Wishing to see Rudesheim and its neighbourhood, I one morning left
Schlangenbad very early, in a hired open carriage, drawn by a pair of
small punchy horses.
We were to get first to the Rhine at the village of Ellfeld, and
we accordingly proceeded about a league on the great macadamized
road towards Mainz, when, turning to the right, we passed under the
celebrated hill of Rauenthal, and then very shortly came in sight of
the retired peaceful little village of Neudorf. The simple outline of
this remote hamlet, as well as the costume and attitudes of a row of
peasants, who, seated on a grassy bank at the road side, were resting
from their labour, formed the subject of an interesting sketch which
the Paneidolon presented to me in a very few minutes.
This exceedingly clever, newly-invented instrument, the most
silent--the most faithful, and one of the most entertaining _compagnons
de voyage_ which any traveller can desire, consists of a small box, in
which can be packed anything it is capable of holding. On being emptied
for use, all that is necessary is to put one's head into one side, and
then trace with a pencil the objects which are instantly seen most
beautifully delineated at the other.
Whether the perspective be complicated or simple--whether the figures
be human or inhuman, it is all the same, for they are traced with equal
facility, rain not even retarding the operation. The Paneidolon also
possesses an advantage which all very modest people will, I think,
appreciate, for the operator's face being (like Jack's) "in a box,"
no person can stare at it or the drawing; whereas, while sketching
with the camera lucida, everybody must have observed that the village
peasants, in crowds, not only watch every line of the pencil, but laugh
outright at the contortion of countenance with which the poor Syntax,
in search of the picturesque, having one optic closed, squints with the
other through a hole scarcely bigger than the head of a pin, standing
all the time in the inquisitive attitude of a young magpie looking into
a marrow-bone.
On leaving Neudorf, getting into a cross country road, or _chemin de
terre_, we began, with the carriage-wheel dragged, an uninterrupted
descent, which was to lead us to the banks of the Rhine. The horses
(which had no blinkers) having neither to pull nor to hold back, were
trotting merrily along, occasionally looking at me--occasionally biting
at each other; every thing was delightful, save and except a whiff of
tobacco, which, about six times a minute, like a sort of pulsation,
proved that my torpid driver was not really, as he appeared to be--a
corpse; when, all of a sudden, as we were jolting down a narrow ravine,
surmounted by vineyards, I saw, about a hundred yards before us, a cart
heavily laden, drawn by two little cows. There happened at the moment
to be a small road at right angles on our left, into which we ought to
have turned to let our opponent pass: but either the driver did not
see, or would not see, the humble vehicle, and so onwards he recklessly
drove, until our horses' heads and the cows' horns being nearly close
together, the dull, heavy lord of the creation pulled at his reins and
stopped.
The road was so narrow, and the banks of the ravine so precipitous,
that there was scarcely room on either side of the vehicle for a
human being to pass; and the cows and horses being vis-à-vis, or "at
issue," the legal question now arose which of the two carriages was to
retrograde.
As, without metaphor, I sat on my woolsack, or cushion stuffed with
wool, my first judgement was, that the odds were not in favour of the
defendant, the poor old woman,--for she had not only to contend with
the plaintiff (my stupid driver), his yellow carriage, and two bay
horses, but the hill itself was sadly against her; her opponent loudly
exclaiming that she and her cows could retire easier than he could.
The toothless old woman did not attempt to plead for herself; but what
was infinitely better, having first proved, by pushing at her cows'
heads with all her force, that they actually did not know how to back,
she showed us her face, which had every appearance of going to sleep.
Seeing affairs in this state, I got out of the carriage, and quietly
walked on: however, I afterwards learnt, with great pleasure, that the
old woman gained her cause, and that the squabble ended by the yellow
carriage retreating to the point where its stupid, inanimate driver
ought to have stopped it.
On arriving at the bottom of the lane, we reached that noble road,
running parallel with and close to the Rhine, which was brought into
its present excellent state in the time of Napoleon. Along it, with
considerable noise, we trotted steadily, stopping only about once every
half hour to pay a few kreuzers at what was called the _Barrière_. No
barrier, however, existed, their being nothing to mark the fatal spot
but an inanimate, party-coloured post, exhibiting, in stripes of blue
and orange, the government colours of Nassau.
