Is an antient Imperial city and the capital of the Brisgau. Its name
alludes to the privileges granted to such cities; but its present
condition, like that of many others, is a proof of the virtual
discontinuance of the rights, by which the Sovereign intended to
invite to one part of his dominions the advantages of commerce. Its
appearance is that, which we have so often described; better than
Cologne, and worse than Mentz; its size is about a third part of the
latter city. On descending to it, the first distinct object is the
spire of the great church, a remarkable structure, the stones of which
are laid with open interstices, so that the light appears through its
tapering sides. Of this sort of stone fillagree work there are said to
be other specimens in Germany. The city was once strongly fortified,
and has endured some celebrated sieges. In 1677, 1713, and 1745 it
was taken by the French, who, in the latter year, destroyed all the
fortifications, which had rendered it formidable, and left nothing but
the present walls.
Being, however, a frontier place towards Switzerland, it is provided
with a small Austrian garrison; and the business of permitting, or
preventing the passage of travellers into that country is entrusted to
its officers. The malignity, or ignorance of one of these, called the
Lieutenant de Place, prevented us from reaching it, after a journey of
more than six hundred miles; a disappointment, which no person could
bear without severe regret, but which was alloyed to us by the reports
we daily heard of some approaching change in Switzerland unfavourable
to England, and by a consciousness of the deduction which, in spite
of all endeavours at abstraction, encroachments upon physical comfort
and upon the assurance of peacefulness make from the disposition to
enquiry, or fancy.
We had delivered at the gate the German passport, recommended to us
by M. de Schwartzkoff, and which had been signed by the Commandant
at Mentz; the man, who took it, promising to bring it properly
attested to our inn. He returned without the passport, and, as we
afterwards found, carried our voiturier to be examined by an officer.
We endeavoured in vain to obtain an explanation, as to this delay
and appearance of suspicion, till, at supper, the Lieutenant de Place
announced himself, and presently shewed, that he was not come to
offer apologies. This, man, an illiterate Piedmontese in the Austrian
service, either believed, or affected to do so, that our name was not
Radcliffe, but something like it, with a German termination, and that
we were not English, but Germans. Neither my Lord Grenville's, or M.
de Schwartzkoff's passports, our letters from London to families in
Switzerland, nor one of credit from the Messrs. Hopes of Amsterdam to
the Banking-house of Porta at Lausanne, all of which he pretended to
examine, could remove this discerning suspicion as to our country.
While we were considering, as much as vexation would permit, what
circumstance could have afforded a pretext for any part of this
intrusion, it came out incidentally, that the confirmation given
to our passport at Mentz, which we had never examined, expressed
"returning to England," though the pass itself was for Basil, to which
place we were upon our route.
Such a contradiction might certainly have justified some delay, if we
had not been enabled to prove it accidental to the satisfaction of
any person desirous of being right. The passport had been produced at
Mentz, together with those of two English artists, then on their return
from Rome, whom we had the pleasure to see at Franckfort. The Secretary
inscribed all the passports alike of England, and M. de Lucadou, the
Commandant, hastily signed ours, without observing the mistake, though
he so well knew us to be upon the road to Switzerland, that he politely
endeavoured to render us some service there. Our friends in Mentz being
known to him, he desired us to accept an address from himself to M. de
Wilde, Intendant of salt mines near Bec. We produced to Mr. Lieutenant
this address, as a proof, that the Commandant both knew us, and where
we were going; but it soon appeared, that, though the former might
have honestly fallen into his suspicions at first, he had a malignant
obstinacy in refusing to abandon them. He left us, with notice that we
could not quit the town without receiving the Commandant's permission
by his means; and it was with some terror, that we perceived ourselves
to be so much in his power, in a place where there was a pretext for
military authority, and where the least expression of just indignation
seemed to provoke a disposition for further injustice.
The only relief, which could be hinted to us, was to write to the
Commandant at Mentz, who might re-testify his knowledge of our
destination; yet, as an answer could not be received in less than
eight days, and, as imagination suggested not only all the possible
horrors of oppression, during that period, but all the contrivances, by
which the malignant disposition we had already experienced, might even
then be prevented from disappointment, we looked upon this resource as
little better than the worst, and resolved in the morning to demand
leave for an immediate return to Mentz.
