Personal recollections of a ten months residence in Berlin; also extracts from a journal kept in Paris during the crisis of 1839

Preface

. In dull country quarters, where many weeks of almost perpetual rain deepened the indigenous gloom, the writing of the following pages formed one of the principal amusements of the writer. They are now offered to the public in the hope that they will not be altogether uninteresting. To avoid the crambe repetita of tourists, the jour ney to Berlin, (which some may think had better been altogether omitted) is only hastily sketched. The writer has avoided local descriptions ; and en tirely refrained from trespassing on the copyright of guide books. He has therefore mentioned only what amused him personally, or that made too great an impression on him to be silently passed over. This last rule applies also to his residence in Berlin. For on subjects that he took no interest, whilst there, he VI

PREFACE.

. is, even now, completely silent : firmly believing that a traveller does better to confine himself to his own impressions, than, parrot-like, to repeat what he has perforce collected on subjects in which he takes no real interest. The writer regrets, however, that the lapse of time and the loss of some notes have prevented him from entering deeply into Prussian military details, — the discussion of which requires such extreme accuracy and information in order to be either interesting or profitable. To avoid the possibility of giving that offence, which the most innocent allusion to persons is apt to occasion in this sensitive age, the names in italics throughout the volume are substituted for real ap pellations. The journal in Paris has at least the advantage of containing the impressions of the moment, at an agitated period of the reign of the present king ; and may therefore possess some interest in the eyes of the light-reading portion of the public ; to whom this volume is now respectfully submitted. PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS, frc.

Chapter I

Passage to Rotterdam — Curious fellow-passengers — A circular story — Conj ugal tenderness — Emmerich — Mufti — Cologne — Coblentz — Military bands — Mayence — Frankfort. Towards the close of August, 183 — , having ob tained a year's leave of absence, I started for the continent, with an intelligent companion. Our final destination was Berlin ; whither, however, we had resolved to proceed at our leisure, via. the Rhine and Saxony. Our voyage in the steamer to Rotterdam, over a sea perfectly calm, wras delightful ; and the absence of all sea-sickness enabled us to observe, and to enjoy, the amiable and eccentric qualities of our B TEN MONTHS IN PERLIN. fellow-passengers. They consisted of all nations and of all classes. At one time I walked up to a knot of listeners, and there I heard a foreigner (probably one of the swell mob) discussing the merits of tobacco ; and mentioning — incidentally of course — what a capital cigar had been presented to him on the Boulevards of Paris by a peer of France !

Elsewhere, an English lady was endeavouring to astonish my friend by the description of her late wonderful success in Parisian society. How she had obtained tickets, which people of rank were dying to possess ; and how she had the good fortune to find her way into salons, where Mrs. This and Lady That were not permitted to show their faces. Then there was a prosy old gentleman, who also victimized my friend ; he was one of those old fellows, who get hold of your button, and begin talking of nothings with the most unwearied energy. He was never happier than when inflicting on his listener an intolerably circular story — without either end or point. I recollect, besides, a German bookseller with large pro truding eyes, who was eager to discuss with any one of politics and literature : and who had the audacity to prefer Schiller to Shakspeare.

But the most ludicrous incident whicli occurred CONJUGAL TENDERNESS. 3 on board, was the conduct of a married couple to wards each other. The gentleman had the air of a dashing shop-keeper of the first rank ; though, being apparently upwards of forty years of age, his exces sive dandyism sat very ill upon him. A bran new coat ; a velvet waistcoat, set off with gold chains ; black unmentionables ; silk stockings, and shoes ; formed altogether a dress fitter for a ball-room than for the deck of a steamer. His lady, who seldom left his side, was small, rosy-faced, and dark-eyed. She, too, was as highly dressed, in her own way, as her lord, and in the richest colours. Her face and figure were both pretty; and she took very little pains to conceal a charming pair of feet and ankles. The obsequious devotion which she paid to her lord was to me quite a riddle.

