrow I shall make my appearance there in the same piece ;" she drew her breath very deep, and threw the boa again over the other shoulder. She immediately ordered a carriage, as she intended to travel post ; but it was to be only a one horse chaise, or she would prefer one of the landlord's own, and a boy with her, for in case of need she could drive herself. " One must be economical, particularly in travelling," said she. I looked at her pale face ; she was certainly thirty years of age, and had been very THE MAID OF ORLEANS. 59 pretty ; she still played " The Maid of Or- leans" and only the affecting parts. An hour afterwards I sat in the diligence ; the horn clanged through the dead streets of Harburg ; a little cart drove on before us. It turned aside, and stopped for us to pass ; I looked out, it was " The Maid of Orleans" with her little bag between her and a boy, who represented the coachman. She greeted us like a princess, and kissed her hand to us the long boa waved over her shoulders. Our postillion played a merry tune, but I thought of " The Maid of Orleans," the old actress on the cart, who was to make her entry into Bremen on the morrow, and I became sad from her smile, and the postillion's merry tones. And thus we each went our way over the heath. VI. THE RAILROAD. As many of my readers have not seen a rail- road, I will first endeavour to give them an idea of such a thing. We will take an ordi- nary high road : it may run in a straight line, or it may be curved, that is indifferent; but it must be level, level as a parlour floor, and for that purpose we blow up every rock which stands in the way, we build a bridge on strong arches over marshes and deep valleys, and when the level road stands clearly before us, we lay down iron rails, where the ruts would be, on which the carriage wheels THE RAILROAD. 61 can take hold. The locomotive is placed in front, with its conductor or driver on it, who knows how to direct and stop its course ; waggon is chained to waggon with men or cattle in them, and so we travel. At every place on the way, they know the hour and the minute that the train will arrive ; one can also hear, for miles, the sound of the signal whistle, when the train is coming; and round about where the by-roads cross the railway, the guard or watchman puts down a bar, so as to prevent those who are driving or walking, from crossing the road at a time when the train is approaching; and the good folks must wait until it has passed. Along the road, as far as it extends, small houses are built, so that those who stand as watchmen may see each other's flag, and keep the rail- road clear in time, so that no stone or twig lie across the rails. See, that is a railroad ! I hope that I have been understood. 62 THE RAILROAD. It was the first time in my life that I seen such a one. For half a day and the succeeding night, I had travelled with the diligence on that horribly bad road from Brunswick to Magdeburg, and arrived at the latter place quite tired out, and an hour after- wards I had to set out again on the railroad. I will not deny that I had previously a sort of feeling which I will call railway-fever, and this was at its height, when I entered the immense building from whence the tram departs. Here was a crowd of travellers, a running with portmanteaus and carpet bags, and a hissing and puffing of engines out of which the steam poured forth. At first we know not rightly where we dare stand, fearing that a carriage, or a boiler, or a baggage chest might come flying over us. It is true that one stands safely enough on a projecting balcony ; the carriages we are to enter are drawn up in a row quite close to it, like gondolas by the side THE RAILROAD. 63 of a quay, but down in the yard the one rail crosses the other like magic ties invented by human skill ; to these ties our magic car should confine itself, for if it come