Pictures from Bohemia, drawn with pen and pencil, etc

Front matter

■: a v From a waler-ceslesur drawing] The Town Gate at Prachatic. [■J-y ra//n- Crane. PICTURES from BOHEMIA Drawn witb pen anb pencil BY JAMES BAKER F.R.G.S Author of 'A Great Forgotten Englishman' 'Mark Tillotson ' 'By the Western Sea' ' John Westacott ' ' Days Afoot ' Etc. WITH A MAP AND ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS BY WALTER CRANE H. WHATLEY AND THE BEST BOHEMIAN ARTISTS John Hus THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY 56 Paternoster Row and 65 St. Paul's Churchyard [by H. Wliatley. The Green Tower at Pardubitz. BOHEMIAN BRIDAL COSTUME. [by H. Whatley

Preface

. To travel in Bohemia is to travel in a land full of strange natural beauty, where the people are imbued with an intense love for their historic past, and live a lite of centuries ago, blended with an active energy that makes them one of the foremost industrial people of Europe. Cross through the passes that alone lend access to this mountain-locked land, and one is in a land of romance almost unknown to the British tourist. Hitherto the travellers who have visited Bohemia have been the seekers after health, who have gone to her famous baths lying on her borders, such as Teplitz, Carlsbad, and Marienbad ; or those who have visited her famous

PREFACE.

. 6 capital, Prague ; or the business-men who have gone to her commercial centres, such as Gablonz. Yet these have seen but little of Bohemia and her people, for in her baths and capital she is cosmopolitan, and but little of the real life of her people is there seen. It is in her villages and lesser towns that custom and costume still survive of past centuries ; and it is in her mountain recesses that castle, and monastery, and mediæval towns, full of a strange past glory, are to be studied. And it is in her mountains also that are seen the weird scenes of her rock towns, unsurpassed in Europe for wild savage grandeur. Her history speaks forth in the innumerable ruins of her castles that crown her mountain peaks, or hide amidst the secret passes of these natural rock towns ; or in the beautiful architecture of such a church as that of St. Barbara at Kuttenberg, or ' Kutna Hora,' as the Bohemians term it.

Bohemia, with the above exceptions, is still an unknown land, and the English traveller who wanders amidst its small towns and villages could give curious items of the wonder and surprise of the inhabitants at the sight of an Englishman, even as strange as those of the more distant traveller who penetrates into the far east of Asia ; and yet in the Middle Ages Bohemia exercised a mighty influence in European life. It is in a large degree to the noble teaching and martyr death of John Hus, and in lesser measure to the sturdy Hussite warriors in their linked waggon forts that Europe owes soul freedom. And a tour within her borders gives an insight into the passionate life of her people and offers sights and scenes of mediæval life even to-day, that carry one back into feudal times. The costumes of her peasants on fete days is still the most vividly brilliant in Europe.

Their love of music adds greatly to the pleasure of wandering amongst them, and a tour in Bohemia becomes a series of pleasant though ofttimes startling surprises, so sharp are the contrasts of life, and so sudden are the changes of scenery, theatrical yet fascinating. The historian and archæologian, the geologist, musician, artist, and technologist will find much to study in Bohemia, and the tourist who travels even without a special aim, becomes deeply interested in the scenery and people and mediæval remains. Through these ' Pen and Pencil Pictures ' we hope to interest many in her life of to-day, and to give some glimpses into the pleasure of wandering within Bohemia's mountain borders. A View at Bohmisch Leipa. CONTENTS AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. The Town Gate at Prachatic Frontispiece John Hus On Title-page The Green Tower at Pardubitz page 4 Bohemian Bridal Costume ......... 5 A View at Bohmisch Leipa ........ Bohemian Musicians .....•■•• I0 View of Pilsen ......•■•• • I Map of Bohemia . . . • • • • • • .12

Chapter I

The Gateway into Bohemia. Grotesque Rock Pillar at Adersbach . . page 13 Tetschen Castle and Bridge . . . page 17 Rock Scenery on the Elbe .... 14 Haida Is A Doorway at Bohmisch Leipa '9 CONTENTS AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 8

Chapter II

The Castles of Burgstein, Ralsko, and Bosig. The Roll Mountain page 26 The Hunger Tower, Bbsig Castle ... 27 Interior of Chapel „ ,, ... 28 The Chapel, Bosig Castle .... sage 20 Reichstadt 21 Burgstein Rock Castle 24

