GENERAL APPEARANCE OF THE PLACE. THE INN. LUDICROUS MISTAKES. THE
PUBLIC ROOM. ASTONISHMENT OF THE PEOPLE AT THE SIGHT OF ENGLISHMEN.
THE PRIESTS. SCENE IN THE TAP-ROOM. KINDNESS OF THE PEOPLE. OUR
FISHING OPERATIONS. A CHASSE, AND A DAYLIGHT BALL.
Gabel, though a place of some extent, and containing a population of
three or four thousand souls, possesses no corporate rights. On the
contrary, it is subject to the jurisdiction of a noble, whose schloss
stands, as I have stated above, close to the suburbs, where it is
encircled by a wider space of green than attaches to the dwellings of
the Bohemian nobility in general. There is no manufactory in the place,
but a great deal of spinning and weaving,--occupations which the people
pursue in their own houses; and the streets, with the exception of the
market-place, and another which leads from the market-place to the
church, are narrow and steep.
We had no difficulty in discovering the inn, to which our informant
outside the town had directed us; and we made for it accordingly. The
exterior was promising enough; for it had a wide front, many windows,
and considerable elevation; so we passed beneath the archway, nothing
doubting, and looked round for a door. One on the left stood open, and
seeing a staircase before us, we ascended, but soon stopped short when
on the landing-place we beheld some men in huge cocked hats, feathers,
and swords; while others, in more peaceable attire, were bearing under
their arms a parcel of uniforms. "We have mistaken our ground," said I
to my companion; "this must be a barrack, or else there is a regiment
marching through the town, and these apartments are assigned to them as
quarters." Accordingly we hurried back again; and seeing another door,
exactly opposite to that which we had first essayed, we pushed it open.
We were right this time; for on traversing a narrow passage, we found
ourselves in the hall or kitchen.
The hall or kitchen of a third or fourth-rate German inn, may not,
perhaps, be familiar to some of my readers; so I will describe it.
Imagine, then, an apartment thirty or forty feet long by twenty wide,
and perhaps ten or twelve in height. Four or five windows front you as
you enter, beside which are arranged, in the old style of our English
coffee-rooms, as many deal tables, with benches ranged along three
sides of each, and a few chairs covering the other. These leave about
half the width of the room free; a portion of which is, however,
engrossed by a large temporary closet, while the stove, in the present
instance a very capacious machine of the sort, occupies as much more.
For there is no visible fire-place any where, and all the cooking that
goes forward is conducted at the stove,--or, as the Germans
appropriately call it, the oven. Then, again, there is a bench fastened
to the side of the oven, where in winter, the wet, and cold, and weary
may rest; while finally, at the head of the apartment is a small table,
whereon the landlady, almost always one of the inmates of the hall,
plies her needle-work and eats her meals.
The hall or coffee-room, when we first looked in, was well nigh empty.
One woman, whom we now discovered to be our hostess, was, indeed,
sewing at her own table, while another seemed busy in the pantry, but
of guests there were only three,--two, manifestly travellers of an
humble class; the third, who sat apart with a large glass of beer
before him, more deserving of notice. His age might be about sixty. His
hair was grizzled; his face, and especially his nose, large and
rubicund, and his belly portly. He wore a black frock and dingy white
neckcloth; and he made no use of a pipe. All this we noticed while
advancing towards the hostess, who, as usual, looked cold upon us for
an instant, and then became our sworn ally. Indeed, I do not know that
I am justified in laying to that kind creature's charge even a moment's
ill-humour; for no sooner had I asked her whether she spoke French or
English, than she clasped her hands together, and burst into a laugh,
after which her sole anxiety seemed to be lest she should not succeed
in making us sufficiently comfortable. But in that she was mistaken. A
nicer quarter, in spite of the total absence from it of all approaches
to elegance, I never desire to occupy; for all that might be wanting to
our fastidious tastes, the real and unaffected kindness of the inmates
more than made good.