There being then some witnesses to the application, the Lieutenant
conducted himself with more propriety, and even proposed an
introduction to the Commandant, to whom we could not before hear of
any direct means of access; there being a possibility, he said, that
a passage into Switzerland might be permitted. But the disgust of
Austrian authority was now so complete, that we were not disposed to
risk the mockery of an appeal. The Lieutenant expressed his readiness
to allow our passage, if we should choose to return from Mentz with
another passport; but we had no intention to be ever again in his
power, and, assuring him that we should not return, left Friburg
without the hope of penetrating through the experienced, and present
difficulties of Germany, into the far-seen delights of Switzerland.
As those, who leave one home for another, think, in the first part
of their journey, of the friends they have left, and, in the last,
of those, to whom they are going; so we, in quitting the borders of
Switzerland, thought only of that country; and, when we regained the
eminence from whence the tops of its mountains had been so lately
viewed with enthusiastic hope, all this delightful expectation occurred
again to the mind, only to torture it with the certainty of our loss;
but, as the distance from Switzerland increased, the attractions of
home gathered strength, and the inconveniences of Germany, which had
been so readily felt before, could scarcely be noticed when we knew
them to lie in the road to England.
We passed Offenburg, on the first day of our return, and, travelling
till midnight, as is customary in Germany during the summer, traversed
the unusual space of fifty miles in fourteen hours. Soon after passing
Appenweyer we overtook the rear-guard of the army, the advanced party
of which we had met at that place three nights before. The troops
were then quartered in the villages near the road, and their narrow
waggons were sometimes drawn up on both sides of it. They had probably
but lately separated, for there were parties of French ladies and
gentlemen, who seemed to have taken the benefit of moon-light to be
spectators, and some of the glow-worms, that had been numerous on the
banks, now glittered very prettily in the hair of the former.
At Biel, a small town, which we reached about midnight, the street was
rendered nearly impassable by military carriages, and we were surprised
to find, that every room in the inn was not occupied by troops; but one
must have been very fastidious to have complained of any part of our
reception here. As to lodging, though the apartment was as bare as is
usual in Germany, there was the inscription of "Chambre de Monsieur"
over the door, and on another near it "Chambre de Condé le Grand";
personages, who, it appeared, had once been accommodated there, for the
honour of which the landlord chose to retain their inscriptions. Their
meeting here was probably in 1791, soon after the departure of the
former from France.
The second day's journey brought us again to Schwetzingen, from whence
we hoped to have reached Manheim, that night; but the post horses were
all out, and none others could be hired, the village being obliged to
furnish a certain number for the carriage of stores to the Austrian
army. Eighteen of these we had met, an hour before, drawing slowly in
one waggon, laden with cannon balls. We stayed the following day at
Manheim, and, on the next, reached Mentz, where our statement of the
obstruction at Friburg excited less surprise than indignation, the want
of agreement between the Austrian and Prussian officers being such,
that the former, who are frequently persons of the lowest education,
are said to neglect no opportunity of preying upon accidental mistakes
in passports, or other business, committed by the Prussians. Before our
departure we were, however, assured, that a proper representation of
the affair had been sent by the first estaffette to the Commandant at
Friburg.
Further intelligence of the course of affairs in Flanders, was now
made known in Germany; and our regrets, relative to Switzerland, were
lessened by the apparent probability, that a return homeward might in a
few months be rendered difficult by some still more unfortunate events
to the allies. Several effects of the late reverses and symptoms of
the general alarm were indeed already apparent at Mentz. Our inn was
filled with refugees not only from Flanders, but from Liege, which the
French had not then threatened. Some of the emigrants of the latter
nation, in quitting the places where they had temporarily settled,
abandoned their only means of livelihood, and several parties arrived
in a state almost too distressful to be repeated. Ladies and children,
who had passed the night in fields, came with so little property, and
so little appearance of any, that they were refused admittance at
many inns; for some others, it seemed, after resting a day or two,
could offer only tears and lamentations, instead of payment. Our good
landlord, Philip Bolz, relieved several, and others had a little
charity from individuals; but, as far as we saw and heard, the Germans
very seldom afforded them even the consolations of compassion and
tender manners.
