_July _11_th_.—Let those who delight in picturesque country repair to the
borders of the Rhine, and follow the road which we took from Bonn to
Coblentz. In some places it is suspended like a cornice above the
waters; in others, it winds behind lofty steeps and broken acclivities,
shaded by woods and clothed with an endless variety of plants and
flowers. Several green paths lead amongst this vegetation to the summits
of the rocks, which often serve as the foundation of abbeys and castles,
whose lofty roofs and spires, rising above the cliffs, impress passengers
with ideas of their grandeur, that might probably vanish upon a nearer
approach. Not choosing to lose any prejudice in their favour, I kept a
respectful distance whenever I left my carriage, and walked on the banks
of the river.
Just before we came to Andernach, an antiquated town with strange
morisco-looking towers, I spied a raft, at least three hundred feet in
length, on which ten or twelve cottages were erected, and a great many
people employed in sawing wood. The women sat spinning at their doors,
whilst their children played among the water-lilies that bloomed in
abundance on the edge of the stream. A smoke, rising from one of these
aquatic habitations, partially obscured the mountains beyond, and added
not a little, to their effect.
Altogether, the scene was so novel and amusing, that I sat half an hour
contemplating it from an eminence under the shade of some leafy walnuts;
and should like extremely to build a moveable village, people it with my
friends, and so go floating about from island to island, and from one
woody coast of the Rhine to another. Would you dislike such a party? I
am much deceived, or you would be the first to explore the shades and
promontories beneath which we should be wafted along.
But I don’t think you would find Coblentz, where we were obliged to take
up our night’s lodging, much to your taste. ’Tis a mean, dirty
assemblage of plastered houses, striped with paint, and set off with
wooden galleries, in the beautiful taste of St. Giles’s. Above, on a
rock, stands the palace of the Elector, which seems to be remarkable for
nothing but situation. I did not bestow many looks on this structure
whilst ascending the mountain across which our road to Mayence conducted
us.
_July_ 12_th_.—Having attained the summit, we discovered a vast,
irregular range of country, and advancing, found ourselves amongst downs
bounded by forests and purpled with thyme. This sort of prospect
extending for several leagues, I walked on the turf, and inhaled with
avidity the fresh gales that blew over its herbage, till I came to a
steep slope overgrown with privet and a variety of luxuriant shrubs in
blossom; there reposing beneath its shade, I gathered flowers, listened
to the bees, observed their industry, and idled away a few minutes with
great fascination. A cloudless sky and bright sunshine made me rather
loth to move on; but the charms of the landscape, increasing every
instant, drew me forward.
I had not gone far, before a winding valley discovered itself, shut in by
rocks and mountains clothed to their very summits with the thickest
woods. A broad river, flowing at the base of the cliffs, reflected the
impending vegetation, and looked so calm and glassy that I was determined
to be better acquainted with it. For this purpose we descended by a
zigzag path into the vale, and making the best of our way on the banks of
the Lune (for so is the river called), came suddenly upon the town of
Ems, famous in mineral story; where finding very good lodgings, we took
up our abode, and led an Indian life amongst the wilds and mountains.
After supper I walked on a smooth lawn by the river, to observe the moon
journeying through a world of silver clouds that lay dispersed over the
face of the heavens. It was a mild genial evening; every mountain cast
its broad shadow on the surface of the stream; lights twinkled afar off
on the hills; they burnt in silence. All were asleep, except a female
figure in white, with glow-worms shining in her hair. She kept moving
disconsolately about; sometimes I heard her sigh; and if apparitions
sigh, this must have been an apparition. Upon my return, I asked a
thousand questions, but could never obtain any information of the figure
and its luminaries.
_July _13_th_.—The pure air of the morning invited me early to the hills.
Hiring a skiff, I rowed about a mile down the stream, and landed on a
sloping meadow, level with the waters, and newly mown. Heaps of hay
still lay dispersed under the copses which hemmed in on every side this
little sequestered paradise. What a spot for a tent! I could encamp
here for months, and never be tired. Not a day would pass by without
discovering some new promontory, some untrodden pasture, some unsuspected
vale, where I might remain among woods and precipices lost and forgotten.
I would give you, and two or three more, the clue of my labyrinth: nobody
else should be conscious of its entrance. Full of such agreeable dreams,
I rambled about the meads, scarcely knowing which way I was going;
sometimes a spangled fly led me astray, and, oftener, my own strange
fancies. Between both, I was perfectly bewildered, and should never have
found my boat again, had not an old German naturalist, who was collecting
fossils on the cliffs, directed me to it.
When I got home it was growing late, and I now began to perceive that I
had taken no refreshment, except the perfume of the hay and a few wood
strawberries; airy diet, you will observe, for one not yet received into
the realms of Ginnistan. {127}
_July_ 14_th_.—I have just made a discovery, that this place as full of
idlers and water-drinkers as their Highnesses of Orange and Hesse
Darmstadt can desire; for to them accrue all the profits of its
salubrious fountains. I protest, I knew nothing of all this yesterday,
so entirely was I taken up with the rocks and meadows; no chance of
meeting either card or billiard players in their solitudes. Both abound
at Ems, where they hop and fidget from ball to ball, unconscious of the
bold scenery in their neighbourhood, and totally insensible to its
charms. They had no notion, not they, of admiring barren crags and
precipices, where even the Lord would lose his way, as a coarse lubber
decorated with stars and orders very ingeniously observed to me; nor
could they form the least conception of any pleasure there was in
climbing like a goat amongst the cliffs, and then diving into woods and
recesses where the sun had never penetrated; where there were neither
card-tables prepared nor sideboards garnished; no _jambon de Mayence_ in
waiting; no supply of pipes, nor any of the commonest delights, to be met
with in the commonest taverns.