For his sallow face and narrow shoulders displayed nothing of the beauty or dignity of manhood ; though he certainly " sported" a good pair of legs. The attentions of the fair one were very ungratefully requited. They were re ceived with an expression of the most contemptuous indifference; after the fashion of husbands, whose wives make a great public display of their legal affections. What qualities, thought I to myself, does the man possess to excite such ardent and ap parently unreturned devotion ? Was it martial re- B nown that had dazzled her imagination ? This was naturally the finSvidea to occur to a youthful ensign ; but it Mas immediately dismissed as ludicrous. Could it be a great intellectual reputation ? I could trace no signs of such superiority on the physio gnomy of the great unknown.

It was a deep mys tery to me. After our hero had, silently and sul lenly, allowed his loving helpmate to wrap him up in his cloak — notwithstanding the mildness of the weather — he fell asleep. His wife, reading by his side, now caused the head of the adored one to re cline on her shoulder. She herself soon gave tokens of drowsiness ; the book gradually closed in her hands ; and she at length accompanied her lord in the arms of Morpheus. Her head now leant in wards, till she sat cheek to cheek with her husband, — forming together a triangle, of which their skulls were the apex, and the bench whicli they sat ou was the base. I subsequently learned that this great man was a celebrated equestrian performer.* So that, after all, he did really possess a considerable proportion of the renown which has ever been so fascinating to the fair sex.

For we are informed that in the days of ancient Rome the ladies of that classic city dis- * Since dead. EMM1.KICH. 5 played a similar taste ; and not unfrequently sacri ficed everything for the sake of a proved gladiator. We stayed a night in Rotterdam; another in Nimeguen ; and two nights in Cologne. At Em merich I went on shore for a couple of hours, while the Prussian custom-house officers were employed in inspecting the luggage on board. By mistake I carried away my keys, so the officers never troubled me ; and I afterwards found, at other places, that my military profession generally saved my things from being disturbed, as it was generally taken for granted that an officer could not be a tradesman. Whilst ashore at Emmerich, 1 had the satisfaction of witnessing a quarrel between two peasants.

After a good deal of verbal skirmishing had been carried on, the parties commenced cuffing and scratching each other, in a very contemptible manner. Suddenly, as if struck by a sudden thought, one of the heroes turned about, and walked away leisurely. His antagonist, after a moment's hesitation, adopted a plan a little resembling the fashion of Homers heroes, — who were occasionally great cowards, according to John Bull's ideas in such matters. He took up a large stone, and running after the retreating enemy, he dealt him a rapid succession of blows on the back, head, and neck ; and but for the interference of the bystanders, the consequences might have been serious. I made several pleasant acquaintances while steaming up the Rhine. A Spaniard, about thirty years of age and very handsome, and a young Dutch officer of chasseurs, were my chief favourites.

Whilst we were all three on shore at Emmerich, we entered a Roman Catholic church, where the Spaniard paid his devotions to a figure of the Virgin Mary, in one of the little chapels, after a very pic turesque fashion. The Hon. Miss , who with her married sister were our fellow-passengers as far as Cologne, was quite struck with the Spaniard's noble appearance. I, on the other hand, found the little Dutchman very amusing. He was a slight made, good-looking youth, without the least re' semblance to the vulgar boors we had figured to ourselves, in connexion with Mynheers in general. Like most continental officers when on leave,he was dressed half in uniform and half in mufti. He had on a plain frock-coat and neck-handkerchief, with his regimental trowsers and forage cap. The officers on the continent are always proud of their profession.

How is it that our young men, on the contrary, appear at times half ashamed of their uniforms ? The solution of this difference is easy : abroad the army COLOGNE. generally takes the highest rank ; which at home is filled by those of no profession, who live at home at ease. Plain clothes being therefore the fashion in England, our young officers, like the rest of the world, are na turally ambitious to be fashionable. Hence their dislike of being constantly in uniform. This I be lieve to be the real cause, of what the constraint of the dress is the commonly made excuse. I have alluded to some members of a noble family, who were amongst our fellow-passengers as far as Cologne ; and I cannot refrain from narrating an incident that occurred on board the steamer to the noble spinster. Amongst the many who ex erted themselves " to do the agreeable" to this amiable young lady, none had apparently succeeded better than a young and richly dressed Frenchman.