Mentz is the usual place of embarkment for a voyage down the Rhine,
the celebrated scenery of whose banks we determined to view, as some
compensation for the loss of Switzerland. We were also glad to escape
a repetition of the fatigues of travel by land, now that these were to
be attended with the uncertainties occasioned by any unusual influx of
travellers upon the roads.
The business of supplying post-horses is here not the private
undertaking of the innkeepers; so that the emulation and civility,
which might be excited by their views of profit, are entirely wanting.
The Prince de la Tour Taxis is the Hereditary Grand Post-master of the
Empire, an office, which has raised his family from the station of
private Counts, to a seat in the College of Princes. He has a monopoly
of the profits arising from this concern, for which he is obliged to
forward all the Imperial packets gratis. A settled number of horses and
a post-master are kept at every stage; where the arms of the Prince,
and some line entreating a blessing upon the post, distinguish the door
of his office. The post-master determines, according to the number of
travellers and the quantity of baggage, how many horses must be hired;
three persons cannot be allowed to proceed with less than three horses,
and he will generally endeavour to send out as many horses as there are
persons.
The price for each horse was established at one florin, or twenty pence
per post, but, on account of the war, a florin and an half is now paid;
half a florin is also due for the carriage; and the postillion is
entitled to a trinkgeld, or drink-money, of another half florin; but,
unless he is promised more than this at the beginning of the stage, he
will proceed only at the regulated pace of four hours for each post,
which may be reckoned at ten or twelve English miles. We soon learned
the way of quickening him, and, in the Palatinate and the Brisgau,
where the roads are good, could proceed nearly as fast as we wished,
amounting to about five miles an hour.
If the post-master supplies a carriage, he demands half a florin
per stage for it; but the whole expence of a chaise and two horses,
including the tolls and the _trinkgeld_, which word the postillions
accommodate to English ears by pronouncing it _drinkhealth_, does not
exceed eight pence per mile. We are, however, to caution all persons
against supposing, as we did, that the chaises of the post must be
proper ones, and that the necessity of buying a carriage, which may
be urged to them, is merely that of shew; these chaises are more
inconvenient and filthy, than any travelling carriage, seen in England,
can give an idea of, and a stranger should not enter Germany, before
he has purchased a carriage, which will probably cost twenty pounds in
Holland and sell for fifteen, at his return. Having neglected this, we
escaped from the _chaises de poste_ as often as possible, by hiring
those of voituriers, whose price is about half as much again as that of
the post.
The regular drivers wear a sort of uniform, consisting of a yellow
coat, with black cuffs and cape, a small bugle horn, slung over the
shoulders, and a yellow sash. At the entrance of towns and narrow
passes, they sometimes sound the horn, playing upon it a perfect and
not unpleasant tune, the music of their order. All other carriages
give way to theirs, and persons travelling with them are considered
to be under the protection of the Empire; so that, if they were
robbed, information would be forwarded from one post-house to another
throughout all Germany, and it would become a common cause to
detect the aggressors. On this account, and because there can be no
concealment in a country so little populous, highway robberies are
almost unknown in it, and the fear of them is never mentioned. The
Germans, who, in summer, travel chiefly by night, are seldom armed,
and are so far from thinking even watchfulness necessary, that most
of their carriages, though open in front, during the day-time, are
contrived with curtains and benches, in order to promote rest. The
post-masters also assure you, that, if there were robbers, they would
content themselves with attacking private voituriers, without violating
the sacredness of the post; and the security of the postillions is so
strictly attended to, that no man dare strike them, while they have
the yellow coat on. In disputes with their passengers they have,
therefore, sometimes been known to put off this coat, in order to shew,
that they do not claim the extraordinary protection of the laws.