To all this I acquiesced with most perfect submission, but immediately
left the orator to entertain a circle of antiquated dames and
weather-beaten officers who were gathering around him. Scarcely had I
turned my back upon this polite assembly, when _Monsieur l’Administrateur
des bains_, a fine pompous fellow, who had been _maitre d’hôtel_ in a
great German family, came forward purposely to acquaint me, I suppose,
that their baths had the honour of possessing Prince Orloff, “_avec sa
grande maitresse_, _son Chamberlain et quelques Dames d’Honneur_:”
moreover, that his Highness came hither to refresh himself after his
laborious employments at the Court of Petersburg, and expected (_grace
aux eaux_!) to return to the domains his august sovereign had lately
bestowed upon him in perfect health, and to become the father of his
people.
Wishing Monsieur d’Orloff all possible success, I should have left the
company at a great distance, had not a violent shower stopped my career,
and obliged me to return to my apartment. The rain growing heavier,
intercepted the prospect of the mountains, and spread such a gloom over
the vale as sank my spirits fifty degrees; to which a close foggy
atmosphere not a little contributed. Towards night the clouds assumed a
more formidable aspect. Thunder rolled awfully along the distant cliffs,
and several rapid torrents began to run down the steeps. Unable to stay
within, I walked into an open portico, listening to the murmur of the
river, mingled with the roar of falling waters. At intervals a blue
flash of lightning discovered their agitated surface, and two or three
scared women rushing through the storm and calling all the saints in
Paradise to their assistance.
Things were in this state, when the orator who had harangued so
brilliantly on the nothingness of ascending mountains, took shelter under
the porch, and entering immediately into conversation, regaled my ears
with a woful narration of murders which had happened the other day on the
precise road I was to follow next morning.
“Sir,” said he, “your route is, to be sure, very perilous: on the left
you have a chasm, down which, should your horses take the smallest alarm,
you are infallibly precipitated; to the right hangs an impervious wood,
and there, sir, I can assure you, are wolves enough to devour a regiment;
a little farther on, you cross a desolate tract of forest land, the roads
so deep and broken, that if you go ten paces in as many minutes you may
think yourself fortunate. There lurk the most savage banditti in Europe,
lately irritated by the Prince of Orange’s proscription; and so
desperate, that if they once attack, you can expect no mercy. Should you
venture through this hazardous district to-morrow, you will, in all
probability, meet a company of people who have just left the town to
search for the mangled bodies of their relations; but, for Heaven’s sake,
sir, if you value your life, do not suffer an idle curiosity to lead you
over such dangerous regions, however picturesque their appearance.”
I own I felt rather intimidated by so formidable a prospect, and was very
near abandoning my plan of crossing the mountains, and so go back again
and round about, the Lord knows where; but considering this step would be
quite unheroical, I resolved to attribute my fears to the gloom of the
moment, and the dejection it occasioned. It was almost nine o’clock
before my kind adviser ceased inspiring me with terrors; then, finding
myself at liberty, I retired to bed, not under the most agreeable
impressions; and after tossing and tumbling in the agitation of
tumultuous slumbers, I started up at seven in the morning of July 15th,
ordered the horses, and set forward, without further dilemmas. Though it
had thundered almost the whole night, the air was still clogged with
vapours, the mountains bathed in humid clouds, and the scene I had so
warmly admired no longer discernible. Proceeding along the edge of the
precipices I had been forewarned of, for about an hour, and escaping that
peril at least, we traversed the slopes of a rude, heathy hill, in
instantaneous expectation of foes and murderers. A misty rain prevented
us seeing above ten yards before us, and every uncouth oak or rocky
fragment we approached seemed lurking spies or gigantic enemies. One
time the murmur of the wind among invisible woods of beech, sounded like
the wail of distress; and at another the noise of a torrent we could not
discover, counterfeited the report of musquetry. In this suspicious
manner we journeyed through the forest which had so recently been the
scene of assaults and depredations. At length, after winding several
restless hours amongst its dreary avenues, we emerged into open daylight.
The sky cleared, a cultivated vale lay before us, and the evening sun,
gleaming bright through the vapours, cast a cheerful look upon some
corn-fields, and seemed to promise better times. A few minutes more
brought us safe to the village of Viesbaden, where we slept in peace and
tranquillity.
_July_ 16_th_.—Our apprehensions entirely dispersed, we rose light and
refreshed from our slumbers, and passing through Mayence, Oppenheim, and
Worms, travelled gaily over the plain in which Mannheim is situated. The
sun set before we arrived there, and it was by the mild gleams of the
rising moon, that I first beheld the vast electoral palace, and those
long straight streets and neat white houses, which distinguish this
elegant capital from almost every other.
Numbers of well-dressed people were amusing themselves with music and
fireworks in the squares and open spaces; other groups appeared
conversing in circles before their doors, and enjoying the serenity of
the evening. Almost every window bloomed with carnations; and we could
hardly cross a street without hearing the German flute. A scene of such
happiness and refinement contrasted in the most agreeable manner with the
dismal prospects we had left behind. No storms, no frightful chasms,
were here to alarm us, no ruffians or lawless plunderers. All around was
peace, security, and contentment in their most engaging attire.
_July_ 17_th_.—Though all impatience to reach that delightful classic
region which already possesses, as I have often said, the better half of
my spirit, I could not think of leaving Mannheim unexplored; and
therefore resolved to give up the day to the halls and galleries of the
electoral palace. Those, which contain the cabinet of paintings and
sculptures in ivory, form a regular suite of nine immense apartments,
about three hundred and seventy-two feet in length, well-proportioned and
uniformly floored with inlaid wood. Each room has ample folding-doors
richly gilt and varnished. When seen in perspective these entrances have
the most magnificent effect imaginable. Nothing can give nobler ideas of
space than such an enfilade of saloons unencumbered by heavy furniture,
where the eyes range without interruption: I wandered alone from one to
the other, and was never wearied with contemplating the variety of
pictures which enliven the scene, and convey the highest idea of the
collector’s taste. When my curiosity was a little satisfied, I left this
amusing series of apartments with regret, visited the library which the
present Elector Palatine has formed, upon the same great scale that
characterizes his other collections, and, after viewing the rest of the
palace, saw the opera house, which may boast of having contained one of
the first bands in Europe: from thence I returned home in a very musical
humour.
