WARMBRUNN. THE OBJECTS AROUND. A DILEMMA. HIRSCHBERG. HOW TRAVELLERS
MAY MANAGE WHEN THEIR PURSES GROW LIGHT. PASS FOR RUSSIANS, AND DERIVE
GREAT BENEFIT FROM THE ARRANGEMENT. LANG-WASSER. GREIFFENBERG. THE
PRUSSIAN LANDWEHR. GOLDEN TRAUM. SCENE IN THE VILLAGE INN. BERNSTADT.
HERNHUT. THE HERNHUTERS. SYSTEM OF AGRICULTURE IN BOHEMIA. SCHLUKENAU.
SCHANDAU.
We rose next morning at our usual hour, five o'clock, and having eaten
our breakfast, and paid our bill, set out on the road to Warmbrunn. The
latter place, which though nominally a mere village, has about it the
air and general appearance of a first-rate country-town, can boast of a
handsome schloss in its principal street, the residence of Count
Schaff-Koatch. It is distant from Phthedorf, the village where we
slept, about an hour and a half's walk, and can furnish excellent
quarters at the Black Eagle for travellers, who, not being in a hurry,
may desire to investigate the many curious and interesting objects
which abound in the neighbourhood. For this province of Silesia is
particularly rich in the ruins of old castles, one of which, likewise
the property of Count Schaff-Koatch, occupies a very striking position
on a projecting rock at the foot of Schnee-Koppee. Before us, however,
these, and sundry allurements of a similar description, poured out
their sweets in vain. There was no lack of inclination to linger in the
vicinity certainly; indeed, it had formed part of our plan to do so;
but the diminished weight of our purse led us, while sipping a little
wine in the coffee-room of the above-named excellent hotel, to examine
into the state of our finances, and we ascertained, to our horror, that
we were worth no more than six-and-thirty swanzekers,--that is, eight
Prussian dollars,--or, computing by the standard of English money, just
one pound, four shillings. Now when it is considered that we were at
least a hundred miles from home, that in every sense of the word we
were in the land of strangers, acquainted but imperfectly with the
language of the people about us, and totally unknown to high or low, it
will easily be understood that we did not feel perfectly at ease,
whatever course might be adopted, and saw, at once, that to delay our
march even for the laudable purpose of inspecting the fine ruin near
us, would be an act of madness. When, therefore, the landlord, with the
civility of his craft and country, urged us to halt, were it only for a
single day, I told him frankly how we were situated, adding, that we
had wandered about for a longer period of time than we had allotted for
the purpose, and must now hurry home as fast as possible.
Previous to this interesting conversation, and ere the condition of our
funds had been fully ascertained, the appearance of a most promising
river, which flows beside Warmbrunn, had tempted us to put together our
rods; and we were actually preparing, after beds and supper should have
been ordered, to set out for a day's fishing. The appearance of the
rods created here the same sort of astonishment which had been called
forth by them elsewhere; and we of course gratified the natives still
more by exhibiting our lines and flies. I observed that mine host had
been prodigiously smitten with my rod. He took it up, wielded it in all
manner of ways, and pronounced it to be the most perfect thing of the
kind that ever was seen; nay, he even questioned me, indirectly, as to
the amount of money which would be demanded for such an article in
England, and when I told him, pronounced that I had made an excellent
bargain. No great while elapsed ere decisive proofs were afforded, that
his was no barren admiration. "You are in want of money," said he, "I
will buy your rod." I hardly know how I looked when this proposition
came forth with all imaginable solemnity, but I made haste to decline
it, and he had too much native good breeding to press his suggestion.
He was a civil man, and in offering to purchase my fishing-rod, meant
to do me a kindness, while, at the same time, he gratified himself; so
I gave him a fly, with which he was greatly delighted; I told him
likewise how to use it. But if my unfortunate fly has since come into
play, at the end of such a line and such a rod as the keeper of the
Black Eagle produced, I am quite sure that it has caught no fish, if,
indeed, it be not long ago "fathoms deep" under water. One of Mrs.
Finn's red hackles would cut but a sorry figure as an appendage to some
six yards of whip-cord, more especially after the said whip-cord should
have been fastened, as my friend's was, to the extremity of a hazel
wand, as thick and inflexible as the horn of a roebuck.
With us, however, the great question was, not whether the host of the
Black Eagle was ever likely to become an expert fly-fisher; but how,
with our scanty means, we were to reach Schandau, and at the same time,
pay a visit to Hernhut, one of the principal points of observation
which we had in view from the outset. The landlord assured us that we
need be under no apprehensions, that a diligence went every day from
Hirschberg, the chief town of the circle, which was distant from
Warmbrunn not more than an hour's walk, and that we should both be
conveyed to Hernhut, that is to say, sixty-five English miles of road,
for the sum of three dollars at the utmost. This was cheering
intelligence enough, but could we depend upon it? We feared not, and it
was well for us that we listened to the advice of prudence, rather than
to the whispers of inclination. We thanked him for the information
which he had given us, paid our bill, and marched off to ascertain, at
the post office in Hirschberg itself, how far it might or might not be
authentic.
Though the route from Warmbrunn to Hirschberg conducted us over a dusty
main-road, and the heat of the day was overpowering, we could not help
stopping, from time to time, to look back upon the magnificent scene
which we were leaving behind us. Viewed from this side, the
Riesengebirgen offer a much bolder and grander outline than when looked
at from Bohemia. Here, the mountains, instead of forming the
back-ground and termination to numerous lesser ranges, spring, sheer
and abrupt, out of the plain, and when loaded, as they happened to be
to-day, with a bank of white clouds, which obscured none of their
features, but seemed to nestle on the snow along their summits, the
effect is altogether so sublime as to defy either pen or pencil to
describe it. It was not without a sense of bitter mortification that we
felt ourselves compelled to flee, as it were, from objects so enticing,
of which our parting glances showed us that we had not seen half the
beauties, and which we were destined, in all human probability, never
to behold again.
We reached Hirschberg about noon, and found it to be both a larger and
a more bustling place than any which, in the course of our rambles, we
had yet visited. An old wall, with towers at intervals, though in
ruins, encircles it, and it can boast of several churches, and a still
greater number of spires. The streets are narrow, and the houses lofty,
as is the case in almost all places which are or have been fortified;
and the population appears to be dense. But our stay in it was too
brief to permit our making any minute inquiries into their mode of
employing themselves, though we could perceive, from the clumsy
buildings which here and there over-hung the river, that there was some
sort of a manufactory in the town.
We made, at once, for the post office, an establishment very different,
in all respects, from that at Gabel, where functionaries, in the
Prussian uniform, received us with great civility, and gave us the
information of which we stood in need. It was by no means so
satisfactory as we had been led to anticipate; indeed, we found on
calculating the amount, that our seats in the diligence, as far as
Hernhut, would sweep away the whole of our disposable stock, with the
exception, I think, of a dollar and a half. Now, as the diligences
never hurry themselves in Germany, any more than other people, twenty
hours would be required to perform the journey to Hernhut, during which
we could not very conveniently fast; and after all, when Hernhut was
gained, we should still be forty long English miles from home. What was
to be done? We looked at one another ruefully enough for a moment, then
burst into a hearty laugh, and adjourning to an inn hard by, ordered
dinner. We ate it with excellent appetites, though our only beverage
was beer, and made up our minds to work our way on foot, while, like
prudent people, we regulated our style of living according to the
standard of our finances.
