Loiterings in Europe; or, Sketches of travel in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, and Ireland

Front matter

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LOITE RINGS IN EUROPE;

Preface

The reasons for publishing, on the present occasion, are so much like those of other people who have written similar books, that, to prevent repetition, the author takes the liberty of referring for them to some other preface. One or two features in the work, however, seem to require a few words of explanation. It has been rather the result of accident than otherwise.

When about to embark for Europe, on a professional tour, some two years since, he was unexpectedly solicited by friends, to whose kindness he had been previously indebted, to write a few traveling letters for a leading journal, in which they were interested. He consented to serve anonymously, and thus appeared the earlier part of this volume.

Those most interested happened to be persons of strong re- Utrious feelings, and he was thus naturally led occasionally to express his more serious thoughts. Shielded by a convenient mask, on the other hand, each letter was a sort of confidential circular to certain friends in the secret. He indulged at will in detailing trifling personal adventures, as a relief to graver matters, and felt little restraint upon innocent playfulness. These buoyant feelings were as balm to spirits before depressed by care and bereavement, and he rather courted them.

Having thus begun, like some people in talking, he found it hard to stop. He journeyed farther, and wrote more than he

A

PREFACE.

expected ; and a combination of circumstances induced him afterward to finish the series in a small volume.

The free, gossiping style of the commencement was continued from choice. It seemed the most natural. He noted every change of cloud or sunshine that came over him, to convey to others the sensations of traveling. Such things are commonly read as substitutes for the exercise itself; and he treated the reader as an intimate companion, telling hira of his joys and sorrows, not to be egotistical, but to make the illusion more complete, and carry him, as it -were, to the spot. He hopes such confidence will not be abused. The better to accomplish his purpose, he sometimes designedly '^loitered^\ over the merest trifles. Like a landscape painter, if you please, he tried to make the picture more truthful by interspersing, among greater objects, blades of grass, insects, pebbles, and creeping flowers.

In addition, the writer has, from the first, firmly resolved to be good-natured. The peace interests of the world, and the softening of national prejudices, seem to require that the foibles of every people should be dwelt upon and reproved rather by their own countrymen than by strangers. We justly complained of certain foreigners, w^ho repaid our best hospitalities with libels on our political and social institutions. The writer prefers erring, if at all, on the side of charity. He is wdlling to forego the credit for patriotism gained by abusing our neighbors. He saw, every where, more to praise than to blame ; and, in looking at things on the bright side, he only followed the golden rule.

Few are more liable to imposition, from interested parties, than travelers ; and it is possible that, with all the care taken, there may have crept in slight inaccuracies.

With the advice of valued friends, a couple of lectures on European Charities and Poor, delivered while these sheets were passing through the press, and embodying materials gathered in attempting to execute a commission in behalf of a

PREFACE. iii benevolent society, with some emendations, have been inserted, in an Appendix. The local allusions they contain are merely applications of general principles, important to common humanity. The letter on Foreign Hospitals and Schools of Medicine explains itself.

In excuse for some of the defects of the work, the writer may state, that higher obligations have made it throughout a secondary matter. More than a year or more than half the time spent abroad, was passed in close confinement among the hospitals of Paris, Vienna, and London. His tours were mostly but long vacations, and his " Loiterings" often necessarily brief He endeavored to make up for these disadvantages as well as he could, by striving to improve every hour possible in sight-seeing and traveling, in all weathers and at all seasons. Many portions have been hastily written after fatiguing journeys, days spent in professional toil, or during hours stolen from needed sleep.

In conclusion, upon the subjects discussed, and all others, the author both yields and claims freedom of thought. He assumes no infalUbility, nor exemption from honorable criticism ; and simply desires, in return, that fairness and liberality which, in these pages, it has been his sincere desire to cultivate.

Brooklyn, March, 1848.

Chapter I

Page Sea Weariness — Last Storm — Land, ho ! — Mouth of the Seine— Eemark-

able Researches — Havre — Taking Portraits . . . . . 13

CHAPTER n.