My judgment, or my jealousy, did not decide in his favour. I considered him to be very much over dressed for a gentleman traveller. But the Hon. Miss was profuse in his praises, — " So agreeable," " So well bred ;" in short, one upon whose brow nature had evidently stamped the gentleman, from which he turned out, indeed, to be only a very little way removed. He was neither more nor less than a gentleman's gentleman. His master, meanwhile, — a snuffy little old man in a long grey coat,— might easily have passed for a pawnbroker; nevertheless he in truth was a French marquis of the old regime. O ye imaginative travellers, trust not to appear ances ! The denouement of the story I did not learn till I was dining at the table d'hote at Cologne, where it was good-humouredly told me by the young lady herself.

On our leaving Cologne, we found on board the steamer, which was to take us to Mayence, an al most entirely new set of passengers. Amongst these were a German count and countess, so they styled themselves. But the forts and towns on our route declined (as proved by the firing of salutes) to respect their incognito ; neither will I keep the secret. The party consisted of the Dowager Queen of the two Sicilies, her chamberlain, two ladies, and other attendants. The ladies, with whom I got into conversation, (with the license of steam-travelling customs,) were very amiable, but, like their mistress, they were also very plain, to use a polite expression. There was another fresh importation in the shape of a raw young American, who had the misfortune to be lame, but who would have been very agreeable, if he could have forgotten even for a time his absurd national prejudices.

When the queen came on board, all the gentlemen, as she passed, stood up AMERICAN POLITENESS. and took off their hats, as in duty bound. But my Yankee friend remained sitting and covered. On my informing him of the lady's rank, he replied, " O, you know, in our country we acknowledge no princes nor princesses." In vain I lectured him, with youthful zeal, on the propriety of " doing at Rome as the Romans do :" he was all for doingat Rome and elsewhere as the Romans did, — in the days when that republic governed the world. In vain I urged that in not acknowledging the rulers of countries with respect, we in fact insulted, in their persons, the nations whicli submitted to their sway. I was throwing my pearls to a swine. He burst forth into the merits of universal liberty and equality. " But," said I, " ought slavery to exist in a free country ?"

To this objection he made a feeble reply, by an inconsistent reference to the aristocratic republics of Greece and Rome, where equality at least was quite unknown. In Rome especially, so long as it was a republic, the aristocracy possessed far greater power and privileges than they ever had in the days of the monarchy or of the empire. But a truce to politics. The steamer stopped for a few minutes at Bonn to land some passengers, and also to receive some new-comers. A bar was placed across the little M pier which led to our vessel, in order to prevent any one from coming on board before the necessary ar rangements had been made. I soon perceived the cause of these precautions. I happened to go to the gangway, and from thence I beheld, on the other side of the bar, a crowd of young men, all with similar caps on their heads ; whicli crowd continued to increase till it amounted to above forty persons.

These were youths from the University of Bonn, who were going upon an excursion to some place higher up the Rhine. When the bar was at last removed, they rushed on board in high spirits, and I hastened to secure a seat, which I foresaw would soon become a scarce article of luxury. The Queen, apparently startled at the youthful invasion, de scended to the after-cabin appropriated to her use ; and the students took possession of the quarterdeck en masse. They were very tolerably dressed. Very few of them wore long hair ; and altogether they were far from being the savages I had expected to see ; for I had imagined that German students were all like George Sands — young fellows with long locks, quite ready to shoot on the shortest notice any one who held political opinions which did not happen to meet with their approval.