Chapter III

Friedland, Gablonz, and Turnau. Niemes ........ 30 Ancient Hussite Weapons .... 37 An Old House in Turnau ..... 41 Friedland Castle 31 Wartenberg ....... 33 Rocks at Gros Skal 4Z Dewin Castle ...... 34 Klein Skal 44 Bohmisch Aicha ...... 35 Trosky, from Gros Skal ..... 46 Waldstein Castle 47

Chapter IV

Jicin and its Surroundings. The ' Dove ' Head-dress of a Bohemian Maiden . 48 Market in Koniggratz ..... 53 Rock Town at Prachower Felsen ... 56 Entrance to Jicin ...... 49 Kost Castle 51 Rock Town at Adersbach .... 60 Sadowa ........ 52 Gablenz Height ...... 62

Chapter V

Kuttenberg and its Associations. Kuttenberg Barracks, formerly Jesuit College . 63 Parade Costume of the Miners at Kuttenberg . 67 The Stone House, Kuttenberg . . . 64 The Monument to the Hussites, Kuttenberg . 68 Church of St. Jacobi, Kuttenberg ... 65 Interior of Sedlec Chapel ..... 70 Old Stalls in the Church of St. Barbara . . 66 Kank Church ...... 72

Chapter VI

Prague. Prague 74 The Town Hall, Prague ..... So The Graben, Prague ..... 75 Group of Peasants ...... 81 View from Carl's Bridge ..... 76 Statue of Charles IV. 86 The Teinkirche (Old Hussite Church) . . 78 Ruins of Prague Bridge, 1891. . . . qo CONTENTS AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 9

Chapter VII

Carlstein and Pilsen. Carlstein page g2 Pilsen Peasants. ..... page ioo Pilsen ........ 93 The Market Place, Pilsen . . . . 101 Interior of St. Catherine's Chapel ... 95 Pilsen Costumes 104 Witches' Fires ...... 99 Women of Pilsen 105 Taus Costume 10S

Chapter VIII

From Tabor to Hohenfurth. Gate and Towers of Tabor . . . . .110 Fountain in the Square at Tabor . . . 118 A Musician 1 11 An Old House in Tabor . . . . 119 Raising the Pole on May Day . . . .112 Prince Schwarzenberg's Army .... 121 Bohemian Peasants . . . . . 113 A Raftsman at Krumau . . . . 123 A Well-to-do Peasant . . . . 115 The Castle of Rosenberg ..... 125 Town of Tabor . . . . . . 116 The Chapter House, Hohenfurth . . . 127 Choden Costume 129

Chapter IX

Prachatic and the Birthplace of Hus. Bohemian Tinker . . . . . 130 The Gateway at Taus ..... 144 The Black Tower and Ring, Klattau . . 131 German Peasants near Klattau .... 145 A Bohemian Praying Service . . . .134 Taus Costumes ...... 146 Peasants Praying before a Statue of John Hus, altered to John of Nepomuc . . . 136 Baldower Chapel ...... 148 A Standard-bearer of the Choden . . . 1 to ■3' The House in which John Hus was Born . . 13S Children at Luzenic ...... 151 A Woman of Klattau District . . . 141 South Bohemian Costumes .... 153 Procession to Bless the Fields 155

Chapter X

Fashionable Bohemia : Marienbad, Eger, and Carlsbad. Women at the Fountain, Mies .... 158 Marienbad ...... 168 Nepomuc . . • . . ■ ■ 159 The Black Tower at Eger . . . 171 Mies 161 A Procession of Patients at Marienbad . . -173 Gutenstein Castle . . . . . . 163 A Family Party at Carlsbad . . . . 173 At the Alteweise, Carlsbad CONTENTS AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 10