There was seated in the room of the hotel, into which we were ushered,
a well-dressed man, evidently a traveller like ourselves, but one who
travelled by some public conveyance. We entered into conversation with
him, of course, and ascertained that he was a Hernhuter. What the term
Hernhuter means, I shall find an opportunity to explain by-and-by; but
at present my business is with the individual. To this gentleman, as
soon as we had felt our way a little, I explained the precise nature of
our situation, and consulted him both as to the route which it would be
advisable to follow, and the probability of our stock holding out till
we should arrive at our journey's end. A route he gave us cheerfully.
We were to proceed as far as Greiffenberg that night, that is to say,
twenty-one miles beyond Hirschberg. Next day, we might reach Löwenberg,
which was twenty-four miles further; and the third day, after
compassing about as many more, we should find ourselves in Hernhut.
"All this is very plain," said I, "but you forget the state of our
finances. How are we two to exist for three days on seven dollars and
a-half? and remember that, at Hernhut, we are two good marches from
Schandau."
"You will exist very well," replied our acquaintance, "if you will only
act with prudence. Don't let people know that you are Englishmen; for
the most honest man among us considers it quite fair to charge an
Englishman at least one-third more for everything than he charges a
German."
We thanked him heartily for this hint; and having paid for our dinner
the odd half dollar, we resumed our progress with exactly seven of
these precious coins in our pockets.
We had compassed nine good miles already; and under any other
circumstances than the present, should have as soon thought of flying
to Schandau through the air, as of marching one-and-twenty more; but as
the old proverb expresses it, "Necessity has no law." Every approach of
fatigue was accordingly resisted by the aid of reflection; which
suggested, truly enough, that to loiter, would involve us in
difficulties and embarrassments, which, however transient they might
be, could not fail of annoying us while they operated. But as we drew
towards Greiffenberg, we remembered that it had been described as a
large and thriving town, and a large and thriving town, we conceived,
would not suit with the low condition of our exchequer. We accordingly
resolved to stop short at some village a mile or two on this side of
it; and at a place called Lang-Wasser, we found precisely the sort of
hotel of which we were in search. It was just one degree elevated above
a pot-house; and its owner contrived to accommodate us with a chamber
to ourselves. Here, then, in the character of Russians, we fixed our
head-quarters, and right well and cheaply we fared and were attended
to.
I have nothing to say about Lang-Wasser, except that it is a small
straggling township, of which the keeper of our hotel was the
burgomaster; and that the great majority of the inhabitants being Roman
Catholics, a Romish priest was in possession of the benefice. I found,
likewise, that there prevailed among his flock, that attachment to
their own communion which the Roman Catholics are never ashamed to
avow, even though it may subject them to the charge of bigotry. One of
the first questions put to us was, whether we were Catholics? and on
our taking advantage of the equivoque, and replying in the affirmative,
the tongues of the whole family seemed to be loosed. They had no
predilection for the creed, or the worship, or the persons of their
evangelical neighbours. How different, in this respect, has been the
bearing of all among the Protestant population of Prussia with whom I
have conversed. If the subject of religion chanced to be introduced at
all,--and unless introduced by me, this never once happened,--it was
treated as something not only not interesting to the feelings of the
speaker, but of the power of which to excite an interest in anybody, he
could form no notion. Is it not a pity that, under a government
avowedly Protestant, such a line of policy should be taken up, as to
root out all zeal for the truth, among such as profess to be its
followers, while the followers of error continue enthusiastically
attached to it?
We fared well that night, both as to eating and sleeping. Our supper
was excellent, our beds clean, and the charge for the whole barely two
shillings,--a practical illustration of the soundness of the advice
which we had received from our friendly Hernhuter. It was difficult,
indeed, to conceive how, even in Silesia, the people could afford to
treat us as they did, for so small a sum. Yet we paid our bill without
expressing, even by a careless word, that its amount surprised us; and
restrained our very mirth till a turn in the road placed us beyond the
hazard of being detected in its indulgence.
There had been a considerable fall of rain while we slept; so that at
seven o'clock in the morning, when our march began, we had every
prospect before us of a pleasant journey. There was no dust to annoy;
the hedge-rows, on either hand, (for it must be remembered that, in all
the states of Germany, the highways are planted, at the expense of the
government, with a double row of trees,) sent forth an unceasing
concert of sweet sounds, and the very people whom we met, seemed by
their joyous countenances to confess the influence of the balmy
atmosphere. And by the way, I must not forget to observe, that the
costumes of the country people, both male and female, had varied a good
deal since we commenced our ramble. In the neighbourhood of Tetchen,
the smock-frock made its appearance among wagoners and even labouring
men, while the women wore, as in Saxony, short bodice jackets with long
skirts, red or red and white striped petticoats, and round their heads
either a flaring red handkerchief, or a cap adorned behind with two
enormous flies. As we penetrated further into Bohemia, the smock-frock
among the men gave place to a cloth or velvetine jacket, and the cap
was supplanted by a coarse steeple-crowned hat. It strikes me that the
female portion of the community exhibited less love of change, till we
reached Silesia; and then I looked twice before I could persuade
myself, that Queen Elizabeth, and the dames and virgins of her day,
were not returned to upper air. Long waists, with hips famously padded,
reduced the shapes of such as had any shape, to the symmetry of a wasp,
while round their necks were enormous, stiffly-starched ruffs, which
stuck out so far, and rose so high, as to give to the red, round,
blowsy faces which protruded over them, a tolerably exact resemblance
to so many field-turnips. More comical-looking animals I have rarely
seen, though they were evidently of a different opinion.
We passed through Greiffenberg about eight o'clock, and found it by no
means the formidable sort of place which our fears,--the offspring of
our poverty,--had represented it to be. An old town, built irregularly
along the side of a hill, it seems to possess neither trade nor
manufactures; indeed, a flour-mill or two, planted by the river's side,
sufficiently marked it out as the head of a purely agricultural
district. The view from the eminence above, is, however, exceedingly
fine. Sweeping over a vast and fertile plain, throughout which
abundance of wood is scattered, and resting from time to time upon some
old ruin, one of which, called Kreifenstein Castle, and the property of
Graff Schaff-Koatch, presents a peculiarly striking appearance, the eye
finds its powers of vision bounded at last by the Riesengebirgen, which
have as yet lost no portion of the sublimity of character that belongs
to them, though they are now removed to a distance, as the crow flies,
of at least twenty miles. We took what we suspected would prove to be
our last distinct view of the magnificent range, not without
experiencing a portion of that melancholy which never fails to arise
out of a lasting separation even from inanimate objects, which may have
gratified our tastes, or interested our imaginations.