An excellent harpsichord seconded this disposition, which lasted me till
late in the evening; when growing drowsy, I yielded to the influence of
sleep, and was in an instant transported to a far more delightful palace
than that of the elector; where I expatiated in perfumed apartments with
yellow light, and conversed with none but Albano and Claude Lorrain, till
the beams of the morning sun entered my chamber, and forced my visiting
companions to fly murmuring to the shades. I cannot say but I was sorry
to leave Mannheim, though my acquaintance with it was entirely confined
to inanimate objects. The cheerful air and free range of the galleries
would be sufficient, for several days, for my amusement; as you know I
could people them with phantoms. Not many leagues out of town, lie the
famous gardens of Schweidsing. The weather being extremely warm, we were
glad to avail ourselves of their shades. There are a great many
fountains inclosed by thickets of shrubs, and cool alleys which lead to
arbours of trellis-work, festooned with nasturtiums and convolvuluses.
Several catalpas and sumachs in full flower gave considerable richness to
the scenery; and whilst we walked amongst them, a fresh breeze gently
waved their summits. The tall poplars and acacias, quivering with the
air, cast innumerable shadows on the intervening plats of greensward,
and, as they moved their branches, discovered other walks beyond, and
distant jets of water rising above their foliage, and sparkling in the
sun. After passing a multitude of shady avenues, terminated by temples
or groups of statues, we followed our guide through a kind of arched
bower to a little opening in the wood, neatly paved with different
coloured pebbles. On one side, appeared niches and alcoves, ornamented
with spars and polished marbles; on the other, an aviary; in front, a
superb pavilion, with baths, porticos, and cabinets, fitted up in the
most elegant and luxurious style. The song of exotic birds; the
freshness of the surrounding verdure heightened by falling streams; and
that dubious poetic light admitted through thick foliage, so agreeable
after the glare of a sultry day, detained me for some time in an alcove
reading Spenser, and imagining myself but a few paces removed from the
Idle Lake. I would fain have loitered an hour more in this enchanted
bower, had not the gardener, whose patience was quite exhausted, and who
had never heard of the Red-Cross Knight and his achievements, dragged me
away to a sunburnt, contemptible hillock, commanding the view of a
serpentine ditch, and decorated with the title of Jardin Anglois. Some
object like decayed limekilns and mouldering ovens, is disposed in an
amphitheatrical form, on the declivity of this tremendous eminence: and
there is to be ivy, and a cascade, and what not, as my conductor
observed. A glance was all I bestowed on this caricature upon English
gardens; I then went off in a huff at being chased from my bower, and
grumbled all the road to Entsweigen; where, to our misfortune, we lay
amidst hogs and vermin, who amply revenged my quarrels with their
country.
_July_ 20_th_.—After travelling a post or two, we came in sight of a
green moor, with many insulated woods and villages; the Danube sweeping
majestically along, and the city of Ulm rising upon its banks. The
fields in its neighbourhood were overspread with cloths bleaching in the
sun, and waiting for barks which convey them down the great river, in ten
days, to Vienna, and from thence through Hungary, into the midst of the
Turkish Empire. I almost envied the merchants their voyage, and
descending to the edge of the stream, proffered my orisons to Father
Danube, beseeching him to remember me to the regions through which he
flows. I promised him an altar and solemn rites, should he grant my
request, and was very idolatrous, until the shadows lengthening over the
unlimited plains on his margin, reminded me that the sun would be shortly
sunk, and that I had still above fifteen miles to go. Gathering a purple
iris that grew upon the bank, I wore it to his honour; and have reason to
fancy my piety was rewarded, as not a fly or an insect dared to buzz
about me the whole evening.
You never saw a brighter sky nor more glowing clouds than gilded our
horizon. The air was impregnated with the perfume of clover, and for ten
miles we beheld no other objects than smooth levels enamelled with
flowers, and interspersed with thickets of oak, beyond which appeared a
long series of mountains, that distance and the evening tinged with an
interesting azure. Such were the very spots for youthful games and
exercises, open spaces for tilts, and spreading shades to screen the
spectators.
Father Lafiteau tells us, there are many such vast and flowery meads in
the interior of America, to which the roving tribes of Indians repair
once or twice in a century to settle the rights of the chase, and lead
their solemn dances; and so deep an impression do these assemblies leave
on the minds of the savages, that the highest ideas they entertain of
future felicity consist in the perpetual enjoyment of songs and dances
upon the green boundless lawns of their elysium. In the midst of these
visionary plains rises the abode of Aneantsic, encircled by choirs of
departed chieftains leaping in cadence to the mournful sound of spears as
they ring on the shell of the tortoise. Their favourite attendants, long
separated from them whilst on earth, are restored again in this ethereal
region, and skim freely over the vast level space; now hailing one group
of beloved friends, and now another. Mortals newly ushered by death into
this world of pure blue sky and boundless meads, see the long-lost
objects of their affection advancing across the lawn to meet them.
Flights of familiar birds, the purveyors of many an earthly chase, once
more attend their progress, whilst the shades of their faithful dogs seem
coursing each other below. Low murmurs and tinkling sounds fill the
whole region, and, as its new denizens proceed, increase in melody, till,
unable to resist the thrilling music, they spring forward in ecstasies to
join the eternal round.
A share of this celestial transport seemed communicated to me whilst my
eyes wandered over the plain, which appeared to widen and extend in
proportion as the twilight prevailed.
