Rambles in Europe: in a series of Letters

Front matter

RAMBLES m EUROPE: IN A SERIES OF FAMILIAR LETTERS. BY EEV. M. TBAFTON, M. A. BOSTON: CHARLES II PEIRCE AND COMPANY. No. 5 C 0 R N n I L L . 1852. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, Er CHARLES IT. PEIRCE, In tbe Clerk's Office of thc District Court of the District of Massachusetts. Printed by George C. Rand. TO G. W. PICKERING, ESQ., WHOSE CENEEOSITY 8ECTJBED TOE GRATIFICATION OF A LONG CUF.EISHED DESIRE, Eijis BUnprrtcnrjinis "tToIumr IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. DT IIIS OBLIGED AXD CT.ATEFUL FF.IEND, THE AUTHOR.

Introduction

. "When the writer of the following letters left home for a short tonr in the " Old World " he promised some friends an occasional letter for the periodicals of which they were the edilors. He endeavored to fulfil this engagement, and a number of these letters were issued in the Zion's Herald, and others in the Ladies' Repository, published in Cincinnati, Ohio. Some of the letters were brought home by the writer, and subsequently published. It was his practice to take notes of all that interested him; and these rough and imperfect sketches were subsequently filled up and brought into their present shape. But he had not the most distant idea of "writing a book;" and he feels that it is due to himself to say that it was wholly owing to an infirmity which attaches to his constitution, an inclina tion io yield lo tlie persuasion qf friends, that these fugitive letters are presented to the public in their present form.

He therefore begs the utmost forbearance of that worthy and high-minded fra ternity called critics, lest he should be forced to s,ay, " save me from my friends ! " The writer went out to see what he long desired to look upon — the " Old World." He has given his own views, boldly, but kindly. He has endeavored to write without severity; and if his English friends shall imagine otherwise, he begs to assure them that, while he has commented freely upon public faults and anti-republican customs, his heart cherishes none but feelings of kindness. He went out an American ; he came back unchanged. A* V VI

INTRODUCTION.

. The writer desired to see things as they were ; to visit thc Old World — not to gaze upon crowned heads, or mingle in the circles of wealthy nobles and an oppressive, purse-proud aristocracy — but to visit the people, and form his own opinion of their condition, sufferings and wrongs. He has expressed himself freely, and en deavored to give to those who may read his unpretending letters precisely the impressions made upon his own mind by a hasty glance at what came before him. His time was short, and he made the best possible use of it. He may have made many mistakes ; and, if so, no one can regret this more than himself. If he has wounded the feelings of an English brother, it was not intentional ; the fault was in the matter commented upon ; the sin, if any, he will hasten to confess. One word more : The writer does not come before the public as a teaclier, nor ill the usual garb and character of an author.

He attempts no dissertation upon political economy, no labored review of the constitutions and codes of the various governments of the lands through which he passed, no labored analysis of the causes of the "decline and fall of empires," — in short, he seeks to appear, not as a philosopher, but as a "looker on" upon scenes and things which flitted before him, and as a familiar correspondent with friends at home. And if these letters shall gratify those friends, or sill with healthful pleasure a leisure hour, or relieve for a brief time a heart pressed by a weight of care, or awaken sympathy for those whose lot. has not fallen to them in places so pleasant as ours, or increase gratitude to thc Giver of all good for this our " goodly heritage," the result will gladden the heart of their sincere friend, THE AUTHOR. Roxddry, Sept. 1.3, 1851. CONTENTS.

To London. Advice to Tourists. Railroads. Rules. Inside the Cars. Wine. An Incident. Taciturnity. Caste. Scenery. Arrival, - 44 CONTENTS.