New Quadruped — Normandy — Sudden Elevation — Rouen — Helps to

Memory — Carnival 19

♦ CHAPTER in.

A French River — Things Rural — Humanity in a Blouse — Chateau of Rosny — Railway — Paris — First Impressions 23

CHAPTER IV.

Easter in Notre Dame — Relics — Church of the Royal Family — Funeral in the Madeleine — Wesleyan Chapel — The Oratoire . . . .27

CHAPTER V.

F^te du Roi — Imagination— Place de la Concorde — The Tuileries — Champs Elysees — Living Statue — Arch of Triumph — Louis Philippe —Fireworks — Pericles ......*.. 33

CHAPTER VI.

Palais Royal— Flight of Fancy— The Louvre • • . • .39 vi CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VII.

Page Quartier Latin— Escape— Orleans— Jeanne d'Arc — Galvanizing History

—The Loire— Tours— St. Martin— Amboise 42

CHAPTER Vni.

Escape from a Pastoral — Shepherdesses — Vineyards — Chateau of Chenonceau — Blois — Salle des Etats-G6nereaux— Fontainbleau — Return . 49

CHAPTER IX.

A deep Subject — The Abattoirs — Hotel des Invalides — Chamber of Deputies — M. Lamartine — Chamber of Peers — Pere-la-Chaise . . 56

CHAPTER X.

Narrative Style — Illustrative Facts — Garden of Plants — Scientific Institutions— Life in a Madhouse — Politics , . ~. . . .63

CHAPTER XL

Introduction—St. Cloud — Sevres— Versailles — Journey to Boulogne — Foggy Reception-^London^Evangelical Alliance . . . .71

CHAPTER XII.

Trying the Nerves— Dover — Influence of the Moon — Ostend — Ghent — Brussels — Bold Design — Waterloo — Trip to the Rhine^-Cologne . 77

CHAPTER XIII.

St. Ursula — Happy Meeting — Cathedral — The Rhine — Ehrenbreitstein — Legend of Lurlei — Home Feelings — Fair at Frankfort . . .83

CHAPTER XIV.

Speculation — Ariadne — Madame Rothschild— The Bergstrasse — Heidelberg— Baden-Baden — " Conversation House " — Strasburg — Basle . 89

CHAPTER XV.

Styles of Traveling — Innocent Amusement — Basle Campagne — Lake Sempach — Arnold of Winkelried — Lucerne — Singular Tradition — Ascent of the Righi . . . . . . . . , .96

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVI.

Page Lake Lucerne — T ell's Chapel — Night Adventure — Tour in Oberland —

The Wengern Alp . . . 104

CHAPTER XVII.

Interlachen — Knightly Feat — A Fair — Taking an Observation— Lake Thun — Bei'ne — A Wandering Journeyman — Neuchatel . . . 109

CHAPTER XVin.

Neuchdtel to Geneva — Savoy — Chamouny — Mer de Glace — A Failure — Alpine " Curiosities of Literature " — Mont Blanc from the Flegere —Chamois Chase with a Walking-Stick — The Tete Noire . .115

CHAPTER XIX.

Distant Beauty — The Vallais — St. Bernard — Ghillon — Lausanne — Lake Geneva — Revolution ....... ... 123

CHAPTER XX.

Lyons — Misty Visions— Sad Memorials— The Rhone— A\agnon — Ragged Escort — Palace of the Popes — The Inquisition . . • . . 130

CHAPTER XXL

Exuberance — Vaucluse — Nismes — Roman Antiquities — Pont du Gard — Marseilles — Marine Discovery — Bay of Genoa 135

CHAPTER XXIL

*< Fond Anticipation "^ — Genoa — Ancient Costume — Shadowy Reflections — Politics and Trade — Palaces — Chiesa Annunciata . . . .141

CHAPTER XXIII.

Sea Retirement — Leghorn— Toleration — Civita Vecchia — A Dilemma — The Campagna — Rome . . • • • • • • • ^^^

CHAPTER XXIV.

