A LIFT IN A CART.
We left Dresden in the middle of July, a motley group of five: a
Frenchman, an Austrian, two natives of Lubeck, and myself; silversmiths
and jewellers together; all of us duly _vised_ by our several ambassadors
through Saxon Switzerland, by way of Pirna, on to Peterswald. The latter
is the frontier town of Bohemia, and forms, therefore, the entrance from
Saxony into the Austrian empire.
At dusk we were on the banks of the Elbe, at the ferry station near
Pillnitz, the summer dwelling of the King of Saxony. Having crossed the
broad stream, we leapt joyously up the steep path that led into a mimic
Switzerland; a country of peaks, valleys, and pine trees, wanting only
snow and glaciers. For three days we wandered among those wild regions;
now scaling the bleak face of a rock; now stretched luxuriously on the
purple moss, or gathering wild raspberries by the road side. From the
abrupt edge of the overhanging Bastei we looked down some six hundred
feet upon the wandering Elbe, threading its way by broad slopes, rich
with the growth of the vine; or by bleached walls of stone, upon which
even the lichens seemed to have been unable to make good their footing.
From the narrow wooden bridge of Neu Rathen, we looked down upon the
waving tops of fir trees, hundreds of feet beneath us. Then down we
ourselves went by a wild and jagged path into a luxuriant valley called
by no unfit name, Liebethal--the Valley of Love!
Then there was Konigstein, seen far away, a square-topped mountain,
greyish white with time and weather, soaring above the river's level some
fourteen hundred feet. And we clambered on, never wearying; by mountain
fall and sombre cavern, and round the base of an old rock up to a
fortress, till we reached the iron gates; and, amid the echo of repeated
passwords and the clatter of military arms, entered its gloomy portal.
We entered only to pass through; and having admired from the summit a
glorious summer prospect, we journeyed on again into the plains beyond,
and so entered the Austrian territory at Peterswald.
Then there was a great change from fertility to barrenness. From the
moment we entered Bohemia we were oppressed by a sense of poverty, of
sloth, or some worse curse resulting from Austrian domination, which
seemed to have been enough to cripple even Nature herself as she stood
about us. It was evident that we had got among another race of people,
or else into contact with a quite different state of things. At the
first inn we found upon the road, although it was a mighty rambling
place, with stone staircases and spacious chambers, there was not bedding
enough in the whole establishment for our party of five, and yet we were
the only guests. We were reduced to the expedient of spreading the two
mattresses at our disposal close together upon the bare boards, and so
sleeping five men in one double bed. A miserable night we had of it. We
fared better at Prague, which town we entered the next day. That is a
fine old city. From the first glimpse we caught of it from an adjoining
hill, bathing its feet, as it were, in the Moldan, we were charmed.
There was a wonderful cluster of minarets and conical towers, half
Eastern, half German, piled up to the summit of the castle hill. There
was the beautifully barbarous chapel of Johann von Nepomuk, with its
silver tomb. It was all one mass of picturesque details, beautiful in
their outline and impressive in their very age,--and, I may add, dirt. A
rare picture of middle-age romance is Prague--a fragment of the past,
uninjured and unchanged. The new suspension bridge across the Moldan
looks ridiculous; it is incongruous; what has old Prague to do with
modern engineering? It is a noble structure, to be sure, of which the
inhabitants are proud; but it was designed and executed for them by an
Englishman.
From Prague we tramped with all the diligence of needy travellers to
Brunn, the capital of Moravia. Our march was straggling. Foremost
strode Alcibiade Tourniquet, jeweller and native of Argenteuil, the best
fellow in the world: but one who would persist in marching in a pair of
Parisian boots with high, tapering heels, bearing the pain they gave with
little wincing. For him the ground we trod was classical, for we were in
the neighbourhood of Austerlitz. Immediately in his rear swaggered the
Austrian, with swarthy features and black straggling locks, swaddled and
dirty; he was called "bandit" by general consent. The other three men of
our party tramped abreast under the guidance of a Lubecker, a smart
upright fellow, who, on the strength of having served two years in an
infantry regiment, naturally took the position of drill-sergeant, and was
dignified with the name of Hannibal on that account.
We halted to rest in the village of Bischowitz, where the few straggling
houses, and the dreary, almost tenantless hostelry, told their own
sorrows. But we got good soup, with an unlimited supply of bread, which
formed a dinner of the best description; for, besides that the adopted
doctrine in Germany is that soup is the best meat for the legs, we found
that it also agreed well with our pockets. While in the full enjoyment
of our rest, we observed that an earnest conversation had sprung up
between the landlord and a ruddy-featured fellow in a green half-livery.
"Whither are you going, friends?" inquired the landlord at length,
advancing towards us.