The dusky hour, favourable to conjurations, allowed me to believe the
spirits of departed friends not far removed from the clouds, which, to
all appearance, reposed at the extremity of the prospect, and tinted the
surface of the horizon with ruddy colours. This glow still lingered upon
the verge of the landscape, after the sun disappeared; and ’twas in those
peaceful moments, when no sound but the browsing of cattle reached me,
that I imagined benign looks were cast upon me from the golden vapours,
and I seemed to catch glimpses of faint forms moving, amongst them, which
were once so dear; and even thought my ears affected by well-known
voices, long silent upon earth. When the warm hues of the sky were
gradually fading, and the distant thickets began to assume a deeper and
more melancholy blue, I fancied a shape like Thisbe {133} shot swiftly
along; and, sometimes halting afar off, cast an affectionate look upon
her old master, that seemed to say, When you draw near the last
inevitable hour, and the pale countries of Aneantsic are stretched out
before you, I will precede your footsteps, and guide them safe through
the wild labyrinths which separate this world from yours. I was so
possessed with the ideas and so full of the remembrance of that poor,
affectionate creature, whose miserable end you were the witness of, that
I did not, for several minutes, perceive our arrival at Guntsberg.
Hurrying to bed, I seemed in my slumbers to pass that interdicted
boundary which divides our earth from the region of Indian happiness.
Thisbe ran nimbly before me; her white form glimmered amongst dusky
forests; she led me into an infinitely spacious plain, where I heard vast
multitudes discoursing upon events to come. What further passed must
never be revealed. I awoke in tears, and could hardly find spirits
enough to look around me, till we were driving through the midst of
Augsburg.
_July_ 21_st_.—We dined and rambled about this renowned city till
evening. The colossal paintings on the walls of almost every
considerable building gave it a strange air, which pleases upon the score
of novelty.
Having passed a number of streets decorated in this exotic manner, we
found ourselves suddenly before the public hall, by a noble statue of
Augustus, under whose auspices the colony was formed. Which way soever
we turned, our eyes met some remarkable edifice, or marble basin into
which several groups of sculptured river-gods pour a profusion of waters.
These stately fountains and bronze statues, the extraordinary size and
loftiness of the buildings, the towers rising in perspective, and the
Doric portal of the town-house, answered in some measure the idea
Montfaucon gives us of the scene of an ancient tragedy. Whenever a
pompous Flemish painter attempts a representation of Troy, and displays
in his background those streets of palaces described in the Iliad,
Augsburg, or some such city, may easily be traced. Sometimes a corner of
Antwerp discovers itself; and generally, above a Corinthian portico,
rises a Gothic spire. Just such a jumble may be viewed from the statue
of Augustus, under which I remained till the Concierge came, who was to
open the gates of the town-house, and show me its magnificent hall.
I wished for you exceedingly when, ascending a flight of a hundred steps,
I entered it through a portal, supported by tall pillars and crowned with
a majestic pediment. Upon advancing, I discovered five more entrances
equally grand, with golden figures of guardian genii leaning over the
entablature; and saw, through a range of windows, each above thirty feet
high, and nearly level with the marble pavement, the whole city, with all
its roofs and spires, beneath my feet. The pillars, cornices, and panels
of this striking apartment are uniformly tinged with brown and gold; and
the ceiling, enriched with emblematical paintings and innumerable
canopies of carved work, casts a very magisterial shade. Upon the whole,
I should not be surprised at a burgomaster assuming a formidable dignity
in such a room.
I must confess it had a somewhat similar effect upon me; and I descended
the flight of steps with as much pomposity as if a triumphal car waited
at my feet, or as if on the point of giving audience to the Queen of
Sheba. It happened to be a Saint’s day, and half the inhabitants of
Augsburg were gathered together in the opening before their hall; the
greatest numbers, especially the women, still exhibiting the very
identical dresses which Hollar engraved. My lofty gait imposed upon this
primitive assembly, which receded to give me passage with as much silent
respect as if I had really been the wise sovereign of Israel. When I got
home, an execrable supper was served up to my majesty; I scolded in an
unroyal style, and soon convinced myself I was no longer Solomon.
_July_ 22_nd_.—Joy to the Electors of Bavaria! for planting such
extensive woods of fir in their dominions as shade over the chief part of
the road from Augsburg to Munich. Near the last-mentioned city, I cannot
boast of the scenery changing to advantage. Instead of flourishing woods
and verdure, we beheld a parched dreary flat, diversified by fields of
withering barley, and stunted avenues drawn formally across them; now and
then a stagnant pool, and sometimes a dunghill, by way of regale.
However, the wild rocks of the Tyrol terminate the view, and to them
imagination may fly, and walk amidst springs and lilies of her own
creation. I speak from authority, having had the pleasure of
anticipating an evening in this romantic style.
Tuesday next is the grand fair, with horse-races and junketings: a piece
of news I was but too soon acquainted with; for the moment we entered the
town, good-natured creatures from all quarters advised us to get out of
it; since traders and harlequins had filled every corner of the place,
and there was not a lodging to be procured. The inns, to be sure, were
like hives of industrious animals sorting their merchandise, and
preparing their goods for sale. Yet, in spite of difficulties, we got
possession of a quiet apartment.
_July_ 23_rd_.—We were driven in the evening to Nymphenburg, the
Elector’s country palace, whose bosquets, jets-d’eaux, and parterres are
the pride of the Bavarians. The principal platform is all of a glitter
with gilded Cupids and shining serpents spouting at every pore. Beds of
poppies, hollyhocks, scarlet lychnis, and the most flaming flowers,
border the edge of the walks, which extend till the perspective meets,
and swarm with ladies and gentlemen in parti-coloured raiment. The Queen
of Golconda’s gardens in a French opera are scarcely more gaudy and
artificial. Unluckily, too, the evening was fine, and the sun so
powerful that we were half roasted before we could cross the great avenue
and enter the thickets, which barely conceal a very splendid hermitage,
where we joined Mr. and Mrs. T., and a party of fashionable Bavarians.