Chapter XI

Saaz and the Elbe. The Dechanal Church at Saaz . . . page 176 Aussig on the Elbe ..... page 1S4 Grotesque Rocks 177 Schreckenstein . . . . . . 1 85 A View near Teplitz . . . . . I So Lobositz ........ 1S6 The ' Thunder Mountain,' Teplitz . . . 181 Leitmeritz, with the Chalice Tower . . . iSS 1S9 Grotesque Rocks, Liboch, near Melnik The Holy Hill at Pribram .... 191 Ancient Chair at Kuttenberg .... 192 ERRATA. In Chapter II. . . . for Rolsko ' read Ralsko. On page 40, line 31, ,, Great „ Giant. ,, 45. » 7» >> Scratched „ Serrated. >> 46* j. 37. ,, Waldenstein ,, Wallenstein ,, 63, under cut, ,, Castle „ Barracks. On page 64, under cut, for Barrack read Stone House, ,, 66, ,, ,, Jacobi „ Barbara. ,, 68, line 9, ,, Shillings ,, Groschen. ,, 113, under cut, ,, Gipsies ,, Peasants. From a drawing by] BOHEMIAN MUSICIANS. a' [H. Whatley. View of Pilsen, From a drawing] GROTESQUE ROCK PILLAR AT ADERSBACH. V<y H. Whatley

Chapter I

The Gateway into Bohemia. THE most pleasant mode of entering into Bohemia from England is by way of the Elbe ; take the steamer to the Hook of Holland, and thence by train to Dresden, and from this Saxon capital the gates of Bohemia can be reached by, perhaps, the most picturesque river journey that Europe has to offer the traveller. The Elbe is ascended betwixt the gigantic natural fortresses and fantastic rock pillars of Saxon Switzerland, until the frontier of Saxony is passed, and one alights upon Bohemian soil at Herrenskretchen. When first we visited this spot, descending to it from a walk over the mountain passes in the soft twilight of an autumn evening, it was but a village with a little two-storied inn, facing the broad Elbe. That was in 1873 ; and like many another tourist we knew nought of the wonders, natural and artistic, of the land we had entered.

But as in after years visit succeeded visit to Bohemia, its endless succession of natural wonders, and exciting historic episodes, developed themselves slowly, and with ever increas ing charm and interest ; and it is thus in this volume we would strive to let a knowledge of Bohemia, the coun try, the people, and their history, grow upon the reader. As scene succeeds scene, and picture follows picture, so peeps into her past history will present themselves, as we stand upon the spots where the deeds that made his tory were enacted. No romance written ever evolved from an imaginative brain, facts so terrible or strange as may be read in the fiery his tory of the land of Hus; and no novelist ever laid the plot of his story in scenes so romantic as those we shall have to de scribe, and at Herren skretchen this romantic beauty commences.

When last we halted here, it had grown into a small town, and the two-storied inn had Rock Scenery on the Elbe. developed into a four-storied hotel ; but above its four stories towered the rocks that form the gateway of the pass up the little river, and soon away up this pass we walked ; and in ten minutes we had crossed the small rushing torrent stream, and were alone amidst the pines and rock pillars, with no sound but THE GATEWAY INTO BOHEMIA. 15 of the rushing waters and the trickling brooklets, hastening down to join the greater stream. The strange suggestive sound of the wind in the pines called up visions of the sea even in mid Europe, so like the rush and sighing of waters on the beach is this soughing of the winds through the pine branches. We went on up the steep ascent, passing the first of the strange lovely, yet picturesque little cemeteries on the mountain side, of which we were to see so many in such strange situations throughout Bohemia, and soon reached the village of Johnsdorf.

From the open plateau above this village is a wide-stretching view of the country around, with its mountain ranges and isolated peaks, and tablelands all fresh now with the young foliage of spring. Through a wonderful mass of rock piers we descended upon slippery ice-clad paths, until the level of the little River Kamnitz that flows into the Elbe at Herrenskretchen was reached ; and here on a bridge that spanned its rushing tumultuous waters we looked round on a scene of intense beauty. Down by the side of the tumultuous river we started to walk, for it reached Herrenskretchen, and the possessor of the property, Prince Clary, had lately hewn a path beside the waters that enabled foot passengers to follow the river's course ; but Nature had in one spot thrown two great obstacles in the way by a sheer precipice of rock on either side of the river.

To talk of a boat on this tumbling, roaring, spring-flushed torrent, seemed absurd ; but as we neared the spot, passing under mighty piers and walls of rock, the sound of waters lessened ; and as we gained the place where the path ends, the river has worn a deep bed for itself between the rock walls, and moves silently onward. A block-house has been set up in an opening in the rocks, and here a boat is found to take the pedestrian on between the rock walls, to where the path again commences by the river's bank. How strange it was to embark with only the steersman in the rude boat upon the deep, dark waters, knowing the force of torrent that was rushing on above us, to float in the intense silence into the dark gorge, with rocks some two to three hundred feet high shutting in all sight, save above, the slit of deep blue sky.