Letter VI

London. " Voices of the Night." City Road Chapel. Among the Eminent Dead. Bunhill-Fields. Bunyan. Bank of England. Centenary Hall. Dr. Clarke. Monument. Old Church. Inscription on a Tomb. East India House- Streets. Billingsgate. Tower of London. Exploration. Martyrs, 52

Passage to Geneva. Incidents. Geneva. German Tourists. A Table D'Hote. Curiosities. Voltaire and Rosseau, - 259

Letter XXVI

A Bargain. Mode of Travel. Payerne. Home. Roads. Swiss Cottages. Friburg. A Postilion. Mountains. Berne. The Clock. Historic Reminiscences. Castles. The Old Minster of Berne. Route to Soleure. Church of St. Peters. Arsenal. Ancient Armor. Route to Basle. Basle. Erasmus. Zwingle. Seminary for Missionaries, ... 266

Letter XXVII

A Parting. Custom-House Annoyances. An Antiquarian. Soldiers. German Oppression. Duchy of Baden. Black Forest. Agriculture. Baden-Baden. Churches. Bishop Spencer. Gambling. Sabbath Evening, - 293

Letter XXVIII

Baden to Heidelburg. The Castle. Relics. Chapel. Confessional. Luther. A Table D'Hote. To Frankfort. Pas- CONTENTS. XI 306 toral Life. An Incident. Arrival at Frankfort. Hotels. The Poet Goethe. Military. A Museum. The Cemetery. Watching the Dead. Jews' Street. Mother of the Rothschilds, 308

Letter XXIX

Feace Congress. Delegates. Place of Meeting. Speakers. Gen. Haynau. Cobden. Emile Girardin. The People. Resolutions. Markets. Smoking, 324

Letter XXX

Leaving Frankfort. Mayence. Bridge of Boats, Taking a Steamer. Scenery. Bingen. Tradition. Mouse Tower. Joliannisburg. Ruins of Castles. The Brothers. Coblentz. Ehrenbreitstein. A Tale. Rolandseck. Seven Mountains. Bonn. Rafts of the Rhine. Cologne. History. Cathedral. Old Churches. Ancient Walls. Town House. Eau de Cologne. Arrival at Aix-la-Chappelle. The City. Hot Springs. English Chapel. Cathedral. Tomb of Charlemagne. Relics. Monument, - - - 333

Letter XXXI

Off for Ostend. Railroad. Belgium. Tunnels. Face of the Country. Taste of the Germans. Ghent. Brughes. Canals. Ostend. Embarkation. Back to Liverpool. Embarking for home. Passage Home. Incidents. Log-Book. Arrival, ----------

Letter I

Ship R. C. Wixthrop, off Newfoundland, I July 2, 1850. J My Dear S* I need not tell you, philosopher as you are, how myste riously a single ancl often simple thought will take posses sion of the mind, vi et armis, ancl with wonderful tenacity maintain its position against all reasoning, all testimony, all passion, until at last a simple fact steps into the arena, when, lo, the intruder flies without show of resistance, or so much as the shadow of apology. And this is anticipated pleasure. Now you must know, mon ami, that the sea has ever been to me an object of intense and absorbing interest. Tales of the sea I read with indescribable inter est when a mere child ; and how I longed to behold the sea : ancl well do I remember the first view I had of it. I had travelled all day, and put up my weary beast at night-fall, and settled myself comfortably in my home for TUMBLES IN EUROPE. the night, when a distant and indistinct murmur, a sup pressed moan, fell upon my ear.

On inquiring, I was told it was the sea ! I at once resolved to follow the sound ; and I travelled on foot three miles, until, at last, rising a slight eminence, the sea burst upon me in all its glorious beauty. It was overpowering ; I sat down and gazed upon it, listening to its sublime music, as it " Sung the deep, profound, eternal bass in nature's anthem, And made music such as pleased the ear of God," until the evening shadows mildly admonished me of the necessity of retracing my footsteps. Smile not at this, ye who have been reared on the sea shore, who have played from infancy with its crested billows, and sunk to repose under its soothing hum. Is it to you mysterious that a first view of such an object should fill the soul with such indescribable emotions ? Thousands of you have grown up in the smoke and din of a city, without ever seeinc the sun ■* o rise or set.

