When we have decided upon the advantage which the student derives from

the academical life, we shall then feel ourselves prompted to say a few

words upon the tendency of certain institutions of the German

universities; on the scientific and moral spirit which prevails amongst

the students. We shall further proceed a little to explain some

singular-seeming customs and, practices, and, so far as these are

concerned, as we always speak particularly of Heidelberg, to cast some

glances of comparison upon other German and foreign universities. In

such a parallel it is also interesting to observe how the universities,

as institutions of education, operate thus essentially on the political

relations of states, and on the other hand, how they are determined in

their developement by these. These proposed points are difficult; and

their thorough discussion would lead us too far. We must therefore

content ourselves with distinctive indications.

Justly says Thiersch--"The universities are a vastly intertwined and

entangled whole, at which people and ages have laboured, in order to

bring it to its present extension."

The first and only true object of the academician is, and for ever

remains, the study of science. This constitutes the central point,

which all intently seek, and where all find themselves, without regard

to external circumstances. Knowledge, and the strife after it, are

sacred to the student; and these are the anchor, which, dropped into

the heart of every one, has lashed to it that internal spiritual bond

which embraces the whole class. The single aim of the academician is

the free pursuit of knowledge.

It is true that the majority of those who seek the university, have the

object, at a later period, of entering on state offices; and the

acquisition of knowledge made at the university, places them in a

condition to be able properly to discharge the duties of those offices,

which are the means of their future existence. But the later practical

application of this knowledge, which is so far the medium of his

profession, comes before the eye of the student in the background. In

the society of young people who are in the pursuit of knowledge, in the

intercourse with teachers whose object is the diffusion of the same,

and surrounded by external institutions which all bear upon the

advancement and the facilitation of study, he remains far from the

thought that knowledge is to be regarded as a milch-cow, which will

furnish him hereafter with butter. The unfolding of his intellectual

capacity in every direction; the following out one or the other in

particular, appears to him the business of life in these years. It is

exactly this which essentially distinguishes the corporation of

students above every thing else;--of which the student is so proud. He

despises the Philistine, who, in all circumstances of his life, is only

thinking of his petty gains.

It is grounded psychologically on this feeling of individual worth as a

disciple of wisdom, that the Burschen honour springs up, and holds

every student equally high and equally dear. As a corporation, one

stands for all, and all for one; and without drawing a moral death upon

it, this honour cannot suffer itself to be wounded. Study is pursued at

the German universities with zeal and radicality. Proofs of this, are

the great numbers of young men who every year pass through the

State's-examinations, and testify their ability in all the offices of

their country: proofs are, the writers of Germany, who owe their

accomplishment to these institutions: proofs, finally, are, the

preponderating number of well-educated men compared with those of other

countries, who draw their support from the academical foundations. But

we must not go so far. Let any one compare the German student, whose

acquirements are weighed by a competent judge, with the student of any

foreign university.

Manifold indeed have been the complaints of the laziness of the first

period of the academical life; and we can only repeat what we have said

on this subject in an earlier portion of our volume. There is an abrupt

transition from the studies of the Gymnasium to those of the

University; and the newling at the university wastes and wears away

much time, especially in the first months, and indeed during the whole

first semester, before he has accustomed himself to the free condition,

and the free and fresh atmosphere of the university. But is this of

such mighty importance? It is the transition into a state of greater

self-dependence which demands this sacrifice; and he only who has no

conception of the strengthening and fortifying influence of university

life,--he who does not perceive with what higher advantage this

material loss is counterbalanced, can alone break out into lamentations

on this head. He who is accustomed to chase youth out of one pen into

another, and to begrudge every free breath, every lighter moment, every

refreshment of over-passing Muse--who trembles and shakes lest by such

trivial circumstances they should have lost both body and soul; will

indeed judge otherwise, but deserves, in fact, to be sent back into the

school of literary and pedagogic necessity, out of which he was

expelled by some mischance. That portion of the youth however,

who have arrived on the threshold of the university honest and

well-disposed--and this portion is so predominant that the remainder

appears in comparison insignificant--this large and elect portion of

the better endowed, soon pass through the first rude shock of

difficulty and surprise, and through the mere pleasure-rambling in the

garden of the Muses. The student zealously busied to develope his

intellectual constitution, healthily and in all its members, will find

himself in the strongest manner supported by the regulations of the

German university; and of these we will speak anon.

On the other hand, the free intercourse with his cotemporaries operates

most favourably. When the youth enters the university, he steps at once

into a corporation composed of the most opposite materials. Every

student brings with him the peculiarities of his Fatherland, in manners

and speech; and how manifold is the variety! To say nothing of the

foreigners who frequent our different universities, what a difference

is there yet between the different races which speak the German tongue.

What gradations from the cold, ceremonial North German, who clings fast

to etiquette, and with difficulty attaches himself to others, to the

good-natured South German, who, knowing little of outward forms,

readily finds a friend to whom he can ally himself. Every foreigner

retains the characteristics of his own land, and often takes a pride in

exhibiting them, by which means he becomes a person detached from the

mass. We find the strongest antagonisms of this kind; and it might make

one doubtful of the reciprocating influence of this cause, had we not

found by experience that the result was a favourable one. The

intellectual bond of knowledge here embraces the sons of all nations;

and thus these apparently heterogeneous elements can only operate

auspiciously, since the advantage is not to be overlooked which the

close and mutual contact affords, of learning to know foreign manners

and customs, and for each to recognise his own in the true light.

And here we must again call attention to the fact, of the essential

difference between the result of academical life, and that of burger

life. As to the moral side of the question, there have not been wanting

people who have laboured to represent the university as a gulf which

swallows up the flower of the youth, as a pool out of which only a few

are happy enough to escape without ruin of soul and body. These are

ridiculous and malicious exaggerations. No one will attempt to deny the

dangers of university life, the temptations to deviations from

propriety; and according to time and situation must every university,

in a greater or less degree, be exposed to these; but every one who is

not blinded by excess of prejudice or enmity, knows that, besides those

who give way to temptation, by far the greater number return to their

friends from the High-school, as sound in body and mind as they came to

it.

The hope would be idle, to chase evil quite away; such a hope is

opposed to the total experience of all people and times, to the nature

of advancing manhood, and to that degree of freedom, which must be

allowed to youth in the years of its growing developement for the

prosperous completion of this developement itself, and which every

where, though it may be under different forms, will be afforded. There

is no law, no precaution, which can possibly preserve the youngling on

the higher steps of his career if he does not watch over himself; and

one cannot forget the just observation of the old English vicar, that

the virtue that needs continual watching, is not worth the cost of a

sentinel. But this is the common lot of all manly youth; and we may

boldly assert, that aberrations amongst the other classes--amongst the

younger ranks of the military, of the mercantile, and of other

departments of trade, are not less, but probably more extensive; yes,

it is satisfactory to know that in these respects the academical life

is in a progressive state of steady improvement.

But if we inquire further what are those things which most particularly

strike the foreigner in the student; those things which are most

ridiculous, and disapproved; we find that, briefly, they are the

following,--the singular dress of the student, the strong smoking, and

his habits of beer-drinking and duelling.

That the student in early times, more than at present, adopted a

singular costume, arose from two causes, either out of convenience or

vanity. In both cases, the matter is a very innocent one, and the

academical boards did wisely to permit him these fancies, so far as

they were not the signs of an interdicted verbindung. The life at the

university, as we have had now abundant occasion to observe, is a

peculiar one. When this extends itself so far that a separate court of

justice is allowed to the students, is it at all to be wondered at,

that the Student who feels himself in every respect so distinct from

the Philistine, should also seek to express this distinction by his

costume? He only does this so long as he belongs to the High-school,

and with the conclusion of this period, ceases also naturally, the

occasion for this peculiarity. Considerations of _convenance_ weigh

little with the students amongst themselves,--they weigh little with

them towards those who surround them, as it is by no means an object of

the student to seek advantage from those moving around him, nor to

render himself particularly acceptable to them. Therefore in small

cities these peculiarities of dress, chosen according to every

individual fancy, strike the eye more; while in larger cities the

student, playing a more subordinate part, unites himself more to the

general mass of society, and loses himself more in family circles.

There he will surrender himself to the existing order and convenances

of society, since, so soon as he enters the salon, he conducts himself

strictly by the rules of etiquette. But he is no slave of fashion. This

is repugnant to his freedom of thought; and he believes himself to have

as good a right to choose his own dress, as the lawgiver of fashion has

from the capital of France to prescribe what shall be held good ton in

external appearance. He is by no means so tyrannical as that personage,

since he desires from no comrade that he shall herein follow his

example; since he leaves, herein to every one perfect freedom, and

allows the native student to observe the stricter ceremonial of his

father-city.

And is his, really as it often is a most fantastic costume, more

singular or more contrary to nature, than the fashionable attire in

which many show themselves in the capitals of the whole world, and

above all, in which they present themselves to the eyes of the public

in the fashionable watering-places? Is he indeed the only one who

herein overleaps the bounds of etiquette? They who have seen the

grotesque paraphernalia in which the foreigners from beyond the Channel

suffer themselves to appear in Germany, will certainly not assert this.

And these do this in a foreign country; the student only in his German

Fatherland. Are there so many sects too, who distinguish themselves by

their peculiar dress, and shall this be so sharply objected to in the

student?

The smoking of tobacco is an accusation which the student shares in

common with the other classes of the community, and which only looks

the more striking in him. We will not defend this practice, on which so

much has already been said, nor that of beer-drinking; but we must

again take leave to observe, that in all this there is no compulsion.

The reader has probably alarmed himself by perusing the Beer-code,

which we have given at the end of this volume. It is well known that in

older times much more was drunken at the university, and that this

pernicious custom, especially in some of the German universities,

prevailed to a most lamentable degree. In those times many of these

beer-laws might be of great advantage, insomuch that they restrained

from greater excesses. As they now exist, no student is subjected to

them, who does not voluntarily submit himself to them, by associating

himself with the companies that assemble at the kneip. And even here it

is at his perfect option, at any moment, to declare that he will drink

no more, only he cannot break this declaration without paying the

penalty.

We are as little disposed to defend the duel. A reconciliation of

disputes between contenders, by the exertion of and through the means

of reason, either in the disputants themselves, or through their

friends; or if this were found impracticable, through the establishment

of a court of honour amongst the students, or through an appeal, in

serious cases, to the academical court, would certainly be a more

civilized proceeding. We may, indeed, hope that this will be

accomplished in time, and the more so, because the number of duels at

the universities, compared with former times, is already so much

diminished, and as the voices of many students are now raised against

this practice. Yet we must not judge the students too hardly on account

of the duel, but ought to take into the account the following

considerations in mitigation of our opinion.

No one is compelled to fight, who in the commencement declares that it

is contrary to his principles. Let it be recollected, that in the

university cities, more than elsewhere, young people are crowded

together, and compelled briskly to push and jostle each other, as it

were, in their course. Let it be remembered, that though we may

pronounce of the bulk of them, that they are well-educated youths, yet

at the same time, in comparison with the circumstances of other young

people, it is undeniable that far more frequent and greater occasions

for antagonist attrition occur amongst them--in part, no doubt, on

account of the greater pecuniary means in their possession, and still

more on account of the unavoidable necessity of social life amongst

themselves, especially in the lesser university cities, in which they

cannot mingle with the family circles.

The foreign universities, where the duel does not exist, cannot be

brought in evidence on this head, because they want other peculiarities

of the German universities, which are of apparently great advantage.

The constitution of the English universities, in particular, is totally

different to ours, and more resembles that of our seminaries, where the

students enjoy no such freedom. It must also be remembered that the

regulations of our universities make them accessible to those without

property, and who spring out of the lower classes, while in England

only the rich young men, and those out of the higher classes of

society, can possibly exist, with a few exceptions, at the great

universities of England. The advantage of the German universities in

this respect no one can deny, if he only turns his regard on the great

number of the most distinguished of the learned men of Germany, whose

talents have, through this very accessibility of the universities, been

made beneficial to the public.