On the horses stopping, which they seemed most loyally to do of their
own accord, the person whose office it was to collect this road-money,
or _chaussée-gelt_, in process of time, appeared at a window with a
heavy pipe hanging in his mouth, and in his hand an immense long stick,
to the end of which there was affixed a small box containing a ticket,
in exchange for which I silently dropped my money into this till. Not
a word was spoken, but, with the gravity of an angler, the man having
drawn in his rod, a whiff of tobacco was vomited from his mouth, and
then the window, like the transaction--closed.
After proceeding for some hours, having passed through Erbach and
Hattenheim, we drove through the village of Johannisberg, which lies
crouching at the foot of the hill so remarkable on the Rhine for being
crowned with the white, shining habitation of Prince Metternich. The
celebrated vineyards on this estate were swarming with labourers, male
and female, who were seen busily lopping off the exuberant heads of the
vines, an operation which, with arms lifted above their heads, was not
inelegantly performed with a common sickle.
The Rhine had now assumed the appearance of a lake, for which, at this
spot, it is so remarkable, and Rudesheim, to which I was proceeding,
appeared to be situated at its extremity, the chasm which the river has
there burst for itself through the lofty range of the Taunus mountains
not being perceptible.
On arriving at Rudesheim, I most joyfully extricated myself from the
carriage, and instantly hiring a guide and a mule, I contentedly
told the former to drive me before him to whatever point in his
neighbourhood was generally considered to be the best worth seeing;
and perfectly unconscious where he would propel me, the man began
to beat the mule--the mule began to trot along--and, little black
memorandum-book in hand, I began to make my notes.
After ascending a very narrow path, which passed through vineyards, the
sun, as I became exposed to it, feeling hotter and hotter, I entered a
wild, low, stunted, plantation of oak shrubs, which was soon exchanged
for a noble wood of oak and beech trees, between which I had room
enough to ride in any direction.
The shade was exceedingly agreeable; the view, however, was totally
concealed, until I suddenly came to a projecting point, on which there
was a small temple, commanding a most splendid prospect.
After resting here for a few minutes, my mule and his burden again
entered the forest; and, continuing to ascend to a considerable height,
we both at last approached a large stone building like a barrack,
part of which was in ruins; and no sooner had we reached its southern
extremity, than my guide, with a look of vast importance, arrested the
progress of the beast. As I beheld nothing at all worth the jolting
I had had in the carriage, I felt most grievously disappointed; and
though I had no one's bad taste to accuse but my own, in having
committed myself to the barbarous biped who stood before me, yet I
felt, if possible, still more out of sorts at the fellow desiring
me to halloo as loud as I could, he informing me, with a look of
indescribable self-satisfaction, that as soon as I should do so, an
echo would repeat all my exclamations three times!!!
The man seeing that I did not at all enjoy his noisy miracle, made a
sign to me to follow him, and he accordingly led me to what appeared
to my eyes to be nothing but a large heap of stones, held together by
brambles. At one side, however, of this confused mass, there appeared
to be a hole which looked very much as if it had been intended as an
ice-house: however, on entering it, I found it to be a long, dark,
subterranean passage, cut out of the solid rock; and here, groping my
way, I followed my guide, until, coming to a wooden partition or door,
he opened it, when, to my great astonishment and delight, I found
myself in an octagonal chamber, most deservedly called _Bezauberte
Höhle_--the enchanted cave!
It was a cavern or cavity in the rock, with three fissures or
embrasures radiating at a small angle; yet each looking down upon
the Rhine, which, pent within its narrow rocky channel, was, at a
great depth, struggling immediately beneath us. The sudden burst into
daylight, and the brightness of the gay, sunshiny scenes which through
the three rude windows had come so suddenly to view (for I really did
not know that I was on the brink of the precipice of the Rhine), was
exceedingly enchanting, and I was most fully enjoying it as well as
the reflection, that there was no one to interrupt me when I suddenly
fancied that I certainly heard, somewhere or other within the bowels
of the living rock in which I was embedded, a faint sound, like the
melody of female voices, which, in marked measure, seemed to swell
stronger, until I decidedly and plainly heard them, in full chorus,
chanting the following well-known national air of this country:--(_See
"the Schlangenbader Volkslied," National Air of Schlangenbad, at the
end of the volume._)
From time to time the earthly or unearthly sounds died away,--lost
in the intricate turns of the subterraneous passage;--at last, they
were heard as if craving permission to enter, and my guide running to
the wooden door, no sooner threw it wide open, than the music at once
rushing in like a flood, filled the vaulted chamber in which I stood,
and in a few seconds, to my very great surprise, there, marched in, two
by two, a youthful bridal party! The heads of eight or ten young girls
(following a bride and a bridegroom) were ornamented with wreaths of
bright green leaves, which formed a pleasing contrast with their brown
hair of various shades, and most particularly with the raven-black
tresses of the bride, which were plaited round her pleasing,
modest-looking face very gracefully.