We had met on the road as we trudged along, several small parties of
soldiers; twos and threes, belonging to the landwehr, or militia of the
country, of which the season for training was arrived. This was not,
however, the commencement of our acquaintance with that remarkably
fine-looking body of men. While we lingered in Hirschberg, doubtful
what course to pursue, there marched past the window of the hotel about
two hundred as superb infantry as I should desire to see; stout,
well-made, soldier-like fellows, in the full vigour of manhood, well
bearded and moustached, and altogether presenting the appearance of men
who had served at least half-a-dozen campaigns, and were ready to serve
half-a-dozen more. Their uniform resembled that of the Prussian
infantry in general; that is to say, they wore blue, well-made coats,
white trousers, chacos with small round white tufts, and hairy
knapsacks on their backs. Their muskets were longer, and smaller in the
bore than ours, and the barrels were fastened to the stocks by brass
rings that encircled them. Nothing could exceed the order or regularity
of their movements: their step, it struck me, was shorter than ours,
but then it fell more rapidly; their equipments were decidedly neater;
and above all, the load which each man carried was much less
considerable. In one respect, however, and only in one, we have an
advantage over them. They still adhere to the practice of carrying a
large camp-kettle for each mess, whereas our tins suffice both for
cooking and containing the meat when cooked, and with one of these each
man is supplied.
I have elsewhere explained the process by which every male inhabitant
of Prussia becomes in some shape or another, available for the military
defence of the country. I need not now recur to the subject, further
than by stating, that I have seen no portion of what is called the
regular army, which would bear a moment's comparison with the
half-battalion of landwehr, that passed me in the streets of
Hirschberg. Neither is the circumstance greatly to be wondered at. Out
of the two or three hundred men which composed that corps, one-half,
perhaps, had done active duty, ere the new system of recruiting was
introduced; when the term of service extended to fifteen instead of
three years; and individuals were not, as they are now, turned over to
the landwehr, with a military education still unfinished, and in many
cases scarcely begun. The consequences were, that their carriage was
more upright, their air more martial, and their style of march more
orderly by far, than anything which I had an opportunity of observing,
even in the garrison of Berlin. Something, too, is perhaps attributable
to the more advanced ages of the landwehr. No one dislikes to see a
frequent intermixture of beardless faces, either in a line or in a
column; but an entire battalion of boys is not satisfactory. Now these
men were in the full strength and vigour of their days. Their
countenances were well bronzed, their moustachios rough, and the very
dust that enveloped them told nothing against the general hardihood of
their bearing. I looked upon them with unqualified respect, and said to
my young companion, that if all the landwehr regiments be composed of
similar materials, Prussia can have nothing to apprehend from any
hostile movement on the part either of Austria, or of France.
We had received a route, as usual, from our host at Lang-Wasser, and
corrected it in some trifling particulars, at the suggestion of a
turnpike keeper,--an old soldier, as in Prussia these functionaries
usually are, and a fine-looking, well-bred, and intelligent fellow.
Among other places, we were to make, by the way, for a village called
Golden Traum, where, as we hoped to reach it about noon, we proposed to
eat our dinner. But we did not succeed in this point. Having been
misdirected at an unlucky turn in a wood where two roads branched off
from one another, we found ourselves, after an hour's toil, further
from Golden Traum than ever, and were forced, not to retrace our steps,
but to make our way as we best could, across the country, in order to
reach it. We came in, accordingly, tired and somewhat out of humour, at
one o'clock, to a poor but clean village beer-house, where the only
viands produceable, were brown bread, butter, and sausages, a
considerable quantity of which disappeared before persons whose
appetites were a great deal too keen to be fastidious.
The situation of Golden Traum, overhanging the rocky and well-wooded
bank of the river Queiss, is exceedingly striking, and the stream,
being clear and rapid, held out to us the prospect of good sport.
Encouraged, therefore, by the remembrance of the moderate charges at
Lang-Wasser, we resolved to spend the remainder of the day here,
provided our landlady could accommodate us with beds, and fare a little
more delicate for supper. With respect to the latter of these points,
it was soon and satisfactorily settled. We had our choice of beef and
veal, and we chose of course veal's elder brother: but the report of
the dormitory was not so satisfactory. There was no spare chamber in
the house, but they would make up for us a couple of beds, with
mattresses, sheets, &c., in the tap-room; and they assured us, that it
would be entirely at our command by ten o'clock at the latest. As my
companion appeared to think these dispositions excellent, and spoke
vehemently in favour of the day's fishing, I consented to halt. We
consigned our baggage to the care of the landlady, put our tackle in
order, and descended to the stream.
Like many other things in creation, the Queiss was far from realizing
the expectations which its flattering appearance had excited. There was
little water in the channel, and that little contained few trout; but
roach were there in abundance. Now a roach, either at the end of my
line or on the table, happens to be my aversion, and finding that I was
perpetually deceived by the avidity with which the scaly monsters
seized my fly, I soon wound up. Not so my boy. With the most laudable
perseverance he continued to flog the water, much to the detriment of
the roach tribe; one of which, by the way, proved, when he brought him
ashore, to be the largest of his species I had ever seen. The monster
must have weighed a pound and a half at the least. But this was not
all. Towards evening the trout began to show themselves, and the young
Piscator caused some havoc among them. He caught about a dozen, the
heaviest of which might have well nigh passed muster either at
Troutenau or Eisenhammer.
We had been interrupted in our sport by a thunder-storm; the
reverberations of which, as peal after peal smote against rock and
fell, were very fine. The rain, however, which came down in torrents,
was not quite so agreeable, and forced us to seek shelter in a mill,
where I was a good deal amused by the sort of taste which the honest
miller had displayed in ornamenting his best apartment. The walls were
stuck round with engravings, one of which represented Jonah in two
situations: first, smoking a pipe by the seaside, and afterwards
working his way out of a huge fish's jaws; while close beside him was a
ship, considerably less in point of size than the prophet. As to
Nineveh, it stood upon a rock in the middle of the ocean, and had all
its houses covered with bright red tiles. But that was nothing. There
were several portraits of distinguished public characters here; and
among others, Hawser Trunnion, a British admiral. I must say that the
old commodore looked uncommonly well, with his flowing wig, just as
Smollett describes it, and a pipe in his mouth.
We had ordered supper at seven; at half-past seven we reached the
hotel, and found the meal ready. Alas! however, for the results of
having issued our orders somewhat hastily. Instead of a substantial
piece of roast beef, a basin of soup was placed before each, to which
succeeded, sans potatoes, sans greens, sans any other vegetables of any
sort, two small morsels of bouillie, boiled to tatters. We were not,
however, to be put off with such sorry fare as this, so we begged our
landlady to dress for us some of the fish which we had taken; and she
set about it immediately. But long before the fish were ready, a
multitude of new guests came pouring in, and we found ourselves in a
situation which exceedingly amused us for a while, though in the end it
grew tiresome.
The character of Russians had never sat upon us very easily. We were
constantly afraid lest some one should address us in the Russian
language, and we fancied that a demand for our passports, which might
come at any moment, must inevitably convict us of an imposture. Seeing,
therefore, that Golden Traum wore a singularly modest air, we resumed,
on entering it, our proper lineage, and never laid it aside again till
we reached home. Now, there happened to be in the village a bouerman,
who had served under Blucher at Waterloo, and had seen, during the
period of the occupation of Paris, a good deal of the English army.