On the other hand, one cannot expect from the student who has sprung

from one of the lower grades of society, the same degree of refinement

as graces those of a higher stand. Thus, no wonder, if through these

who have been accustomed to move in a ruder sphere of society,

occasions for contentions are more readily created. It must be

remembered that the student, be he who he may, regards himself on an

equality with his fellow-student; but on that account so much the more

jealously watches over his own honour, and on that account also

more readily believes himself insulted. Hence the customary formula

of a challenge, "Stupid youth!" which inevitably draws a duel after it,

is characteristic, as it clearly indicates that the feeling of

burschen-honour is grounded on the dedication to knowledge, whose

disciples can naturally in no way be so insulted as by the epithet

"stupid," which implies that he is totally unfit for a priest of

Minerva.

Let these facile occasions of strife be borne in mind, and then let

persons of practical experience be asked how many young people of other

grades are wounded and even killed in scuffles and cudgellings, they

will then be induced to judge more leniently of the duel amongst

students, and rather pardon the extremes of a feeling of honour, than

that the chance should possibly arise of a provoked student becoming in

effect the homicide of his fellows.

Thus we may regard the duel, under its regular form, as a sort of

discipline which the students exercise amongst themselves, and thus

banish every ruder and not seldom dangerous explosion of passion. We

say the duel in its regular form, and thereupon recall to the reader's

memory the following particulars. According to the regulations for the

arrangement of duels in Heidelberg, every challenge must be withdrawn

when the opponent declares that he gave the insult in a state of

intoxication. Every duel shall, before it is undertaken, be made known

to the Senior-Convention, and by it an accommodation shall be

attempted.

When these regulations are violated, this does not arise from the

regulations themselves, but from the partisans who have neglected to

demand from the seniors the execution of their own laws. The completion

of the duel, according to the Comment regulations, by sword stroke and

not by lunging, and with defensive costume, which covers almost every

exposed part of the body, renders any dangerous consequences almost

impossible. There is no instance, from time immemorial, of any such

regularly and formally completed duel in Heidelberg, being attended

with fatal consequences, or one which rendered life thereafter a

burden, as is only too frequently the case at universities where the

duel in _every_ form is punished more severely than as a breach of

discipline, and where, on that account, more dangerous but more easily

concealed weapons are resorted to.

By these observations we would by no means defend duels, but merely, in

some degree, excuse them. Laws against such customs, which are fast

rooted in old prejudices, are seldom very effectual. As little as the

fist-law could by power and at once be extirpated, so little, according

to our opinion, can this be accomplished with the duel. It is true that

there lies in the hands of the German governments, by means of the

State's-examination, a power of punishing and suppressing this practice

which foreign realms do not possess. They might, it may be said, pass a

law, that whoever had been engaged in a duel, should forfeit his right

to the State's-examination, and thereby state service. But it must be

answered, that this would be in the highest degree severe for a small

offence, which in itself the regular duel really is; thus, to punish a

young man in such a manner that this one folly should put an end

irrevocably to the whole of his life's prospects and career. Further,

it has been seen, that exactly at those times when the duel of every

kind was the most strictly interdicted and repressed, the most

dangerous duels by lunge and shots became more than ever frequent. And

yet these draw a punishment after them which has often made a young man

miserable for the remainder of his life. So long as it is not the

general opinion amongst the students, that the duel cannot be held as

satisfaction, so long will they, in case of actual insult, not be

deterred by the most stringent punishments from resorting to it. Till

then, would it not be the most reasonable course to visit the most

dangerous kinds of duelling with the most severe punishments of the

law, but to pursue the ordinary and less dangerous not so harshly? If

this alone remains to the student, he will by degrees convince himself

of the ridiculousness of such a sham-fighting, and the duel will, as it

is already become less piquant, cease altogether. It will be the duty

of the teacher to promulgate better views upon the nature of duelling

by speech and by writing, and thus to conduct their pupils out of the

spirit of it. This the greater number of them have even taken suitable

opportunities of doing. As an example we quote a part of the speech

which the Obermedizinalrath and Professor Dr. J. N. Ringseis delivered

on the 3d of December, 1828, in the hall of the High-school at Munich,

at a time when the duel there had become exceedingly predominant and

reckless.

"It is a sign of a noble mind to regard true honour as the highest

good, as higher than life itself. He only who does not fear death,

really possesses life. We will all strive after higher honour; and

every one of us must be prepared at any hour to sacrifice our life for

it. It is a duty through noble manners to honour ourselves; he only who

maintains a nobility of conduct himself, can respect the manners of

another. It is honourable to belong to a brave union; more mightily

works the spirit of every one in union. It is honourable to love your

native place, be it on the Isar, the Danube, the Rhine, or the Main,

since what German territory has not a host of glorious recollections?

It is an honourable, proud feeling to be able to wield the sword

skilfully, as if it were a member of our body. But he who honours

himself, his society, his native home, honours this feeling in another;

he who recognises the sacred destiny of the sword to be the protection

of the highest good of mankind, dishonours it not by unholy aims. The

officers of our army covered themselves with evergreen laurel,--how

rare is the duel amongst them! The hero youth of the universities of

North Germany performed miracles of bravery in the memorable Liberation

war; and the duel was, amongst those who returned, almost without

example. Rare indeed is it in the circles of the highest society; to

the noblest nations of antiquity, the Greeks and Romans, it was wholly

unknown.

"I repeat not the thousand-times-reiterated arguments against the

irrationality of the duel, since I know well that they have fought,

even excellent men, although convinced of the perversion of the

practice--have fought, bowing to the lordship of opinion, spite of the

certainty of losing office, property, freedom, and life itself. Truly

there belonged to such conduct a kind of obstinate bravery; but

greater, nobler, more worthy of the sight of heaven is the courage

which tames itself; the courage of him, who although fearless, although

practical in arms, although secure from discovery and punishment, yet

fights not; the hero-courage of a free obedience, which our poet

sings:--

Courage has the Mameluke--obedience in the Christian law.

"How is it, friends, that we feel ourselves too effeminate to contend

for this loftiest laurel of courage and obedience? Certainly the

nobler, the more honourable, in every accomplishment the more advanced,

a man, a union, a people,--there for ever is and was the more rarely to

be found the duel. What, then, must be thought of men to whom the duel

is become a chief business of life? of youths called hereafter to

become the leaders and the lights of your people? How, ye jurists! ye

who hereafter will nicely weigh in the balance the right--will sharply

reprove insolent opposition to the law--and would rather suffer shame

and death than perpetrate the smallest injustice,--will you open the

way through audacious contempt of the laws?

"Medical men! called to wound that they may heal, not to destroy, will

you commit that double crime against the state?

"And could a philosopher--a theologist, so grossly deride the Divine

Teacher's word--'Do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse

you; pray for those who despitefully use you?'

"And, noble friends! can true honour prevail, where drinking,

quarrelling, and insult give the shameful occasions for the duel? True

honour! where he who refuses to fight a duel is exposed in rude verses

in public places, and is even maltreated with vulgar violence? True

honour! where in aggravation of disobedience, dishonourable lies are

also added? I glow with shame to the very depths of my mind, that any

amongst us, however few in number, could be so mean as to deny the

deed, could harden themselves shamelessly to make the denial a point of

honour! Oh! hideous spectre of honour, without the courage of truth and

of obedience! The courage of truth and obedience is the highest honour;

and he who binds himself to a union pledged to lies and to

disobedience, he has from the beginning no conception of honour; unfit

for a priest, unfit for a judge, unfit for a physician!

"O my friends, I see you burn with a noble indignation; you are all on

fire for honour, for the highest honour of manhood. Up then! there is a

vast, a boundless field of laurels for you, for us all, to contend for.

Shame to ignorance! shame to immorality! shame to the rude might of

arms, without knowledge, without morals, without obedience! shame to

obedience towards unions in things which God and the king forbid! In

knowledge, in morals, in obedience, in glowing love to King and

Fatherland--in them let every individual endeavour to outstrip another,

every union the other, our university all others. I call you, my

friends, to such a noble contest; and to it call you your honour, the

fame of our university, the fame of the Fatherland, and of our King!"

These abuses, which we have just now alluded to, that is, the passion

for the duel, and the strong drinking, are the causes which make the

Verbindungs, which are known under the name of Landsmannschafts and

Chores, odious. In fact, if one puts these dark adjuncts out of mind,

then the student life, and in particular the Chore life, has only a

cheerful aspect. The close incorporation of students into unions, which

have regular meetings in some particular place, from which every

uninvited disturber of order is banished; meetings for social

entertainment and exhilaration; for practice in bodily exercises, as in

fencing and gymnastics; these could only serve to a more speedy

accomplishment of active and intellectual men, and would be certainly

approved of by all reasonable persons. These dark adjuncts have brought

the Chore life into great unpopularity, and have induced many

governments to prohibit the Chores themselves, as the vehicles which

contain and maintain these pernicious practices. Yet it must be

remembered that practices so deeply rooted are not to be expelled by

force, but only through the advancing march of humane knowledge; and it

must be further acknowledged, that the Chores by the maintainance of

order in these things themselves, only prevent a greater outburst of

the wild Burschen-spirit. The governments have made use of the Chores

frequently in order to bring the student youth to a quicker adoption of

resolutions which would be for the good of the university, or of the

state; and this continues to be the case in those states where they are

yet allowed.

Let us imagine the Chores purified from their dross; they would then

represent unions which had their own constitutions, and where those in

reality who distinguished themselves most in outer life, would take the

first places. Let it not be believed that in such a case the proper

acknowledgment would be denied to him who, unincumbered with social

life, devoted himself exclusively to knowledge. This happens by no

means to those who belong to the present Chores under their present

circumstances. That the student jealously watches over his honour; that

he easily imagines this honour affected, grounds itself on the equal

standing which he gives to every one of his fellow-members. He makes

this sufficiently obvious himself, in that he will not permit the usual

duel between the Student and the Philistine. We cannot blame this

strict vigilance over the Burschen honour; but the means resorted to,

to restore wounded honour, are truly foolish, and worthy of punishment.

If we imagine the duel superseded by the sentence of a court of honour,

which condemned the guilty to beg pardon, or some other proportionate

punishment, there would be nothing further to be desired.

But the reasons which the government assigned for the proscription of

the Burschenschaft were totally different. They were determined to

this prohibition by this principle; that the student who is at the

High-school in order further to develope his intellectual faculties,

and to arrive at a scientific and political freedom in his views--that

he, the scholar, is not called to step forth here already as a teacher

of the people; that he is not called upon to overturn the constitutions

of states, before he has yet learned properly to analyse their nice and

elaborate construction; since it is a true assertion, that it is much

more easy to pull down than to build up; and it was a piece of

presumption in the youth to attempt to hurl down by violence a fabric,

which the best and wisest of the people had with their best strength

erected.

In Heidelberg, since the Marching-Forth of 1828, the Burschenschaft, as

its especial promoter, was anew strictly proscribed, but the

Landsmannschafts were sanctioned; and from each new-springing

Verbindung the word of honour was taken, by the academical board, that

it was no Burschenschaft. After some years, however, these

Landsmannschafts were forbidden also.

So far as the Burschenschaft was a union which, on account of its ideal

object, claimed prerogatives beyond the other Verbindungs, in so far by

that prohibition is its return to the High-school made impossible. But

so far as the Burschenschaft spirit is a real constitutional spirit, we

may in Heidelberg assert with pride, that it never was abandoned by the

young burgers of our High-school, and that all our present existing

Verbindungs are animated by this same noble feeling. This

constitutional mind has already displayed itself prominently on so many

occasions, that it is not necessary to bring evidences of it. We may

simply allude in confirmation, to the interest which the students have

always manifested in the proceedings of the Landtag, and to the

testimonies of acknowledgment which they have always given to those

teachers who have there exerted themselves for the good of the people,

and for the maintenance of constitutional freedom. We may notice the

sympathy with the unhappy state of Poland, which the students publicly,

by word and deed, expressed to the Polish officers who passed through

the city. Hence, because these unions do not assume as their object the

preparation for the realization of some certain idea, but merely a

pleasant social life during the university years, it does not follow

that the hearts of these young do not beat warmly for knowledge, for

right and freedom, and that no individual amongst them pursues this

noble aim, nor does it follow that these unions set themselves in

opposition to such more ideal aims as may already be begun there to be

pursued.