The rocks all worn and eaten, but clothed with the brilliant sulphur lichen, or moss clad ; and great pines topped on pines where a cleft in the wall gave hold to the tentacles of the pine roots. Waterfalls came down, some still pure ice, in white cascades. In one spot a great sheet of ice was lying over a great mass of rock, like some giants' table-cloth ; and the silence and weirdness of the scene made one expect to see Gnome or Pixie moving in the rock clefts. Softly and silently the waters bore us on through the gorge, until ahead we heard the distant softened rush of a cataract ; but so changing was the scene of widening rocks and opening amphitheatres all filled with pine columns, and succeeding these again a narrowing of the stream, that the ominous roar of waters was forgotten until its increasing strength made us look anxiously at the steersman.

He reassured us there was no danger ; and as we drew near, we saw beneath an overhanging mass of rock some 150 feet high a little landing-place ; and here we left the boat, but we lingered long in the scene around us, for it was strangely wild and romantic. There is another famous spot that lies within the Bohemian frontier, and is within easy walking distance of Herrenskretchen, that few will care to miss ; for it gives a sight of one of Nature's strangest freaks and most grandiose effects. The road to this trends back towards the Saxon frontier, and is but just inside the boundary-line, but the famous Prebischthor is on Bohemian earth. The walk to the Prebischthor is in summer at least fairly frequented, as it is one of the great sights of this favourite district. After mounting up with dark grey rock walls on either hand, between which the pines go up tall, straight, majestic, we reach the great isolated pillars of rock and the mighty arch of the Prebischthor.

It is a natural bridge, thrown across a span of some hundred feet from the mountain side, to the great natural bastion of worn rock that dives down, far down, into the pine forest below. Steps lead up to the summit of the arch, and as it is broad there is no danger in walking across it ; and from the supporting bastion summit a marvellous expanse of view is to be enjoyed. The steamboat journey from Herrenskretchen to Tetschen is short ; and as the suspension bridge of Tetschen comes in sight, the mountains recede from the river, and now a full view into Bohemia can be obtained ; for Tetschen can almost be named the Elbe gate of Bohemia. And this the powerful race of the Wartenbergs quickly saw ; and early in the fourteenth century they added it to their mountain strongholds, that already dominated so vast a tract of North Bohemia.

But Tetschen was of importance before this date, for in 1125 it is mentioned as the chief town of a zupa or district. As the steamer sweeps up to the mooring place, Tetschen gives to the traveller no idea of its antiquity. Even its castle, perched upon a low rock-crag some slight distance from the river, looks new and not more than two centuries old in any part of it. But both town and castle have much of interest, and like the scenery we have just passed through, are a gentle and pleasant preparation for stronger and more exciting strongholds, and more mediæval towns. The castle that was held by the Wartenbergs for two hundred years is now in the possession of the powerful race of the Thuns ; and for two hundred years from 1670, the burial-place of this family was in the Loretto Chapel in the market-place, Count Max Thun in 1691 having also built for the town the Kreuzkirche and decorated it with frescoes.

A stroll round to the back of the castle grounds, and over the little bridge, up the long rock-hewn avenue, leads into the castle garden, where is a famous rosary boasting of some two thousand varieties of roses. The inner courtyard is, THE GATEWAY INTO BOHEMIA. 17 however, almost the only part of the building that carries one back into the past life of Bohemia, though situated as it was on the frontier of the kingdom, Tetschen suffered severely in the Hussite and seventeenth and eighteenth century wars. So long as we linger near the banks of the Elbe, we are amid a Teutonic and German-speaking race. Rivers have always been the great Tetschen Castle and Bridge. highways along which invading races have penetrated slowly into other lands, and on the Elbe banks but little of the true Bohemian character is met with.

The love os vivid colour is not noticeable in the dress of the peasants ; the passionate gaiety and love of music and dramatic representations is not so marked ; the fair-haired race predominates, and the dark-haired eastern type of face of the Cech is more rarely met with, and German is almost exclusively spoken. But at Tetschen we leave the glorious Elbe stream, to c again revisit it later on, and ascend by one of the small new mountain railways into the busy mountainous districts of Northern Bohemia. Soon the line begins to ascend, twisting and twining amidst meadows and mountain streams, and in spring time numerous waterfalls. Haida. Soon after the top of the pass is reached, and the train runs down to Haida, our next halting-place. Haida is not a fashionable resort. The tourist who longs for an afternoon promenade, and a table-d'hote dinner, will not find them here.