Eoman Impressions— Pantheon— Airy Visions— Capitol— Dying Gladiator—The Pope—" Taking Possession." . . ... . 150 viii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXV.

Page Romantic Weathei' — Coliseum by Moonlight — Suspicious Visitor — -Trajan's Column— The Forum — ^Arch of Titus — Santa Scala . . . 156

CHAPTER XXVI.

" Caught Napping " — Subterranean Celebration — St. Peter's — Sistine Chapel — The Vatican — Last Judgment — Raphael's Transfiguration — Baths of Dioclesian .......... 162

CHAPTER XXVn.

Adieu to a Breakfast — Italian Village — Papal States — Monk in a Minority— Monte Cassino — Capua — Vesuvius — Skirmish with Lazzaroni . 168

CHAPTER XXVIII. "

Bay of Naples — Street Customs — Lazzaroni — " Gallant . Friend " — Virgil's Tomb— Grotto of Posilippo — Sibyl's Cave — Elysium — Pompeii . 174

CHAPTER XXIX.

Neapolitan Ethics— Swiss Soldiers — Gastric Insurrection — Pisa — Leaning Tower — Duomo^Campo Santo — A Recitation .... 180

CHAPTER XXX.

Italian Railroads— Vetturini — " Effort in Public "—Tuscan People

Florence — Powers' Greek Slave— -Ei)iscopalian Service . . .187

CHAPTER XXXL

Attack of Enthusiasm— Paintings— Pitti Palace— Memorials of Galileo — Adieu to Florence . . . . . . . ^ \ ^ ig^

CHAPTER XXXIL Crossing the Apennines — Sights not Seen— Bologna — San Petronio— St. Dominic —■ Monuments — University — Lady Professors — Leaning Towers . 198

CONTENTS. is.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

rage Early Rising— Moonlight— Lombardy— The Po—Ferrara— Italian Politics— Palazzo d'Este — Tasso's Prison . 203

CHAPTER XXXIV. '

Dull Entertainment— Crossing the Po— Nervous AfFection—Rovi go- Padua— Perseverance— St. Anthony— Classical Discoveries . . 207

^ CHAPTER XXXV.

Poetry and Steam— Bridging the Sea— Venice— Piazza of St. Mark- Cathedral— Stealing a Patron— Doge's Palace— Council of Ten- Bridge of Sighs 212

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Sentimental Habits — Housetop Reflections — A Gondola — Grand Canal — Bridge of the Rialto— Trieste— Crossing the Julian Alps— Carniola— Styria • • 217

CHAPTER XXXVII.

A Discovery — Locomotive Memorial — Gratz — Country Archduke — Iron— Smoke— Vienna by Snow-storm — Suburb City — Austrian Manners .

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Street Lecture — " Declaring Intentions " — Austrian Government — Education— Policy — Italian Question — Emperor and Empress — St. Stephen's— Monument . . . 228

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Crossing the Danube — Olmutz — Lafayette's Prison — Primitive Bed — Prague— Ziska's Camp— Memorials of Huss— Synagogue— Palace of Wallenstein . . . . . . ... . . 234

CHAPTER XL.

A Sleigh-Ride— Culm — Saxony— Dresden— Gallery— Green Vaults- King and Queen— Leipsic — Poniatowski's Tomb— Society of Gustavus Adolphus — Lutzen . ^42

A*

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XLI.

Page Affair of the Heart— Halle— Theological Lecture— Magdeburg— Wittenburg — German Manners — Luther's Grave — His furnished Sitting-room .....•••••••• "'^°

CHAPTER XLII.

Berlin— Brandenburg Thor — Unter den Linden — Chamber of Art — King —Government — Prussian System of Education — Army . . . 256

CHAPTER XLHL

Grateful Wishes — Misty Recollections — Mecklenburg — Korner — Hamburg— Hull — Route to London . 263

CHAPTER XLIV.

Glimpses of London . . ... . - . . • 267

CHAPTER XLV.

A Chapter of Fragments — Case of Rheumatism — British Association — Oxford — Yoi-kshire Elections — Lake Windermere— Coach-ride . . 279

CHAPTER XLVI.