An esteemed German philologist says--"Most of our German universities

bear the humane character of fine manners and chivalric bearing. They

array themselves in the clear, radiating colours of the dreams of

youthful pleasure; and is there conspicuous, indeed, in the academic

life itself, the foam of a bubbling fermentation, this clears itself

with time, and becomes in the end a noble and strong spirit." A finer

panegyric we cannot pronounce; but we may corroborate it, when we add

to the observations already made, how much the spirit of the young man

is stimulated at the university to activity; and with what noble

energy, which so eminently distinguishes the student class, he employs

this activity in all directions. As there is no rule without its

exception, so there is, indeed, such here; but we must not lay the

measuring-wand of a general judgment on these few extravagances, though

in the full elucidation of the subject we may not pass them entirely

without observation.

Abroad, people have had such singular notions of the German students,

that they could not for their lives conceive what could be made, in

after-life, of such wild fellows; and have been amazingly astonished to

hear, that they afterwards became like other reasonable people, and

administered all sorts of offices of the state conscientiously, and

with the most exemplary and calm discretion. We recollect a passage in

the humorous work of Mr. Hood, "Up the Rhine;" at which certainly many

a German student has already heartily laughed, as he has read it there

as something new--that "it is notorious that these Burschen come in,

according to the proverb, as Lions and go out as Lambs,--some of the

wildest of them settling down in life as very civil civilians, sedate

burgomasters, and the like."

Let it never be forgotten that the students represent a peculiar class,

of which they who compose it, however, are but temporary members. Shall

the student then carry over with him into the Philisterium, his

singular attire, and his Chore-colours? It would seem as if foreigners

had quite supposed this must be so. But we would ask them whether it

ever occurs that a member of parliament makes a speech in his place in

the House, arrayed in the student-gown which he wore at Cambridge?

Shall the student, indeed, carry with him his sword, that with

eccentric courage he may defend the Burschen honour, when he has

himself long become a Philistine? Shall the quondam student forsake

wife and children, in order to go and vindicate the injured majesty of

studentdom, in order to join himself to the Marching-Forth? Could such

things be, then must the German academies truly be regarded as so many

great lunatic asylums, and nothing better or wiser could be done than

to extirpate them, root and branch.

A few words yet remain to be said on the actual advantage derived by

the German student from this life, and carried forward with him out of

the green Burschendom, into the seriousness of his later vocation, and

on what his after-vocation may be.

The great business of the student, as already stated, is the pursuit of

science; and it is less the mass of knowledge here harvested, which

brings him future advantage, than the capacity which he acquires, let

him move in later life in what circle he may, of comprehending and

acting in a pure scientific and philosophical spirit, upon every matter

which may be thrown into his path. The student-life has many favourable

influences on the character of a young man. Though the Bursch, as it

regards his social position, naturally allies himself most closely to

his landsmen, yet he feels himself compelled by those causes already

pointed out, to exert a general tolerance towards his brethren, which

though often abandoned and again submitted to, yet inoculates him with

a greater degree of sufferance, which on his departure from the

academical, for a more general life, unfolds itself more freely, and

extends itself to all social relations. The student, indeed, as such,

knows little tolerance towards non-students; yet the patience which he

learns to exert towards his fellow-students, is not without its

consequence, and when he steps out of his confined sphere, it then

clothes itself in another outward form, and takes a general direction.

The student maintains strictly and perseveringly his own views, though

consequently, often erroneous ones; but this serves in after-life, to

lay the ground-work of greater steadfastness of character. This

firmness continues with him to his grave, though his views and

principles modify and purify themselves, as his growing intelligence

directs him more and more into the track of truth. And as the student

stands upon his honour, for which full of the highest enthusiasm he

glows, and joyfully offers up property and life, so stands he in the

bonds of truth and friendship. Such bond of friendship is to him sacred

as his own life, and it is to him continually a guiding-star through

the gloomy paths of existence. It is to him the noblest treasure which

he carries with him into the tumult of life, and he continues to it

inviolably faithful.

In addition to this, the student has learned to arrive at the poetical

side of life. He has continually sought and enjoyed pleasure and

satisfaction; and let no man imagine that these foretell only a

future trifler. No, he is thereby invited to enliven the stupidity of

every-day life, and to throw new interests around the path of

existence. That, however, every character, according to its own

individuality, more or less favourably developes itself, and that these

influences of student-life here described differ in degree in different

individuals, needs no stating. We seek only to show general causes, and

these are certain. Scientific merit, self-confidence, consciousness of

being able to thank his own individual strength for his existence, the

honour of men, and the truth of friends,--can more beautiful or

delightful results than these be found? Even on the outward appearance

of the quondam Bursch, the student-life has a favourable influence. The

moment that the young man has entered the Philisterium he adopts the

existing convenances, so far as appear conducive to his purpose, but

only so far as that he can yet maintain that independence of fashion

which he has already asserted. His outward manner of life continues

free and unrestrained; and this, united to the practice of making a

greater tour after his examination has passed, as well with scientific

as with other objects, gives to the former academician a higher

bearing, an acquired tact, which adheres to him through existence, and

again pronounce in their consequences the greatest advantages of

student-life.

That the Burschen-life, through the greater freedom which it enjoys,

may also bring great disadvantages to him who has abused it, and which

may poison later life; who will attempt to deny? We have already

pointed out the rocks and breakers of this ocean of transition life.

The Burschenschaft agitations of a former period also plunged many into

misfortune; but this danger is now in a great measure past, and for the

last time gleamed up a political tendency for a few moments in the

Verbindung, like glimmering ignis-fatui, in the years 1830-32.

When the student now quits the university, where he has left behind him

the follies of youth, and bearing with him a greater or less amount of

intellectual acquisition, he enters immediately on the service of the

state. After his State's-examination it is very customary to make a

tour, before the young man for ever knits himself to one abode. Besides

those who in practical state's-service, or as teachers in the schools

and universities, work themselves forward, step by step, with more or

less speed, according to the degree of their ability and of their

diligence, or in proportion as they are favoured by fortune,--others

exert themselves in the wide field of daily literature, zealously

labouring to win the fame of authors and of poets. But follow whichever

path he may, let fortune smile on him or not--let him crown himself

with laurels, or strive for the wreath of glory in vain--never will he

who has been a genuine Bursch, become a Philistine; that is, in that

sense in which the student understands it. The words of the celebrated

Arndt express most lucidly this meaning of the word Philistine. "A

Philistine is a lazy, much-speaking, more-asking, nothing-daring man;

such a one who makes the small great, and the great small, because in

the great he feels his littleness and his insignificance. Great

passions, great enjoyments, great dangers, great virtues,--all these

the Philistine styles nonsense and frenzy. He will rather have life in

the pocket edition than in the folio, so that it can but be carried

through with the very least possible acting, thinking, and daring.

Rest, and rest again, and at any rate; a state of laziness, that he

loves, that he desires, that he preaches up, and for that he cries to

heaven and earth, if there is any chance of his being disturbed in it."

Into these faults he will never fall, who has once imbibed the

principles of a German university; and will only in so far belong to

the Philistines, as the student in a wider sense terms every one a

Philistine who no longer belongs to the Burschen.

What we have now been saying may convince us how beneficial is the

influence of the student-life on that which follows. Nobler principles

of action awake in the breast of the academician, and are nourished;

that here and there starts up amongst them something perverse, is not

denied; but the kernel is good, it germinates, it grows into a tree,

and bears excellent fruit, which the quondam Bursch and his

cotemporaries are destined to enjoy.

CHAPTER XXV.

A REVIEW OF THE POLITICAL ASPECT OF STUDENT LIFE.

If we have hitherto regarded the life and pursuits of the university in

an isolated manner, and entirely on its own account, yet it can by no

means have escaped the reader that this life does not stand so

completely sundered from the general stream of events, but that the

mind and spirit of the university life is determined by the spirit of

the times, and that, on the other hand, it operates again powerfully on

the developement of the institutions and condition of the times. This

must have become sufficiently clear to us in noticing the earlier

Burschenschaft, and to increase and complete that conviction, we have

only to take a hasty review of what has been now written, and to add a

few other remarks.

The universities reflect the spirit of the times: its progress, its

weakness, its strength, are all imaged forth again in the science of

the age; and the schools are therefore exposed to the changes and

revolutions of the times, but are not unconditionally subjected to

them. They have strengthened that spirit of the time and of the people

in their exhaustion, by their inquiries and results; and not less

through teaching and the invisible power with which they have elevated

and ennobled the minds of the youth. They have enriched the sciences,

and adorned public affairs with beauty and wisdom. They have in part

laid the foundations of the intellectual greatness and high

accomplishment of Germany; in part strengthened and guaranteed them;

and are the pillars of the fairest and most unrivalled glory which our

country in the most recent times, and before the eyes of all Europe,

has achieved. The university is the central point and the heart of

science. From all sides stream to it the spirits which are athirst for

knowledge; and as they are ennobled, again from that central point

disperse themselves through all the members of Germany, diffusing

through them fresh nourishment and a splendid growth. The teachers and

accomplishers of the people go forth out of them. The battles of the

church were fought out in the university; and if, as it happened in the

contest of the Reformation, the faith of the Princess was forced upon

the High-school by the hand of power, yet the teachers and scholars of

the university seldom bowed before it. The teachers abandoned a place,

which would lay their consciences in chains, and sacrificing office and

income, sought an asylum in foreign lands. They often found a refuge in

another university which held the same faith as themselves; they

carried with them the troop of their scholars, who, as their faithful

bodyguard, attended them; and there fought anew and victoriously for

the success of the good cause.

The Professors of the High-schools have pre-eminently cooperated in

working out the constitution of the German States, and many excellent

men amongst them have contended for the freedom of the people, and have

boldly stood forward against every usurpation of despotism. We need

only give one example, and that of the most recent date; we need only

call to the reader's mind the Seven Professors of Goettengen, who

opposed themselves to the arbitrary violation of the constitution of

the state with all their power, and on that account in the most

unprincipled manner were ejected from their professorships. This

scandalous, and in Germany till then, unheard-of example of despotism,

notoriously threatened the destruction of the Georgia-Augusta, and for

a long time annihilated its prosperity; but other states, by their

reception and establishment of these professors, have shown that they

approved of their proceeding, and the exiled professors were every

where received by the German students with the testimonies of the

deepest veneration. If the Bundestag did not condemn the King of

Hanover as guilty, yet the judgments are well known, which many German

universities at its desire gave in, and in which they expressed in the

most strong and unqualified language their sense of the injustice of

the deed. We call to mind that the tyrant called on the King of

Wirtemberg to punish the audacity of the professors of Tuebingen who had

sent in such a judgment, according to the enormity of their crime,--an

audacity which in Hanover would be expiated in chains; but the noble

monarch answered that in his land the freedom of teaching was a sacred

possession, which he would never infringe; but, for the rest, he

observed sarcastically, he left it to the High Court of Justice at

Celle to pronounce sentence on the guilt or innocence of his faithful

professors.