"We were going to Brunn by the high-road," we answered.
"This man will carry you beyond Chradim for a _zwanziger_ a head," said
the landlord, pointing to the half-liveried fellow, who began
gesticulating violently, and marking us off with his fingers as if we
were so many sheep. This was a tempting offer for foot travellers, each
burthened with a heavy knapsack. Chradim was eleven German miles on our
road--a good fifty miles in English measurement--and we were all to be
transported this distance for a total of about three shillings and
sixpence. We therefore inspected the _furwerk_, which did not promise
much; but as it was drawn by a neat sturdy little horse, who rattled his
harness with a sort of brisk independence that spoke well for a rapid
journey, we readily decided upon the acceptance of the offer made by the
Bohemian driver. That worthy shook his head when we addressed him, and
grunted out "_Kein Deutsch_,"--"No German." Indeed we found that,
excepting people in official situations, innkeepers, and the like, the
German language was either unknown to, or unacknowledged by the natives.
In less than half an hour we had tumbled our knapsacks into the
cart--which was a country dray, of course without either springs or
seats--and disposing ourselves as conveniently as we could on its rough
edges, were rattling and jolting off over the uneven road towards Collin,
our station for the night.
The country through which we passed was uncultivated and uninteresting;
but, like the rest that we had seen, it spoke of a poverty rather induced
than natural. With the exception of the two villages of Planinam and
Bohmishbrod we scarcely saw a house, and human creatures were extremely
scarce. As we approached Collin we halted for a moment to look at a
column of black marble erected on the roadside to commemorate the
devotion of a handful of Russian troops, who had at this spot checked the
progress of the whole French army for many hours. A little later, and we
were lodged at our inn in the market-town of Collin, where we supped on
bread and cheese and good Prague beer. A wild chorus of loud voices, and
an overwhelming odour of tobacco and onions, were the accompaniments of
our meal. The morrow being market-day in Collin, the whole population of
the district had flocked to the town, and the houses of accommodation
were all full. Our common room was quite choked up with sturdy forms in
white loose coats; broad country faces, flushed with good humour, or
beer, shone upon us from all sides. Our driver, who had been very sedate
and reserved during the whole of the day, soon joined a cluster of
congenial spirits in one corner, and was the thirstiest and most
uproarious of mortals. As for ourselves, we seemed to be made doubly
strangers, for there was not a word of German spoken in our hearing.
Hours wore on, and the country folks seemed to enjoy their town excursion
so extremely well, that there were no signs of breaking up, till mine
host made his appearance and insisted upon the lights being put out, and
upon the departure of his guests to bed. But, beds; where were they?
Our military Lubecker laughed at the idea.
"There are never more than two beds in a Bohemian house of
entertainment," said he, "and the landlord by law claims the best of the
two for himself. The other is for the first comer who pays for it.
Perhaps we shall get some straw, perhaps not. At the worst there are the
boards."
But we did get some straw, after considerable trouble, and the whole
crowd of boozers (with the exception of our driver, who went to bed with
his horses) set about preparing couches for themselves, with a tact that
plainly showed how well they were accustomed to it. The straw was spread
equally over the whole chamber, and each man turned over his heavy oaken
chair, so that its back became a pillow. Divested of boots and coats, we
were soon stretched upon our litters, thirty in a room.
Our morning duty was to shake the loose straw out of our hair and ears,
and then to clear away every vestige of our night accommodation, in order
that a delicious breakfast of rich, black, thick coffee, and plain bread,
might be spread before us in the same room. The country folks were all
at market, and, as far as we could see, so was our driver. He was
nowhere to be found. We had vague notions of his having decamped; but
considering that we had only paid him two zwanzigers out of the five
bargained for, the supposition seemed hardly a reasonable one. After
seeking him in vain through every room in the house, in the crowded
market place, and in the neat little town, full of low, square-built
houses and whitened colonnades, we thought of the stable, and there we
found our friend, stretched on his back among the hoofs of his horse,
who, careful creature, loving him too well to disturb him, never stirred
a limb.
We saw our guide in a new light that day. In spite of all our urging, it
was nine o'clock before we fairly quitted Collin, and he was then already
in an exhilarated state, having taken several strong draughts to cool his
inward fever. We would have given much to have been able to converse
with him; for, as we were about to start, he grinned and gesticulated in
such a violent way--having, evidently, something to communicate which he
was unable to express--that we called the host to our assistance.
"You must not be alarmed," said the landlord in explanation, "if he
should swerve from the high-road, for he thinks of taking you cross
country, and it may be a little rough."
