Letters written during a tour in Holland and North Germany, in July and August, 1851

Front matter

LETTERS WRITTEN during a Cmtr in 33fliJatiijaift Æartjj (irrmimt}, IN JULY AND AUGUST, 1851. BY JOHX HOWARD HINTON, M.A. LONDON : HOTJLSTON AND STONEMAN, 65, PATERNOSTER ROW. U.DCCC.LI. TO SAMUEL MORTON PETO, ESQ., M.P. My dear Sir, It is not in compliment, but in order to obtain an appropriate occasion for the utterance of a deep and fervent gratitude, that I have requested permission to dedicate this little volume to you. For a considerable period of years you have pursued a course of habitual and unwearied kindness towards me ; and this not only in my own person and family, but also in the large licence you have granted me of intro ducing to your notice cases of distress. In the distinguished position in which Divine Providence has placed you, and which the grace of God has hitherto enabled you to adorn, it is a pleasing recollection to me, that DEDICATION. you were introduced by my hand to the Denomination to which you deem it no dishonour to belong, and that you were for a considerable period a member, and an honour able one, of the church under my pastoral care.

May providential and spiritual favours, in large measure and in happy combination, still attend you, and your interesting family ; and advancing life witness alike your growing piety, and your enlarging usefulness ! With sentiments of high esteem and warm affection, I subscribe myself, My dear Mr. Peto, Your faithful friend and servant, JOHN HOWARD HLNTON London, September 27, 1851.

Introduction

. At the Annual Session of the Baptist Union, a body including about a thousand of the Baptist churches in Great Britain, it was resolved to send a Deputation to the Triennial Conference of the Baptist churches of Germany and Denmark, about to be held at Hamburg ; and the Rev. Dr. Steane and myself, the Secretaries of the Union, were appointed to this service. To the fulfilment of the duty thus imposed on us we thought it not improper to attach a more extended excursion, with a view to relaxation and health ; Dr. Steane having also in view the promotion of the objects of the Evangelical Alliance, agreeably to instructions to that effect given to him by the Council of the British Organization. Accordingly, a tour was planned through Holland and North Germany, intended to occupy between five and a

INTRODUCTION.

. VI six weeks. In course of time our party also enlarged itself, and it consisted ultimately of the Deputation and the Rev. J. Bigwood, of Camber well, together with four ladies, one of them a daughter of Dr. Steane, two sisters, Misses F — , and Miss H — . The knowledge of the German language possessed by these ladies was of great value and importance to us. We sailed from London, on board the General Steam Navigation Company's vessel, the Con cordia, on Wednesday, July the ninth, at ten in the morning. The form of the following letters is not assumed. They were actually written at the times and dates they bear, and excepting the later ones, which, like the Irishman, I delivered myself, sent home to my family, for whose entertainment alone they were primarily intended. It may seem surprising that, in so rapid a journey, so much could have been written ; but this makes no alteration in the fact.

If there be any credit in writing sometimes till after midnight, and more frequently from four o'clock in the morning, while the days were occupied with the fatigues of pleasure and relaxation, I accept it, for it is no more than my due. It is

INTRODUCTION.

. VII right to add, however, that the letters have been carefully revised, and somewhat amplified. " Have you any thing new to tell us ?" was the question put to me by my publishers, when I mentioned to them my desire of appearing in print; and as, perhaps, the public will be ready to ask me the same question, I may as well at once give them the answer. I reply, then, both no, and yes. I have seen nothing which has not been seen and described many times already ; but I have seen everything with new eyes and new feelings. Individual experience and feeling is always new, and, if I understand human nature, always interesting. Of substantial and minute information the reader may find a great deal more in Murray's Hand-book ; but he will not find there the feelings and sentiments of the present writer.

It is because I am convinced that the interest of this volume, if it have any, consists principally in its exhibition of the traveller, rather than of the scenes travelled over, that I have maintained throughout the epistolary form. Many of the personal details are trivial, no doubt ; but they are threads inwrought into the entire tapestry of

INTRODUCTION.