Meeting on a Bridge — Attractive Scenery — Edinburgh . . . ,287

CHAPTER XLVn.

Route to Glasgow — The Clyde — Loch Lomond — Rob Roy's Rock — Race after a Pony — Loch Katrine — Stirling Castle — Bannockburn . 291

CHAPTER XLVni.

Prison at Sea — Belfast — Politics in a Coach — Drogheda — Dublin — Phoenix Park— Trinity College .297

CHAPTER XLIX.

Wicklow Scenery — Vale of Ovoca — Jaunting Car— '• Meeting of the Waters" — The Seven Churches — King O'Toole — Curious Legends — Return to Liyernool — Sabbath at Sea .....* 300

CONTENTS. xi

Appendix

EUROPEAN CHARITIES AND POOR.

Lecture I. — Institutions for Children.

Page Creches of Paris — Foundling Hospital — Children-Preservation-Insti-

tutions of Germany — Swiss Hospital for Young Ci'etins — Beggars at Rome — Industrial Establishment of San Michele — Moiite Domini at Florence — Labor Schools of Aberdeen — Juvenile Pauperism in Edinburgh— Ragged Schools of London — Letter from a Pupil — Orphan House at Halle — Herman Francke — Inferences — Robert Snow — Claims of Children 309

Lecture II. — Adult Institutions.

Lazzaroni at Naples-— Hotel of the Poor — Roman Dowiy Societies — Company of Mercy at Florence — Voluntary Workhouse of Vienna — Penny Savings' Bank at Berlin — German Poor — Silk Weavers of Lyons — French Poor-system since the First Revolution — Bureaux de Bienfaisance — Canaille of Paris — Poor-Economy of Belgium — Pauper Colonies of Holland — History of the English Poor-laws — Pauperism in Ireland — Famine — Soup Kitchens — Glasgow Night Asylum — Voluntary System in Scotland — Charitable Pawning Establishments of France and Germany — Concluding Remarks — Poor-Association — Parks — Hospital — Private Charity — Plan of a Benevolent Pawning Institution . . . . • . • • . . . 337

LETTER ON FOREIGN HOSPITALS AND SCHOOLS OF MEDICINE.

Hospitals of Paris — General Council — Bureau Central — Internes and Extemes — Sisters of Charity — Statistics — Hotel Dieu — Roux — Baron Louis — La Charite — Velpcau — Bouillaud — Hospital of St. Louis— xii CONTENTS.

Page HOpital des Cliniques— La Pitie — M. Piorry — Necker Hospital — M.

Trousseau — Civiale — Hopital des Enfans Malades — M. Guerin — The School of Medicine' — Faculty — Ecole Practique — Clamart — Private Courses — General Characteristics — Great Hospital at Vienna — Rokitansky — Advantages for Studying Pathology — Professor Skoda — Theories of the Sounds of the Chest — Wards for Teaching Auscultation and Percussion — Rosas — Opthalmic Department — School of Berlin Hospitals — Peculiarities of Practice — Schonlein — Baron Dieffenbach — Hospitals of London — Superiority in Surgery — English Practice — Edinburgh— Practical Advantages of the Dublin School — Excellencies — Expenses in the Different Cities — Recapitulation — Comparative Advantages — Conclusion ....... 373

LOITEEIIGS II EUROPE.

CHAPTER I.

Sea Weariness — Last Storm — Land, ho ! — Mouth of the Seine — Eemarkable Researches — Havre — Taking Portraits.

On a gloomy winter's morning at the commencement of '46 I waked on board the New- York packet-ship St. Nicholas, more than two thirds of the way across the Atlantic. Who but the initiated can describe the sensation of intolerable weariness — that second sea-sickness in the shape of a sort of subdued salt-water hydrophobia — that is felt in the latter half of a long voyage ? Every source of amusement seemed exhausted. Some of us had practiced the wildest and the tamest ship gymnastics ; others had desperately turned students, and perpetrated barbarous French and frightful German, or pei'severingly worried the poor sailors in learning their alphabet; and several had conspired to torment an inoffensive piano in the cabin, by giving nautical concerts, whose vehemence astonished even the performers.

