The German students are a set of young men who certainly pursue their
studies with zeal, but who nevertheless are more brutal in conduct,
more insolent in manner, more slovenly and ruffian-like in appearance,
and more offensive from the fumes of tobacco and beer, onions and
sourcrout, in which they are enveloped, than are to be met with in any
other part of Europe. In a small town of a small state a German
university is a horrible nuisance; and how the elegant court of Weimar,
in particular, can tolerate the existence of one within an hour's ride
of its palace, where we have seen ragamuffins fighting with
broad-swords in the market-place, moves "our special wonder." To the
university of Bonn is attached a rich collection of subjects in natural
history, and a botanical garden; and such is its success, from the
celebrity of its professors, among whom is numbered the illustrious
William Schlegel, that, Dr. Granville states, "there are at this time
about one thousand and twenty students who, for twenty pounds in
university and professors' fees, and forty more for living, get a
first-rate education." The climate and the situation on the banks of
the Rhine are most inviting; and a beautiful avenue of chestnut trees,
nearly a mile in length, joins the castle of Popplesdorf, which
contains the cabinets of natural history, with the university.
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