We started at last, and the brave little horse rattled along at a gallant
pace. "Hi, hi, hi!" shouted the Bohemian, and away we went along the
well-beaten high-road, jolted unmercifully; our knapsacks dancing about
our feet like living creatures. We were too much occupied in the task of
keeping our seats, to be able to devote much attention to the country,
until, having passed Czaslau, we turned suddenly out of the high-road,
and came upon a scene of cultivation and refinement that was very
charming. A rapid cooling down of our driver's extravagance of manner
was the immediate result of our entering upon the well-kept paths, and
between smooth lawns; we went at a decent trot, following a semicircular
road, by which we were brought immediately in front of a noble mansion.
At the door of an inn, which pressed upon the pathway, our Bohemian
halted and addressed to us a voluble and enthusiastic harangue in his own
language (one that has a soft and pleasant sound): evidently he meant to
impress us with the beauty of the scene.
We soon learned all about it from the landlord of the inn. Our driver
was a liveried servant of the Prince before whose mansion we had stopped,
and he was probably running much risk of dismissal in letting his grace's
country cart for hire. He was a sad dog, for, in the course of a quarter
of an hour he ran up a score upon the strength of an alleged promise on
our parts to pay all expenses, and succeeded in wheedling another
zwanziger in advance out of our cashier, the military Lubecker. This
piece of money, however, on being proffered in payment of a last
half-pint of beer, was instantly confiscated by the landlord for previous
arrears.
Amid a hurricane of abuse, exchanged between landlord and driver, we
clattered out of private ground to the main road again. Our charioteer
had risen into a state of exaltation that defied all curb, and in a short
time we were again firmly planted before the sign-post of a public-house.
But here there was no credit, and our good-natured Lubecker having doled
out a fourth zwanziger on account, was scarcely surprised to see it
pounced upon and totally appropriated by the host in liquidation of some
ancient score. With a shout of rage, or rather a howl, from our Bohemian
whip, we again set forward. "Hi, hi, hi!" and helter-skelter we went,
through bush and bramble, where indeed there was no trace or shadow of a
beaten track. The Bohemian was lost to control; he shouted, he sang, he
yelled, savagely flogging his willing beast all the while, until we began
to have serious fears for the safety of our necks. Presently we were
skimming along the edge of the steep bank of a broad and rapid stream,
wondering internally what might possibly come next, when, to our terror,
the Bohemian, pointing with his whip to the opposite bank, suddenly
wheeled the horse and rude vehicle round, and before we could expostulate
with or arrest him in his course, plunged down a long slope and dashed
into the river, with a hissing and splashing that completely blinded us
for a few seconds, and drenched us to the skin. We held on with the
desperation of fear; but before we could well know whether we swam or
rode we had passed the stream, and our unconquered little horse was
tugging us might and main up the opposite bank. That once obtained, we
saw before us a wide expanse of heath, rugged and broken, and no trace of
any road.
But horse and driver seemed to be alike careless about beaten tracks.
The Bohemian grew wilder at every step, urging on his horse with mad
gestures and unearthly cries. His driving was miraculous; along narrow
strips of road, scarcely wide enough to contain the wheels, he passed in
safety; sometimes skimming the outer ridge of a steep bank, and when,
seemingly about to plunge into an abyss, suddenly wheeling both horse and
cart round at an acute angle, and darting on with a reckless speed to new
dangers and new escapes. We had been told that he was an admirable hand
at the rein when sober; but, when drunk, he certainly surpassed himself.
As for ourselves, we were in constant fear of our lives; and, being
utterly unacquainted with the country and the language, and unable to
control the extravagances of our driver, we calmly awaited, and almost
invoked, the "spill" that seemed inevitable.
But the paroxysm of the Bohemian had reached its height; from an
incarnate devil, in demeanour and language, he rapidly dropped into
childish helplessness, and finally into a deep uncontrollable slumber.
This was a state of things which, at first, threatened more danger than
his open madness; but then it was the horse's turn to show _his_ quality.
He saw that a responsibility devolved upon him, and he was quite equal to
the occasion. He seemed to know his way as well without as with his
master. We guessed this; and, taking the reins from the hands of the
quite helpless Bohemian, we left the gallant animal to take whatever
course he thought most prudent. The good beast brought us well out of
the tangled heath, and once more to a level, open road.