If the universities in such a manner grapple mightily with the

circumstances of the times, so are they, on the other hand, influenced

by them. They receive from the times the impressions, the tendency, the

frivolity as well as the earnestness, and distinguish themselves only

from the other circles of society in this, that in them the good and

the evil of the times more rapidly unfold themselves and take a

determinate form. The moral effeminacy of the nation at the time of the

French domination, operated on the ignoble natures amongst the youth,

scattering and dissolving; while it spurred on the nobler to those

Verbindungs out of which, at a later period, went forth hosts to do

battle for the liberation of the nation from a foreign yoke. After the

rising of the nation and its consequence--victory over the foe,--as all

hearts felt themselves elevated, all exertions felt themselves refined,

the new form of the time stood forth in the yet pure aims of the

Burschenschaft, which at the time when the Tugend-bund extended itself,

constituted, on its first appearance, a continuation of the

brotherhood-in-arms, the Waffengenossenschaft, which with the student

youth returning from the war, had this object,--to purify academical

life from its dross, and to present it as an image of the union and

ennobling of all the German races. Hereupon followed the period of

undeceiving, of counteraction, of degeneracy, which run into so

unrestrained a career, that to the wise and prudent, the beautiful time

of enthusiasm, appeared as the dream and frenzy of good-natured fools.

As the youth would not abandon the objects of their endeavours, whether

rational or chimerical, but, on the contrary, held them equally fast as

something great and noble, a portion of them fell a secure prey to the

unquiet, the revolutionists and political intriguers, who abused their

inexperience, and poisoned their noble endeavours by infusing a

resistance to public order. The teachers of the universities were

blamed by many, as though they were chargeable with being concerned in

these aberrations of the youth, or, at least, were so far culpable that

they had not prevented them.

So far as a direct participation of the teachers in these political

disturbances is concerned, we may be well assured that, if only a

single professor had at any time been an accomplice, or indeed only a

concealer and protector, of the guilty, the exact, the strict, and in

many places for years protracted inquiries, would to a certainty have

come upon the trace of their crimes, and the guilty would have been

conducted from the professorial chair to the dungeon. There remains

only the question, whether they, though taking no part in the views and

proceedings of the young people, were yet aware of them, and took no

steps to prevent them. But were the youths who fell under the power of

the law, the only ones who trod the same dangerous path? Were there not

amongst the others, some, perhaps even as many, who, through the

warnings and exhortations, or through the moral influence of

distinguished teachers; and, in short, through the better spirit which

every well conducted university developes amongst the nobler part of

the youth, were preserved from that mischief? But, so far as the

actually implicated students were concerned, the professors were in the

same case with the Boards, expressly organized for the watching over

the youth, and the matter was quite unknown to them, since the youths

who were mutually pledged to that object, concealed it from the eyes of

the professors just as scrupulously as from those of the university

Commission of inquiry, and the Boards of police. But to the liberation

of Germany from the dominion of Napoleon, the High-schools contributed

no little. Joyfully their scholars gave themselves up to death, and

scholars and teachers roused the nations to bravery through inspiriting

songs; of which the names of Arndt, Schenkendorf, Koerner, Hauff,

Follen, Voss, Stolberg, Scharnhorst, and Haupt, stand as glorious

testimonies.

Yet once more the youth wandered from their laudable endeavours in the

years 1830-33, and one portion of them although a small one, suffered

themselves to become the work-tools of political fanaticism. The

revolution in Poland, and the unhappy fate of that country, had made a

vivid impression on their minds. Demagogic agitators again were busy in

secret; private Verbindungs were formed; the catastrophe of the French

Revolution of July occurred, and flung the firebrand into the powder

magazine. People thought they must follow the example of France, and

began loudly, with writing and by speech, to attack the governments and

to abuse the princes. But the youth who attached themselves to these

agitators, were no longer the old Burschenschaft, who steadfast to

their one idea,--"One Fatherland, which should declare itself the

worthy antagonist of the arch-enemy France; one church, and freedom,"

fought out this with word and deed: no, the modern Burschenschaft, an

abused work-tool of a greater party, had sworn death to the hereditary

princes, and did not shrink, as a means of achieving such an object, to

offer the hand even to the old enemy, to France itself. They would dare

the highest extremes; and, allured by the apparent quietness of the

government, the assembly at Hambach, which has become so widely

celebrated, was held in 1833, where the French colours, and the

tri-colour of the Burschenschaft, fluttered from the same staff. There,

death to the princes was sworn, and within a short time revolutionary

movements broke out in all parts of Germany. A number of the academic

youth plunged themselves into misfortune through the attempt at

Frankfort, since the governments now found it necessary to exercise

stringent measures with all their power, and all partisans of such

demagogue Verbindungs were quickly either arrested, or, having been

timely warned, fled.

It may well be supposed that from this time forward, a much stricter

eye was kept upon every sort of Verbindung of the students. No

Landsmannschaft dare lift its head, and the academical liberty was in

many particulars restricted. Another injurious effect also became

apparent. Many states, more particularly Prussia and Russia, forbade

their subjects to frequent any but their own universities, and no

university felt the loss occasioned by this order more than Heidelberg,

where the attendance of Prussian subjects has only again been recently

permitted.

Yet, after all, only a small portion of the student youth, suffered

themselves to be carried away by these imprudences; and what might be

the reacting effect of these lamentable occurrences, the reflection of

the students on themselves and on their calling, on what became them

and was for their real advantage, further strengthened and quickened by

the seriousness with which the governments pursued the guilty, produced

in them a greater exactness, and gave thereby a higher moral firmness

to the academical life, so that far from being represented as a sink of

wickedness, as some people believe it, it may much more justly be

regarded now as a fruitful, purified, well-drained, and well-sown,

field. The channels, constructed to lay dry the boggy places, are

cleared; the unsound spots are probed and made good; and if the

watchful superintendence of circumspect and well-disposed Boards, and

the professional faithfulness of the majority of the academical

teachers continue what they are, this corn-field of our future will yet

bear continually more beautiful and affluent harvests.

CHAPTER XXVI.

A PARTING GLANCE AT OTHER UNIVERSITIES:

GERMAN AND FOREIGN.

We have in conclusion, only to say a few words of comparison between

the university of Heidelberg and the other German universities; and

between these generally and those of other countries.

In the description of a German university, we have always had that of

Heidelberg in our eye, touching only occasionally one or another of the

other German universities. The institutions of these are essentially

alike, yet each one has its own peculiarities; and this is not to be

wondered at, when one reflects how many influences determine the course

of the developement of a High-school. It shapes itself on the

circumstances of the times, according to the will of the Princes under

whose protection it stands; according to surrounding causes, in respect

to nature and art; and more than all, according to the spirit and

character of the teachers. To take a comparative review of these

peculiarities of the other universities of Germany would be highly

interesting; but when we reflect that in such a course all alleged

influences must be carefully weighed; and, in fact, that not merely the

present but all the past fortunes of the High-schools must be brought

under the eye, it will at once be seen that so wide a scope of

observation does not belong to this work. We can as little go into the

narrative of the foreign universities; because personal inspection is

wanting to us, and because we can give little faith to the statements

of foreigners--statements which often contradict each other, and for

the most part are as little worthy of credence, as those fabulous

accounts of German universities which have been circulated abroad The

last few years have brought us intelligence of the English

universities, which represents them as the nurseries of all that is

mischievous and corrupt, and which paints them in colours as repellant

as, at the same time, have been daubed over the caricatures of German

universities there. The false representations which foreigners, who, in

fact, have lived for some years at a German High-school, have made of

the diligence and moral condition of the same, warn us not to pronounce

a similar opinion on academical institutions which we have not seen

with our own eyes. We will only here devote a few lines to some

advantages which our institutions appear to us to possess over those of

England.

The great wheel of the mechanism of a German university is, next to the

payment for the lectures, the division of the teachers into ordinary

and extraordinary professors, and private teachers. Through the income

appointed by the government, the professor is not dependent on his

hearers, and is not tempted to care more for his income than for

science. The first duty of a professor is towards science; not towards

the students. That is the principle of all genuine university

professors; and in this exactly differs the university essentially from

the Gymnasium. The state must secure a moderate income to the

professor, independent of the number of his hearers; since a lecture

which has only seven or eight attendants may be of incalculable benefit

to science; as for instance, those on the higher analysis, or the

higher philology. A great mathematician ought not, in order to acquire

emolument merely, waste his time in teaching the inferior branches of

his science. But on the other hand, the state is not bound to give to

every individual a scientific education gratuitously, and to its own

ruin; and it would be unjust to extract money from the pockets of all

citizens for the benefit of only a very small number. A suitable and

secure income, which furnishes a professor with what is necessary and

with leisure; and paid lectures, which in proportion to his success

shall better his condition,--these, in this respect, constitute the

true means; since a professor should never forget the higher interests

of science, nor in the brilliant lustre of a transcendent genius

content himself with only a certain degree of success, and only a

moderate number of hearers. There is also this advantage to be added,

that the students frequent with more zeal and perseverance the lectures

for which they pay.

What happens in these respects in France is exactly the contrary. In

the French faculties of language and science, the doors are thrown

open, and every man can enter without paying. This at the first view

appears excellent, and worthy of a great nation. But what is really the

consequence? That an audience is like the pit of a theatre; one goes

in, and then goes out again, in the midst of the lecture; another comes

once, and then comes no more if the professor does not tickle his ear.

The attendants listen with distracted attention, and in general you see

more amateurs than students. The professor who does not lose a _sous_,

let him do his work as ill as possible, either neglects it, and expends

little trouble or talent on his lectures, or loving fame, anxious for

his reputation, and yet despairing to win a serious audience, labours

at least to assemble a numerous one. In this case there is an end to

science; for in order to make it attractive, he must sink himself to

the level of his hearers.

There lies in this great number of attendants an almost magnetic

influence, which bows to its yoke even the strongest minds; and he who

would be an earnest and admirable professor for attentive students,

becomes for frivolous, airy, and superficial hearers, light and

superficial himself. In fine, what remains to the multitude of that

instruction to which they have given a gratuitous attendance?--a

confused impression, just about as profitable as that which an

interesting drama in the theatre would have left behind.

But is this to be compared for a moment with the persevering zeal of

fifty or a hundred hearers even, who have paid beforehand for the

lectures; who follow their progression obstinately, in order to sift

them, and to give themselves an account of them, without which they

have thrown away both their time and money. Thus excellent is the

arrangement that the student shall pay something, and at the same time

the state shall guarantee to the distinguished and learned men who are

chosen as professors, a secure and fitting support.

The three degrees of teachers at the High-schools of Germany are in the

happiest manner divided from each other, and yet bound together. The

foundation, the root of the professorship, the inexhaustible and

everspringing nursery of the German university, are the young doctors,

to whom it is allowed, under certain conditions, and with the

permission of the faculties, to deliver public lectures. Every able

young man may thus arrive at the higher offices of teaching, but none

without raising, at least good expectations. He is tried, but without

entering into any actual engagement with him; without any thing being

promised to him, or given him. If he does not by correspondent results,

realize the hopes which have been entertained of him; if he fails to

attract hearers, and to do honour to the faculty which admitted him; it

is seen that a vain anticipation has been attached to him, and he is

not raised to the rank of extraordinary professor. He himself, after

some years, withdraws himself from the hopeless pursuit, which brings

him few hearers and little profit, and betakes himself to some other

career. On the contrary, if he fulfil the hopes raised by him; if he

gather numerous hearers, and write works which excite attention; he is

then declared Extraordinary professor, a title which is irrevocable,

and which gives him a small fixed salary, which, with the income

derived from his hearers, encourages him, and supports him in his

career. If he maintain this happy progress, if he prove himself an able

man, the state, in order to retain him, increases by degrees his

income, and finally names him Ordinary professor.