Amongst the ladies was Madame la Contesse, I forget who, a production of
the venerable Haslang, with her daughter, Madame de —, who has the honour
of leading the Elector in her chains. These goddesses stepping into a
car, vulgarly called a cariole, the mortals followed, and explored alley
after alley and pavilion after pavilion. Then, having viewed
Pagodenburg, which is, as they told me, all Chinese; and Marienburg,
which is most assuredly all tinsel; we paraded by a variety of fountains
in full squirt, and though they certainly did their best (for many were
set a-going on purpose), I cannot say I greatly admired them.
The ladies were very gaily attired, and the gentlemen, as smart as
swords, bags, and pretty clothes could make them, looked exactly like the
fine people one sees represented in a coloured print. Thus we kept
walking genteelly about the orangery, till the carriage drew up and
conveyed us to Mr. T’s.
Immediately after supper, we drove once more out of town, to a garden and
tea-room, where all degrees and ages dance jovially together till
morning. Whilst one party wheel briskly away in the valz, another amuse
themselves in a corner with cold meat and rhenish. That despatched, out
they whisk amongst the dancers, with an impetuosity and liveliness I
little expected to have found in Bavaria. After turning round and round,
with a rapidity that is quite inconceivable to an English dancer, the
music changes to a slower movement, and then follows a succession of
zig-zag minuets, performed by old and young, straight and crooked, noble
and plebeian, all at once, from one end of the room to the other. Tallow
candles snuffing and stinking, dishes changing, heads scratching, and all
sorts of performances going forward at the same moment; the flutes,
oboes, and bassoons snorting and grunting with peculiar emphasis; now
fast, now slow, just as Variety commands, who seems to rule the
ceremonial of this motley assembly, where every distinction of rank and
privilege is totally forgotten. Once a week, on Sundays that is to say,
the rooms are open, and Monday is generally somewhat advanced before they
are deserted. If good humour and coarse merriment are all that people
desire, here they are to be found in perfection, though at the expense of
toes and noses. Both these extremities of my person suffered most
cruelly; and I was not sorry to retire about one in the morning to a
purer atmosphere.
_July_ 24_th_.—Custom condemned us to visit the palace, which glares with
looking-glass, gilding, and cut velvet, most sumptuously fringed and
spangled. The chapel, though small, is richer than anything Crœsus ever
possessed, let them say what they will. Not a corner but shines with
gold, diamonds, and scraps of martyrdom studded with jewels. I had the
delight of treading amethysts and the richest gems under foot, which, if
you recollect, Apuleius thinks such supreme felicity. Alas! I was quite
unworthy of the honour, and had much rather have trodden the turf of the
mountains. Mammon would never have taken his eyes off the pavement; mine
soon left the contemplation of it, and fixed on St. Peter’s thumb,
enshrined with a degree of elegance, and adorned by some malapert
enthusiast with several of the most delicate antique cameos I ever
beheld; the subjects, Ledas and sleeping Venuses, are a little too pagan,
one should think, for an apostle’s finger.
From this precious repository we were conducted through the public garden
to a large hall, where part of the Sleitzom collection is piled up, till
a gallery can be finished for its reception. ’Twas a matter of great
favour to view, in this state, the pieces that compose it,—a very
imperfect one too, since some of the best were under operation. But I
would not upon any account have missed the sight of Rubens’s “Massacre of
the Innocents.” Such expressive horrors were never yet transferred to
canvas, and Moloch himself might have gazed at them with pleasure.
After dinner we were led round the churches; and if you are as much tired
with reading my voluminous descriptions, as I was with the continual
repetition of altars and reliquaries, the Lord have mercy upon you!
However, your delivery draws near. The post is going out, and to-morrow
we shall begin to mount the cliffs of the Tyrol; but don’t be afraid of
any long-winded epistles from their summits: I shall be too well employed
in ascending them. Just now, as I have lain by a long while, I grow
sleek, and scribble on in mere wantonness of spirit. What excesses such
a correspondence is capable of, you will soon be able to judge.
_July_ 25_th_.—The noise of the people thronging to the fair did not
allow me to slumber very long in the morning. When I got up, every
street was crowded with Jews and mountebanks, holding forth and driving
their bargains in all the energetic vehemence of the German tongue. Vast
quantities of rich merchandise glittered in the shops as we passed along
to the gates. Heaps of fruit and sweetmeats set half the grandams and
infants in the place a-cackling with felicity.
Mighty glad was I to make my escape; and in about an hour or two, we
entered a wild tract of country, not unlike the skirts of a princely
park. A little farther on stands a cluster of cottages, where we stopped
to give our horses some bread, and were pestered with swarms of flies,
most probably journeying to Munich fair, there to feast upon sugared
tarts and bottle-noses.
The next post brought us over hill and dale, grove and meadow, to a
narrow plain, watered by rivulets and surrounded by cliffs, under which
lies scattered the village of Wollrathshausen, consisting of several
cottages, built entirely of fir, with strange galleries hanging over the
way. Nothing can be neater than the carpentry of these simple edifices,
nor more solid than their construction; many of them looked as if they
had braved the torrents which fell from the mountains a century ago; and,
if one may judge from the hoary appearance of the inhabitants, here are
patriarchs who remember the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria. Orchards of
cherry-trees impend from the steeps above the village, which to our
certain knowledge produce no contemptible fruit.
Having refreshed ourselves with their cooling juice, we struck into a
grove of pines, the tallest and most flourishing perhaps we ever beheld.
There seemed no end to these forests, save where little irregular spots
of herbage, fed by cattle, intervened. Whenever we gained an eminence it
was only to discover more ranges of dark wood, variegated with meadows
and glittering streams. White clover and a profusion of sweet-scented
flowers clothe their banks; above, waves the mountain-ash, glowing with
scarlet berries; and beyond, rise hills and rocks and mountains, piled
upon one another, and fringed with fir to their topmost acclivities.
Perhaps the Norwegian forests alone equal these in grandeur and extent.
Those which cover the Swiss highlands rarely convey such vast ideas.
There, the woods climb only half way up their ascents, and then are
circumscribed by snows: here, no boundaries are set to their progress,
and the mountains, from their bases to their summits, display rich
unbroken masses of vegetation.