Shake off dull sloth, for once, and look upon this glorious spectacle, as the god of day rolls up, either from his humid ocean bed, and marches forth from his chamber behind some wood-crowned hill, or as he wraps his scarlet mantle about him and sublimely sinks to rest when he has accomplished his day, and then you will appreciate the feelings of a simple child of nature who wept when he first saw the greatest of God's works. You will not wonder, then, that to cross this wide waste of waters should be an object of strong desire with me. Well, the day came at last, and I was to realize my fondest hopes. My baggage was aboard, passengers were hurrying in, hands were shaken, cheeks kissed, eyes rained tears, the pilot was aboard, the word was given, "cast off the fasts, run up the jib," and the good ship " K. C. Win throp " swung off from the wharf.

We were afloat! top sails were hoisted, tacks hauled home, and off she started for a race of 3,000 miles ! Two hours took us down out side " the Graves," her course was set east south-east, and the pilot boat Phantom run up to us, sent a small boat, the pilot, wishing us a good run, swung himself into her, pulled away, and we are cut off from the New World. The breeze was light, and the surface of the water smooth, but by the time darkness came upon us the goodly city of Boston, with her tall spires and lofty dome, was below the horizon. I felt a sadness stealing over me, and repeating the lines, "My native land, good night," I went below and " turned in ; " but not to sleep, for the boards on which I lay were well seasoned, and, per conse quence, not so soft as green ones would have been ; and, moreover, as the adipose matter on my skeleton is in the minus quantity, the prominent points thereof came in im pressive proximity with the bottom of my crib.

My sad dilemma had three horns, and on these I hung, shifting my position like a skilful dialectician, from one to the other — and all the while endeavoring to quote some lines from the "Bard of Avon," " Sleep, gentle sleep, how have I frighted thee ; but I could get no farther, for evident enough was it to the most obtuse intellect howl had frightened her — I had not the " appliances and means to boot " to win her to my couch ! and so I turned, and tossed, and groaned — and finally turned out. But it is due to " Train & Co." that this matter be explained, lest not only sleep be frightened from my couch, but a stampede should take place among the dollars now wending their way to their pockets. I had not made up my mind to take this packet until the day she was advertised to sail, and then the state rooms were all taken up, except a small one.

This I took all to myself; but on this very day Eev. Mr. Thurston, of Maine, came up to take passage for Europe, and he could not go in this ship unless I gave him a part of my cuddy ; this I joy fully did, both for his sake and my own, for a compagnon du voyage with whom one is acquainted is a blessing not to be lightly esteemed. By dividing our mattresses after the first night we got on admirably. Father Thurston is a very sociable and agreeable companion, and I regarded it as a providential interference that he should be thus thrown into my company for this long, monotonous voyao-e. Let us return : Our first dinner found the table filled • seven English passengers, (four ladies and three gentlemen,) with four American, the Captain and his lady, make up the company in the cabin. By a curious kind of affinity attraction, one side of the table was filled with Americans, some of whom happened to be yankees !

We had two young men who, with their father, had come over in the steamer Asia four weeks before, to see the country, with a view to taking up their residence in it. Filled to the lips with the froth of royalty, they hurried on from Boston to Burlington, Vt., and thence to Hamilton, Canada, saw the country, " made notes of it," hurried back to Boston, the father getting back in season to take the Asia on her return trip, and the sons with us. And such a country ! not a decent thing in it. " Why, sir," said one of the ladies, (an aunt and a niece who came with them,) "we have not seen a joint of roast beef on the table since we came to Boston!" "But," said I, "madam, it is our custom to place these dishes on the side table, and serve them as they are called for ; did you call, madam, for these articles?