This distinguished title is never given on account of hopes: which may

be found false by experience, but on account of tried effects, of

distinguished talents, and established reputation. It is very rare that

this title is received before a certain age; and there is not a

professor in Germany, who is not a man of a reputation more or less

distinguished, since this position is entirely the reward of his

talents. Great and successful results, be they in writing or lecturing,

these in Germany nominate the Ordinary professor, and an unlimited

choice is afforded in the multitude of young teachers. Talent, with the

aid of time and perseverance, wins the prize, and that is the genuine

and proper contest. As age and time dull the zeal and diminish ability,

and the professor now grown old, neglects or does not advance with the

advances of science; an innovator in his youth, does he now become a

loiterer, what is to be done? His hearers, ever attracted by the spirit

of the time, desert his lectures; and seek those of an Extraordinary

professor, or perhaps those of a private teacher--young and zealous,

and often to excess, fond of innovation and bold inquiry; and the

university suffers not through the retreat of those, who formerly

served it faithfully and well. This happy mechanism rests on the

distinction into extraordinary and ordinary professors, and private

teachers; which in France correspond with the titulaires, adjoints, and

agreges.

Let us now only reflect how different altogether is the practice in

France. A man is put in the list of competitors for a few weeks,

amongst such young people as frequently have not written two lines;

have taught scarcely a single year; and now, after giving in some

stated proof, are often in their twenty-fifth year endowed with an

irrevocable title, which may be held till their seventieth year without

doing any thing; which, from the first day of their nomination to the

end of their life, draws the same salary, whether they have many

hearers or few; whether they distinguish themselves or not; whether

they thenceforward live in ignorance, or become celebrated men!

Another great disadvantage in France is, that in this country the

different faculties of which a German university is composed, are

separated from each other, scattered about, and in this isolation

are as it were, lost. Here are faculties of science, in which lectures

upon chemistry, physics, and natural history, are held, without a

medicinal faculty at their side, which might thence derive benefit;

there--faculties of law, and of theology, without history, literature,

and philosophy. So are there perhaps twenty miserable faculties

scattered over the whole surface of France, and nowhere a genuine home

for science. Thence comes it, that in France study is for the most part

so unphilosophically pursued; although able professional men are

accomplished in jurisprudence and medicine, the studies which are there

the most in esteem.

We leave it to the English reader, who is better acquainted with the

universities of his native land, than we are--to decide, how far the

deficiencies here attributed to the French universities also affect

those of Britain. Oxford and Cambridge, the two most ancient

universities of England, have remained true to the old institutions, to

the old mode of living altogether in colleges, which the German public

has long abandoned as not answering the purpose. They have a greater

self-dependence and independence than the German ones, which are

submitted to the superintendence of the state. Yet the German

institutions in this respect reap many advantages, so long as the

government is no despotism. Through such high-standing Boards, boards

which respect the interests and claims of all parties, and administer

to them all justice with strict impartiality, the chairs of science are

preserved from incapacity; the meritorious are made known and elevated;

obstructions are removed; help is duly administered, morals are

protected, defects are remedied, better and more effectually than can

be done by a corporation alone, and without such a well-disposed and

wise superintendence of their interests; and which places the

university in a condition to exercise a fresher and more unimpaired

strength in the great pursuit of science and of accomplishment, and

with more decisive effect; and to remain mistress of the great movement

of inquiry and of knowledge.

That the advantages of the German High-schools are, however,

acknowledged in England, is proved by the foundation of the liberal

University in London in the year 1825, wherein they have sought to

combine many of the German plans, whose value was recognised, with the

old English ones. But yet more than by this fact, is paid the tribute

of recognition of the excellence of the German High-schools, by the

great number of young men who, not alone from the European countries,

but from distant regions of the earth, hasten to place themselves at

the feet of their teachers.

No country has so many and such excellent universities as

Germany,--and the proofs of their advantages exist in the great number

of illustrious learned men and authors, which quench their thirst of

knowledge at these immortal wells of science; men, whose creations

daily more and more receive abroad their just recognition, and in no

country more than in England.

THE

GENERAL BEER-COMMENT OF HEIDELBERG.

Many a one is a more true Diogenes, not when he is in

the tub, but when the tub is in him.

TITULUS I.

DIVISION OF THE STUDENTS AS IT REGARDS THE BEER COMMENT.

Sec. 1. All Students are divided into Crass Foxes (or Fat Foxes), Brand

Foxes, and Beer-Burschen.

2. Every student, during the first course of his academical career, is

a Fat Fox.

3. He becomes a Brand-Fox when he is burnt at one of the regular kneips

of the respective Chores, with the proper solemnities; yet this shall

not occur before the Farewell Commers of his first, nor later than four

weeks after the entrance Commers of his second, semester.

4. The Brand-Fox becomes a Beer-Bursch, if he be _pawked_ in

(initiated), at the end of his second course, but after the Farewell

Commers, or at the commencement of his third course; this, however,

shall only be done in beer.

5. Comes one here who has already studied two semesters at another

known university, he must at the commencement of his third semester be

here _pawked_ in, or otherwise, till he be pawked in, he can only, as

it regards the Beer-companies, be considered as a Brander.

6. Every one who has studied three semesters at another known

university, has on that account the rights of a Beer-bursch.

7. A Fox who is the Chore-bursch of an existing verbindung or union,

has the rights of a Beer-bursch, yet must he suffer himself to be

_pawked_ in as a Beer-bursch.

8. The following is the mode of pawking in. At one of the appointed

kneips of the respective Chore, the in-pawking Beer-bursch drinks to

the in-to-be-pawked at least half a choppin of beer, after the singing

of every strophe of a song then sung, and the in-to-be-pawked must _a

tempo_ drink as much. Moreover, it is well understood that the

in-to-be-pawked pays for the beer of the in-pawker which is thus drunk.

TITULUS II.

OF THE FORE AND AFTER DRINKING.

Sec. 9. From the Foxes, whether Crass or Brand Foxes, the Beer-bursch is

not bound to take a beer challenge; yet can the Brand-fox _nachstuerzen_

(that is, command the person who is going to drink before him, to drink

twice the quantity that he proposes). Amongst themselves the Foxes have

equal rights.

10. No one must accept a challenge of less than half a choppin, or more

than four choppins at once. The graduated quantities of the Comment,

are a half, a whole, two, three, and four choppins.

11. The interval between the fore and after drinking of each

agreed-upon quantity must be no more than five minutes (that is, the

accepter must drink his quantity within five minutes after the

challenger). And every earlier challenge must be drunk before the

latter one.

12. If four choppins are agreed upon, so must the foreswearer or

challenger, drink each choppin separately within five minutes of each

other; and not till he has drunk these four choppins, must he take a

challenge from another person. Also, the challenger must have first

drunk his whole contracted quantity before his antagonist is bound to

drink his.

13. He who has a challenge of four choppins on his hands, is not bound

to take another challenge till that is drunk out.

14. If a challenge is made, and the challenged excuses himself on the

plea that he has already four choppins to drink, the challenger is

justified in obliging the challenged to show him each of those four

allege choppins as he drinks them.

15. If a challenge is given, and the challenged _nachstuerz_, the

quantity, (that is, insists that it shall be doubled,) the challenger

is obliged to drink the doubled quantity.

16. The challenged may not more than double the quantity proposed by

the challenger.

17. The _nachstuerz_ become invalid the moment the prescribed quantity

exceeds two choppins, except in a challenge _a faire_.

18. If one pauses during the drinking, leaves a Philistine in the

glass, (that is, if he leaves the bottom of the glass still covered

with beer,) it is to be considered that he has not drunken his

quantity, and he must instantly drink another in the proper manner.

19. The case is the same when an umpire declares that so much beer has

been spilt in the drinking as would cover the bottom of the glass.

20. In every quantity which is drunk in successive portions, the Secs. 18

and 19 shall apply to the party whom the umpire shall have declared to

have drunken informally.

21. As well in the fore as the after drinking, the antagonist can

select an umpire, who, if he judges that the fore or after quantity is

deficient, must see that it is made complete, and that it is properly

drunken.

22. No one is bound to accept a challenge of more than one choppin at a

time out of a vessel which will hold more; unless the two drinkers

agree differently between themselves.

TITULUS III.

OF ANSCHISS-SAUFEN; OR DEFINING OF WHAT ARE PENAL CASES IN DRINKING.

Sec. 23. Foxes, whether Crass or Brand Foxes, may neither _touche_ an

honourable Beer-bursch in beer, that is, challenge him to a beer

contest; nor, if he be challenged by an honourable Beer-bursch, may he

_nachstuerz_, or double the quantity. If one of them does this, then

must he be _verdonnert_,[50] or condemned in thunder, to pay for a

_viertel_, that is, sixteen choppins. The Foxes have also here equal

rights amongst themselves.

24. The degrees of the beer challenges are the following:--A Learned

Man stands for a half-choppin; a choppin is a Doctor; two choppins, a

Professor; three choppins, an Amtmann; four choppins, a Pope.

25. If any one has given his cerevis, that is, made an assertion on his

beer-word against another, and it cannot be proved who has given his

cerevis wrong, so must the two drink out a Learned Man--such cases,

however, excepted as are before the Beer-court.

26. No one is bound to accept _ex abrupto_ more than a _Learned Man_;

yet must the Foxes accept, _ex abrupto_ every challenged _Doctor_, from

an honourable Beer-bursch.

27. The provoker to a beer-challenge must be challenged within five

minutes. If he will double on the challenge, he must do it immediately,

and according to the fixed gradations of Sec.24.

The settling of the challenge must be completed within five minutes

after the challenge is given; and the drink-duel must be immediately

contested, if the challenged has not yet an older scandal[51] to

defend.

28. Every earlier scandal must take precedence of a later. If any one

asserts that he has yet an earlier scandal, he must name the person

with whom it depends. The antagonist has a right to name an umpire, who

must take care that the scandal is effaced in its regular order, or

otherwise the umpire must write the name of the first on the beer-table

with the penalty belonging to the offence.

29. The proceeding in fighting out a scandal is as follows:--Each

pawkant or combatant appoints a second, of whom the seconder of the

challenger, on his cerevis, makes the weapons equal. If the weapons,

however, appear unequal to the other second, he can call an umpire, who

decides whether they are equal or not. If the umpire declares that the

weapons are not equal, he who calls the umpire, has, after the scandal

is fought out, to propose the proper penalty for the second who failed

to make the weapons equal, according to Sec. 131, No. 11 (a).

30. At the place of the challenged the weapons are made equal, and the

beer-scandal is there fought out.

31. If the weapons are equal, the second of the challenged gives the

following commando, "Seize it! put to! loose!"

32. Before this commando, the drinking must not begin; and should it

begin, either of the seconds must cry halt, and the weapons must be

again made equal. But halt cannot be cried after the word "loose" is

given.

33. Both parties must drink instantly on the command being given,

whereupon the commanding second, after both have drunk, first declares

his judgment, and then the other second either admits this judgment or

not. If the latter be the case, so the seconds themselves must drink

off a Learned Man, be the quantity what it may for which they stood

seconds, except in the cases stated in Secs. 34 and 35.

34. Drinks not one of the two combatants on the given commando, the

prescribed quantity, or bleeds he, or pauses during the drinking, or

leaves a Philistine in the glass; so is he a defaulter, and must,

within five minutes, drink once more the prescribed quantity. If he do

this not, he is put under the beer-bann, and the quantity which he has

failed to drink is written on the beer-tablet against him.

35. He is equally a defaulter if he breaks his glass in setting it

down, or overturns it, except, in the last case, he can set it up again

before his antagonist is ready.

36. Every one must second the moment he is called upon to do so; yet if

one second be a Beer-bursch, he is not obliged to accept a Fox as his

opposite second. If any one refuses, without a sufficient ground of

excuse, to become a second, he is to pay the penalty of a viertel.

37. The parties concerned in a beer-scandal, must, neither with one

another, nor with others, engage in a fresh scandal, neither can others

engage them in such. But should this happen, the provoker must

immediately revoke, or be condemned to a viertel.

38. The beer-scandal arising between seconds, as in Sec. 33, is to be

fought out in manner following: The second who declared himself first,

names his umpire, before whom the scandal is to be fought out, and

through whose declaration it is to be concluded.

TITULUS IV.

OF ENGAGEMENT A FAIRE.

Sec. 39. The engagement _a faire_ is the contract between two to measure

themselves in beer drinking.