. VIII my narrative, and I could not have abstracted them without the destruction of the fabric itself. The German names will probably perplex un accustomed readers who may wish to pronounce them. An attempt to convey the sound of the vowels peculiar to that language would be use less ; but it may be of some service to say that the German W should be invariably pronounced as V. Losdon, September 26, 1831. CONTENTS.

Letter I

The voyage from London to Rotterdam — Helvoetsluys — the Maese — Dordrecht Page 1

Letter II

Aspect of Holland — Rotterdam— statue and house of Erasmus — the church of St. Lawrence — the great dyke — evening Bervice at the cathedral — arrival of the Queen of Holland — departure for the Hague ......... 2

Letter III

The Hague — the House in the Bush — Dr. Capadose — the late King's palace and pictures — the Vy verberg — the Binnenhof — the Museum — Schevening — the Bazaar — aspect ofthe town — anecdote of Lord Godolphin — religious aspect . . .6

Letter IV

Amsterdam — Mr. de Liefde — the Royal Palace — the Museum — the harbour — the North Holland Canal — Zaandam — Broek — a dairy — Mr. de Liefde, and the aspect of religion . .13

Letter V

Amsterdam continued — the railway station on Sunday morning — Haarlem — Heemsteed — the Rev. Dr. Beets — his pupil — Haarlem, the Rev. Mr. Hugenholtz — Amsterdam — Mr. da Liefde and friends to tea . . . . . .21

Letter IX

Journey to Berlin — culture of the poppy — the river Havel — visit of the Rev. G. W. Lehmann — the Rev. Mr. Kuntze— Professor Lepsius — the Museum — its facade — the Sculptures — the Gallery of Paintings — the new Museum — the Egyptian department — the Castle— visit to Mr. and Mrs. Lehmann — interview with some members ofthe Baptist church . . 43

Letter X

Potsdam — tomb of Frederick the Great — Charlottenhof — the Roman Bath — the New Palace — the Old Palace, or Sans Souci — the Mill of Sans Souci — the New Church — aspeut of the town — Charlottenburg — musical commemoration of the death of the late Queen — the grounds and the mausoleum — the Thier-garten . . . . . . . ,51

Letter XI

Service at the Baptist chapel — the morning service — the kiss — the afternoon service — the communion — evening party at the house of the Rev. Mr. Kuntze — remark of the Rev. Dr. Krummacher — the address to the Bishop of Exeter — the Baptists — the social salute 57

Letter XII

Berlin — recent origin of the kingdom of Prussia — bad site of the city — its public ornaments — the new monument to Frederick the Great — the Linden — the Brandenburg gate — the Cathedral — the Royal University — general remarks — political feeling . . . 65

Letter XIII

Hamburg — the Alster — crowded state of the hotels— visit from the Rev. J. G. Oncken — the Triennial Conference of Baptist churches — the fraternal kiss — proceedings of the Conference — dinner at Mr. Oncken's— the Elboe — drive through the town — Altona — the tomb of Klopstock . . . .71

Letter XVIII

Hamburg continued — attendance at the church of St. Peter — the clerical dress— the congregation — the preacher — a costume — attendance at the Baptist chapel — English sermon by Dr. Steane — dinner at Mr. Oncken's — evening service — baptism — the Lord's supper —the farewell . . . . .95

Letter XIX

Hamburg continued — its general aspect — want of grandeur in public buildings — local usages and antique costumes — its spiritual condition — dread of the Baptists — political feeling — the Austrian garrison ....... 102

Letter XX

Departure from Hartzburg — the Elbe — Harburg — Hanover — Brunswick — the Dukes of Brunswick — outline of the Hartz mountains — arrival at Hartzburg — ascent of the Brocken — the valley of the Use — descent of the Brocken, to Elbingeroda — arrival at Veringeroda 108

Letter XXI

The Hartz continued— visit to the Castle of Veringeroda — Blankenburg Regenstein and the Devil's Wall — the Bodenthal — public roads lined with fruit trees— indolent toll-takers — whitewashed stones . Hi