This man no sooner learned that two Englishmen were arrived, than he
not only came himself, but brought all his neighbours to pay their
respects to us. There was first the schoolmaster, a stout short man,
highly impressed with the idea of his own dignity, and a determined
smoker. There was the miller, the smith, the butcher, the
sexton,--everybody, in short, who had a groschen or two to spend, and a
stock of curiosity to be gratified. Nor did they come alone. Their
wives and children followed them _en masse_, till the tap-room was
crowded. What could we do? To devour our fish in the sight of the
multitude, without offering to share it with them, might have impressed
them with an unfavourable opinion of our country, while to afford even
a morsel to each individual present, would have required thrice the
amount cooked and even caught. We therefore adopted a middle course,
seldom either a wise or a fortunate one, but in the present instance
the only course within our reach. We distributed the trout among the
parties who had occupied seats at our table; and won the hearts of the
old soldier and his wife, the miller and his wife, the blacksmith and
his wife, with all their children; who, seeing their mothers begin to
eat, set up such a clamour that we were fain to hand over for their use
all the bones, with such portions of flesh as chanced to adhere to
them. Then followed sundry small flasks of schnaps, some cans of beer,
and two or three bottles of sour country wine; under the influence of
which the tap-room became, ere long, a scene of extraordinary hilarity.
The old soldier raved about the "guten Anglesisch soldaden," and
pronounced "der Hertoch von Wellington," worthy to take rank with
Blucher himself. This, of course, drew from me sundry compliments to
the valour and discipline of the Prussian army, till in a few minutes
we were sworn brothers. "The French! what could the French do, or
indeed all the world besides, against the English and Prussians united,
who between them had restored peace to Europe, and dethroned
Buonaparte;" but I am not quite sure that we decided the question by
whom the battle of Waterloo was won,--a matter concerning which my
friend appeared to be sensitive, and I, in the consciousness of having
fact to fall back upon, felt altogether indifferent.
For an hour or two the scene was highly diverting, though I cannot say
that it had the effect of confirming me in my opinions touching the
constitutional sobriety of the German people. The good folks round me
drank like fishes, and I must do the women the justice to observe, that
in this sort of exercise they were by no means less alert than their
husbands. The method of proceeding was this:--To some eight or ten
persons a couple of liqueur glasses were allotted. These being filled,
a sip was taken out of each, by the individuals who appeared to preside
over the destinies of the bottle; they were then handed round, and
drank in portions till drained dry. No time was, however, lost in
replenishing them, so that the fire was both brisk and well sustained.
Neither were the courtesies of civilised life omitted. At each separate
sip the party sipping pledged the whole company; so that on a moderate
computation, I had my health drunk that night at least a hundred and
fifty times.
Ten o'clock struck, but the joyous rout exhibited no symptoms of
moving; eleven came, and still they sat. This was rather too much of a
good thing; for we must needs be a-foot by five in the morning, and we
could not lie down till the chamber should be cleared. At last the
schoolmaster, through the haze which his beer, and schnaps, and
tobacco-smoke, had drawn around him, discovered that I was yawning with
some vehemence, and looking tired. He accordingly rose, and suggested
an adjournment; but his proposition was scouted. They must have one
bottle more, and they had it; another, and they had that too; till I
began to fear that they meant to favour us, as I recollect long ago
favouring a delicate friend of mine at College,--that is, to sit up
with us till the hour of march arrived, and then give us a convoy. But
the memory of my poor friend's first letter, in which he described the
misery of a mail-coach journey to Bristol, after a sleepless night, put
me on my guard. I hinted that we had all better get to bed, and my hint
was immediately taken. They went away in the best humour possible,
after repeatedly shaking us by the hands, and wishing us all manner of
prosperity, both abroad and at home.
I should flatter the good landlady at Golden Traum, if I were to say,
that her beds were either clean or comfortable. In fact, we did not
venture to undress; and we were up punctual to the moment which
over-night we had fixed upon as convenient for starting. Again,
however, the linen which we had committed to the care of the
washerwoman, was to seek, and our journey, much to our chagrin, was
delayed till past seven. Meanwhile, we got from the hostess as much
information respecting her neighbourhood as she had to communicate. The
appearance of the village had struck us, on entering, as singular. The
houses, instead of wood, which is the material commonly used in the
construction of German villages, were all built of brick, and they
looked quite new. Moreover, there was no church; but only the ruins of
some walls and a tower standing. On inquiring into the cause of all
this, we learned, that four years ago, during the heat of the summer,
when everything in the fields was parched up, and the very rivers dry,
some woodmen incautiously set fire to the brushwood in a neighbouring
forest, and all the efforts to extinguish it proved fruitless. The
flame spread for miles around, consuming heath, dry grass, corn, and
even trees, nor did the town of Golden Traum escape. It was burned to
the ground, as well as all the detached cottages near it. From the
effects of this disastrous conflagration, it had not yet, and probably
never would, recover. Some houses were, indeed, built; and built of
materials which seemed better suited to withstand a similar visitation,
should it occur; but there were no funds wherewith to restore the
church, and the lord of the manor was a great deal too poor to
undertake such an enterprise. "An application has, indeed, been made,"
continued our informant, "to the authorities at Berlin, and we hope
some time or another to have a new church; for we miss the bells sadly
on feast-days, and it is a pleasant thing once a week to meet all one's
neighbours, and see how they are dressed. But for the present, our
pastor performs divine service in a room upstairs, and is not troubled
with a crowded congregation."
It had rained hard during the night, and showers still continued to
fall early in the morning, a circumstance which reconciled us, not a
little, to our compulsory halt of two hours beyond our time. But by
seven, the clouds dispersed, and our linen being restored and packed in
our knapsacks, we begged to have the bill. It amounted to no more, in
spite of all the beer and schnaps of the previous evening, than one
dollar and four groschens. Here, then, we were relieved altogether from
the apprehensions under which, up to that moment, we had laboured. Our
point, to-night, was Hernhut, whence, with a little management, and
some extra pressure, we expected to reach Schandau in one day; and we
had still five dollars, and a little more, in our purse.
From Golden Traum to Hernhut, we were recommended to pass by way of
Marklissa and Bernstadt, the former a manufacturing place of some note
in Prussian Silesia, the latter one of the frontier-towns of Saxony. We
followed those directions faithfully, and erring only once, to be put
right again immediately by a very civil woman, we soon left our last
night's quarters far behind. But we did not succeed in reaching our
proposed point of destination. Fatigue gained the mastery over us while
we were yet three hours' march from Hernhut, and at seven in the
evening, we came reluctantly to the conclusion, that a halt in
Bernstadt was necessary.
There had occurred no incident during our march that deserves to be
recorded; neither had we passed any object that struck us as
remarkable. The scenery, far more tame than we had been accustomed to
in Bohemia, drew forth small admiration, and in Marklissa, a bustling,
but irregularly-built town, we made no delay. In like manner, I may say
of Bernstadt, that it contains little, which can, in any way, interest
a stranger. A church, with a remarkably tall spire, is its chief
ornament; and the inn, in the market-place, where we put up, was a fair
one. A stroll through the streets, therefore, as well as a ramble in
the churchyard, hardly compensated for the labour of effecting it; and
we returned to supper at eight o'clock, well-disposed to cut the day as
short as possible. But we were now in Saxony, and the Saxon police
thought fit to convince us, that, however negligent their
brother-officials in Austria and Prussia might be, they were not to be
caught napping. I was sound asleep, when about twelve o'clock, a loud
rapping at the chamber-door awoke me. I demanded the cause of so
ill-timed an interruption, and was informed that the gendarmes had come
to obtain a sight of our passport, and that I must get up and show it.