Some allowance must, of course, be made for having one's imagination stirred by a boisterous winter passage like ours ; but, omitting the preparatory deadly loathings of sea-sickness — to be ** cabined and confined" for weeks or months— to gaze

14 LOITERINGS IN EUROPE. [Chap. I.

day after day on the same cheerless prospect of sky and water, varied only by clouds and tempests, till the chilly expanse seems fairly increasing in blueness — to sleep in fear of the floor, and to eat in dread of the affectionate flight of roast beef — seem almost too much for a peaceable endurance. I think I shall always, after this, have more charity for crimes and misdemeanors at sea. It is enough to make people desperate. Instead of retaining all my school-boy indignation against the Spanish crew of Columbus, it now seems rather wonderful that they did not carry out their purpose of making him take Jonah's leap, and try protracted sea-bathing as the hydropathic cure for ambition, instead of discovering our beautiful western world.

► With one exception, it had rained or snowed every day of the passage. In the edge of the evening the wind increased, the clouds grew blacker, and on came our last and most teriific storm. I had often read of such things, but I confess the reality far surpassed all my former conceptions. There seemed something ominous in the trumpet-voice of the captain giving orders amid the din of the tempest — the seamen hurrying in gangs about the decks, hastily furling the sails and dangling wildly

^ among the slippeiy yards and rigging. The uproar increased, and as you timidly staggered toward some object for support, you felt the ship heaving, rolling, and plunging like a thing of life, contending with a merciless enemy ; and suddenly, with a booming crash, a sea flooded her decks — you looked hastily around to see if any were swept overboard, and you felt beneath your feet a recoiling tremor, that seemed to run through every panel and timber. You strove to look abroad, but all was impenetrable darkness, relieved only by fitful flashes of lightning, and the foam of the angry waves ; you essayed to listen, and a continuous stunning roar, as of a hundred cataracts, added fearfully to a scene that was enough to make the stoutest hearts to quail. Below, our ladies shrieked ; the most boisterous became thoughtful and sad ; and faces that a few hours be-

Chap. I.] LOITERTNGS IN EUROPE. 15

fore were wreathed in smiles, grew horror-stricken and pale. Death is terrible enough on the softest couch, and soothed by those we love; but the prospect of suddenly sinking far from friends — of gasping and buffeting with mountain waves — of having your Hmbs mangled by the shark, or your requiem sung by howling winds, and the sea-weed for a winding-sheet, has in it something peculiarly appalling. While the storm still raged, a little group might be seen in one part of the cabin, drinking in, with strange earnestness, the beautiful and consoling passages which, in a voice faltering with emotion, one of their number read from the ninety-first Psalm.

Next day, toward evening, the wind abated, and the morning succeeding we were saluted with the welcome shout of" Land, ho!" We all rushed on deck in a tumult of joy. It was the dimly-seen headland on the English shore, termed the Start. As we glided along before a light breeze, the Channel became more thickly studded with sails. For the first time in our lives some of us had caught a glimpse of the land of our forefathers. Strange emotions were excited. It was the scene of a thousand incidents embalmed in story and in song. The very waters over which we were then being wafted seemed every where to call up interesting historical reminiscences. Across our path had once floEited the Spanish armada, with its mighty arms extended for miles, as if to grasp the shore ; and just to the northward it had first encountered its intrepid enemy. A little farther west, two centuries previous, Blake and Tromp had, for three successive days, fought for the empire of the seas ; and away to the south, the sea, then so tranquil, had been dyed with the blood of the French and English. At length, we saw the blue outline of Cape La Heve and the sunny hills of Normandy. Every one seemed to have his special reason for being delighted. Our excellent Captain H. was about to complete his first voyage in our superb ship in only eighteen days ; the Baron D, and the rest of the French passengers, after an exile of years,