Letter XXII

The Hartz continued— visit to Ross Trappe— the legend— ascent of the mountain — Christian Wise— the leap— the prospect — the echo — descent of the mountain — the detour— the Lover's Stone— Magdeburg— Halle— Mr. Pulsford — the Rev. Dr. Tholuck— the Cathedral— the Orphan House— general aspect of Halle — Leipsic — arrival at Dresden . . .118 CONTENTS. XII

Letter XXIII

Dresden — the Picture Gallery — the Green Vault— the Orangerybust of the late King— the French battery— the Zwinger— the Armoury— the Cafe' on the Terrace of Briihl — the Sabbath — attendance at the Protestant church — attendance at the Roman Catholic church— celebration of the mass — reflections — a wedding — the Rev. Dr. Harless .... 131

Letter XXIV

Dresden continued — departure of Dr. Steane and my other friends — the Japanese Palace — the Porcelain collection — the Royal Palace — the Cafe — the Archery . . . . . 1 45

Letter XXV

The Saxon Switzerland — my guide — course of the Elbe — Ottawald Grund — Bastei — on the formation of the region — the Amstel Grund — Hochstein and the Wolf's hole — Brand and the Tiefer Grund — the Kuhstall — the Great Winterberg — the Bohemian frontier — the Prebisch Thor — the conflagration — valley of the Kamnitz — Kirnitschretschen — the mouth-organ — legends . 150

Letter I

Rotterdam, July 10th, 1851. It is eleven o'clock on Thursday morning, and we are at luncheon at the New Bath Hotel, Rotterdam. We have had an entirely safe voyage, and one as pleasant as such things may ordinarily be. It came on to rain yesterday about tea-time, which shut us up early in the cabin, and the ship rolled a good deal while out at sea, so that there was not much sleep ; but we have had a fine morning, and have enjoyed our trip up the Maese, one of the many outlets of the German waters collected by the Rhine, to this city. We arrived at Helvoetsluys, at the mouth of the river, about six o'clock, and there put out our mail, which gets to Rotterdam more quickly by land, and took in a couple of severe-looking custom-house officers, with whom our captain found it a bard matter to agree.

From thence we proceeded between dykes, or high banks of earth (often crowned with long lines of trees), raised for the purpose of damming out the water from the land : some of the older ones were partially undermined and ready to give way, while some of more recent B THE MAESE. date were evidently constructed at a distance within the line of others which had been washed away. We saw a steamer entering the East Scheld, plying from Rotterdam to Antwerp with passengers for the train to Brussels and Paris. We also passed several towns, but I do not think any worth particular mention except Dordrecht, or Dort, the town in. which was held the celebrated ecclesiastical synod, by which Calvinistic doctrines were affirmed as the creed of the Re formed church in Holland, against the Remon strants, or the Arminians of that day.

The broad and deep waters we have been navigating are frozen in the winter, and sometimes admit, not merely of hosts of skaters, but of the passage of very heavy bodies. A severe frost materially aided the conquest of Holland by Napoleon, since it enabled his army to cross, on the ice, rivers which would otherwise have been impassable in the presence of an enemy. Two ships of war are said to have been upon that occasion captured by cavalry. We are of course somewhat wTeary, but we hope soon to shake off the influences of our voyage.

Letter II

The Hague, Thursday Evening, July \tith. We have been much interested in the general aspect of Holland, which is certainly very peculiar, and even wonderful. A large part of the country is, as you are aware, below the level of ROTTERDAM. 3 the Sea, having in fact been rescued from it by massive and extensive dykes, constructed with immense labour and expense, and with no little labour and expense maintained. The sea, indeed, is making frequent, and sometimes fearful re prisals. In some parts the water channels, both river-courses and canals,* are so numerous and so broad, that the country may be said to constitute a region of islands; and these are so low, that they seem rather to float in the expanse of waters than to be securely fixed. It is scarcely using an unwarrantable metaphor to call this country " A. land that rides at anchor, and is moored."