The reader will easily believe that I obeyed this mandate, not quite in
the placid temper of mind which is habitual to me. In fact, I was
exceedingly angry, as I had reason to be; for we came in at seven, the
police were perfectly aware of our arrival, and supposing that the
national prosperity of Saxony had depended on us, there was ample time
to ascertain that we were neither spies nor incendiaries, between that
hour and bed-time. I, therefore, poured out upon the intruder,--the
landlord of the inn,--a tolerable volley of abuse, and desired him to
retail it all, in better German, to the gendarme below. In spite of my
wrath, I could not keep my gravity, when after having desired him to
deliver such a message to the policeman as an angry man is apt to
convey, indicating, I am afraid, a wish, on my part, that the official
would remove to less comfortable quarters than Bernstadt, the host,
with all possible gravity replied, "Goot." There was no resisting this,
and I laughed heartily.
The passport was correct enough, and the gendarme, after listening to
sundry warm expostulations, delivered, not through the medium of the
host, but directly by myself, stammered out some excuse on the score of
duty, and hinted that they were obliged to be constantly on the alert,
in consequence of the frequent inundation of fugitive Poles into the
country. Alas, the poor Poles! Defeated in their attempt to free
themselves from the yoke of the stranger, and driven to seek, in exile,
the safety which is denied to them at home, they cannot find anywhere,
throughout continental Europe, a resting-place for the soles of their
feet. For even Saxony,--the child, a feeble one, doubtless,--but still
a child, of the revolutionary mania of 1830,--is afraid to afford an
asylum to men whose sole crime is, that they have struggled, or perhaps
pined only in secret, to restore to their native land its place among
the nations of Europe. I was not, of course, so imprudent as to take
any notice of the gendarme's observation; but I thought within myself,
that the government of a free country deserved little respect which
could permit itself to be dragooned into the persecution of a body of
men, from whom Saxony, at least, has sustained no injury.
The gendarme having departed, I returned to bed, and slept till six in
the morning. We then breakfasted, and a little before nine, arrived at
one of the most interesting places which the student of human nature
will find in all Germany. Hernhut, in every sense of the term, a
missionary settlement, offers to the eye of the curious and the
reflecting, a spectacle as striking as can well be conceived. Here is
no diversity of opinion on religious subjects, no indifference, real or
pretended, to religion itself, no postponement of duty to convenience,
no deference to police regulations which is not paid to a higher
principle. Religion is in Hernhut, what law and custom are elsewhere,
the main-spring of people's actions. They work and play, they associate
together, or dwell apart, they go out and come in, rise up, and lie
down; they perform every office of life strictly, or at least avowedly,
under the sanction of the faith of which they are the professors. There
may be hypocrisy in all this, though I could discover no traces of it,
for human nature is a curious compound at the best; but at least there
is a moral courage which commands our unqualified respect, inasmuch as
everything is done without parade, without moroseness, without the
utterance of a single expression which can convict them of a desire to
be admired of men, far less of undervaluing or mistrusting the motives
of others.
What the origin of the Hernhuters really is, seems to be a point as yet
scarcely determined. Mosheim, in his _Ecclesiastical History_, speaks
vaguely of them; and Dr. Maclaine, his English translator, has
attributed to them practices and opinions which are quite contrary to
fact. Confounding them with the Picards, whom John Ziska, the famous
Hussite general, well-nigh exterminated, the latter speaks of them as
practising all the absurd impurities of the Pre-Adamites, and he
appeals for support to Stinstra's pastoral letter,--one of the most
uncandid as well as impertinent productions that ever came from the pen
even of an Anabaptist. For my own part, I see no reason to doubt that
they are what they profess to be, the descendants of the Bohemian or
Moravian brethren, whom the bigotry of the house of Austria drove from
their homes, and of whom remnants are yet to be found, both in Poland
and Hungary. Their church is episcopal in its constitution; their
tenets agree with the Augsburg Confession of Faith; their ritual is
plain and bare, almost like that of the Presbyterian church of
Scotland; and their attention to psalmody very great. It has been much
the practice of the surrounding townships, as well in Bohemia as in
Silesia and Saxony, to speak slightingly of them. But a brief sojourn
among them, sufficed to convince me that they were at least as honest
as any of those by whom their honesty had been called in question.
The word Hernhut signifies "a seeker of the Lord;" and it was their
excessive earnestness in the service of religion, that, according to
one account, earned for them and their settlement the names which they
still retain. Another tradition says, that Hut was the name of the
individual by whom the first of the colony was led to this particular
spot; and that as from him, Herr Hut, or Gentleman Hut, their village
derived its appellation, so the inhabitants of the village came to be
known as Hernhuters. Between these conflicting statements, (and both
were communicated to me on the spot,) I do not pretend to decide. I
only know that to Count Zinzendorf,--of well-established notoriety,--the
fathers were in 1722 indebted for their settlement on the spot of
ground which their sons still occupy; and that, grateful for the
kindnesses which their sect received both from him and his children,
they have ever held the name in the highest possible respect.
Count Zinzendorf was, beyond all question, partially insane. His
opinions, wild and extravagant in the extreme, had a strong tendency to
vitiate the moral principle; and the Hernhuters having derived from his
bounty all that they possessed, would not refuse to listen when he
chose to address them, even in their religious meetings. But it is a
mistake to attribute to him the character of a leader. He was their
protector in civil affairs, but he was not their bishop. He had a voice
in their synods, but he was not supreme. In spite, therefore, of the
obscene rhapsodies which were printed, and put into circulation, as his
discourses, I see no reason to believe that his opinions were ever
adopted as those of the community. On the contrary, they have all along
professed to subscribe in sincerity to the Augsburg Confession; and
surely their own assertions are more to be relied upon, than those of
their enemies.
Hernhut is, as I have said, in the strictest sense of the term, a
missionary settlement. The people inhabit a town, cleaner, neater, and
in every respect more attractive, than any of a similar size, which I
have visited in Germany. They own a considerable tract of country round
it, which they cultivate with excellent skill; and they carry on among
themselves all manner of trades and professions. Civil magistrates they
have none, for the supreme government has not forced such upon them;
but their affairs are regulated by a synod, in which all the clergy,
with a certain number of lay-elders, have seats. The law, again, to
which they profess to pay obedience, is that of God. Whatever
contradicts the morality of the Gospel is, by them, accounted illegal,
and they punish the guilty by spiritual censures, and at last by
excommunication. This latter amounts, in fact, to expulsion from the
place; for an excommunicated brother or sister finds no one with whom
to maintain a correspondence. I found, indeed, by the presence of a
gendarme among them, that the government did not leave them absolutely
unobserved; but his duty seems to be very light, and his manner is
singularly subdued and respectful.