An apartment was provided for us forthwith; water and other conveniences
for dressing were supplied, and supper was ordered. Moreover we were
given to understand that the fierce-looking personages whose bearing
had impressed us with so much awe, never hurt anybody; inasmuch as they
were honest mechanics, a tailor or two, with some musical weavers who
composed the town band. Their uniform, it seems, is kept in a spare
room in the Hernhause gasthof, and they were in the act of equipping
themselves for an evening's performance when we arrived. This was
satisfactory enough, because, with all my admiration for the noble
profession of arms, I cannot say that I quite enjoy being thrust as a
traveller into an inn which happens to be thronged with some hundreds
of soldiers on the march; but it was not the only treat that awaited
us. My toilet was as yet incomplete, when in walked the landlady, first
to demand whether I could speak Latin, and, on my answering in the
affirmative, to announce that the priest of the parish was below in the
hall, and should be glad to converse with me. I desired her to inform
the reverend gentleman that I should make all the haste I could to
equip myself; after which I would wait upon him with great pleasure.
Having accomplished the necessary changes in my apparel, and otherwise
made myself comfortable, I descended the stairs, and found that the
gentleman with the red nose and grizzly head, was none other than the
priest who desired to make my acquaintance. Neither his appearance nor
his situation,--a conspicuous place in a pot-house, which all the idle
and beer-loving members of the community seemed to frequent,--at all
prepossessed me in his favour; but I took care to exhibit no symptoms
of disgust in my manner, and our conversation began. His reverence
spoke horrid Latin, of course; mine, from long disuse, was probably not
much better; but as I pronounced all my words according to the
accentuation of my schoolboy days, we at least understood one-another.
I found him full of curiosity, and wonderfully ill-informed, not only
as to the political and intellectual state of England, but even in
reference to its geographical situation. But his ignorance manifestly
proceeded rather from the lack of opportunity than of the desire to be
better informed; for of his questions I began to fear at last that
there would be no end.
By this time a whisper was circulating through the town, that two
Englishmen were arrived, and as very few of the Gabelites had ever seen
an Englishman before, the coffee-room became speedily crowded. Large
was then the consumption of beer, and dense and dark the cloud of
tobacco-smoke which circled overhead. Yet, to do them justice, the
curiosity of these simple people never once prompted them to commit a
breach, however trifling, of real good manners. We were, indeed,
besought to eat our supper at the table beside the priest, and we
readily consented; while by degrees all the vacant spaces were filled
up, by another priest, by several well-dressed tradesmen, and, as we
afterwards ascertained, by an officer of the Austrian army, who having
retired from the service on a pension, had married and settled in the
town. But the individual who interested us the most was the postmaster;
for whom, as he spoke both English and French fluently, the padre
despatched a messenger, and whom we found not only a most agreeable,
but a very intelligent and well-informed man. He had travelled much as
a merchant; had visited France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, and Russia;
in the last of which countries he had resided several years as chief
clerk to an English house at St. Petersburg.
I do not know that I ever felt myself in a situation more amusing, as
well as more perfectly novel, than that which I now occupied. The good
people, indeed, seemed so eager to obtain information, that I had few
opportunities of adding to my own; yet their curiosity, tinctured as it
was, throughout, with the most perfect good humour, and even politeness,
highly diverted me, and I did my best to appease it. One circumstance,
it is true, affected me painfully. I allude to the discreditable figure
cut by the priests; who, it appeared to me, had no business in such a
place at all, further, at least, than as casual inquirers. Among all
the beer-drinkers present, however, my red-nosed acquaintance and his
curate were the most industrious. It was quite edifying to see with
what rapidity their pitchers were emptied, and how sedulously the
hostess,--uninvited, though certainly unchecked,--replenished them; and
when I add, that each pitcher contained a good quart, the amount of
fermented liquor swallowed by these thirsty souls may be guessed at.
Nor, I regret to add, was the tone of their conversation much out of
keeping with their habits in other respects. I inquired into the state
of morals in this place, and received, in bad Latin, such an answer as
I do not choose to translate, and affected scarcely to understand.