The whole party (the bridegroom, the only representative of his sex,
of course included) had left Mainz that morning, to spend a happy day
in the magic cave; and, certainly, their unexpected appearance gave a
fairy enchantment to the scene.
After continuing their patriotic song for some time, suddenly letting
go each other's hands, they flew to three fissures or windows in the
rock, and I heard them, with great emphasis, point out to each other
Bingenloch, Rheinstein, and other romantic points equally celebrated
for their beauty. These youthful people then minutely scanned over the
interior of the vaulted grave in which we were all so delightfully
buried alive; at last, so like young travellers, they all felt an
irresistible desire to scrawl their names upon the wall; and, seeing
an old man reclining in one corner of the chamber, with about an inch
of pencil in his lean, withered hand, the bride, bowing with pleasing
modesty and diffidence, asked me to lend it to her.
Her name, and that of her partner, were accordingly inscribed; and
others would, with equal bursts of joy, have been added to the list,
but observing that my poor pencil, which would still have lived in
my service many a year, and which, in fact, was all I had, was, from
its violent rencontres with the hard, gritty wall, actually gasping
for life in the illiterate clutches of a great bony bridesmaid, I
very civilly managed, under pretence of cutting it, to extract it
from her grasp; and the attention of the youthful party flitting of
its own accord to some other object, the stump of my poor crayon
was miraculously spared to continue its humble notes of the day's
proceedings.
On leaving the enchanted cave, we ascended through a noble oak wood,
until reaching a most celebrated pinnacle of the Taunus mountains, we
arrived at the ROSSEL, an old ruined castle, which, standing on the
Niederwald like a weather-beaten sentinel at his post, seemed to be
faithfully guarding the entrance of that strange mysterious chasm,
through which, at an immense depth beneath, the river was triumphantly
and majestically flowing.
Although the view from the ruined top of this castle was very extensive
and magnificent, yet the dark, struggling river was so remarkable an
object, that it at first completely engrossed my attention. While the
great mass of water was flowing on its course, a sort of civil war was
raging between various particles of the element. In some places an
eddy seemed to be rebelliously trying to stem the stream; in others
the water was revolving in a circle;--here it was seen tumbling and
breaking over a sunken rock--there as smooth as glass. In the middle of
these fractious scenes, there lay, as it were, calmly at anchor, two
or three islands, covered with poplars and willows, upon one of which
stood the ruins of the _Mäusethurm_, or tower of that stingy Bishop of
Mainz, famous, or rather infamous, in the history of the Rhine, for
having been gnawed to death by rats. On the opposite side of the river
were to be seen the _Rochus Capelle_, a tower built to commemorate
the cessation of the plague, the beautiful castle of Rheinstein, the
residence of Prince Frederick of Prussia, the blue-slated town of
Bingen, with its bridge crossing the Nahe, which, running at right
angles, here delivers up its waters to the Rhine.
The difference in caste or colour between the two rivers at their point
of meeting is very remarkable, the Rhine, being clear and green, the
Nahe a deep muddy brown; however, they no sooner enter the chasm in
the Taunus hills than the distinction is annihilated in the violent
hubble-bubble commotions which ensue.
The view beyond these home objects now attracted my attention. The
Prussian hills opposite were richly clothed with wood, while on their
left lay prostrate the province of Darmstadt, a large brown flat
space, studded, as far as the eye could reach, with villages, which,
though distinctly remarkable in the foreground, were yet scarcely
perceptible in the perspective. Behind my back was the duchy of Nassau,
with several old ruined castles perched on the pinnacles of the
wood-covered hills of the Niederwald.