In this place, remarkable everywhere, there are one or two points, to
which the visitor is conducted, as more than others deserving his
attention. Foremost among these are the Broder-house, the
Schweister-house, and the Predecher-house,--the latter being the name
which the Hernhuters think fit to bestow upon their church, or house of
public worship. The Broder and Schweister-houses are, as their names
denote, asylums, within which a certain number of men and women,
members of the church of Hernhut, find shelter. Not that the inmates of
these well-regulated abodes are all paupers. On the contrary, you meet
in the Schweister-house persons belonging to every class of life, from
the decayed or friendless gentlewoman down to the poor worn-out
laundress; and the state of the Broder-house is, in every respect, the
same. But one roof covers them all, and though their treatment beneath
it may vary a little in regard to the lodging, diet, &c., afforded
them, they are treated by one another, as well as by their
fellow-religionists who visit them, strictly as brothers and sisters.
When, for example, the portress opened the door of the Schweister-house
to us, and found that we were foreigners, she stated that Sister
Handman could speak French, and to Sister Handman's apartment we were
forthwith conducted, nothing loth to follow. We found it furnished with
great taste, and the lady herself, well-bred and intelligent; yet the
humblest person in the house called her only schweister, and she did
not appear to desire or to look for more.
The Schweister-house contains one hundred and thirty females, of all
ages, from seventy and eighty down to twelve. For the younger members
of the community, there is a school, where they are instructed in
reading, writing, arithmetic, French, sewing, embroidery, and
music,--of all which branches of education, members of the community
are the teachers. The elders employ their time a good deal in
needle-work, and knitting; chiefly in the fabrication of pretty little
articles, such as purses, shirt-collars, tapestry covering for chairs,
work-bags, &c., all of which are sold for the benefit of the
institution, to visitors; or sent off from time to time, to London,
Berlin, the United States of America, and other places where the
Hernhuters have established missionary stations. There, it is said,
they obtain ready customers, and the money so earned is faithfully
applied to missionary purposes. Of course, the more essential, though
less elegant departments in the management of a household, are not
neglected. Among the sisters, there are matrons, housekeepers, cooks,
chamber-maids, scullions, laundresses, and even errand-women;--all of
them accustomed from their youth to more or less of manual labour, and
all supported out of common funds of the institution. Such persons, as
well as a large majority of those on whom they attend, pay no board.
The Schweister-house is their home; which they are free to quit,
however, at pleasure; and they all live on a footing of perfect
equality. One large room serves as the common eating-hall; one, which
engrosses an entire front of the building, is the dormitory; while a
chapel, where there is an altar, sees them assembled every morning to
sing a hymn, to the accompaniment of a harpsichord, and pray with one
of the ministers who attends them.
Previous to our visit to the Schweister-house, we had inspected the
church,--a plain unadorned hall, fitted up with benches, two galleries,
and a sort of table or altar. There is neither desk nor pulpit, for the
service stands in no need of such adjuncts, inasmuch as the devotional
parts of it consist mainly of psalm-singing, and the exhortation is
delivered, like a lecturer's address at the British Institution, from
the table. Unfortunately for myself, I did not happen, on either
occasion of visiting the place, to reach it on a festival; but the
music, I am told, is exceedingly good, and the choir is led by an
organ. It may be worth while to add, that the principle which has
established a Broder-house and Schweister-house apart from one another,
operates in the temple of the Hernhuters,--the men and women occupy
distinct sets of benches, with a considerable space between them.
The pastors or clergy of this singular sect, inhabit apartments
connected with the church, and adjoining to it. Not fewer than seven
are always resident in the town, of whom three are bishops, and they
are all family men. I do not know how they are accommodated in the sort
of college which was pointed out as their common home; but I should
think indifferently.
Our next visit was to the cemetery. To reach it we were obliged to
traverse a considerable portion of the town, than which I have seen
nothing in Germany so neat and clean, and what we should describe in
England as thoroughly comfortable-looking. The streets were all wide
and well-paved; the houses substantial, yet airy; and everything about
them, from the glass in the windows to the brass knockers on the doors,
clean as hands could make them.
The cemetery lies, perhaps, a couple of hundred yards beyond the
outskirts of the town. You ascend to it,--for it occupies the elbow of
a green hill,--by a broad gravel road, cut through the centre of
luxuriant meadows, and shaded on either side by rows of lime-trees.
This conducts you to a gateway, over the arch of which on the outer
side, are inscribed in German, the words "Christ is risen from the
dead;" while the corresponding side within the enclosure bears as its
motto, "And is become the first-fruits of them that slept." And truly
it would be hard to imagine a spot of earth, within which the
enthusiast,--aye, and even the man who, without being an enthusiast,
has ever so slight a tinge of romance in his nature,--would more desire
to sleep out that last slumber.
A sort of oblong square, it is girdled round by a well-trimmed hedge of
limes, from which, at intervals, pollarded trees shoot up; while the
corners are thickly woven each into a shady arbour, where seats are
arranged for the accommodation of the contemplative. It is, however,
after you have passed beneath the arch, that the holy quiet of the spot
strikes you most forcibly. Laid out with singular good taste into
parallelograms, and having the paths which divide them one from
another, shaded by limes, it presents to your gaze no confused heap of
irregular mounds, overgrown with nettles and other noxious weeds, but
well-kept, yet unornamented plains, where, side by side, each covered
by a flat stone,--the record of their births, and death, and nothing
more,--the deceased brothers and the sisters of this singular community
lie at rest. Even here, however, in the grave-yard of a people studious
to preserve, as far as such a thing is possible, the primitive equality
of man with man, some distinction is paid to the ashes of the
great,--not because in their season of mortality these ashes made up a
noble family, but because the family in question have been mighty
benefactors to the sect. In the centre of a wide road which separates
the cemetery into two halves,--and on the right of which the males of
the place are buried, while the portion on the left is devoted
exclusively to women,--repose all that was once seen among men of Count
Zinzendorf and his kindred, covered over by nine stone tombs, on the
elevated lids of which their titles and designations are inscribed. The
Count himself, to whom Hernhut owes its prosperity, and in some sort,
its character, occupies the central position of all; and he is
supported on either hand by the graves of his descendants. Nor will the
number of these graves ever be increased. The family of Zinzendorf has
become extinct; and no other relics of humanity may hope to be honoured
as they were, by the simple, yet reflecting members of the Hernhut
community.
We lingered in this beautiful spot a good half-hour, and quitted it, at
the termination of that period, "wiser and better men," at least for
the moment. Altogether different from the Père La Chaise, or any other
cemetery which I had ever visited before, it struck me as constituting
the very beau ideal of a burying ground,--grave, yet not severe,--neat,
yet free from every approach to gaudiness,--well kept, yet bearing
about it no impress of the hands that trimmed it, and in its situation
and arrangements perfect. Here are no clumsy pillars, nor urns, nor
sarcophagi, no, nor even crosses. Flowers are utterly unknown, and
garlands tabooed. But the arrangement of the pollarded limes, which
both surround and intersect the square, is, as it ought to be in such a
place, at once formal and appropriate, casting each of the gravel-walks
into a pleasant shade, while between them all lies open. With respect,
again, to the graves, these are distinguished from the general level of
the ground only by the small, flat, hewn stone, which is laid over
each, and they seem to be about four feet apart from one another. I
observed that the Hernhuters seem, from the first formation of the
cemetery, to have observed, in conducting their funerals, the same
regularity which appears to prevail in all their daily proceedings. The
first of their community who paid the debt of nature,--after the
burying-ground was laid out, and the colony put upon its present
footing,--lies under his stone, close to the angle which is formed by
the meeting of the central walk and that which passes along the side of
the hedge next the entrance. In like manner, I observed that, far to
the rear of the two lines which enclose, as it were, the tombs of the
Zinzendorfs, there are blank spaces, which will doubtless be filled up,
as the course of time sweeps away generation after generation from
their hopes and their fears, their anxieties, their pursuits, and their
follies.