The only uniformity that I observed amongst them was, that THE BONN STUDENTS. tlieir caps were all green, and of the same shape. Four of them carried in their hands long light swords, without scabbards. Whether they were thus armed with a positive intention of fighting a duel, or whether it was merely a prudent precaution in case a quarrel should arise amongst them, I never discovered. One of those who carried swords, appeared by his air and manner to be the principal personage of the party. He was rather tall, broad, and inclined to corpulency. He wore a light blue military-looking frock-coat, richly braided; which, together with a deep scar on his broad good humoured face, gave him a very warlike appearance. The students brought a band on board with them, to the accompaniment of which they sang, book in hand, many spirited German songs, in wliich the pleasures of liberty and students' life were not for gotten.

We were all getting more and more de lighted with their performances, when dinner was suddenly announced, and Ceres and Bacchus immediately beat Apollo without a struggle. All except the singers rushed to secure places below, there not being room that day to dine on deck as usual. The students, however, continued singing at inter vals, till at length from the cabin window we witnessed their departure in two boats. They still continued to sing in chorus, and the sounds gra dually died sweetly away in the distance. Their exit was as peaceful and picturesque, as their en trance had been boisterous and disorderly. Soon after the students had left us, the beauties of the Rhine, so long anticipated, began to deve lope themselves. Most of the English on board immediately commenced studying their guide-books, to discover which were really the beautiful views, while these were rapidly disappearing one after another.

Lord Byron's simple sonnet best describes the scene. But I must own that the vine, though it sounds picturesque, and calls to mind also many pleasant associations, is really rather an unsightly object in the distance. The small shrubs, planted in rows, have, as seen from the deck of the steamer, a most unhappy resemblance to rows of cabbages. On the morning after our arrival at Coblentz, I was awakened by military music, which was playing in front of the house next to our hotel. This was in honour of a newly-arrived general officer. There were two bands, the one Polish, the other Prussian. Both were excellent, but I believe that the Polish was considered the better of the two. Each band consisted of thirty-two performers, instead of the fifteen, which is all that is allowed by regulation to COBLENTZ.

English regiments. This rule, and the constant locomotion of our corps, fully account for the infe riority of our military bands to those of the continent. We visited, of course, the fort of Ehrenbreitstein, then garrisoned by a thousand Poles ; and we thence duly admired the scenery at the confluence of the Rhine and the Moselle. It being Sunday, we went to the church of St. Florian, where the singing and the music was well performed by the soldiers. In the course of the same morning we saw a great number of boats, filled almost entirely with women, setting off to go down the Rhine to Dusseldorf. The women sang together beautifully in chorus. We learnt that they had been celebrating an annual festival, and Avere now returning to their several homes. We were told that they would pray and siug psalms all the way home.

This feast was called the Bauerhof, or peasant's court. At the time we were in Coblentz, its garrison con sisted of about seven thousand Prussian soldiers, partly Prussian Poles. Through the wise government of the Prussian king, Prussian Poland was rapidly blending with its spoliators. King Frederick William was, in fact, a more formidable enemy to Polish independence than the cruel and haughty Nicholas : for the gentle measures of the former were more effective than the violent proceedings of the latter sovereign. At Mayence, we saw all the regular lions, which I need not stop to describe. Henry von Meissen spent his life in praising the ladies — I hope disin terestedly ; and in return he was carried by them to his tomb in the cathedral of Mayence. Happy man ! but most people would rather be so treated by the ladies while living.

The celebrated Guthem berg, who claimed the invention of printing, lived and died in the same town. He was a man of taste, and did not like the name he was born to ; so he changed it from Gausfleisch (Gooseflesh) to Guthemberg. He evidently differed with Juliet, and was of opinion that a nominal difference had its value, and that there was really something " in a name." He died in 1317. The town and the civil government of Mayence were in the hands of the Hessians. Their independence appeared to me rather problematical ; for while there were only sixty Hessian soldiers in the place, the Austro-Prussian garrison amounted to six thousand soldiers. The white uniforms and long gaiters of the Austrian soldiers were very picturesque, and contrasted well with the appearance of the rest of the garrison.