These postillions acknowledge no obligation to travellers, who
usually give double what can be demanded, and seem to consider them
only as so many bales of goods, which they are under a contract with
the post-master to deliver at a certain place and within a certain
time. Knowing, that their slowness, if there is no addition to their
_trinkgeld_, is of itself sufficient to compel some gratuity, they do
not depart from the German luxury of incivility, and frequently return
no answer, when they are questioned, as to distance, or desired to call
the servant of an inn, or to quit the worst part of a road. When you
tell them, that they shall have a good _drinkhealth_ for speed, they
reply, "Yaw, yaw;" and, after that, think it unnecessary to reply to
any enquiry till they ask you for the money at the end of a stage. They
are all provided with tobacco boxes and combustible bark, on which they
stop to strike with a flint and steel, immediately after leaving their
town; in the hottest day and on the most dusty road, they will begin
to smoke, though every whiff flies into the faces of the passengers
behind; and it must be some very positive interference, that prevents
them from continuing it.
As long as there are horses not engaged at any post-house, the people
are bound to supply travellers, within half an hour after their
arrival; but all the German Princes and many of their Ministers are
permitted to engage the whole stock on the road they intend to pass;
and it frequently happens, that individuals may be detained a day, or
even two, by such an order, if there should be no voiturier to furnish
them with others. At Cologne and Bonn, when we were first there, all
the horses were ordered for the Emperor, who passed through, however,
with only one carriage, accompanied by an Aide-de-camp and followed
by two servants, on horseback. It happens also frequently, that a
sudden throng of private travellers has employed the whole stock of the
post-masters; and the present emigrations from Liege and Juliers, we
were assured, had filled the roads so much, that we might be frequently
detained in small towns, and should find even the best overwhelmed with
crowds of fugitives.
During a stay of five days at Mentz, we often wandered amidst the
ruins of the late siege, especially on the site of the Favorita, from
whence the majestic Rhine is seen rolling from one chain of mountains
to another. Near this spot, and not less fortunately situated, stood
a Carthusian convent, known in English history for having been the
head-quarters of George the Second, in the year 1743, soon after
the battle of Dettingen. The apartments, used by this monarch, were
preserved in the state, in which he left them, till a short time
before the late siege, when the whole building was demolished, so that
scarcely a trace of it now remains.
By our enquiries for a passage vessel we discovered the unpleasant
truth, that the dread of another invasion began now to be felt at
Mentz, where, a fortnight before, not a symptom of it was discernible.
Several of the inhabitants had hired boats to be in readiness for
transporting their effects to Franckfort, if the French should approach
much nearer to the Rhine; and our friends, when we mentioned the
circumstance, confessed, that they were preparing for a removal to
Saxony. The state of the arsenal had been lately enquired into, and
a deficiency, which was whispered to have been discovered in the
gunpowder, was imputed to the want of cordiality between the Austrians
and Prussians, of whom the latter, being uncertain that they should
stay in the place, had refused to replenish the stores, at their own
expence, and the former would not spare their ammunition, till the
departure of the Prussians should leave it to be guarded by themselves.
The communication with the other shore of the Rhine, by the bridge and
the fortifications of Cassel, secured, however, to a German garrison
the opportunity of receiving supplies, even if the French should occupy
all the western bank of the river.
VOYAGE down the RHINE.
The boats, to be hired at Mentz, are awkward imitations of the Dutch
trechtschuyts, or what, upon the Thames, would be called House-boats;
but, for the sake of being allowed to dispose of one as the varieties
of the voyage should seem to tempt, we gave four louis for the use of a
cabin, between Mentz and Cologne; the boatmen being permitted to take
passengers in the other part of the vessel. In this we embarked at six
o'clock, on a delightful morning in the latter end of July, and, as
we left the shore, had leisure to observe the city in a new point of
view, the most picturesque we had seen. Its principal features were the
high quays called the Rheinstrasse, the castellated palace, with its
gothic turrets, of pale red stone, the arsenal, the lofty ramparts,
far extended along the river, and the northern gate; the long bridge of
boats completed the fore-ground, and some forest hills the picture.
We soon passed the wooded island, called _Peters-au_, of so much
consequence, during the siege, for its command of the bridge; and,
approaching the mountains of the Rheingau to the north, the most
sublime in this horizon, saw their summits veiled in clouds, while the
sun soon melted the mists, that dimmed their lower sides, and brought
out their various colouring of wood, corn and soils. It was, however,
nearly two hours before the windings of the Rhine permitted us to
reach any of their bases. Meanwhile the river flowed through highly
cultivated plains, chiefly of corn, with villages thickly scattered on
its banks, in which are the country houses of the richer inhabitants of
Mentz, among pleasant orchards and vineyards. Those on the right bank
are in the dominions of the Prince of Nassau Usingen, who has a large
chateau in the midst of them, once tenanted, for a night, by George the
Second, and the Duke of Cumberland.