On quitting the grave-yard, our guide,--an intelligent old
man,--conducted us towards a sort of observatory, from which, as it
occupies the summit of the hill, a fine view of the surrounding country
is to be obtained. The scene was altogether very pleasing; for
cultivation is carried on everywhere to a great extent, and there is no
lack either of ornamental wood, or human habitations,--while, far in
the distance, the mountains of Silesia and Bohemia are seen, forming a
noble back-ground to the panorama. Nor was the effect of music, heard
at a distance, as happened with us to be the case, out of keeping with
the character of the things around us. A band of strolling minstrels
chanced to be wending their way through a village, in the bottom of the
vale far beyond Hernhut, and the air which they were performing, borne
back upon the light breeze, sounded very sweetly. In a word, our visit
to the tombs of the Hernhuters, with all its accompaniments of sight
and sound, affected us at the moment with feelings singularly
delightful, of which the recollection still abides by us, as Moore
beautifully describes the odour of the roses, lingering about the
fragments of the broken vase, which once contained the roses
themselves.
After inserting our names, according to established usage, in a book
which is contained in the wooden tower of the observatory, we returned
to the inn, and offered our guide money. He would not accept a
groschen, though he had too much good sense and good taste, to affect
indignation at what he could not but perceive was not designed for an
insult. We prevailed upon him, however, to eat his luncheon with us,
and found him both an intelligent companion, and willing to impart his
information freely.
He told us, what future inquiries have since confirmed, that the Church
of Hernhut has branches in very many lands. At Berlin, there is an
establishment on a small scale, which is managed after the model of
that in Silesia. London has also its little germ, somewhere, according
to him, in the neighbourhood of Fulham; and in North America the
settlements are numerous. But all look to Hernhut as to the
fountain-head of their church, and all receive from the synod there,
periodical admonitions and instructions.
So much for the more spiritual and intellectual portion of our
entertainment,--and now a word or two concerning that which was
neither. I must not forget to record, for the benefit of all true
lovers of excellent beer and excellent bread, that they will not find
better than at Hernhut in all Germany. The claret, which was also good,
held, in our estimation, a very secondary place to the clear, brisk,
pale ale, which the waiter poured out for us from certain
elegantly-shaped, green glass bottles, and the bread we pronounced to
be beyond all praise.
We quitted Hernhut about one o'clock, hoping, as the result proved, in
the face of physical impossibilities, to reach Schandau that night. The
idea was the more preposterous, that we knew perfectly well how far, by
the line of the main road, the one place is divided from the other; but
being told of a footpath over hill and vale, and having examined upon
the map, the situations of the villages through which it led, we came
to the conclusion that we should be able to compress the usual forty
English miles into half that number. We were entirely mistaken in this
rash inference; for, independently of the risks which we ran of losing
the way,--a misfortune which, it must be confessed, more than once
overtook us,--we ought to have recollected that even travellers on foot
cannot proceed with the precision of an arrow's flight; inasmuch as
standing corn is not to be trodden down, morasses must be avoided, and
through woods and over mountains, paths are, for the most part,
tortuous. Neither did it greatly surprise, however much it mortified
us, to find, that on halting at a village in that part of Bohemia which
pushes itself deep into the heart of Saxony, between Seibnitz and
Hernhut, that we had accomplished scarcely one-fourth of our
pilgrimage; and that, with scarce four hours of daylight before us, it
was utterly hopeless to think of compassing the remaining
three-fourths. Having ascertained, therefore, that good quarters were
to be had at Schlukenau, a considerable town through which it would be
necessary to pass, we made up our minds to halt there for the night;
even though by doing so, we should leave ourselves twenty good miles to
walk on the morrow.
We dined in a village inn, the landlord of which was a jolly old
fellow; who, having an only daughter, married her to a bouerman in the
place, and now the three generations,--for there was a family by the
union, of course,--dwelt together very happily under the old man's
roof. I mention this trifling circumstance because it enables me to
give the substance of certain statistical details which were
communicated to me, in the course of our walk, by the son-in-law. This
latter, a remarkably athletic fine-looking fellow, who volunteered to
give us a convoy, and direct us the nearest way to Schlukenau, had seen
something of the world. He was in Strasburg in the year 1813, when a
corps of English artillery manned the works, and he spoke in high
admiration of the appearance and perfect discipline of the men. Now,
however, he cultivated with excellent skill a farm of eighty or an
hundred acres, of which he was the proprietor; and while he led me over
his land, and pointed out with honest pride, the order in which it was
kept, and the enormous crops which it produced, he very readily
answered such questions as I put to him on the subject both of the
Bohemian system of agriculture and of the profits arising out of it.
Wheat, as, indeed, my own previous observation had shown me, is not
much cultivated in Bohemia. Here and there, where the soil is
particularly favourable for it, the seed is sown; but rye is the staple
commodity, with which, indeed, the fields were loaded. Out of rye, as I
need scarcely mention, the Germans manufacture, not only the bread that
is commonly in use among them, but almost all their ardent spirits, of
which I have tasted very little, but which, whenever I did taste it,
seemed to be execrable. Oats they likewise rear for their horses, as
well as barley for malting; but these grains bear no proportion, in
point of abundance, to the rye crops.
When the rye is removed, they sow the ground with clover; not, as with
us, that they may feed it off, and so enrich the soil while they
extract something from it, but for the purpose of securing a supply of
dry fodder for their cattle, which, all the winter over, and throughout
a considerable portion of the spring and summer, are kept in their
stalls. Then come potatoes, then a season of fallow; after which a good
coat of manure, to be followed by rye again. Whenever flax is grown,
and next to rye it is, both here and in Saxony, more cultivated than
any other grain, fallows are more frequent; for flax, as every child
knows, drains the soil of all its nutritious qualities.
The implements used in agricultural operations seem to be ruder, and
far more inefficient, than among us. The plough is precisely such an
instrument as I recollect to have seen represented in my Delphin
edition of Virgil's _Georgics_ when I was at school; and it is drawn
indifferently by horses, bullocks, or heifers. Bullocks and heifers
are, however, more commonly used than horses, though it is no unusual
sight to see a horse and a heifer yoked together. There is no boy to
drive; but the ploughman, as in Scotland, at once holds the stilts of
the plough, and with his voice, and a long halter, guides the cattle.
With respect to the harrows, I saw little difference between them and
our English implements, except that those in Germany are lighter, and
never have more than one horse or one bullock attached to them.