Here then was a palpable illustration of the axiom which has so often
been laid down,--that, of all the means that ever were devised to
degrade religion in the persons of its teachers, the compulsory
celibacy of the clergy is the most effectual. In Hernskrietchen and
Auffenberg, it is very true, that no such lamentable results have
followed; but what then? At the former place a most deserving man is
condemned to spend his days uncheered by any of those domestic
endearments the influence of which is felt the most where it is most
needed. He does not complain, I admit; he has too much principle and
even manliness to complain of that which is irremediable. But who can
doubt that he feels his lot bitterly, or that his pastoral duties would
be discharged just as faithfully, and far more cheerfully, were it
different? So also at the latter place: the curate is yet a youth, full
of that fire of enthusiastic self-devotion which, while it burns, more
than supplies the place of all social and domestic relations. But how
long will this last? And see how the system operates in Gabel, aye, in
hundreds and thousands of places similarly circumstanced, where no such
enthusiasm is at hand to counteract it.
Here are two clergymen, well stricken in years, for the elder cannot be
less than sixty, and the younger but a few years short of it. Their
home, as they informed me, is in the cloisters of the church; but such
a home! Nobody inhabits it who, except for mercenary reasons, would
shed one tear were they to die to-morrow. Of books they possess but a
slender store, and were it otherwise, who can always live among his
books? Their professional vocations wear down their energies, and they
stand in need of relaxation. Where do they seek it? Not in the quiet
and happy circle of their own families--for they have none, nor among
their neighbours, who may esteem and respect, but will scarce unbend
before men who are become masters of their most secret thoughts. They
therefore betake themselves to the pot-house, and in drinking and
ribald conversation, look for that amusement which, under a better
state of things, the Reformed pastor is sure to find in the bosom of
his own family, and among his friends. I do not mean to justify the
individuals, who, on the contrary, deserve utter reprobation; but
surely a system which throws such temptations in men's way cannot be
seriously defended by any one who has the interest of religion at
heart.
From the priests, as they began, under the influence of repeated
potations, to exhibit their true character, I gladly turned away, and
addressing myself to the postmaster, learned from him, that the church
was a collegiate charge, that it had been burned down about forty years
ago, that the people, though poor, were contented, and that he himself
was but the successor of his father, who had been postmaster before
him. We then began to converse about the late war, upon which he
informed me, that Napoleon, on his retreat from Moscow, had passed
through Gabel, and breakfasted at the post-house; that fifteen or
twenty thousand men occupied the town some time; but that, though there
had been some skirmishes and frequent alarms, no battle was fought in
the neighbourhood. Finally, he undertook to correct my route, which I
showed him; mentioned one or two places as deserving of notice, which
were omitted from it; and promised to accompany us some way on the road
to Oybin, the point which he advised us to visit on the morrow.
It was now getting late, and our supper and usual allowance,--a bottle
of light wine between us,--being finished, my companion and I rose to
wish our friends good night. Numerous hints were on this thrown out,
that it was yet early, and that we should be disturbed by the bands of
music, one of which was playing at the inn door, another in a
gentleman's house hard by; but we would not attend to them. Having
strolled through the street once or twice in order to free our lungs,
in some measure, from an atmosphere of tobacco, we retired to our
apartment, where, in clean and comfortable beds, we slept soundly, till
five o'clock next morning.
Something had passed over-night between the postmaster and myself which
left an impression on my mind that he had urged us to stay and spend
this day with him; so, having finished breakfast by seven o'clock, we
left our knapsacks, packed and ready, and strolled down to the
post-house. My imagination had, however, run wild, for no such
agreement existed; so, after getting a few hints as to distances,
roads, and places of call, we returned to the inn. Here, in the
tap-room, were assembled host, hostess, and maid, all of them
unaffectedly grieving at our threatened departure, and all ready with
cogent arguments, such as might tempt us to halt at least one day
longer among them. Nor were these without their effect. Mine host
happening to inquire into the uses of the instrument which, enveloped
in a brown linen case, I carried in my hand, I told him, and he
instantly assured me of as good a day's fishing as old Isaac Walton
himself need desire. This was enough for me, whose piscatorial
propensities threaten, I am afraid, to be as enduring as those of
Paley; and laying aside our loads, which had already been buckled on,
we restored them to their places in the chamber. But the astonishment
of the innkeeper, aye, and of all his household beside, when I
exhibited to him my rod, line, and book of flies, no language is
adequate to describe. Such things had never come under their admiring
gaze before, and their shouts and exclamations were quite amusing. It
would have been cruel, after all this, not to give them a specimen of
the style in which we insular anglers coax trout to their destruction;
so having ordered supper to be ready at eight, and sent a message to
the postmaster that I would be glad if he could come and take part of
it with us, we sallied forth, under the conduct of our host, in search
of the stream.