Soon, a neat village was before us, and we came to the resolution that we
would dismount there at all hazards. But then our sleepy driver suddenly
started into life, and, with a terrible outburst of wrath, gave us, by
motions, to understand that we had gone beyond his destination. We paid
very little heed to him; but, leaping from the cart, felt grateful for
the blessing of whole bones. There remained still one zwanziger unpaid;
but, to our astonishment, the Bohemian relapsed into his old rage when
this was tendered to him, and, by a complication of finger reckoning,
explained to us that he had never received more than two. In fact, he
ignored all that had passed during his drunken fit. Argument being on
each side useless, we also betook ourselves to abuse, and a terrible
conflict of strong language, in which neither party understood the other,
was the result. We entered the chief inn of the village, followed by the
implacable Bohemian, who, though ejected several times, never failed to
re-appear, repeating his finger calculations every time, and concluding
each assault with the mystical words, "_Sacramentum hallaluyah_!" The
landlord came at length to our assistance; and, by a few emphatic words
in his own language, exorcised this evil spirit.
We pursued our way by Hohenmauth, and having missed somehow the larger
village of Chradim, lodged for the night in a lonely hamlet. We walked
fully thirty-two miles the next day, through a wild, neglected country,
and hobbled into Loitomischl as the night was setting in.
We were now upon the borders of Bohemia, and saw glaring on the wall of a
frontier hostelry, "Willkommen zu Mahren"--"Welcome to Moravia." We
sealed the welcome by a sumptuous breakfast of sausages and beer in the
frontier town of Zwittau--a pleasant place, with a spacious colonnaded
market-square--and finished our meal on a green bank on the outskirts of
the town, with a heap of sweet blackberries, of which we had purchased a
capful for six kreutzers shein. It was a quiet, beautiful Sunday
morning, and the country folks were streaming towards the church. They
were all in holiday trim, with a strong tendency to Orientalism in the
fashion of their garments. The women's head-dresses were arranged with
much taste, consisting generally of a large handkerchief, or shawl,
folded turban-wise, with hanging ends; but the heads of the men were
surmounted by an atrocious machine, in the shape of a hat, which, with
its broad, rolled brim, its expanded top, and numerous braidings and
pendants, could be nothing less than an heirloom in a family. We marched
some twenty-five miles that day, and as the even darkened, entered the
village of Goldentraum--Golden dream--happy name! for here, after four
nights of straw-litter, we slept in beds.
Seated in the travellers' room was a group which at once arrested our
attention. A swarthy man, with scattered, raven locks, and a handsome
countenance, was filling a glass with red wine from a round-bellied
flask. His companion, a black, shaggy-bearded fellow, ragged and filthy,
sat opposite to him; while close by the wall, squatted on the ground, was
a squalid, olive-skinned woman, with black, matted hair, who was vainly
endeavouring to still the cries of a child, swaddled at her back. The
men wore slouched Spanish hats, and wide cloaks, which, partly thrown
aside, revealed the rags and dirt beneath. Bohemian gipseys--real
Bohemians were they--filchers and beggars, whose ample cloaks were
intended as much for a convenient means of concealing stolen property, as
articles of dress. Our military Lubecker thought they would be very
useful as a foraging party. They sat laughing and sipping their wine,
now and then handing a glass of the liquor, in an ungracious way, to the
woman squatted on the ground; and who received it with a real or assumed
humility which was, perhaps, the most curious part of the picture. Here
three of our companions, Alcibiade, the Viennese silversmith, and one of
the Lubeckers, were unable to proceed further on foot, and took places in
the "fast coach;" while "Hannibal" and myself tramped the remaining
twenty miles which lay between us and Brunn, the capital of Moravia.
It was again Sunday, our usual rest day, and I stood in the open square
before the huge church at Brunn, watching the motley, shifting, and
clamorous crowd which had converted its very steps into a market-place.
There was something strikingly Eastern in the character of the women's
attire: intensely gaudy and highly contrasted; and their head-dresses the
very next thing to a turban with double-frilled ends. There was also
something peculiarly Catholic in the nature of the articles exposed for
sale; beads, crosses, coloured pictures of saints, and tiny images of
suffering Saviours; but more especially in the manner in which the Sunday
had been turned into a market-day. Above all, and through all, the
impressive tones of the solemn chant, mingled with bursts of inspiring
music, pealed out of the open doorway, round which clustered the kneeling
devotees.
Our lame companions started on the following day by rail for the Austrian
capital, while we took the high road. The country through which we
passed was beautifully undulated; hill and dale following each other in
regular succession, and in a far different state of order and cultivation
to the neglected plains of Bohemia. We were now in Austria proper, and
everything spoke of prosperity and comfort. Neat, populous villages,
hung upon every hill-side--the southern side invariably--and there were
no shortcomings in the accommodation for man or horse. But our finances
were in a miserable plight; and our sustenance during the two and a half
days occupied in tramping the more than eighty miles between Brunn and
Vienna, consisted for the most part of fruit, bread, and water. We
crossed the Danube at a place called "Am Spitz," where there is an
interminable bridge across the broad flood, and entered Vienna almost
penniless.