As we were surveying this prospect, a thick cloud, fraught with thunder,
obscured the transparence of the horizon, whilst flashes startled our
horses, whose snorts and stampings resounded through the woods. What
from the shade of the firs and the impending tempests, we travelled
several miles almost in total darkness. One moment the clouds began to
fleet, and a faint gleam promised serener hours, but the next all was
gloom and terror; presently a deluge of rain poured down upon the valley,
and in a short time the torrents, beginning to swell, raged with such
fury as to be with difficulty forded. Twilight drew on, just as we had
passed the most terrible; then ascending a steep hill under a mountain,
whose pines and birches rustled with the storm, we saw a little lake
below. A deep azure haze veiled its eastern shore, and lowering vapours
concealed the cliffs to the south; but over its western extremities a few
transparent clouds, the remains of the rays of a struggling sunset, were
suspended, which streamed on the surface of the waters, and tinged with
tender pink the brow of a verdant promontory.
I could not help fixing myself on the banks of the lake for several
minutes, till this apparition was lost, and confounded with the shades of
night. Looking round, I shuddered at a craggy mountain, clothed in dark
forests and almost perpendicular, that was absolutely to be surmounted
before we could arrive at Wallersee. No house, not even a shed
appearing, we were forced to ascend the peak, and penetrate these awful
groves.
Great praise is due to the directors of the roads across them, which,
considering their situation, are wonderfully fine. Mounds of stone
support the passage in some places; and, in others, it is hewn with
incredible labour through the solid rock. Beeches and pines of a hundred
feet high, darken the way with their gigantic branches, casting a chill
around, and diffusing a woody odour. As we advanced, in the thick shade,
amidst the spray of torrents, and heard their loud roar in the chasm
beneath, I could scarcely help thinking myself transported to the Grande
Chartreuse; and began to conceive hopes of once more beholding St. Bruno.
{140} But, though that venerable father did not vouchsafe an apparition,
or call to me again from the depths of the dells, he protected his votary
from nightly perils, and brought us to the banks of Wallersee Lake. We
saw lights gleam upon its shores, which directed us to a cottage where we
reposed after our toils, and were soon lulled to sleep by the fall of
distant waters.
_July_ 26_th_.—The sun rose many hours before me, and when I got up was
spangling the surface of the lake, which expands between steeps of wood,
crowned by lofty crags and pinnacles. We had an opportunity of
contemplating this bold assemblage as we travelled on the banks of the
Meer, where it forms a bay sheltered by impending forests; the water,
tinged by their reflection with a deep cerulean, calm and tranquil.
Mountains of pine and beech rising above, close every outlet; and, no
village or spire peeping out of the foliage, impress an idea of more than
European solitude. I could contentedly have passed a summer’s moon in
these retirements, hollowed myself a canoe, and fished for sustenance.
From the shore of Wallersee, our road led us straight through arching
groves, which the axe seems never to have violated, to the summit of a
rock covered with spurge-laurel, and worn by the course of torrents into
innumerable craggy forms. Beneath, lay extended a chaos of shattered
cliffs, with tall pines springing from their crevices, and rapid streams
hurrying between their intermingled trunks and branches. As yet, no hut
appeared, no mill, no bridge, no trace of human existence.
After a few hours’ journey through the wilderness, we began to discover a
wreath of smoke; and presently the cottage from whence it arose, composed
of planks, and reared on the very brink of a precipice. Piles of cloven
spruce-fir were dispersed before the entrance, on a little spot of
verdure browsed by goats; near them sat an aged man with hoary whiskers,
his white locks tucked under a fur cap. Two or three beautiful children,
their hair neatly braided, played around him; and a young woman, dressed
in a short robe and Polish-looking bonnet, peeped out of a wicket window.
I was so much struck with the exotic appearance of this sequestered
family, that, crossing a rivulet, I clambered up to their cottage and
begged some refreshment. Immediately there was a contention amongst the
children, who should be the first to oblige me. A little black-eyed girl
succeeded, and brought me an earthen jug full of milk, with crumbled
bread, and a platter of strawberries fresh picked from the bank. I
reclined in the midst of my smiling hosts, and spread my repast on the
turf: never could I be waited upon with more hospitable grace. The only
thing I wanted was language to express my gratitude; and it was this
deficiency which made me quit them so soon. The old man seemed visibly
concerned at my departure; and his children followed me a long way down
the rocks, talking in a dialect which passes all understanding, and
waving their hands to bid me adieu.
I had hardly lost sight of them and regained my carriage before we
entered a forest of pines, to all appearance without bounds, of every age
and figure; some, feathered to the ground with flourishing branches;
others, decayed into shapes like Lapland idols. I can imagine few
situations more dreadful than to be lost at night amidst this confusion
of trunks, hollow winds whistling among the branches, and strewing their
cones below. Even at noonday, I thought we should never have found our
way out.
At last, having descended a long avenue, endless perspectives opening on
either side, we emerged into a valley bounded by swelling hills, divided
into agreeable shady inclosures, where many herds were grazing. A
rivulet flows along the pastures beneath; and after winding through the
village of Boidou, loses itself in a narrow pass amongst the cliffs and
precipices which rise above the cultivated slopes, and frame in this
happy pastoral region. All the plain was in sunshine, the sky blue, and
the heights illuminated, except one rugged peak with spires of rock,
shaped not unlike the views I have seen of Sinai, and wrapped, like that
sacred mount, in clouds and darkness. At the base of this tremendous
mass, lies a neat hamlet called Mittenvald, surrounded by thickets and
banks of verdure, and watered by frequent springs, whose sight and
murmurs were so reviving in the midst of a sultry day, that we could not
think of leaving their vicinity, but remained at Mittenvald the whole
evening.