The first glance which we obtained of this said stream sufficed to
assure us that in the gentle craft, the good people of Gabel were
altogether unpractised. There was no stream at all, but a ditch, deep,
here and there, and dark enough, but measuring not more than two feet
across, and everywhere overhung with bushes. They assured me that it
was full of fine trout, and I have no reason to doubt them. But as I
could not bring myself to adopt their method of catching the said
trout, namely, by tying a cord to the end of a stick, and a hook, with
a miserable worm on its blade, to the end of the string, my fishing
this day amounted to nothing. Yet the day was, on the whole, very
agreeably spent, as the following detail will show.
Our host, a fine handsome man of perhaps forty years of age, with a
quick eye, and singularly intelligent gestures, informed me, as we set
out from home, that I should find, at the water's side, the same
Austrian officer who had sat at our table over-night, "For he is a keen
sportsman," added he, "and having no other employment, devotes almost
all his mornings either to angling or shooting." I was not sorry to be
told this, because I naturally concluded that a stream which could
afford amusement all the summer over to one fisherman, so determined,
would furnish me with sufficient sport for a single day. My
astonishment may, therefore, be conceived, when on stepping over, what
I mistook for a drain, our host pointed upwards, and exclaimed, "Aye,
there he is, hard at it. He's an excellent fisherman, and would die, I
really believe, were the opportunity of angling taken away from him."
"Where is he?" cried I; "I don't see either a river or a fisherman."
"Don't see!" was the answer, "why he is there, there at the bend in the
stream." I followed the direction of the speaker's finger with my eye,
and beheld, sure enough, a gentleman seated comfortably on the long
grass beside some alder bushes, and smoking his pipe. "You don't mean
that the angler is there," exclaimed I. "Yes, I do though," replied
mine host, "and see, he has just got a bite." Sure enough the sedentary
sportsman put forth one of his hands just as these words were uttered,
and grasping the butt of a willow wand, seemed to give it a slight
hitch in the air; but no results followed. It was quietly laid aside
again, and the smoking resumed.
I now turned round, and with a countenance strongly expressive of
horror, begged to be informed if this were really the stream. I
received an answer in the affirmative, the solemnity of which was too
much, first, for the risible faculties of my young companion, and then
for my own. We literally roared with laughter. But we checked ourselves
as soon as possible, and having explained to our guide how widely
different were our notions of angling from his, had the satisfaction to
perceive that no offence was given. We now joined the Austrian officer,
and found that he had caught nothing; a fortune which did not improve
with him during the two or three hours which we loitered away in his
company.
There was no fishing to be had, that was clear enough; but we had
brought some bread and butter and wine with us, in a contrary
expectation, and these we discussed. Of course our brother sportsman
joined us in this operation; and we were not slow in discovering, that
though we had failed in finding trout, we had stumbled upon an obliging
and intelligent companion. He had served in the campaigns of 1812, 13,
and 14; was wounded at the battle of Leipsig; passed a year or two in
France during the occupation of that country by the Allies, and was
therefore proud to say, had been commanded by the Duke of Wellington.
Since the peace, he had spent a year or two at Ancona with his
regiment, but in consequence of the rupture of a blood-vessel in his
lungs, had since been discharged upon a pension. Since retiring from
the service, he had married a woman with some little property; and now
lived with his father in Gabel, who held, under government, a license
for the sale of tobacco, and farmed a small estate, to which our
acquaintance was the heir.
Our gallant friend, apparently chagrined that we should have been
disappointed in our fishing, proposed a chasse. I stared again,
remembering that it was the month of June, and seeing fine crops of
corn waving on all sides of me; but as he appeared serious, I offered
no objection. We accordingly walked back to the town; and while Mr.