16 LOITERINGS IN EUROPE. [Chap. I.

Stood rapturously gazing on their own La helle France; leaning with enthusiasm over the bulwarks was the tall, slender form of an only son, traveling for health, and about to leave with a fresher cheek; beside him, with a gladdened visage, rested one vv^ho sought, by change of scene, to soothe a heart almost broken by bereavement ; and close at hand v/as a young adventurer, about to realize advantages in study and travel, for which he had despairingly toiled for years. The gently swelling sails, the bright waters, and all the splendid panorama before us, were illumined, too, by one of the most glorious of earthly visions— a sunset at sea. As we looked eastward, the rich effulgence appeared resting as upon a mirror on the mouth of the silvery Seine, glistening from the chalky cliifs, and bathing in gold the winding shore ; and as we turned westward, the great centre of attraction seemed softening his rays with a ruby tint, and expanding his disc, as if to court a more intense gaze, and then tranquilly to melt away into the ocean ; and the gorgeous assemblage of clouds, steeped in violet, gold, and sunbeam, that gathered around, as if to do homage at his departure, appeared like the drapery of a brighter land than earth.

The sea was thickly dotted with fishing-boats, and at length a clumsy craft, more respectable than the rest, hoisted the tricolored flag, floated under our lee, and directly there clambered up the side an aquatic curiosity, said to be a French pilot. He wore a peaked, glazed hat, and a short jacket, expanding downward like a diving-bell, covering the apex of a body resembling the little jolly-looking picture of St. Nicholas on our stained cabin windows, or, in sea phraseology, his latitude nearly equaled his longitude.

The port of Havre can only be entered by ships during four hours of each tide, and we were forced to wait till morning, when we were towed in by a steamer. The entrance of the Seine is somewhat difficult, on account of the shiftincr-sands, and it was here that Sir Sidney Smith, in attempting to cut out

Chap. I.] LOITERINGS IN EUROPE. 17 a French man-of-war, got entangled and left by the tide, and his ship, like a huge monster, stranding, was forced to yield to a few Lilliputian gun-boats.

As we came alongside of the dock, there was a rush of porters vociferating the names of the hotels, and a scramble for our baggage that would have done credit to the Roman imperial amusement of throwing silver among a crowd, or the invasion of a North River steamboat. Directly, a tall gendarme, in a blue uniform, with a sword and mustache, touched his formidable military hat, pronounced the significant words, "Passports, messieurs !" and walked off with our papers. When we went on shore, another important personage, who might have been mistaken for one of the light-fingered gentry, but for the circumstances, with that inimitable poHteness peculiar to a wellbred Frenchman, went through the deficate operation of searchino- our pockets. There were also cool philosophical investigations as to the quality of our linen, and the state of domestic affairs in our trunks generally, at the custom-house.

There is naturally a strange sensation in passing suddenly into a country differing entirely from your own in language, customs, religion, government, or domestic habits ; and it is not to be wondered at that both European and American travelers should mutually have their prejudices shocked, and too readily form unfavorable conclusions respecting a people about whom the hasty tourist can know too little to sit as a rigorous judge. I happen to be a great admirer of the happy, well-meaning race of people known as the good-natured, and in my future peregrinations I have resolved, when allowable, always to prefer the sunny side of the picture. In conformity with these peaceable intentions, I was not disposed to abuse the good citizens for the faults of their ancestors, as I edged my way through streets a dozen or more feet wide, without the modern innovation of sidewalks. They were drained by a ditch in the middle, lighted above by lamps suspended in the same central

18 LOITERINGS IN EUROPE. [Chap. L

position by chains from the opposite six or eight-story houses, and paved with stones that might pass for Norman antiquities.

Havre is, on the v^^hole, an unprepossessing town to a stranger, belonging rather to the useful than the ornamental class. It contains, as most are probably aware, some thirty thousand inhabitants, and, from its American and cotton trade, its extensive excavated docks, and from its_ being the port for the principal manufacturing towns, it has been sometimes termed the Liverpool of France.