FRANKFORT. From Mayence, my friend and I proceeded to Frankfort, in voiture ; that is, we hired an open barouche. This is a pleasant mode of travelling for two persons, and not more expensive than the eilwagen or diligence. Moreover, one is thus enabled to stop and loiter as one pleases on the road. Of the hundred sights of Frankfort, I shall men tion but one : since my journey has not yet emerged from a too well-beaten track. The building styled " Die Romer" contains the room in which the em perors of Germany were formerly crowned, and also that in which they afterwards dined, waited upon by the ancestors of those who are now the crowned princes of Germany. Thus John Bull has the satisfaction of knowing, that for centuries, the greatest political measure in Europe was not considered complete without a public dinner, — but it was a dinner of which only one man partook ; the rest of the company standing around him, — as waiters.

In the dining-room, the pictures of all the em perors from the first Conrad to the second Francis, occupy each a niche in the wall. Two vacant places were left, some centuries ago, on each side of the door ; and, by this omission, the picture of Francis the Second fills the last niche — nearest to that of Conrad the First. The lovers of the marvellous are doubtless enraptured at the accident, by wliich the last of the emperors of Germany was obliged to fill the last of the niches. The two vacancies, left so long ago, can only add to the wonder ; since it seems as if the wearied fates had hurried on the term of the empire.

Chapter II

Journey continued — Weimar — Goethe and Schiller — Sad accident — Eckersberg — Weissenfels — Gustavus Adolphus — A post too late — Lutzen and Leipsic classical ground to the soldier. On leaving Frankfort, we hired an open carriage, the owner of which agreed to take us in four days' easy journeys to Leipsic. The first night we slept at Schluchten, and the second at Vach. Leaving Vach, we breakfasted at Eisenach. While this meal was getting ready, we visited the-Mark burg, the ancient seat of the Margraves of Thu ringia, and also the Wartburg, in which Luther had been temporarily imprisoned. The palace of the Markburg contained a room, in which Luther had lived, and a little chapel, or rather a small apart ment turned to that use, in which he had preached. One cannot stand with indifference in a pulpit which has caused such mighty changes in the world. c But that wliich I confess interested me most at that time, was the sight of a few complete suits of female armour, worn by some ancient Margravines.

The ladies of Europe, it must be owned, have sadly degenerated since those days. If they try to kill now, it is only with their eyes or their tongues ; but these sometimes make lasting wounds. Leaving Eisenach, we passed through Gotha, little thinking how that spot was to interest England only two years later, and we slept at Erfurt. The following morning, we breakfasted at Weimar, and visited the vault in which Goethe and Schiller's coffins lie, by the side of those of two extinct dy nasties of the sovereign princes of Germany. The poet of imagination, and the poet of sensibility, who abode together so much in life, now repose together in death. I confess that I concurred, and still con cur, with Young Germany, in preferring the generous, noble-minded Schiller, to the cold-hearted and sensual Goethe.

Genius, even when it stands alone, commands the devotion as well as the admiration of many, not only in its effects, but personally in the man. Others require the possession of nobler qualities even than genius, before they will extend their respect beyond the poem to the poet. But no poet deserves the love and veneration of mankind AN ACCIDENT. more than Schiller : for his object seems always to have been to raise high and noble thoughts in the mind, inclining it towards acts of generosity, noble ness, and patriotism. Goethe, with all his ideality, seldom appeals to the heart ; and what good can that imagination do, which addresses the head alone, — which pleases the fancy, but leaves all the nobler feelings of the mind untouched ? It was on our journey from Weimar to Eckers berg, where we dined, that a very sad accident oc curred.