Rotterdam is a fine town, characteristically Dutch, and to us, who see Holland for the first time, very entertaining. It is the second town in Holland for commerce, being inferior only to Amsterdam. Its quay, which is planted with trees, and has from this circumstance an aspect something like that of Cheyne Walk at Chelsea, is busy, and well occupied with vessels of the first class. Much of the emigration from Germany to the United States is effected through this port : and at the present time three large vessels are loading with these voluntary outcasts from their native land. Canals, full of shipping, run through many of the principal streets, and the forest of * It mav seem strange that, where there are so many rivers, there should be also canals. The canals, however, are the spaces origi nally lest between the embankments, then shallow, but now deep ened bv the current of the water pouring through them. b2 ROTTERDAM. dead trees (if I may so call the masts of ships) mingles curiously with the branches of the living trees which flourish vigorously on both sides of them.

Among the costumes, the most striking we have seen is that of the female Frieslander, from North Holland, who wears on each temple a broad plate of gold, the two plates meeting in the centre of her forehead. Rotterdam is the native place of Erasmus, and we saw both the house in which he was born (now a gin shop), and the fine bronze statue in the market place which commemorates him. Just opposite to this monument we found some tempt ing strawberries, deliciously fresh, and we purchased for two pence, not a pottle, but a basket ful. As it was not convenient to carry so large a quantity with us, we were under the necessity of eating the fruit on the spot ; a performance which caused no little merriment among the spectators, and might have provoked a smile from the grave reformer himself, if he had been in the flesh in stead of in bronze.

We then proceeded to visit the cathedral, or church of St. Lawrence, the exterior of which struck us disagreeably as built of brick, an infelicity to be ascribed, no doubt, to the great difficulty of procuring stone in such a region. The interior is spacious, but unfinished, and we did not find in it much to admire. The enormous magnitude of the dykes, or dams, in this country may be judged of by the fact, that the Hoog Straat, or High Street of Rotterdam runs ROTTERDAM. 5 along the top of one of them. Our guide stated to us that this dyke extended continuously for a hundred and fifty miles, and that by a breach in it a large part of Holland would be submerged. He assured us also (but I have no other authority for the fact) that the interior of Holland is so low that the top of this dam is on a level with the summit of the church steeple of Utrecht.

On returning from our walk we dined, and after dinner some of our party went to the cathedral, where there is service, including a sermon, every evening at five o'clock ; they were pleased to find a respectable and attentive congregation of about eight hundred persons, and they remarked this peculiarity, that the men put on their hats during the delivery of the discourse. About seven in the evening, the firing of cannon announced some extraordinary event. " There is the queen of Holland," exclaimed mine host, with whom I was engaged at the moment in exchanging English sovereigns for Prussian paper. And sure enough it was the queen of Holland, on her return from a tour up the Rhine, in a steamer, which saluted the town with some seven or ten guns. I was not able to see her majesty, who merely landed and entered her carriage, which was waiting to convey her to the Hague ; but some of our party who happened to be walking at the time witnessed the whole scene, and they informed me, that although a few spec tators were attracted, there was no expression or appearance of feeling, as under similar circum stances there is in our own country.

I was indeed, struck with the circumstance, that, instead of the town saluting the queen, it was the queen who saluted the town. Having seen all that seemed worth attention in Rotterdam, and being anxious to make the best of our time, we set off by train at a quarter before eight, and reached this place, twenty-four miles distant, in three quarters of an hour. A day's work is cut out for us to-morrow, of which I will give you some account when it is done.

Letter III

The Hague, Friday afternoon, July Wth. We have spent the day (which howrever has been strangely cold) very pleasantly. Before eight in the morning, and without having break fasted, we started (having hired for the day a carriage holding the whole party) for the House in the Bush, a palace about a mile and a half from the Hague, the drive being through a beautiful wood, or park, something like Kensington Gar dens, but more extensive, and more thoroughly rural. It was the more agreeable, because the free growth of the trees here permitted, formed a pleasing contrast with the long and almost inter minable rows of trees which we had seen any where else. The House in the Bush consisted originallv of a single apartment, of much splendour, erected by the grandmother of our William III. in honour of her husband, Prince Frederic Henry, of Orange ; to this apartment others have subse quently been added, and the primary one is now called the Great, or Orange Hall.