The inn is a building with very solid walls, and vaulted roof, and a gateway to the stairs, very suggestive of a prison ; but on ascending THE GATEWAY INTO BO HE ML these stairs the bedrooms are found to be perfectly clean, with spotless sheets, and none of the filth that is to be met with in Italian or French country inns in unvisited spots ; and in many of these Bohemian hostelries the cooking is excellent ; and in some the guests are shown through the kitchens to the dining-rooms, that all the cleanliness of the batterie de cuisine may be seen, and commented upon. One can be very comfortable at the Eagle at Haida, and it is an excellent centre for some of the most strange and interesting excursions in Bohemia. Carriages can be hired with good horses at reasonable rates, though hardly so cheaply as in some other parts of the country, where ten shillings for a day's drive with two horses and a man is the general tariff. A Doorway at Bohmish Leipa. C 2 •9 The Chapel, Bosig Castle.

Chapter II

The Castles of Burgstein, Rolsko, and Bosig. HAIDA is a well-ordered, busy, clean town, with long roads, bordered on either hand with well-to-do villas, stretching away from the central square, where is an excellent technical school, the church and town hall and fountain, a wide open tank of water fed by the mountain spring. All around rise up the pine heights of the mountains ; and glorious walks are within easy distance. On a Sunday or fete day the scene in the white- Reichstadt.^ THE CASTLES OF BURGSTEIN, ROLSKO, AND BOSIG. 23 towered, red-domed church is most striking. On the left hand are the women, a blaze of colour, for every woman wears a head-dress of brilliant hues ; every shade and every combination of colour is there, red, blue, brown, yellow, black, sky blue, crimson, green, grey, violet, ultramarine, orange ; but as the German element is here largely intermixed, the women's dresses are not of the same gorgeous hues as may be seen in the purely Cech districts.

The singing in the church is good, and a full string band is accompanied by a good organ. Gay banners are hung round the chancel, and Haida being the centre of the glass trade, the gaseliers with glass pendants are very rich, and glitter in the light. On the one side of the church no operatic scene could be more full of colour ; but on the men's side all is dark, grey, and sombre, for they wear here modern costume sans bright hues. As the women's voices rise up in rich full notes, and the trumpets and organ burst forth in powerful harmony, it is hard to believe that this is a church in a small town of Bohemia. Within an easy walk is the strange rock castle of Burgstein. We visited it one fine spring morning, and were soon away from all glimpses of town life, and amidst the silent forest, yet not wholly silent, for the wind sighed through the dark pines that shaded us from the hot sun.

Soon we emerged on a fruit-tree bordered road, and ahead was a village ; and in a level meadow plain rose up a great isolated block of rock. The mountain spurs were some distance from it, it rose alone, an enormous mass of yellow sandstone apparently, nought but a natural rock-island crowned with firs. But on obtaining from a house near some keys, we were admitted into the heart of this rock, and found it to be a perfect castle with chambers and chapel, stables and halls, all scooped laboriously out of the living rock. The principal entrance to it was a V-shaped narrow stairway, up which only one person at a time could ascend ; and this arrangement we met with in other famous robber-knights' strongholds. Like all Bohemian castles it had its Hunger Tower, but this one had been cut open, and on its walls were carved in this great silent rock-dungeon roses and crosses, a death dance, a woman with a child, numerous death's heads, and the famous sign of the Hussites, the Chalice.

In one spot were a number of strokes, perchance the day-tally of some poor wretch who would fain keep some reckoning of how time sped on. As this castle is unique, even in Bohemia, in spite of our limited space that compels us only to glance at much upon which many pages might be written, an outline of the history of this fortress must be given ; it is the history of many another robber-nest. When it was first used as a dwelling-place is unknown, but its documentary history begins in 1327 ; in 1426 its then lord was bond for the ransom of some men of Lausitz, who had been captured by the Hussites ; but as some Hussites had also been captured by the Burgstein vassals, the high price of seventy Schock (a schock means sixty) of groschen was refused for a batch of the Lausitz prisoners. In the year 1440, Burgstein was in the hands of Mikisch Panzer, who used it as a centre from whence to raid the whole district.