40. Those who will make an engagement _a faire_, must let this be

proclaimed clearly three times by a beer-honourable Beer-bursch;

whereupon all who are already concerned with these parties in a

beer-scandal, may state their claims, so that they may fight out their

scandals with them before this new engagement comes on.

41. Both combatants must, at least, empty one choppin in every five

minutes, or be the quantity greater they must still do the same.

42. Neither of these combatants may accept any thing from a third, nor

fore-drink to him; neither may they provoke to a fresh scandal or be

provoked to it. Those who do, fall under the penalty of a viertel.

43. They may not officiate in beer-affairs; nor be seconds, witness,

nor umpires; nor sit in the Beer-comments, nor convoke, or cause such

to be convoked; they may not aid in removing the beer-bann, or drink

with him from whom it is to be removed, otherwise they are condemned to

a viertel.

44. This Beer-strife is ended by one or the other declaring that he can

drink no more, but not by agreement to drink no more. He that yields

must quit the kneip within five minutes, or will be condemned to two

viertel. Besides this, he is regarded as under the bann for the rest of

the day; but during the five minutes that he stays, he is not obliged

to accept any fresh challenge.

45. The conclusion of the Beer-strife shall in the same manner as its

commencement, be loudly proclaimed by a beer-honourable Beer-bursch.

TITULUS V.

OF THE DECLARATION.

Sec. 46. If any one has no desire to either fore or after drink, or to

concern himself in beer-suits, he must cause this to be declared by a

beer-honourable Beer-bursch. If from the beginning he drinks no beer at

the kneip, he need not declare himself.

47. He who receives this declaration is bound to proclaim it aloud.

48. The declared may not be challenged in beer. Should this happen, the

challenger must instantly revoke, or he will be condemned in a viertel.

If the declarer challenges, he falls under the same penalty.

49. If any one has already drunken beer in the kneip, and then says,

without having declared himself, that he goes away, he must not accept

a challenge. But if he remains in the kneip five minutes after this

declaration of going away, then every one can fore-drink him; and in so

far as he does not after-drink according to the regulations, he may be

mulct.

50. Each declaration can then only be accepted, when the declarer has

drunk out all his contracted quantities, and all scandals in which he

has been engaged have been fought out.

51. He who in the commencement of a kneip declares that he is unwell,

is for the evening declared, but he cannot during that evening take

back his declaration.

52. If a declarer appears before the Beer-convention as a complainant,

he must bring two witnesses.

53. The declaration is removed:--

(1) Through fore or after drinking of any quantity, even should

the declarer use the proviso, "without prejudice to my declaration."

(2) By making a counter declaration.

(3) By the declarer mixing himself in beer-suits.

54. They mix themselves in beer-suits, who--

(1) Demand or give the cerevis.

(2) Sit in a Beer-convention; witness, call a Beer-convention, or

cause it to be called.

(3) Is an umpire, a second in a Beer-scandal, or drinks with him who

is to be released from the bann.

(4) Who challenges in beer.

(5) Who engages himself with another _a faire_.

TITULUS VI.

OF THE UMPIRES.

Sec. 55. A beer-honourable Beer-bursch only can be an umpire.

56. Every one must obey the call to be an umpire, unless he can advance

some available excuse. If, without being able to do this, he declares,

he must be mulct in a viertel.

57. If a Fox accepts the office of an umpire, he falls under the

penalty of a viertel.

58. The umpire may stand with none of the parties in a beer-scandal;

but should this be the fact, the case cannot stand over, but another

umpire must be called.

59. When an umpire is called forth, he cannot be challenged of any one:

the offender in this case is punishable with a viertel.

60. If any one holds the judgment of an umpire to be unjust, he is at

liberty to summon him before a Beer-convention; but this must be done

before the quantity which has been made equal by the umpire, is

drunken.

61. The umpire can always be called before the Beer-convention, on

account of his decisions, except when he pronounces the penalty

incurred in the act of releasing one from the bann, or upon him who

drinks with him; in which case the condemned person cannot appeal to a

General Beer-convention.

62. If the decision of the umpire is declared unjust by the

Beer-convention, he goes into Beer-banishment; but if that be not

the case his accuser is without further procedure condemned to

Beer-banishment.

TITULUS VII.

OF THE BEER-CONVENTIONS.

(_a_) OF THE SPECIAL.

Sec. 63. The Beer-convention is that competent Board which is called

by a beer-honourable Beer-bursch, in order to decide upon a fact

before it, of a nature to be punished by a beer-penalty, or on other

beer-business. It consists of three Beer-honourable beer-burschen.

64. A Fox may not sit in a Beer-convention; if he dares to do that, he

is to be be-thundered in a viertel. He falls under the same penalty if

he calls a Beer-convention.

65. So soon as a Beer-convention is called, the functionaries and all

parties concerned must neither _touche_, _foreswear_, nor fore nor

after drink so long as the business lasts. As little may this be done

by another person towards them. Whoever violates this rule is regarded

as a disturber of the convention.

66. The Beer-convention being called, is conducted as follows. The

beer-judge summons the accused; the accuser then lays the case before

the court, which he confirms on his cerevis, which the convention

demands from him, and makes his petition. Hereupon he names his

witness, who is questioned on the alleged fact, and his cerevis also

taken upon it.

67. The accused is now required to bring forward his defence; whereupon

the convention also demands his cerevis, and his witness is heard, also

on his cerevis.

68. Accuser and accused, as well as every one of the judges, have the

right to demand that the witnesses of both parties state the facts upon

which they give their cerevis, fully.

69. When the two parties, with their witnesses, have been heard in this

manner, the beer-judge demands whether either party has yet any thing

further to advance. If this is not the case, the minutes are closed,

and the judge immediately pronounces his judgment.

70. The beer-judges give their judgments in the same order of

succession in which they were called to be judges by the accuser. The

last-voting judge must, on a penalty of a viertel, within five minutes

after the closing of the minutes, write on the beer-table the name of

the be-thundered, or appellant.

71. The agreeing judgments of two beer-judges constitute a sentence,

with the exception of the cases in Secs. 81 and 84.

72. No beer-judge is allowed to state publicly the grounds of his

judgment, when he gives that judgment.

73. No beer-judge may give his vote before the examination is

concluded, and the minutes closed. If he fails in this respect, either

of the parties can expel him from the Beer-convent. In this case,

the accuser has to call another judge. The same is the case when a

beer-judge closes the minutes before the examination is complete. If

the case is disputable, the party who has the right to expel, may call

an umpire, who shall decide.

74. If the Beer-convention has cited the accused, and he omits to

appear and make his defence, he is, on that account, held to be

convicted.

75. No one can refuse to be a beer-judge because he would act as

witness to the accused; but the accused can object to a judge, in case

he takes the office, being received as his witness, but this, at the

latest, must be done before the examination of the witness of the

accuser had been heard, upon which the accuser must choose another

judge.

76. The accuser must put in his petition before his witness is heard. A

petition once put in, cannot be changed. If the accuser puts in a false

one, or none at all, the case will be decided in favour of the accused.

77. Every accusation must be confirmed by the witness or the

beer-tablet. If this is not the case, the accusation is nullified, and

the accuser is nonsuited.

78. If the assertions of both parties are positive, the judge must

decide in favour of the accused.

79. An assertion is negatived when it totally contradicts the fact of

the opponent without supplying another fact, which supersedes the first

fact.

80. Every beer-honourable student, be he Fox or Beer-bursch, can appear

as witness before a Beer-convention.

81. A witness becomes amenable to punishment by giving false evidence

on his cerevis. Whether he has given a false cerevis remains for the

Beer-convent to decide, before which he has appeared as witness,

which, without further proceeding, can immediately be-thunder him as

beer-banned, and mulct in a viertel; but this requires that all the

Beer-judges shall be unanimous.

82. Each party may only call three witnesses in succession. If none of

these speak out satisfactorily, it is to be held that he has no

witness. For the rest, neither party can present more than one

sufficient witness in support of its assertion.

83. Such witnesses as were not present at the fact on which the

Beer-convention has to decide, are held as false witnesses.

84. Intruding witnesses; that is, such as without being called by name

as witnesses by the parties, offer themselves as witnesses, shall not

be accepted, and are to be punished with the beer-bann. The judges

must, however, be unanimous on this head.

85. A beer-judge having once given his vote cannot recall it.

86. No beer-judge can, during the proceedings, speak to any of the

parties concerned, out of the regular course of inquiry. He who does

this is punishable with a viertel.

87. In no case is any one allowed to disturb the proceedings. He who

does this for a fourth time, having thrice been ordered to be quiet, is

to be be-thundered by the same Beer-convention to the Beer-bann, and

penalty of a viertel without further delay. The beer-judges must,

however, be unanimous.

88. When a punishable fact is not laid before a Beer-convention within

three days, it cannot be laid at all, unless the actual absence of

accuser or accused creates sufficient hindrance. But a cerevis given

for a future day, or which requires time to prove whether it may not be

false, forms an exception. Farther, a cerevis given for a future day is

not nullified by a Beer-bann falling between that time and the time for

which it is given.

89. A Beer-convention may only be postponed three days, and only then

when the witness of the accused is absent.

90. If one is accused on account of a quantity not drunken at the right

time, or not drunken at all, the said quantity is to be added to the

penalty in his be-thundering.

91. If a quantity has been fore-drunken to the be-thundered, before the

commencement of the Beer-convention, which he has not after-drunken,

then must they who have fore-drunken this quantity on his be-thundering

show this same quantity to the Beer-convention, corroborating their

assertion with their cerevis and a witness, whereupon also this must be

added to his Beer-penalty.

92. The same is the case when he has contracted a beer-scandal with any

one before the Beer-convent sate, and has not fought it out: but the

latter party with whom he has made this contract, must drink the

prescribed quantity before the Beer-convent.

93. Not more than one Beer-convent can be called over one and the same

person on account of the same fact, except if a Beer-convention is

postponed; or a Beer-convention being called, is rendered null by a

Fox, or one under Beer-bann having been called upon it, and in it

having sat.

94. A Fox may neither for himself nor for another call a Beer-convent,

but he must procure this to be done through a beer-honourable

Beer-bursch. The last can, however, call himself as one, in case other

beer-honourable Beer-burschen are wanting for the Beer-convention.

95. Only one Beer-convention may be called at the same time in the same

kneip.

(_b_) OF THE GENERAL BEER-CONVENTION.

96. The general Beer-convention, which must consist at least of five

Chore Burschen, is the highest and last Court of Appeal; and therefore

its decision is final and unalterable.

97. Every Saturday evening, at an hour fixed in the beginning of each

course, is the General Beer-convention held, to which every Verbindung

then existing in Heidelberg, must send a Chore-bursch, who must,

however, be a beer-honourable Beer-bursch. Should less than five Chores

exist, the S. C. must take care that still five beer-judges must sit in

the General Beer-convention.

98. These judges must assemble themselves, at the appointed hour, at

the kneip of the Secretary, under the penalty of a quarter-crown for

coming late, and of a half-crown for not coming at all. A beer-judge

comes late when he is not present on the striking of the fixed hour.

99. In case that, at the fixed hour, the Beer-judges of all the

Verbindungs are not present, five beer-judges are sufficient to open

the court and proceed to business.

100. When the required number of beer-judges are present, the

Beer-convent must be opened with the stroke of the appointed hour. If

they find no appellant, they must wait half-an-hour. If no one appears

at the expiration of this time, the judges are authorized to withdraw.

101. If, after the expiration of this half-hour, five judges agree to

wait longer, they can still represent the General Beer-convention; but

the General Convention must be closed at the end of an hour, unless

instantly occurring and pressing business make that impossible.

102. It is free to the accuser as to the accused to appeal to the

General Beer-convention, against a sentence of the Special Convention;

but this must be done within five minutes after the declaration of the

sentence, and the judges concerned must be cited at the same time. The

appeal must come on at the General Beer-convention, at the fixed place,

the next Saturday evening.