Madder,--so the officer was called,--went home to dinner, I and my
companions strolled into the church. It is large and commodious, and
can boast of numerous pictures, more to be admired for the excellent
intentions of the artists, than for the success which has attended
their efforts; and the view from the roof is beautiful. But, except in
the crypts below, where
Coffins stand round like open presses,
Showing the dead in their last dresses,
there was little either within or without the pile deserving of notice.
The crypt is, however, a fine one; and the old monks and nobles whom
the sexton ruthlessly exposes to view, look out upon you grimly enough
from among their blackened and decaying habiliments.
Having allowed Mr. Madder what we conceived to be sufficient time for
satisfying his appetite, our host of the Hernhause proposed that we
should call upon him; and we went accordingly. A remarkably
nice-looking old lady, with two younger ones, received us, and were
introduced to us by Mr. Madder as his mother and sisters. Wine and
coffee were then produced, of which we were obliged to partake, and a
request was modestly urged, that we would exhibit the wonderful
fishing-tackle. The whole apparatus was accordingly sent for and
displayed, quite as much to the edification of the ladies, as to that
of their brother, and considerable progress was made in the good
opinion of one of them by a present of a casting-line and a couple of
flies.
The tackle being put up, a double-barrelled gun and shooting-pouch were
handed to me, the former furnished with a leathern sling, the latter
made of undressed deer-skin. I slung them on, and Mr. Madder and the
innkeeper being equipped in a similar manner, away we marched. But such
shooting! Never surely in the annals of sporting has this day been
rivalled, unless, indeed, when some city apprentices escaped from the
warehouse in Lad-lane, have penetrated into the marshes beyond Hackney,
to wage war upon a solitary hedge-sparrow. A dog we doubtless had, and
he was large enough for all useful purposes; for he trotted through the
rye with the composure of an elephant, and did spring a partridge from
her nest. But the partridge happily escaped from three well-loaded
barrels, and we never saw more either of her or her companions. Then
went we deep into the woods, following the notes of the cuckoo and the
ring-dove, only that we might come forth again with hands unstained by
the blood of any such innocent creatures.
I was very much amused with all this for a while, but by degrees it
began to grow tiresome; and I proposed that, as the sun wore towards
the west, we should return home. My wish was law, to my kind
companions; and homewards we turned our faces. But as we drew towards a
small house, about three or four English miles from the town, the
sounds of music were heard, and we found, on approaching, that it was
filled with ladies and gentlemen from Gabel, the younger portion of
whom were dancing to the notes of a fiddle, a clarionet, and a bassoon.
It was our purpose to mix with the people of Bohemia as much as
possible; we therefore expressed a desire to stop short for a minute or
two, and to become spectators, if not partners in the frolic. Again
were our wishes complied with cheerfully. We joined the merry-making,
were well and kindly received, and laying aside our guns and pouches,
danced with such of the young ladies as happened to be without
partners. Nor did we get away from this pleasant little broad-day ball
without doing some violence to the hospitable feelings of its founders.
Dancing seems to be a passion with all orders of people in Bohemia. The
very cow-herds dance on the high road, to the music of their own
voices, and the universal figure is the waltz. Quadrilles and
gallopades have, no doubt, their worshippers among the higher classes;
but among the lower, the waltz--most truly called the German
waltz,--seems to be all in all. The party to which, for half-an-hour,
we attached ourselves, belonged to the middle ranks, that is, to such
middle ranks as even Germany produces; for there were present the
doctor and his wife, a wealthy brewer and his family, with others of
Gabel's magnates, and I believe that I had the honour of dancing with
the brewer's daughter.
So passed one day at Gabel; to ourselves most pleasantly, and if we
might judge from the manners of the people about us, not less agreeably
to them. The rest of our story at this stage is told in few words. We
returned to the inn, changed our apparel, supped in our own room, with
Mr. Madder and the postmaster as our guests; took of them, at ten
o'clock, an affectionate leave, and went to bed. We were up next
morning, and packed and ready for marching, by six o'clock.