So fierce and unbearable did these raids become, that the chief towns near, Zittau, Leipa, and even Breslau and Schweidnitz, combined, and in August com pletely destroyed it. From that clay to this no one has inhabited Burgstein, Burgstein Rock Castle. save a hermit, who for many years lived here, and erected calvarys, and carved religious inscriptions on the walls, where robber-knight and men-at arms had revelled over their deeds of violence and bloodshed. We descended from this rock, full of wonder at its strangeness, and by a well-made road, lined with short basalt columns, journeyed towards Schwoika, where is another rock fortress, and modern chateau still in habited and modernised ; but near it is a most strange praying-place of the peasantry. Leaving the main road we entered a thick dark forest, and THE BURGSTEIN, ROLSKO, AND BOSIG. 25 commenced to ascend.

Soon, between the pine-columns, we saw coming down towards us, flitting between the dark aisles of the forest, bright patches of colour ; it was a group of children in every hue ; soon great masses of rock rose up around us, some hundreds of feet in height, and then in the depth of the pines we saw kneeling before a rock-hewn chapel, lit with many candles, groups of peasants in their bright head-dresses. Most solemnly strange was the scene. The little chapel was well formed, with pillars, and arches, and mouldings, all scooped and worked from the rock ; and away on all sides from it went the dark columns of the pines, stretching into positive blackness, so thick was the forest ; still higher up the mountain rose some steep wooden steps, and at the top of these was an altar, still surrounded with the winter's snow, that lay in whiteness, con trasting with the brown carpet of the pine spines at lower depths.

Up to this solitary forest altar we climbed, and before it knelt a woman in a black velvet jacket and red and white head-dress, and a little child with an intensely red head-dress ; but utter stillness was there, a stillness of silence that made the light breath of the wind in the pines audible, and awful in its whispering ; and we could, to some extent, realise with what a power this forest praying-place has held the peasantry for centuries past, in spite of Church and changing creed ; for it is unconsecrated and unrecognised by the Church. A glorious day's drive from Haida, full of historical and antiquarian interest, and giving glimpses of village life and wide-spreading wonder exciting views, is that which takes the robber-knights' castle of Ralsko on the Roll Mountain as its farthest point.

The road leads through a minutely cultivated country, where no corner of land is left untilled ; the roadside being lined with fruit-trees that in spring fill the air with the scent of the blossom, and in autumn are laden with fruit. Many a hint might our English agriculturist gain from the care, and thought, and economy of the Bohemian small holder : more intensely careful is he than the Belgian agriculturist, who is so often spoken of as the pattern for petite culture. The first place reached on this drive is the historic town of Reichstadt. Its great square schloss or castle is not very picturesque, looking more like a factory than a castle ; but a spire and tower adds to its architecture. The timber houses around are more artistic, with their timber pillars supporting the second storey.

The name that at once rises on the lips on visiting Reichstadt is that of Napoleon ; for from this little far-distant town he gave the title of Duke of Reichstadt to his son, although he himself had never visited it. From Reichstadt the road leads on to Niemes, a spot we shall again halt at upon another drive, and then a by-road leads to the village of Rabensdorf, where at a little inn the carriage can be left, and the ascent of the Roll Mountain made. An hour's climb brings you to a great scree or slide of basalt debris. Toiling over this, you reach at last, at the height of some 2100 feet, the first traces of the old robbers' nest. A most extraordinary place it is, perched on a peaked precipice. The arches to the basement were worked with rough-hewn stone, and with no keystone, apparently very early work ; but within the walls was a square keep of worked stone, with round embrasures, also of worked stone.

From the summit of these battlements we looked forth upon an enormous view. Standing upon this narrow peak, the whole country lay beneath ; plain on plain, mountain beyond mountain ; villages dotted thickly, and small towns ; great forest tracts as black spots, The Roll Mountain. and away on the north a pretty little blue lake ; whilst to the east rose up a snowy range of mountains, the Giant and the Iser Mountains. Nearer were lesser hills, rounded and cultivated or black with pines. As the landscape beneath these mountain peaks tempts one to linger on and on, so the history of the old ruined walls carries one back and back into the fierce past, when in the name of religion brother fought brother ; many perchance but for power, and might, and wealth ; but others earnestly, for freedom to man's soul from fallible power and human thraldom.