Our inn had long airy galleries, and a pleasant balcony fronting the
mountain. In one of these we dined upon trout fresh from the rills, and
cherries just culled from the orchards that cover the slopes above. The
clouds were dispersing, and the topmost peak half visible, before we
ended our repast. Every moment discovering some inaccessible cliff or
summit, shining through the mists, and tinted by the sun with pale golden
colours. These appearances filled me with such delight and with such a
train of romantic associations, that I left the table and ran to an open
field beyond the huts and gardens, to gaze in solitude and catch the
vision before it dissolved away. You, if any human being is able, may
conceive true ideas of these glowing vapours sailing over the pointed
rocks; and brightening them in their passage with amber light.
When all were faded and lost in the blue ether, I had time to look around
me and notice the mead in which I was standing. Here, clover covered its
surface; there, crops of grain; further on, beds of herbs and the
sweetest flowers. An amphitheatre of hills and rocks, broken into a
variety of glens and precipices, guards the plain from intrusion, and
opens a course for several clear rivulets, which, after gurgling amidst
loose stones and fragments, fall down the steeps, and are concealed and
quieted in the herbage of the vale.
A cottage or two peep out of the woods that hang over the waterfalls; and
on the brow of the hills above, appears a series of eleven little
chapels, uniformly built. I followed the narrow path that leads to them,
on the edge of the eminences, and met a troop of beautiful peasants, all
of the name of Anna (for it was her saintship’s day), going to pay their
devotions, severally, at these neat white fanes. There were faces that
Guercino would not have disdained copying, with braids of hair the
softest and most luxuriant I ever beheld. Some had wreathed it simply
with flowers, other with rolls of a thin linen (manufactured in the
neighbourhood), and disposed it with a degree of elegance one should not
have expected on the cliffs of the Tyrol.
Being arrived, they knelt all together at the first chapel, on the steps,
a minute or two, whispered a short prayer, and then dispersed each to her
fane. Every little building had now its fair worshipper, and you may
well conceive how much such figures, scattered about the landscape,
increased its charms. Notwithstanding the fervour of their adorations
(for at intervals they sighed and beat their white bosoms with energy),
several bewitching profane glances were cast at me as I passed by. Don’t
be surprised, then, if I became a convert to idolatry in so amiable a
form, and worshipped St. Anna on the score of her namesakes.
When got beyond the last chapel, I began to hear the roar of a cascade in
a thick wood of beech and chestnut that clothes the steeps of a wide
fissure in the rock. My ear soon guided me to its entrance, which was
marked by a shed encompassed with mossy fragments, and almost concealed
by bushes of the caper-plant in full red bloom. Amongst these I
struggled, till, reaching a goat-track, it conducted me, on the brink of
the foaming waters, to the very depths of the cliff, whence issues a
stream which dashes impetuously down, strikes against a ledge of rocks,
and sprinkles the impending thicket with dew. Big drops hung on every
spray, and glittered on the leaves partially gilt by the rays of the
declining sun, whose mellow hues softened the summits of the cliffs, and
diffused a repose, a divine calm, over this deep retirement, which
inclined me to imagine it the extremity of the earth, and the portal of
some other region of existence; some happy world beyond the dark groves
of pine, the caves and awful mountains, where the river takes its source!
I hung eagerly on the gulph, impressed with this idea, and fancied myself
listening to a voice that bubbled up with the waters; then looked into
the abyss and strained my eyes to penetrate its gloom, but all was dark
and unfathomable as futurity! Awakening from my reverie, I felt the
damps of the water chill my forehead, and ran shivering out of the vale
to avoid them. A warmer atmosphere, that reigned in the meads I had
wandered across before, tempted me to remain a good while longer,
collecting the wild pinks with which they are strewed in profusion, and a
species of thyme scented like myrrh. Whilst I was thus employed, a
confused murmur struck my ear, and, on turning towards a cliff, backed by
the woods from whence the sound seemed to proceed, forth issued a herd of
goats, hundreds after hundreds, skipping down the steeps: then followed
two shepherd boys, gamboling together as they drove their creatures
along: soon after, the dog made his appearance, hunting a stray heifer
which brought up the rear. I followed them with my eyes till lost in the
windings of the valley, and heard the tinkling of their bells die
gradually away. Now the last blush of crimson left the summit of Sinai,
inferior mountains being long since cast in deep blue shades. The
village was already hushed when I regained it, and in a few moments I
followed its example.
_July_ 27_th_.—We pursued our journey to Inspruck, through the wildest
scenes of wood and mountain that were ever traversed, the rocks now
beginning to assume a loftier and more majestic appearance, and to
glisten with snows. I had proposed passing a day or two at Inspruck,
visiting the castle of Ambras, and examining Count Eysenberg’s cabinet,
enriched with the rarest productions of the mineral kingdom, and a
complete collection of the moths and flies peculiar to the Tyrol; but,
upon my arrival, the azure of the skies and the brightness of the
sunshine inspired me with an irresistible wish of hastening to Italy. I
was now too near the object of my journey, to delay possession any longer
than absolutely necessary; so, casting a transient look on Maximilian’s
tomb, and the bronze statues of Tyrolese Counts and worthies, solemnly
ranged in the church of the Franciscans, set immediately off.
We crossed a broad noble street, terminated by a triumphal arch, and were
driven along the road to the foot of a mountain waving with fields of
corn, and variegated with wood and vineyards, encircling lawns of the
finest verdure, scattered over with white houses glistening in the sun.
Upon ascending the mount, and beholding a vast range of prospects of a
similar character, I almost repented my impatience, and looked down with
regret upon the cupolas and steeples we were leaving behind. But the
rapid succession of lovely and romantic scenes soon effaced the former
from my memory.
Our road, the smoothest in the world (though hewn in the bosom of rocks),
by its sudden turns and windings, gave us, every instant, opportunities
of discovering new villages, and forests rising beyond forests; green
spots in the midst of wood, high above on the mountains, and cottages
perched on the edge of promontories. Down, far below, in the chasm,
amidst a confusion of pines and fragments of stone, rages the torrent
Inn, which fills the country far and wide with a perpetual murmur.