" " La, no ; we saw nothing but a little hash." " Americans, madam, are not so ostentatious ; there is less glitter and tinsel and more of the gold ; less flourish of plate and livery and servants and more of the substantial. At what house did you stop, madam?" The elder of the young men replied, " We went first to the Adams House, and then after a week to the Marlboro'." And no roast meat at either ? And now think of that. These green ones go home (if I do not cure them by the way) and publish all abroad, that in America they never eat roast 1* meat, but live on " a little hash! " Thus we are carica tured by the tourists of the Old World, who come among us with the least possible knowledge of their own country, and less of any other, prejudiced, bigoted, and stupid, their aristocratic olfactories snuffing vulgarity and barbarism on every breeze, their associates while with us but fleecing cabmen and saucy bootblacks, and then returning, report, " the Americans are a vulgar people, and livo on hash !

Now these young men had seen no part of England but their own county and the city of London, and so deplora bly ignorant were they of the geography of our country as to suppose that they had seen the most of it when they had passed through Massachusetts and Vermont into Upper Canada ! I took a map of the United States, one day, and spreading it upon the table endeavored to give them some idea of the extent of territory which they had not seen. They opened their eyes in wonder: " Possible ! great coun try — must see it — wish we had stopped longer — shall return," &c. An amusing incident occurred at the table one day, illus trating the prejudice of some foreigners against every thing American. A piece of fine cheese lay before us ; taking the knife, I said, " Shall I cut you a bit of cheese, Mr. P.?"

"No," said he; "we never eat cheese with pie or pudding, and then, it is not eatable — you'll see cheese when you reach England ! " " But this is fine cheese," said I j "it is delicious. ' ' He tasted it, ' ' Not fit to eat. " " But this may be an English cheese." " Not a bit of it — you'll see cheese." "Captain," said I, "where was this cheese purchased ? " He appealed to the steward — " Liverpool, sir." You should have seen our side of the table. If these upstarts are not older when they reach England, then there is no power in time ! But I have wandered a little ; but such is spray ; let us return to THE RECKONING. Your readers are all aware that when an individual ven tures out upon the sea, there is something else to pay beside the money for his passage. Here an independent power holds dominion, and no certificate from ship proprietors, nor passport from the Honorable Secretary of State, can bar these claims.

I said at our fust dinner tho table was well filled ; the next day, however, there were some empty seats. It was whispered around that the Old Man of the Ocean was on board, and was taking tickets, and, sure enough, we soon heard the responses to his inquiries in a number of the state rooms. Iu some cases the demand was at once met without a word of demur, but there was a number of Yan kees on board, and with characteristic caution, and an eye to the adage, " a penny saved," &c, they haggled with the old fellow for a reduction of the bill. But, inexorable as Shylock, he insisted on immediate and full payment ; and he usually carried his point. There was one case on board that ought to have moved a stone — an old English lady who had been in the States three years, and was now returning ; she seemed to have fallen mostly into the old chap's debt, for not a day of the voyage but she was dunned.

I could account for this only in one way ; with true pride and prejudice she longed for the flesh pots of home. " Indeed," she would exclaim, " she hoped soon to see some beef and mutton, for she had not seen any since she had been in the States." I fancied I could hear the old collector mutter, as he laid his finger on his nose, " I'll fit her to enjoy it ! Now, all this time, I, that is to say, your present correspondent, was either reclining upon the transom, reading, or walking the deck and laughing in my sleeve, as one and another were walked up "to the captain's office to settle," for as yet I had denied all knowledge of any claim of old Nep. upon me, and in vain did the old man hold up before my eyes certain little slips of parchment on which were simply written, " I. 0. U.," with a long mark as a signa ture.

I blustered, and affirmed them to be vile forgeries ; albeit I was conscious that I had passed his turnpike many a time and oft, and the obliging old gentleman had always passed me along, as one of the corps editorial is passed upon our railroads, with a single " all right, sir," and I had not dreamed that all this time he had been treasurino* up these items and reserving them for a future, final, and furious reckoning. But I resolved to stand out, and, assuming the independence of one who has been through chancery, I bluffed him off for a number of days ; but °at each visit he looked more thunderingly at me ; I also fancied I heard something about "unfathomed caves," " dark depths," — " my officer, John Shark." But I had no fear, but ate, and drank, and slept, as usual. But it is in vain for a debtor to endeavor to stave off the day of reck oning, or to think " to sleep and forget his poverty ; " it will come at last, On Saturday, the old grumbler came on board in a terrible passion, storming and raving like a Jew robbed of his rights ; he was accompanied by an officer, Æolus, whom he ordered to seize this luckless wight at once and off with him.