During the whole time that I was placidly enjoying this beautiful
picture around and beneath me, the bridal party of young people,
equally happy in their way, were singing, laughing, or waltzing; and
their cheerful accents, echoing from one old ruin to another, seemed
for the moment to restore to these deserted walls that joy to which
they had so long been a stranger.
Having at last mounted my mule, I attempted to bid my companions
farewell; however, they insisted on accompanying me and my guide
through the forest, singing their national airs in chorus as they went.
Their footsteps kept pace with their tunes, and as they advanced, their
young voices thrilled among the trees with great effect; sometimes the
wild melody, like a stop-waltz, suddenly ceased, and they proceeded
several paces in silence; then, again, it as unexpectedly burst upon
the ear,--in short, like the children of all German schools, they
had evidently been taught time and the complete management of their
voices, a natural and pleasing accomplishment, which can scarcely be
sufficiently admired.
From these young people themselves I did not attempt to extract their
little history; but I learnt from my guide in a whisper (for which
I thought there was no great occasion), that the young couple who
hand in hand before me were leading the procession through the wood,
were VERLOBT (affianced), that is to say, they were under sentence
eventually to be married.
This quiet, jog-trot, half-and-half connubial arrangement is very
common indeed all over Germany; and no sooner is it settled and
approved of, than the young people are permitted to associate together
at almost all times, notwithstanding it is often decreed to be prudent
that many years should elapse before their marriage can possibly take
place; in short, they are constantly obliged to wait until either their
income rises sufficiently, or until butter, meat, bread, coffee, and
tobacco, sufficiently fall.
As seated on my mule I followed these steady, well-behaved, and
apparently well-educated young people through the forest, listening to
their cheerful choruses, I could not, during one short interval of
silence, help reflecting how differently such unions are managed in
different countries on the globe.
A quarter of a century has nearly elapsed since I chanced to be
crossing from the island of Salamis to Athens, with a young Athenian
of rank, who was also, in his way, "affianced." We spent, I remember,
the night together in an open boat, and certainly never did I before or
since witness the aching of a lad's heart produce effects so closely
resembling the aching of his stomach. My friend lay at the bottom of
the trabacolo absolutely groaning with love; his moans were piteous
beyond description, and nothing seemed to afford his affliction any
relief but the following stanza, which over and over again he continued
most romantically singing to the moon:--
"Quando la notte viene,
Non ho riposo, o Nice;
Son misero e infelice
Esser lontan da te!"
On his arrival at Athens he earnestly entreated me to call for him
on the object of his affection, for he himself, by the custom of his
country, was not allowed to see her, precisely from the same reason
which permitted the young German couple to stroll together through the
lonely, lovely forest of the Niederwald, namely--because they were
"_verlobt_."
The bridal party now separated themselves from my guide, his mule,
and myself, they, waving their handkerchiefs to us, descending a path
on the right; we continuing the old track, which led us at last to
Rudesheim.
As soon as the horses could be put to my carriage, it being quite late,
I set out, by moonlight, to return. Vineyards, orchards, and harvest
were now veiled from my view, but the castle of Prince Metternich--the
solitary tower of Scharfenstein, and the dark range of the Taunus
mountains had assumed a strange, obscure, and supernatural appearance,
magnificently contrasted with the long bright, serpentine course of the
Rhine, which, shining from Ringen to Mainz, glided joyfully along, as
if it knew it had attracted to itself the light which the landscape had
lost.
On leaving the great chaussée, which runs along the banks of the river,
like the towing-path of a canal, we ascended the cross road, down which
we had trundled so merrily in the morning, and without meeting cows,
carts, toothless old women, or any other obstruction, I reached about
midnight the Bad-Haus of Schlangenbad. On ascending the staircase, I
found that the two little lamps in the passage had expired; however,
the key of my apartments was in my pocket, the moon was shining through
the window upon my table, and so before one short hour had elapsed,
Rudesheim--the niggardly Bishop of Mainz, with his tower and rats--the
bridal party--the enchanted cave--the lofty Rossel, and the magnificent
range of the Niederwald, were all tumbling head over heels in my mind,
while I lay as it were quietly beneath them--asleep.