When about a mile from the last mentioned place, we were just passing a four-wheeled waggon, when our driver suddenly pulled up his horses. We got out to see what was the matter, and found that a lad had fallen from the top of the waggon, the hiud wheel of which had gone over his head. His forehead was entire, but the rest of the face had as entirely disappeared, as if it had been buried under ground. The carter was most anxious that we should hear his testimony. He told us that the lad was a stable-boy belonging to the inn at Eckersberg, and that he was returning from a wedding wdiich had taken place the day before. He had begged and obtained a lift on the waggon, and being wearied with sitting up late the previous night, he had fallen c into that sleep, from whicli in this world he never awoke.

As we found that we could do no good, we de sired our hitherto humorous and phlegmatic, but now pale and terrified, driver, to hasten on to Eckers berg, promising the carter to send him assistance from that village, which was already visible in the distance. On our arrival at Eckersberg, we informed the people of the inn of the accident wliich had happened to their stable-boy. We then ordered dinner, although our appetites had suffered a sudden check. While dinner was getting ready, we ascended a hill with a view of inspecting what appeared to be the ruins of a castle ; but which turned out to be the remains of very ordinary modern habitations. A dirty old woman, with a dirty young daughter, as sured us, however, that there was something worth seeing on the hill ; — what that was, even my friend, though an excellent German scholar, could not ex tract from their patois.

We, therefore, followed in faith, nothing doubting our proximity to some regular lion, — the more valuable as we were now out of the regular beaten track of English travellers. At length, we were desired to look into a hole in a WEISSENFELS. garden wall ; where we had the satisfaction of be holding, in lieu of a lion, an old owl, and a young owl ! We returned to our inn uproariously merry, and with restored appetites. Just as we had finished our dinner, the heavy waggon arrived at the inn with the remains of the poor stable-boy. In a quiet, retired spot, a sudden death is very impressive ; and the high spirits into which the lion-owls had put us, were again damped as we caught a sight of the wheel, stained with the blood of what had so lately been a stout healthy youth. We continued our journey to Graumberg, where we slept.

This short drive was a very pretty one. Wooded hills, the Salle gracefully winding, and a fine old castle in the distance, filled up a pleasing landscape. The next morning, we visited Weissenfels. We went to the town-house to pay our devotions to the relics of the illustrious Gustavus Adolphus, whose body was carried to this house, after the battle of Lutzen. All fresh as I then was from the perusal of Schiller's " Thirty Years' War," I doated upon the memory of that great king and general, and gave vent in my journal to many fine things on the subject, with which, however, I shall not try my reader's patience. On leaving Weissenfels, and after passing the flat plain of Rosbach, where the great Frederick de feated the French, we arrived at Lutzen. About a mile beyond this town, and close to the road side, is the stone of the Swede.

The stone, which is per pendicular, bears the simple inscription : G. A. 1632. On another stone lying close by, horizontally, is the following inscription. GUSTAV. ADOLPHE. KONIG V. SCHWEDEN FIEL HIER IN KAMPFE FUR GEISTES FREIHEIT AM 7 N0VEM, 1032.* The stones are surrounded by benches of the same hard materials, and are almost entirely covered with name i. The whole is shaded by four lofty poplars planted long since. A poor little wooden post, standing close by, begs that all persons who may be * Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, fell here, fighting for liberty of conscience, on the 7th Nov., 1632. A GRATIS POST. desirous " of recording their visit " to the spot, would be so good as to do so on itself, and not on the stones. But this post had been too late, I suppose. At any rate, its request had been treated with the most universal contempt.

Whether conscience-struck, some of the travellers had been reluctant to stick a knife into a fellow-creature, — " A fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind," or whether their wooden heads had been urged on to mischief by their stony hearts, I know not ; but the results were evident. All the stones had been hacked with the hieroglyphics of personal vanity ; and the little post had been cut too, but not in the literal manner it so modestly requested. My friend and I spared both the stones and the post, — which though a gratis post, and, therefore, even more reasonable than that since established by Mr. Row land Hill, did not tempt us to write : for I was satis fied with " recording my visit " by the regular post, to my friends in England. The country between Lutzen and Leipsic is truly classical ground to a military man.