Matters were growing serious, and I endeavored to put him off by compromising the matter ; in vain — he had something else to do besides following a delinquent debtor so long, and then, giving me a terrible blow in the head, he brought me to my hands and knees, and then, O, mon ami, you should have seen me meeting old claims ! and all this time the old grisly beard stood by, saying, ' ' a good fellow — knew you were honest — hard to submit, eh ? — no one likes to part with deposits — hard, but fair," and then, when the full tale was made up, the old curmudgeon offered to treat me with a glass of salt water, and then slipped out of the cabin window, laughing, and saying, "you'll do." Such was the effect of this visit upon me that I could not hold up my head in com pany for three days ; it was mortifying to be dunned so before strangers.

But it is over now, and Nep. and myself are on the best terms possible, only I can see a sly curl in the corner of his mouth, when he comes on board, which seems to say, " You'll be older." There is little in a voyage across the Atlantic interesting either to the voyager or the reader of his jottings ; nothing occurs to create interest. Our first Sabbath was very stormy, and we could have no religious service on deck ; but we have had each day prayers in tlie cabin, and most of the passengers have attended with us. Our second Sabbath was a beautiful day, with light winds ; we saw on this day seventeen sail, all large ships but two. Eev. Mr. Thurs ton preached on deck to a goodly company. A number of Catholics listened with attention. We have on board, crew and passengers, in all, eighty souls.

When the weather permits we have evening prayers on deck, and a good number attend. Our third Sabbath found me sick with dysentery and unable to sit up, so that Mr. Thurston preached again ; but the attendance was thin, owing to the unfavorable state of the weather. We are now out three weeks ; we hoped to reach Liver pool in twenty days from Boston ; but we have had so many calms, that our progress has been slow ; yet this, so far, has not been a long passage ; to-morrow we hope to be in the channel. Land ho ! Joyful cry after being so long at sea ; and yet, we cannot say we have been long, — only twenty days. We are permitted at last to catch a glimpse of auld Lre land; but it is so thick that our view is indistinct. All this day we have been just moving and no more light breezes or dead calms.

But we have had an incident. Just at sunset we saw a boat on our larboard bow steerino* directly for us, with but little wind, but assisted by oars. She was soon within hailing distance, and we saw she con tained six images in the shape of the genus homo. One of them stood up in the stern sheets, and while his rags, like pennons, fluttered in the breeze, he hailed, " Sheep a hi." " Aye, aye," answered our mate. " What sheep is ye ? " " E, C. Winthrop," said the mate. "Where do ye come from?" "Boston." " What's the state of the counthry ? " " All quiet." By this time our visitors were along side, and such a looking set of human bipeds we never before saw. We threw them a rope, and two of them came on board. They had about a peck of small potatoes, which we bought, and some small fish. AVe learned that we were off Baltimore, Ireland.

I desired to go ashore with these fellows, as they offered to carry me in, nine miles, for five dollars, and pass through Ireland and on to Liverpool. But our captain said I should never see land, and so he vetoed my plan. We gave these fellows all the old clothes we could muster, a quantity of tobacco, and a bottle of rum, and sent them off. Alas, poor Ireland, whose line of coast we have been dimly viewing to-day, what wretched ness is thine ! What has the gospel of Christ done for these men ? What have their priests done for them? De graded them still more than they were. You may charge this upon government as long as you please, but the difference in the condition of the inhabitants of the North and South of Ireland claims another source for their ills ; and that must be their religion.

It is without enterprise — without spirit — without power ; it teaches submission to priests and monks, and no more. And this process breaks down the spirit, and strangles hope. When will the clay of her redemption come ? Not, I fear, until a change comes in her church relations. But I bid you good night, and seek my crib and sleep.