The Rhine is here, and for several leagues downward, of a very noble
breadth, perhaps wider than in any other part of its German course; and
its surface is animated by many islands covered with poplars and low
wood. The western shore, often fringed with pine and elms, is flat;
but the eastern begins to swell into hillocks near Wallauf, the last
village of Nassau Usingen, and once somewhat fortified.
Here the _Rheingau_, or the country of the vines, commences, and we
approached the northern mountains, which rise on the right in fine
sweeping undulations. These increased in dignity as we advanced, and
their summits then appeared to be darkened with heath and woods, which
form part of the extensive forest of _Landeswald_, or, _Woodland_.
Hitherto the scenery had been open and pleasant only, but now the
eastern shore began to be romantic, starting into heights, so abrupt,
that the vineyards almost overhung the river, and opening to forest
glens, among the mountains. Still, however, towns and villages
perpetually occurred, and the banks of the river were populous, though
not a vessel besides our own appeared upon it.
On the eastern margin are two small towns, Ober- and Nieder-Ingelheim,
which, in the midst of the dominions of Mentz, belong to the Elector
Palatine. On this shore also is made one of the celebrated wines of the
Rhine, called Markerbrunner, which ranks next to those of Johannesberg
and Hockheim. At no great distance on the same shore, but beneath a
bank somewhat more abrupt, is the former of these places, alienated
in the sixteenth century from the dominions of Mentz, to those of the
Abbot, now Prince Bishop of Fulde.
The wine of the neighbouring steeps is the highest priced of all the
numerous sorts of Rhenish; a bottle selling upon the spot, where it is
least likely to be pure, for three, four, or five shillings, according
to the vintages, the merits and distinctions of which are in the memory
of almost every German. That of 1786 was the most celebrated since
1779; but we continually heard that the heat of 1794 would render this
year equal in fame to any of the others.
Behind the village is the large and well-built abbey of Johannesberg,
rich with all this produce, for the security of which there are immense
cellars, cut in the rock below, said to be capable of containing
several thousand tons of wine. The abbey was founded in 1105; and
there is a long history of changes pertaining to it, till it came into
the possession of the Abbot of Fulde, who rebuilt it in its present
state. This part of the Rheingau is, indeed, thickly set with similar
edifices, having, in a short space, the nunnery of Marienthal, and the
monasteries of Nothgottes, Aulenhausen, and Eibingen.
Further on is the large modern chateau of Count Ostein, a nobleman of
great wealth, and, as it appears, of not less taste. Having disposed
all his nearer grounds in a style for the most part English, he has
had recourse to the ridge of precipices, that rise over the river,
for sublimity and grandeur of prospect. On the brink of these woody
heights, several pavilions have been erected, from the most conspicuous
of which Coblentz, it is said, may be distinguished, at the distance
of forty miles. The view must be astonishingly grand, for to the
south-east the eye overlooks all the fine country of the Rheingau to
Mentz; to the west, the course of the Moselle towards France; and, to
the north, the chaos of wild mountains, that screen the Rhine in its
progress to Coblentz.
So general was the alarm of invasion, that Count Ostein had already
withdrawn into the interior of Germany, and was endeavouring to dispose
of this charming residence, partly protected as it is by the river,
at the very disadvantageous price now paid for estates on the western
frontier of the Empire.
The vineyards, that succeed, are proofs of the industry and skill to
which the Germans are accustomed in this part of their labours, the
scanty soil being prevented from falling down the almost perpendicular
rocks, by walls that frequently require some new toil from the careful
farmer. Every addition, made to the mould, must be carried in baskets
up the steep paths, or rather stair-cases, cut in the solid rock.
At the time of the vintage, when these precipices are thronged
with people, and the sounds of merriment are echoed along them, the
spectacle must here be as striking and gay as can be painted by fancy.