Toward evening we applied, according to custom, at the police-office for provisional passports, till those we had presented should be returned to us in Paris. One feels rather queer in being stared out of countenance while having his likeness taken by artists who (not being well paid for it) flatter so little. I feared that mine was alarmingly faithful, and so, without scanning it, hastily put it safely into my pocket. A youthful fellow-passenger, however, afterwards kindly obliged me with a glance at his, and I found that they had taken ah exact inventory of his flowing locks, forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, and features generally. As illustrating their singular minuteness, I may mention that, for want of other amusement on ship, and perhaps to prepare for the continent, he had been cultivating the downy symptoms of a mustache ; and the passport described his beard by the use of a glowing French term usually applied to the birth of flowers. Shortly after we took the diligence, by the north bank of the Seine, for Rouen,

Chap. II.] LOITERINGS IN EUROPE. 19 CHAPTER 11

New Qaadniped— Normandy— Sudden Elevation— Rouen— Helps to Memory— Carnival.

A DILIGENCE is a remarkable species of the genus vehicle. You may comprehend from books something of an Irish jaunting-car, a Turkish araba, or a Hindoo palanquin ; but through such an imperfect medium, to get a clear idea of what the naturahst would term the more compHcated physical structure, the cavities, bones, muscles, and locomotive organs of a French diligence, is not quite so easy. Somewhere in the romantic region of toy-books, you may possibly have faint childish recollections of the picture of the traveling house of a great man set upon wheels. The French, in their refinement, have improved upon the idea, and divided the said building into apartments. It does not admit of seditious assemblages; and, while it leaves you to choose your rank, it goes upon the aristocratic and poetic principle, that

" Some are and must be greater than the rest."

An intelligent American Indian, who lately visited Paris, in describing a diligence to a friend in England, stated that it was a great animal that carried sixteen persons : three in the head, three in the breast, six in the body, and four in the tail, referring, in order, to the banquette, coupe, interior, and rotonde. The four wheels answering to feet, it should, of course, be classed among the quadrupeds. Just imagine an ordinary Broadway omnibus, somewhat lengthened, with the leather top and seat of a huge gig extending transversely across the roof, in front, for the banquette, and unequally divided below into three separate compartments, and you have the tamer representation

20 LOITERINGS IN EUROPE. [Chap. II.

of a deteriorated civilized citizen. Of the places above mentioned, the coupe, or lower front, is the dearest, and the rotonde, or rear, the cheapest. This apparently unwieldy affair is usually drawn by five or six horses, with three abreast in front, at the rate of from seven to nine miles an hour. The horses are changed about once an hour in the short space of three or four minutes, and away you rattle over hill and dale to the constant crack of the whip.

We passed through a gently undulating country, a little back from the river, thickly studded with villages and small towns. Many of the country seats were approached by avenues of closely-trimmed, military -looking trees. This portion of the country is particularly interesting to Englishmen and their descendants. Their language, institutions, and early history remind them of the Norman Conquest : here are still places bearing the names of leading families in England : here, too, are Falaise, the birthplace of William the Conqueror; the abbey at Caen, founded by Mathilda, his queen; the celebrated "Saucy Castle," of Chateau Galliard, built by Richard to annoy his rival, Philip Augustus ; the stone step of the church at Avranches, where Henry II. kneeled before the pope's legates to do penance for the murder of Becket; and many memorials of later events. But the modern spirit of invention, the genius of utter utility, is at work even here. The age of chivalry is past. Springing up amid the very Gothic ruins — the strong-holds of the chiefs of ancient renown, the places of battles and sieges — are cotton factories ! Apart from its historical associations, the traveler feels little disposed to doubt in advance the general assertion, that this is one of the most attractive and beautiful provinces of the kingdom. I happened to sit next to an intelligent passenger belonging to one of the villages, who kindly pointed out many I'emarkable objects, and afforded much useful information till twilight shrouded the view, when he mused a few moments ; then, as if unable to resti'ain the natural enthusiasm of a French-

Chap. IL] LOITERINGS IN EUROPE. 21

man, lie suddenly volunteered, in a low, sweet tone, two or three stanzas of M(2 Normandie.