Letter II

My Dear S* On the night of the 20th of July, 1850, I was lying on the cabin floor of the fine ship E. C. Winthrop, Captain Sampson, master, striving to catch some sleep. I was on the floor, because my state room was so close, and I was so nervous, I wanted room to roll ; and a narrow box, two feet wide, ycleped a berth, afforded no sitting opportunity for so delightful exercise. Well, there I lay ; rolling to one side I brought myself against the partition of the cabin ; rolling to the other side, and I was mixed up with the legs of the table, which, being screwed down, could not get out of the way. It was now not far from midnight, and the ship was not far from midway of the Irish Channel, and between Holy head and " the Skerries," or about sixty miles from Liver pool. We had now been almost four days in the Channel, and still it was calm — a dead calm.

Smooth as a mirror was the water by day, and bright by night with the dancing light of the smiling skies above us. Friend S , were 2 you ever there ? I mean not in the Irish Channel, but at sea, in a long, lingering, monotonous calm ? How, at such time, one would willingly wrestle with a hurricane, or smile in the face of a tempest ! Twenty-four days from Boston ; six more than we had reckoned upon! Alas, it was " reckoning without our host ! " But let me return. As I lay there, between sleeping and waking, now dreaming of storms, and now contriving a small steam engine to be placed in the " run " oi sailing ships, with a screw wheel astern, I imagined I heard a sound like the distant blowing of a grampus, or the deep, stertorous breathing of an asthmatic; and soon I heard " voices of the night ; " and then we struck something; but how this could be was a puzzle, as we were lying still, and it did not occur to a man half asleep that possibly something might have struck us.

But something evidently was the matter, for there was hurrying to and fro, and confusion, and creaking of blocks, as the ytircls were squared round; and in a few moments the second officer put his head into the captain's state room, and sung out, " Steam tug along side, sir." Ah, good news! I saw through it, now. I recollected the day before the scene off Holyhead ; our captain had been hanging out some little strips of buntino', of various colors ; and then, looking through a glass, I had seen, on the highest point of Holyhead, some great wooden arms, moving up and down, like some doughty politician sawing the air with his awkward arms ; and heard them say they were telegraphing. Yes, thanks to science and art to the men who do head work — to Captain Mairyatt, for his system of marine telegraph.

Our pleasant captain had, by three little flags, told the man on the top of the mountain of Holyhead to haste and tell the agent of " Train & Co.'s " packet line, who was sitting in his office, No. 5 Water street, Liverpool, that the packet ship E. C. Winthrop was becalmed in the Channel, and to send down a steam tug to tow her up to the dock. The agent, in ten minutes, had the information, and writing a line, sent his man to the office of the " Steam Tug Co.; " and in ten minutes more, the little black, snorting Hercules was dash ing down the Mersey, to find the ship designated ; and, among many others, he knew her by her lights ; and, my sleepy reader, this was what struck us, and disturbed my dreaming. And now a slight ripple is heard under the cabin windows, indicating progress ; and the dull puff, puff, away ahead, indicating power.

I will e'en sleep again, and let matters work ; for it is dark, and I can see nothing, and am weary of deck-walking, albeit there is true poetry in it. Mynheer Doctor, when you have passed the ordeal of sea-sickness, and the winds are all sleeping — Æolus and Zephyrus, and Boreas and Auster, with all the lesser gods and goddesses of the genus ventus — when the huge ship lies, like a struck leviathan, rolling, in his last agony, from side to side, in the long, unsleeping ocean swell — the rising and falling of old Ocean's bosom in his heavy sleep, breathing — when all but the watch on deck are " turned in," and he is sound asleep on the forecastle, and the man at the wheel dreams of " home and all its pleasures" — when the skies are cloudless, and seem to have brought millions of new lights just for this occasion — then to wrap yourself in your ample Scotch maud, and, stealing out upon the deck, pace back and forth for an hour, alone with God and night : 0, this is poetry !