Sometimes we descended to its brink, and crossed over high bridges;
sometimes mounted half-way up the cliffs, till its roar and agitation
became, through distance, inconsiderable.
After a long ascent, the shades of evening reposing in the valleys, and
the upland snows still tinged with a vivid red, we reached Schönberg, a
village well worthy of its appellation: and then, twilight drawing over
us, began to descend. We could now but faintly discover the opposite
mountains, veined with silver rills, when we came once more to the banks
of the Inn. This turbulent stream accompanied us all the way to
Steinach, and broke by its continual roar the stillness of the night,
which had finished half its course before we were settled to rest.
_July_ 28_th_.—I rose early to scent the fragrance of the vegetation,
bathed in a shower which had lately fallen, and looking around me, saw
nothing but crags hanging over crags, and the rocky shores of the stream,
still dark with the shade of the mountains. The small opening in which
Steinach is situated, terminates in a gloomy strait, scarce leaving room
for the road and the torrent, which does not understand being thwarted,
and will force its way, let the pines grow ever so thick, or the rocks be
ever so considerable.
Notwithstanding the forbidding air of this narrow dell, Industry has
contrived to enliven its steeps with habitations, to raise water by means
of a wheel, and to cover the surface of the rocks with soil. By this
means large crops of oats and flax are produced, and most of the huts
have gardens adjoining, which are filled with poppies, seeming to thrive
in this parched situation.
“Urit enim lini campum seges, urit avenæ,
Urunt Lethæo perfusa papavera somno.”
The farther we advanced in the dell, the larger were the plantations
which discovered themselves. For what purpose these gaudy flowers meet
with such encouragement, I had neither time nor language to inquire; the
mountaineers stuttering a gibberish unintelligible even to Germans.
Probably opium is extracted from them; or, perhaps, if you love a
conjecture, Morpheus has transferred his abode from the Cimmerians, and
has perceived a cavern somewhere or other in the recesses of these
endless mountains. Poppies, you know, in poetic travels, always denote
the skirts of his soporific reign, and I don’t remember a region better
calculated for undisturbed repose than the narrow clefts and gullies
which run up amongst these rocks, lost in vapours impervious to the sun,
and moistened by rills and showers, whose continual tricklings inspire a
drowsiness not easily to be resisted. Add to these circumstances the
waving of the pines, with the hum of bees seeking their food in the
crevices, and you will have as sleepy a region as that in which Spenser
and Ariosto have placed the nodding deity.
At present, I must confess, I should not dislike submitting to his
empire, for a few months or years, just as it might happen, whilst Europe
is distracted by demons of revenge and war; whilst they are strangling at
Venice, and tearing each other to pieces in unhappy London; whilst Etna
and Vesuvius give signs of uncommon wrath; America welters in her blood;
and almost every quarter of the globe is filled with carnage and
devastation. This is the moment to humble ourselves before the God of
Sleep; to beseech him to open his dusky portals; and admit us into the
repose of his retired kingdom. If you are inclined to become a
suppliant, hasten to the Tyrol, and we will search together about the
mountains, traverse the poppy-meads, and look into every chasm and
fissure that excludes daylight, in hopes of discovering the mansion of
repose. Then when we have found this corner (or I think our search will
be successful) Morpheus will give us an approving nod, and beckon us in
silence to couch, where, soon lulled by the murmurs of the place, we
shall sink into oblivion and tranquillity. But we may as well keep our
eyes open for the present, till we have made this important discovery,
and look at the beautiful country round Brixen, whither I arrived in the
cool of the evening, and breathed the freshness of a garden, immediately
beneath my window. The thrushes, warbling amongst its shades, saluted
me, the moment I awoke next morning.
_July_ 29_th_.—We proceeded over fertile mountains to Bolsano. Here
first I noticed the rocks cut into terraces, thick set with melons and
Indian corn; gardens of fig-trees and pomegranates hanging over walls,
clustered with fruit; amidst them, a little pleasant cot, shaded by
cypresses. In the evening we perceived several further indications of
approaching Italy; and after sunset the Adige, rolling its full tide
between precipices, which looked awful in the dusk. Myriads of
fire-flies sparkled amongst the shrubs on the bank. I traced the course
of these exotic insects by their blue light, now rising to the summits of
the trees, now sinking to the ground and associating with vulgar
glow-worms. We had opportunities enough to remark their progress, since
we travelled all night; such being my impatience to reach the promised
land!
Morning dawned just as we saw Trent dimly before us. I slept a few
hours, then set out again (July 30th), after the heats were in some
degree abated, and leaving Bergine, where the peasants were feasting
before their doors, in their holiday dresses, with red pinks stuck in
their ears instead of rings, and their necks surrounded with coral of the
same colour, we came through a woody valley to the banks of a lake,
filled with the purest and most transparent water, which loses itself in
shady creeks, amongst hills robed with verdure from their bases to their
summits.
The shores present one continual shrubbery, interspersed with knots of
larches and slender almonds, starting from the underwood. A cornice of
rock runs round the whole, except where the trees descend to the very
brink, and dip their boughs in the water.
It was five o’clock when I caught the sight of this unsuspected lake, and
the evening shadows stretched nearly across it. Gaining a very rapid
ascent, we looked down upon its placid bosom, and saw several airy peaks
rising above the tufted foliage of the groves around. I quitted the
contemplation of them with regret, and, in a few hours, arrived at Borgo
di Volsugano, the scenes of the lake still present before the eye of my
fancy.
_July_ 31_st_.—My heart beat quick when I saw some hills, not very
distant, which I was told lay in the Venetian State, and I thought an
age, at least, had elapsed before we were passing their base. The road
was never formed to delight an impatient traveller; loose pebbles and
rolling stones render it, in the highest degree, tedious and jolting. I
should not have spared my execrations, had it not traversed a picturesque
valley, overgrown with juniper, and strewed with fragments of rock,
precipitated, long since, from the surrounding eminences, blooming with
cyclamens.