103. If the appellant exceeds this time, without being able to show

the impossibility of then proceeding with the business on which the

Beer-convention has to decide, he loses the right to appeal, and moreover,

must pay a viertel. If on the contrary, one cited to appear before the

General Beer-convention is prevented, he can, though a proxy, bring

forward his excuse; upon the acceptance of which the General

Beer-convention is to decide. If it finds the excuse satisfactory, the

business stands over to the next General Beer-convention.

104. An appeal to the General Beer-convention can indeed be revoked,

but this must be done within five minutes after declaring an intention

to appeal, and, in fact, before a Beer-convention called for the

purpose. If it he revoked later, the revoker must pay a viertel.

105. He is excluded from the right to appeal to a General Beer-convent

who has been declared to be a false or intruding witness by a special

Beer-convention, and is, on that account, be-thundered; and so is he

also who has more than three times disturbed the proceedings of the

Special Beer-convention.

106. The proceedings of the General Beer-convention in matters laid

before it, is the same as that of the Special Beer-conventions, with

the following exceptions. If the parties cited before the General

Beer-convention do not appear, nor appoint proxies, they may, after the

accuser has made his complaint, and corroborated it by witnesses, be

punished for contempt of court.

(1) Moreover, any one who has to appear before the General

Beer-convention, must present himself before the table with uncovered

head.

(2) No beer-judge of the General Beer-convention is bound to

take a beer-challenge from any one while he sits in the General

Beer-convention.

(3) The General has the right to punish with the punishment, for the

disturbance of Beer-conventions, prescribed by the Comment, any one

who, during one and the same proceeding, shall have broken the silence

enjoined four times; and he who more than four times shall have broken

the same, shall, moreover, be reported to the S. C. and by it be fined

a half-crown.

107. The majority of voices decides here, as in the Special

Beer-conventions. Is the number of the represented Chores equal, the

representative of the Chore to which the secretary belongs gives the

casting vote.

108. No appellant can lay his complaint before the General, till he has

set before it a viertel; but, in case he carries his charge through, he

has the right to name one of the condemned to the General, who shall

reimburse him this viertel.

Should the accused be be-thundered, so go they every one into

Beer-banishment, and have two viertels to set forth; but that viertel

which has been reimbursed by one of them to the accuser is reckoned off.

If the appellant is cast, he is equally condemned to two viertels. But

as he has already set one viertel before the General, he is only

written down on the beer-tablet one viertel. If he was the accuser

before the Special Beer-convention, the General has to give its

commission, to wipe him out from the beer-tablet, and to write him down

as chargeable with a viertel under its order. If he was the accused, so

must he, according to the commission of the General, be wiped out of

the beer-tablet with the B. A., and with the prescribed penalty of the

Special Beer-convention, together with the new viertel, be written down

on the beer-tablet, under the order of the General.

The appointed penalties are written down in the Special Chore-kneip.

109. During the vacation, the number of five beer-honourable

Beer-burschen are authorized to represent a General Beer-convention,

without respect to Verbindungs. Such a General Beer-convention in the

vacation, must be called within eight days, or, otherwise, if no

sufficient grounds of excuse are brought forward, the sentence of the

Special Convention remains in full force; the appellant is be-thundered,

and the right to further appeal is lost.

TITULUS VIII.

OF THE BEER PENALTIES.

I. SIMPLE.

(_a_) OF THE BEER-BANN.

110. The Beer-bann is that punishment by which the beer-honourable

student, while he is be-thundered to four choppins, loses all his

beer-rights in the Special Kneip in which he stands inscribed.

111. The Beer-bann, besides the loss of all beer-rights, has also this

consequence, that the be-thundered, neither mediately nor immediately,

can bring his beer to the table where the Beer-honourable kneip. Should

he do this, every beer-honourable is at liberty to throw the beer of

the be-thundered upon the ground.

112. The beer-banned appellant, indeed, equally forfeits all

beer-rights, yet can he bring his beer to the table where the

beer-honourables kneip, and he may not be called a beerschisser, or

beer-banished-man, and can for and after drink with any beer-honourable

that he can engage to do so.

113. But on account of such quantity either for or after drunken, a

Beer-convention cannot be called by either party.

114. No beer-honourable is allowed to either fore or after drink with a

beer-banned man; does any one this, he goes into beer-banishment.

115. A beer-banished man can never be called before a Beer-convention

and be be-thundered on account of a fact which renders him liable to

beer-banishment, but only on one which renders him liable to pay a

viertel. He then renders himself liable to a viertel when he calls a

beer-honourable, or a beer-banned appellant, a beerschisser.

116. If any one perpetrates an act against a beerschisser, which

renders him liable to a setting forth of a viertel, the beerschisser

can call this person before the Beer-convention, but he must do it

through a beer-honourable Beer-bursch, and lay his complaint through

the same, strengthening also his accusation by two beer-honourable

cerevises.

117. A term of eight days is appointed to the beerschisser (the

beer-banned) from the day of his be-thundering, during which time he

must cause himself to be fought-out in the following manner. If he

exceeds this term, and that without special grounds of excuse, as sickness

or absence, he is be-thundered in two viertels; which penalty, from eight

days to eight days, if he does not fight himself out, is doubled.

118. The fighting cutis in this manner. The beerschisser, who will

fight himself out, requests a beer-honourable Beer-bursch to call his

name out in the kneip on whose beer-tablet he stands inscribed; but

this can only be done in the presence of three beer-honourable

Beer-burschen. The out-fighter must at every one of the four choppins,

three times slowly and formally demand who will drink them with the

beerschisser. The fighter-out is not an umpire. If any one is not

satisfied with the proceedings of the fighter-out, this last must name

an umpire.

119. The beerschisser must from five minutes to five minutes drink each

of the choppins.

120. If any one announces that he will drink a choppin with the

beerschisser, this person must name an umpire, who must make the

weapons equal, and who, as in a Beer-scandal, has to command.

Each one to be fought-out has at least two choppins to drink.

If two out of the whole four choppins are not yet accepted the

fighter-out has to drink out the remaining quantity with the

to-be-fought-out person, in the regular time, and in the presence of an

umpire.

121. He who, as umpire, has commanded during the last choppin which the

beerschisser, as such, drinks, must immediately proclaim him three

times loudly and formally in the kneip as beer-honourable.

In case the beerschisser has already drunk two choppins, and no one

announces himself for the fourth, the fighter-out has this duty to

perform.

The order must, at the same time, be given, and where it is possible,

to a Fox, to wipe the beerschisser from the beer-tablet.

If the umpire proclaims the out-to-be-fought as beer-honourable too

early, or too late, he himself goes into beer-banishment.

122. Both parties must drink at once, on the word of command. If the

beerschisser does this not, he is be-thundered to a viertel; if the

other, who, according to the declaration of the fighter-out, has to

drink with the beerschisser, drinks not at the same time, he goes into

beer-banishment.

123. If the beerschisser does not drink, after the command is given,

his choppin in the five minutes, he continues a beerschisser, and the

choppin not drunken by him is written on the beer-tablet in addition.

124. In all these cases the commanding umpire has the right to

pronounce the penalty on the defaulters, without further proceeding,

and cause them to be written on the beer-tablet, nor can he for this be

called to account.

125. If one has been be-thundered on account of an unperformed quantity

of fore or after drinking, he must drink the quantity still due,

from five minutes to five minutes, after he has again been declared

beer-honourable.

126. This must be done before those whom he has to drink after; or,

should they be absent, before two beer-honourable witnesses.

127. The beerschisser has all the choppins that have been drunken with

him during the fighting-out by the out-fighters immediately to pay for.

128. If the beerschisser has requested any one to call on him to be

fought-out, he cannot again revoke the call; if he does this, he is

mulct in a viertel.

129. The beerschisser has the right, during the pawking, or

fighting-out, to have the beer necessary for the out-pawking upon the

table at which the beer-honourables kneip.

130. Only one beerschisser can be pawked-out at one time.

131. He goes into beer-banishment--

(1) Who gives a false cerevis.

(2) Who offends against Sec. 34.

(3) Who permits a beer-touche, or provocation, to stand against him

beyond the regular time, and neither challenges, fixes the time, nor

fights out, without having any sufficient ground of excuse to give. The

sufficient grounds are--

(_a_) Older scandals, but not fore or after drinking quantities.

(_b_) If he has received no beer, spite of its having been

immediately ordered, after challenge or fixing of the time has taken

place.

(4) Who has declared a beerschisser, either by word or deed, to be

beer-honourable. This happens through--

(_a_) He who contracts a scandal or fights one out with a

beerschisser, and kneips with him in beer; that is,

(a) He who fore or after drinks with a beerschisser. (Sec. 114).

(_b_) He who has his beer standing on the same table with that of a

beerschisser.

(_c_) He who plays with a beerschisser at a beer-play.

(_d_) He who with the beerschisser pours out of the same vessel, or

drinks with him out of the same glass.

(b) He who "catches out"[52] a beerschisser in the kneip, where the

same stands inscribed as beerschisser on the beer-tablet.

(c) He who calls a Beer-convention upon a case against a

beerschisser, which does not render him liable to a penalty of a

viertel. (Sec. 115).

(d) He who submits to the same a beer-case for decision, or calls

him as witness.

(e) He who too early proclaims the fought-out, beer-honourable.

(Sec. 121).

(5) He who too late declares the fought-out, beer-honourable.

(Sec. 121).

(6) He who calls a beer-honourable, or a beer-banned-appellant, a

beerschisser.

(7) He who does not set out the appointed quantity within eight days.

(8) He who in pawking-out a beerschisser commands on a bad choppin.

(9) He who ought to drink with a beerschisser in his out-fighting, and

does not drink at the right time, or drink at all.

(10) He who makes a quantity common; that is, fore or after drinks a

quantity with a third person also, which he ought to drink with one

only.

(11) The umpire whose decision before a Beer-convention is declared to

be unjust (Sec. 62).

(12) The second who has to make the weapons equal, but who, according

to the decision of a called-up umpire, has unjustly declared them to be

equal.

(_f_) He who declares the decision of an umpire to be unjust without

being able to show that it is so.

(13) Intruding witness. (Sec. 62).

(14) He who does not call a Beer-convention on account of a fact

which is directed against himself, and which is punishable with

beer-banishment.

(15) He who does not within five minutes drink the quantity dictated to

him by the President of the Beer-convention. (Sec. 146).

(B.) OF SETTING FORTH BEER.

Sec. 132. Every viertel to be set out (that is, four measures, four jugs,

or five bottles) is written down on the beer-tablet, and must within

eight days, be set before a Beer-convention. He who exceeds this term,

goes into beer-banishment. The Beer-convention which has be-thundered

him, has at the same time to give the order that he and this quantity

be wiped off the beer-tablet, and that he be written down anew under

this date.

133. The Beer-convention, and he who sets it out, have equally

participation in this beer, and should the setter-out be a Fox, he too,

who called the Beer-convention for him; but the Beer-convention can, if

it please, make this quantity over to the General company.

134. A viertel must set-out--

(1) The Fox who _touches_, or provokes a beer-bursch to a challenge

in beer, or in a beer-challenge doubles on him. (Sec. 23.)

(2) The Fox who has called a Beer-convention, or sits in one.

(Sec. 64.)

(3) The Fox who becomes an Umpire. (Sec. 64.)

(4) The Fox who touches the beer-cudgel of the President in a

Beer-commers.

(5) Every one who, being called on to second, refuses without

sufficient ground. (Sec. 36.)

(6) He who offends against Sec. 37.

(7) He who offends against Secs. 42 and 43.

(8) He who touches in beer a Declarer, and does not immediately

revoke the touche. (Sec. 48.)

(9) A Declarer who touches another who has not declared. (Sec. 48.)

(10) He who refuses without justifiable ground to act as umpire.

(Sec. 48.)