It is a kind of mausoleum, very gorgeous, and covered with pictures, historical or allegorical, to the remotest corner. To these pictures the connoisseurs allow but little merit ; the effect of the whole never theless, is grand, and I was glad that I did not know how critically to examine the paintings. In the other apartments of this palace, which is never used as a residence, but serves for festival occasions merely — on occasion of a recent royal mar riage a ball was had in the great hall, — are some exquisite Japanese draperies, presents from the court of Japan, with which we, the ladies perhaps especially, were much interested. Having sufficiently gratified ourselves with the survey of these apartments, we returned to breakfast with a vigorous appetite. At ten o'clock we set out again.

Dr. Steane and myself called on our way on Dr. Capadose, a physician, a descendant of Abraham, a man of letters, and a man of piety. He received us most cordially, and gave us some interesting inform ation of the religious condition of the city and country. The party then visited the palace of William IL, the private residence of the late king. This monarch formed a large and valuable collection of paintings, and built for them a splendid but ill-lighted hall, in the Gothic style; but as the pecuniary value of these pictures was necessary to the settlement of his private affairs, the collec tion had been a year ago advertized for sale, and many of the finest pictures had been already dis posed of. The remnant were in a good deal of confusion, but the examination of them afforded us considerable gratification.

Being unable, on account of the presence of the Queen, to view the interior of the royal palace, whicli is is quite a modern building, and of very moderate pretensions, we drove across the Vyver berg, an open space near the centre of the town, having a promenade of shady trees on one side and a piece of water on the other, to the Binnen hof, a quadrangular mass of buildings, of which the large room, called the lottery office (the state lottery being drawn there), constitutes one side. This is a fine old Gothic hall, not altogether un like Westminster Hall, and is the oldest edifice in the Hague, the only remaining fragment, indeed, of the original palace of the Counts of Holland. In front of it, in the year 1618, was beheaded, at the age of seventy-two, Barnwell, a virtuous and patriotic statesman, whose death reflects last ing dishonour on the prince by whom it was perpetrated.

The chambers of the States General, or Dutch Parliament, and other public offices, are in this square, which altogether is called the Bin nenhof because it anciently formed the inner court of the palace. From the Binnenhof we proceeded to the Mu seum. Here we were in the first instance at tracted by the Japanese exhibition, an extensive and unique collection of articles from that country, the formation of which was facilitated by the peculiar commercial and diplomatic relations so long maintained between it and Holland. Having somewhat rapidly surveyed this collection, which seemed like a new apartment in the British Museum, we entered the Picture Gallery, which is under the same roof, and in which we found ourselves highly gratified. Confined almost en tirely to the works of the Dutch masters, it is said to have in this department scarcely a rival in the world.

Little skilled as we were for the most part in the criticism of painting, we could at least tell when we were in the presence of pictures which affected us strongly ; and the force with which our attention was riveted to them, bore an unequivocal testimony in favour of the Young Bull, by Paul Potter, a picture which was classed as the fourth in merit at the Louvre, when that palace was filled by the ambition of Napoleon with the spoils of almost all the galleries of Europe ; and of the anatomical class, by Rem brandt, a picture in which a surgeon, attended by students, is represented as commencing the dis section of a dead body. Many other pictures interested us, but it would not interest you if I were to name them in detail. Our heads and eyes being wearied by this B SCHEVENING. exertion, we drove off to Schevening, a village and bathing place on the sea-shore three miles distant.

It is very much resorted to by the aristocracy, and is called the Brighton of the Hague. There we walked for half-an-hour re freshingly on a fine dry sand, among stout fishing boats evidently intended for the roughest of seas, and were entertained by the sublime music of a high rolling surf; the sand-hills, or dunes, how ever, which are here of considerable altitude, prevented our having a view of the sea till we were close upon it. The dunes are at once useful and dangerous; useful, insamuch as they present an effectual barrier to the sea, and dangerous, inas much as the sand is liable to be transported in large quantities over the country by the winds: for both reasons, consequently, efforts are made to retain them in the place they occupy, by sowing them with the seeds of plants adapted to grow in such a soil.