The rest of their tools, such as forks, rakes, mattocks, spades, &c.,
very much resemble our own; with this difference, in reference to the
last, that in Germany much less iron is wasted upon them than upon
similar articles in England. The blade of a German spade, which, by the
way, is pointed, or, rather, semicircular in form, is composed of wood
to within a few inches of the edge, and there is no iron at all upon
the handle.
I am not quite sure that I perfectly understood my intelligent
companion, when we came to discuss the amount of crop raised from the
land, and the prices fetched by the different kinds of grain in the
market. His method of computing these matters was so different from any
to which I had been accustomed, that I could only guess at a parallel
between it and our English measures. Yet it struck me that he described
the wheat lands as producing, on an average, between three and four
quarters; of which the price varied from twenty-one to twenty-five
shillings of our money. Concerning the price of the rye I had less
curiosity, though that seemed to repay the farmer quite as abundantly
as wheat; at least, my friend assured me that it would not answer his
purpose to substitute wheat for rye, even now, when wheat was more than
usually in demand, and therefore fetched a more than usually high
price. For it is worthy of remark that the failure of the crops in
America had affected the corn-market even in Bohemia; from which remote
district people were transmitting quantities of wheat to supply the
necessities of the squatters among the back woods of Kentucky.
From the subject of agriculture we passed on to its kindred topics,
grazing and planting; the latter of which naturally led to a discussion
on fuel. I learned from him, that here, as elsewhere in the north and
centre of Germany, there is no such thing as grazing on a large scale.
Such bouermen as happen to own a handful of sheep, send them in summer,
under the charge of a lad, into the green lanes and roadsides, to feed;
while in winter and spring they are, like the cattle, kept within
doors, and fed from stalls. The consequence is, that you scarcely ever
meet with lambs as an article of food in Germany; for the flocks are
too scanty to authorize the practice of putting the rising generation
to death. So also in reference to dairy farms, these neither are, nor
can be, on the scale to which we are accustomed in England. Hence
cheese, besides being both dear and bad, is very scarce; and butter,
except in the very height of summer, is detestable.
The Germans, though exceedingly fond of their pleasure-gardens, are not
skilful as horticulturists. Their fruits are poor, and they take little
pains to render them otherwise; but of their forests they are very
careful. This is the more necessary, because of their dependence upon
the woods for almost all the fuel which they consume; and which, while
it is not cheap anywhere, is here, in Bohemia and Silesia, among the
most costly articles in use. A claughter of wood, sufficient for a
month's supply for a kitchen stove, costs in this corner of Bohemia,
five dollars. The same quantity, in the very heart of the Saxon
forests,--that is, at Schandau, in Saxon Switzerland,--costs four
dollars and four groschens. Nor would it be procurable even at this
price, were not the proprietors of forest lands particularly zealous in
protecting their woods from injury, and in replanting such spaces as
the axe of the woodman may, from time to time, lay bare. I find,
however, that here, as elsewhere, it becomes necessary, in the course
of time, to vary the plant, so as to suit the caprices of the soil. In
many places I observed that young birch and ash trees were coming up
from among the roots and stems of decayed or removed firs; and I
learned, on inquiry, that they had been substituted for the original
stock, to which the earth had refused any longer to furnish adequate
nutrition.
I have as yet said nothing of the size and general appearance of the
horses, cattle, and sheep which, from time to time, crossed me. Of the
first, I should say that the breed must be singularly mixed; for you
meet, here and there, tolerable specimens of the animal, to be
succeeded immediately afterwards by the merest rips. Generally
speaking, however, the draught horses seem to be good,--slow,
doubtless, and alike defective in the shoulder and hind-quarters, but
strong, without being, like the Flemish breed, so heavy as to oppress
themselves. The riding horses, and especially those taken up for the
service of the cavalry, struck me as being, in proportion, far
inferior. They are either all legs, which they do not seem to use
either with dexterity or elegance, or mere punches. In like manner, the
cattle, to the eye of one accustomed to the sleek coats and
well-covered ribs of our Lincolnshire or Durham breeds, present a very
sorry appearance. Each particular bone in each particular brute's
carcase sticks up in melancholy distinctness, and in point of size the
animals themselves are mere dwarfs. I have seen a man ploughing with a
couple of heifers, positively neither taller nor stouter than a pair of
Lincolnshire calves of three weeks old.
From such materials it would be vain to expect that good beef can be
manufactured; indeed, the Germans have no notion of pampering
themselves with good beef. Their system is, not to fatten the beast,
and then kill him; but to work him as long as he is fit for work, and
then to kill him lest he should become an incumbrance. Neither can
their sheep boast much of the symmetry of their proportions, or of the
high flavour of their flesh when it comes to table. The wool, as
everybody knows, is, indeed, excellent; but the mutton is but sorry
food, at least to an Englishman. As I stated some time ago, however,
the English traveller need not distress himself too much on this
account. He is very rarely troubled with the offer of mutton, inasmuch
as calf's-flesh seems to be not only at hand all the year round, but to
supply the place of every other species of animal food.
We parted from our civil bouerman about four o'clock, at the summit of
a hill, whence he was enabled to point out to us, both the direction of
the ground on which Schlukenau stood, and the course of the path which
it would be necessary to follow in order to reach it. His instructions
were communicated with so much accuracy, that we never deviated an inch
from the right way; and so came in about seven, to just such a town as
our experience of other agricultural stadts and burghs had led us to
expect. At the Golden Stag we fixed our head quarters,--a large inn,
and apparently well frequented,--where we spent the night, without
either accident or adventure befalling of which I need pause to give an
account. There is a schloss here, which, to our surprise, we learned,
belongs, like the lordship of the manor, to the same graff who owns the
land about Aderspach on the other side of the Riesengebirgen. I have
forgotten both his name and his title; but he must be a wealthy
nobleman, even for Austria; which, while it possesses many poor, can
likewise muster some of the richest noblemen in the world.
We were not over-above delighted with Schlukenau; for the landlord had
about him none of the politeness which we had invariably found in his
brother craftsmen in Bohemia, and his domestics were all singularly
slow and stupid. We therefore quitted the place without regret, at six
o'clock next morning, and marched upon Schandau. Again we followed,
both from choice and to shorten the distance, bye-paths, which carried
us through some glorious scenery, quite different in character, but
scarcely less attractive, than any which we had passed in our tour. For
the rocks and precipices of Saxon Switzerland were once more around us,
and never had they appeared to us more wild or more sublime. Through
these, under the influence of a bright sunny day, we trudged along,
crossing hill and traversing dale, in the highest possible spirits,
till having gained the main road not far from the village of Tseidler,
we followed it, without swerving, into the quiet glen of Schandau.
The tale of my pedestrian tour in the highlands of Bohemia, Silesia,
and Saxony, is told. To the first of these countries I afterwards
devoted a good deal more both of time and attention; but as my journey
was performed, not on foot, but in carriages, the opportunities
presented to me of becoming intimately acquainted with the habits of
thought and fireside occupations of the people were necessarily less
abundant than I could have wished them to be. My reader must,
therefore, be content, for the remainder of this excursion, to accept,
in lieu of a diary, a general outline of the route which I followed;
and to pause with me, from time to time, while I relate to him such
incidents as befel, or retail such fragments of information as I
considered it worth while to treasure up when acquired, and have since
judged it expedient to commit to writing.