(11) He who cribs beer in drinking, or spills the beer of another,

or fouls it.

(12) He who forgets his Smollis.[53]

(13) He who touches an Umpire, knowing him to be such.

(14) He who insults or calumniates a Beer-convention.

(15) He who declares the decision of a Beer-convention to be unjust;

but this shall not include the appeal to a General.

(16) The Beer-judge who offends against Sec. 34.

(17) He who declares that he will appeal to a General, and yet does

it not on the proper day. (Sec. 103.)

(18) He who has declared that he would appeal to a General, but

makes this later than five minutes after his declaration. (Sec. 104.)

(19) The beerschisser who sits in Beer-convention, or at all acts in

beer-suits.

(20) The beerschisser who, after he has allowed himself to be called

upon to be fought-out, revokes. (Sec. 128.)

(21) The beerschisser who in the fighting-out does not drink in

time. (Sec. 122.)

(22) The beerschisser, who calls a beer-honourable or

beer-banned-Appellant, a Beerschisser. (Sec. 115.)

(23) He who alters or writes down any thing on the beer-tablet, or

expunges any thing, without the right to do it (Sec. 136.)

(24) He who writes down, by his own fault, the name of the

be-thundered, or of the accuser-appellant, wrong. (Sec. 139.)

(25) The be-thundered or accuser-appellant who purposely spells his

name wrong to the writer-down. (Sec. 139.)

(26) He who, indeed, writes down the name of the be-thundered, or of

the accuser-appellant on the tablet correctly, but who states a false

date or a false quantity.

(27) He who does not convey the commission of writing down or

expunging within five minutes.

(28) Every one whose duty it is to write down or expunge from the

tablet, and does not do this within five minutes.

(29) He who gives to another without due authority, an order to

alter, or to write down upon, or to expunge any thing from the tablet.

(Sec. 138.)

(30) He who does not call a Beer-convent upon a fact which renders

liable to the setting-forth of a viertel.

(31) When one is caught-out--that is, if he lifts the lid of a

covered glass (and jugs and bottles are also included) in which so much

beer yet remains as will cover the bottom, so far that another can

insinuate his hand between the vessel and the lid, and thereupon cry

"caught-out;" or when one is caught-out who covers an empty glass,

though this latter person is under no necessity to cover the empty

glass again.

(32) He who catches out without cause--that is, he who catches one

out, who in the lifting of his lid has said--"without catching-out;" or

who, while the beer is pouring puts his hand between; or who makes an

erroneous catching-out with an empty glass.

(33) He who speaks ill of any of the Faculties.

II. SHARPER BEER PENALTIES.

Sec. 135. The sharper beer-penalty is, when any one is be-thundered

at the same time to more than one viertel, or to beer-banishment and

beer-setting-forth.

(_a_) HE IS CONDEMNED TO MORE THAN ONE VIERTEL,

(1) Who offends against Sec. 44.

(2) The accuser who, going before the General, fails to make good

his accusation, and is mulct in two viertels. (Sec. 108).

(3) The Beerschisser, who does not cause himself to be fought-out

within the proper period, falls under the penalty of Sec. 117.

(_b_) THEY ARE CONDEMNED TO BEER-BANISHMENT AND BEER SETTING-FORTH:

(1) False witnesses, (Sec. 81.)

(2) Those who disturb the proceedings of the Beer-convention for the

fourth time, either by speaking, crying out, singing, or whispering to

one another, after silence has been three times commanded. (Secs. 87 and

106.)

(3) All those who act contrary to Sec. 65.

(_c_) THEY ARE CONDEMNED TO THE SETTING OUT OF TWO VIERTELS AND TO

BEER-BANISHMENT.

(1) The Beer-judges whom the General Beer-convention reproves.

(2) He who abuses this Beer-comment, or alters any thing in it.

TITULUS IX.

OF THE BEER-TABLET.

Sec. 136. In every special kneip a Beer-tablet is to be hung up;

upon which the names of Beerschisser, Viertel-out-setters, and

Accuser-appellants are written, under different rubrics, with addition

of their respective dates and quantities.

137. No one may write any thing upon the Beer-tablet, alter, or expunge

any thing, who has not received a commission to that purpose, from a

beer-judge, an umpire, a president of a beer-commers, or from one who

has declared the Beerschisser to be Beer-honourable.

138. He who has received the commission for expunging or writing down,

must do this within five minutes: otherwise he is be-thundered in a

viertel. He who gives an unauthorized commission falls under the same

penalty. But in this case, he who has received the commission to write

down or expunge, is not punishable.

139. If any one has received a commission to write down a be-thundered

in the Beer-tablet; but the be-thundered declares that he shall appeal

to the general Beer-convention, the writer-down must note this by the

addition of the two letters B. A. under the name of the be-thundered.

So also the writer-down must place in the proper rubric him who has

proceeded as accuser before a special Beer-convention, and declare that

he will appeal to a General one.

140. Every one who has received a commission to write any one down in

the Beer-tablet, has a right to ask the same how he writes his name,

whereupon that person must clearly spell it out to him. If the

commissioner does not ask the name of the to-be-written-down, or has

this person spelt his name out rightly to him, and he yet, in both

eases, write it down wrong, he is thereupon be-thundered in a viertel,

without in this case the one to-be-written-down being freed from his

penalty. But if the to-be-written-down gives him his name wrong, then

he falls under the penalty.

141. He who has written down any one with authority on the Beer-tablet,

and has written him down wrong, is to be called before a future Special

Beer-convention. This Beer-convention has to take care that the fault

of him who received the commission be amended.

[The remainder of this Beer-Comment is given in the chapter describing

a Commers.]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: The author here makes no charge against the great numbers

of high-minded and gentlemanly young men who pass through, and confer

distinction on, our universities; but, as before observed, alludes only

to that class and those parties, which are not only depicted by the

Westminster Review, but so fully described by the Editor of the

Quarterly Review, in "Reginald Dalton."]

[Footnote 2: The term _Rechtspracticant_ implies the commonest, the

lowest, and most tedious stage of a statesman's career: in fact, while

he is acting as a clerk or pupil in the amtmann's office, he acquires

_practical_ knowledge of the administration of justice.]

[Footnote 3: The words in the original are "on their Cerevis," a

student term, "on their beer;" meaning, in the beer-court, on their

honour.]

[Footnote 4: Inhabitants of the Marsch.]

[Footnote 5: In the Graffschaft Mark.]

[Footnote 6: Play on the grandiloquent words of Kotzebue.]

[Footnote 7: About a pint.]

[Footnote 8: Probably to prevent Kotzebue's retreat.]

[Footnote 9: No person in Germany can fill any office in a state, not

even that of a postmaster, or captain of police, nor follow any of the

high professions, those of law, divinity, and physic, after he has

passed his college examinations, and taken his degree, without having

undergone another examination before a board expressly appointed by

each state.]

[Footnote 10: The founder of the Orphan-House.]

[Footnote 11: The established word for shirt-collar in Germany is the

very odd one of Vater-moerder, literally "Father-killers;" and they are

said to have acquired this name from an anecdote manufactured on their

first introduction, in order to ridicule their extravagant size and

stiffness, as worn by buckish young men. It was said that so large and

stiffly-starched had a young student his collar, that when he went

home, in rushing to embrace his father, he run him through the neck

with the point of it, and killed him on the spot.]

[Footnote 12: This word, to suit the air, must be pronounced postilyon,

with a strong accent on the last syllable.]

[Footnote 13: Cicero, humorously here thus pronounced, because a party

among the classics insist that it was anciently so pronounced.]

[Footnote 14: Labours hard, like an ox.]

[Footnote 15: As we have no word or short phrase in English to express

this German custom, we retain their own term, which means touch your

glasses together; their mode of expressing civility, as in our drinking

to each other, and used by them on all occasions of festivity and

rejoicing, as in giving a health, a vivat, or a toast.]

[Footnote 16: The Chore colours.]

[Footnote 17: A dandy.]

[Footnote 18: While translating this passage, the tidings have come

across the river, that a student is shot dead in the wood opposite to

my windows behind the Hirsch-gasse, in a duel with pistols.--Tr.]

[Footnote 19: In English money, from about three to seven pounds.]

[Footnote 20: The bell which it rung at a quarter to eleven at night,

at the hearing of which all persons are to evacuate public-houses, and

betake themselves home.]

[Footnote 21: The university of Heidelberg.]

[Footnote 22: The everlasting subject of regret to the merchant in

Kotzebue's comedy _Pagen-Streiche_.]

[Footnote 23: Because it was the Burschenschaft riband, and therefore a

great desecration to be worn by a Knoten.]

[Footnote 24: A well known Wirthshouse.]

[Footnote 25: A Besom is a girl.]

[Footnote 26: The Senior.]

[Footnote 27: Schools in which all the real and practical branches of

education necessary or advantageous to the business of life, are

taught, in contradistinction to the ideal and more ornamental branches,

as literature, metaphysics, the more critical prosecution of the

classics, etc.]

[Footnote 28: These are not to be confounded with common

Gewerb-schools, which are merely for mechanics: by keeping in mind the

_Higher_ Gewerb-school, the distinction is clear.]

[Footnote 29: Right of matriculation in the universities on the ground

of the applicant having properly matured his studies in the Gymnasium.]

[Footnote 30: Here the learned author undoubtedly alludes to the

universal passion for smoking. Germany is truly, in every sense a

_piping_ nation.]

[Footnote 31: This is translated with the same free defiance of rhyme

and metre as distinguishes the original, and which may find plenty of

parallels in our own old ballads of the people.]

[Footnote 32: States Confederation.]

[Footnote 33: Parliament of a State.]

[Footnote 34: A slanting cut in the left cheek.]

[Footnote 35: Great tun.]

[Footnote 36: A tale of Hauff's under that name.]

[Footnote 37: See the Special Commers.]

[Footnote 38: We have here introduced Koerner's idea for the sake of

euphony.]

[Footnote 39: Touching their glasses. The humorous Schluck says that

Schmollis is by some derived from the obsolete word Schmollen--to blow

one's-self up, to make one's-self great; that is, before another, by

drinking. Schmollen, at the same time means to be angry, to make a

face, etc.; meanings, however, which are not to the purpose. Others

derive it from the two syllables, Schmal aus (schmalus, schmollis,)

equivalent to clean out, that is, the glass to the last drop, as the

old song says--"There remains not a nail's proof even within."]

[Footnote 40: Remark of the translator of Schluck's Latin. "This is

false. No real student does pay his shot."]

[Footnote 41: A stick, or rather a cudgel, but a rapier is the most

reasonable.]

[Footnote 42: Inn.]

[Footnote 43: Lateinisch (Latin.)]

[Footnote 44: Buerger's Abbot, with the king's three questions. The same

legend as the Abbot of Canterbury and King John.]

[Footnote 45: The Wirthshaus of Sadler Mueller.]

[Footnote 46: It is a popular expression in Germany when children are

rubbing their eyes, a symptom that they are sleepy and ready for

bed--that the Sandman has thrown sand in their eyes.]

[Footnote 47: House of the Philistine in which he had lived.]

[Footnote 48: Holidays--the vacation.]

[Footnote 49: College portfolio, which the student is continually

carrying about under his arm. With the exception of the sword, this is

one of the most striking descriptions of a student of the present day

imaginable.]

[Footnote 50: Literally be-thundered.]

[Footnote 51: The cause and matter of the challenge, and the business

of the strife itself till decided.]

[Footnote 52: In the Kneip they drink out of glasses with lids. If the

user of a glass as he sits so far lifts up the lid that the next person

can pass two fingers under, and cries "abgefasst," "I've caught thee

out!" the person is said to be "caught out," and pays a penalty in

beer. To avoid this, he must when he lifts his lid, say "ohne

abzufassen," "without being liable to be caught out."]

[Footnote 53: His agreement with another to thee and thou, and,

forgetting it, addresses him as you.]

THE END.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Student-Life of Germany, by William Howitt