Schevening is the place at which the second Charles embarked, when he came from his residence at Breda, a neighbouring fortress, to assume the proffered crown of England. From this village we returned by the old road, which leads through an unbroken avenue of trees to the Hague, and called in our way at the Bazaar, a very extensive asssortment of splendid Japanese, French, and other goods, for which there is a great sale. We admired these articles very much, but we should have admired them more if we had not lately seen the Great Exhibition. A few small purchases were effected by some of our party. Afterwards we made in our carriage the circuit of the town, greatly pleased with it as a whole, and we reached our hotel in time for the table d'hote, at half-past four. The Hague, now a town of more than 60,000 inhabitants, has no commercial importance, but has sprung entirely from the residence of a court.

In olden time a Count of Holland built himself a solitary summer residence here on the wild, and it was known by the humble appellation of S'Graven Hage, or the Count's Hedge. Gradually a village arose ; and, inasmuch as, notwithstanding the large increase of its population, a municipal body was not created in it, it continued to be called a village, and it acquired the distinction of being the largest village in the world. Very recently it has been endowed with municipal institutions, and it is now a town. It vicinity abounds with pleasant walks, all of them open to the public, and it may be pro nounced a most agreeable residence. It is related of Lord Godolphin, who resided for several years at the Hague with his brother, the Earl of Gran ville, the British ambassador to the Dutch court, that being fond of solitude, he endeavoured to find a walk in which he might be alone, and that at leno-th he found one of the most beautiful in which he never met with more than one person, and that one always the same, apparently an old farmer.

He now thought that he could secure his object if he could cause this old farmer to retire, and after executing some ingenious plans of annoyance, he arrived at this result. Scarcely had he begun to enjoy his solitary walk, however, before he was invited to dine with the King, in whose person he discovered, equally to his astonishment and regret, the seeming old farmer whom he had driven from his favourite promenade. The religious information which Dr. Capadose save us this morninowas in substance, that the number of pious persons is sensibly increasing in the Hague, and more rapidly among the higher classes than the lower; but that this result is effected chiefly by conversational means, and with out any ecclesiastical organization. Of the na tional Dutch church he speaks as lamentably, if not universally, remote from an evangeli cal character; but among the French churches he recognizes one devoted evangelical minister.

The Remonstrants he describes as little better than Rationalistic. There are no Mennonites in the Hague. Amsterdam, Saturday morning, July 12. With much regret passing by Leyden and Haarlem, we arrived safely in Amsterdam last night, at half past ten. Now, at ten this morn ing we are setting out, with a carriage and a com missioner, to see the lions of this great city ; but as my paper is nearly full, and as I shall not be able to send to-day if I do not close it now, I finish for the present. AMSTERDAM. 13

Letter IV

Amsterdam, Sunday morning, July 13th. Much has happened since I finished my letter yesterday morning. With our carriage and our commissionaire, we set out about ten o'clock to call first at the post-office, where, to the general disappointment, no letter was found for any of the party. Our next call was on Mr. De Liefde, a gentleman previously known to Dr. Steane and myself, by whom we were kindly welcomed, and without delay accompanied to some of the principal places of attraction. The first of these is the royal palace, formerly the Stadt-house, which is of great extent and splendour, although scarcely deservinothe rank which some have conferred on it, as the ninth wonder of the world. Externally it has no especial grandeur, but it has one sin gularity, by which I suppose it is distinguished from every considerable edifice in the world — it has no front entrance, the only door is behind.

Many of its apartments are very fine ; and one, the ball room, is truly magnificent It is 120 feet long, 120 feet high, and 70 feet wide; it is lined with white Italian marble, and is adorned with sculp tured bas reliefs, some of them of great beauty. It struck our whole party as altogether the most splendid private room we had ever seen. The principal piece of sculpture at one end of the room has this peculiarity, that one of the figures is covered with a white linen cloth. Upon inquiring why this particular figure is concealed (for concealment is the object), you are informed that it is the figure of death, and that the linen cloth is thrown over it because such an object is too painful when associated with the dance. There is a true and touching moral in this circumstance, and an affecting confession too.