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diff --git a/old/cwsnt10.txt b/old/cwsnt10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..228b26e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cwsnt10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8502 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Etext of Saunterings, by Charles Dudley Warner +(#32 in our series by Charles Dudley Warner) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +NOTE: This work was previously published in [Etext #2672] +The Complete Writings of Charles Dudley Warner Volume 2 +Project Gutenberg The Complete Writings of Charles Dudley Warner +2warn10.txt or 2warn10.zip + + + + + +Saunterings + +By Charles Dudley Warner + + + + +MISAPPREHENSIONS CORRECTED + +I should not like to ask an indulgent and idle public to saunter +about with me under a misapprehension. It would be more agreeable to +invite it to go nowhere than somewhere; for almost every one has been +somewhere, and has written about it. The only compromise I can +suggest is, that we shall go somewhere, and not learn anything about +it. The instinct of the public against any thing like information in +a volume of this kind is perfectly justifiable; and the reader will +perhaps discover that this is illy adapted for a text-book in +schools, or for the use of competitive candidates in the +civil-service examinations. + +Years ago, people used to saunter over the Atlantic, and spend weeks +in filling journals with their monotonous emotions. That is all +changed now, and there is a misapprehension that the Atlantic has +been practically subdued; but no one ever gets beyond the rolling +forties" without having this impression corrected. + +I confess to have been deceived about this Atlantic, the roughest and +windiest of oceans. If you look at it on the map, it does n't appear +to be much, and, indeed, it is spoken of as a ferry. What with the +eight and nine days' passages over it, and the laying of the cable, +which annihilates distance, I had the impression that its tedious +three thousand and odd miles had been, somehow, partly done away +with; but they are all there. When one has sailed a thousand miles +due east and finds that he is then nowhere in particular, but is +still out, pitching about on an uneasy sea, under an inconstant sky, +and that a thousand miles more will not make any perceptible change, +he begins to have some conception of the unconquerable ocean. +Columbus rises in my estimation. + +I was feeling uncomfortable that nothing had been done for the memory +of Christopher Columbus, when I heard some months ago that thirty- +seven guns had been fired off for him in Boston. It is to be hoped +that they were some satisfaction to him. They were discharged by +countrymen of his, who are justly proud that he should have been +able, after a search of only a few weeks, to find a land where the +hand-organ had never been heard. The Italians, as a people, have not +profited much by this discovery; not so much, indeed, as the +Spaniards, who got a reputation by it which even now gilds their +decay. That Columbus was born in Genoa entitles the Italians to +celebrate the great achievement of his life; though why they should +discharge exactly thirty-seven guns I do not know. Columbus did not +discover the United States: that we partly found ourselves, and +partly bought, and gouged the Mexicans out of. He did not even +appear to know that there was a continent here. He discovered the +West Indies, which he thought were the East; and ten guns would be +enough for them. It is probable that he did open the way to the +discovery of the New World. If he had waited, however, somebody else +would have discovered it,--perhaps some Englishman; and then we might +have been spared all the old French and Spanish wars. Columbus let +the Spaniards into the New World; and their civilization has +uniformly been a curse to it. If he had brought Italians, who +neither at that time showed, nor since have shown, much inclination +to come, we should have had the opera, and made it a paying +institution by this time. Columbus was evidently a person who liked +to sail about, and did n't care much for consequences. + +Perhaps it is not an open question whether Columbus did a good thing +in first coming over here, one that we ought to celebrate with +salutes and dinners. The Indians never thanked him, for one party. +The Africans had small ground to be gratified for the market he +opened for them. Here are two continents that had no use for him. +He led Spain into a dance of great expectations, which ended in her +gorgeous ruin. He introduced tobacco into Europe, and laid the +foundation for more tracts and nervous diseases than the Romans had +in a thousand years. He introduced the potato into Ireland +indirectly; and that caused such a rapid increase of population, that +the great famine was the result, and an enormous emigration to New +York--hence Tweed and the constituency of the Ring. Columbus is +really responsible for New York. He is responsible for our whole +tremendous experiment of democracy, open to all comers, the best +three in five to win. We cannot yet tell how it is coming out, what +with the foreigners and the communists and the women. On our great +stage we are playing a piece of mingled tragedy and comedy, with what +denouement we cannot yet say. If it comes out well, we ought to +erect a monument to Christopher as high as the one at Washington +expects to be; and we presume it is well to fire a salute +occasionally to keep the ancient mariner in mind while we are trying +our great experiment. And this reminds me that he ought to have had +a naval salute. + +There is something almost heroic in the idea of firing off guns for a +man who has been stone-dead for about four centuries. It must have +had a lively and festive sound in Boston, when the meaning of the +salute was explained. No one could hear those great guns without a +quicker beating of the heart in gratitude to the great discoverer who +had made Boston possible. We are trying to "realize" to ourselves +the importance of the 12th of October as an anniversary of our +potential existence. If any one wants to see how vivid is the +gratitude to Columbus, let him start out among our business-houses +with a subscription-paper to raise money for powder to be exploded in +his honor. And yet Columbus was a well-meaning man; and if he did +not discover a perfect continent, he found the only one that was +left. + +Columbus made voyaging on the Atlantic popular, and is responsible +for much of the delusion concerning it. Its great practical use in +this fast age is to give one an idea of distance and of monotony. + +I have listened in my time with more or less pleasure to very +rollicking songs about the sea, the flashing brine, the spray and the +tempest's roar, the wet sheet and the flowing sea, a life on the +ocean wave, and all the rest of it. To paraphrase a land proverb, +let me write the songs of the sea, and I care not who goes to sea and +sings 'em. A square yard of solid ground is worth miles of the +pitching, turbulent stuff. Its inability to stand still for one +second is the plague of it. To lie on deck when the sun shines, and +swing up and down, while the waves run hither and thither and toss +their white caps, is all well enough to lie in your narrow berth and +roll from side to side all night long; to walk uphill to your +state-room door, and, when you get there, find you have got to the +bottom of the hill, and opening the door is like lifting up a +trap-door in the floor; to deliberately start for some object, and, +before you know it, to be flung against it like a bag of sand; to +attempt to sit down on your sofa, and find you are sitting up; to +slip and slide and grasp at everything within reach, and to meet +everybody leaning and walking on a slant, as if a heavy wind were +blowing, and the laws of gravitation were reversed; to lie in your +berth, and hear all the dishes on the cabin-table go sousing off +against the wall in a general smash; to sit at table holding your +soup-plate with one hand, and watching for a chance to put your spoon +in when it comes high tide on your side of the dish; to vigilantly +watch, the lurch of the heavy dishes while holding your glass and +your plate and your knife and fork, and not to notice it when Brown, +who sits next you, gets the whole swash of the gravy from the +roast-beef dish on his light-colored pantaloons, and see the look of +dismay that only Brown can assume on such an occasion; to see Mrs. +Brown advance to the table, suddenly stop and hesitate, two waiters +rush at her, with whom she struggles wildly, only to go down in a +heap with them in the opposite corner; to see her partially recover, +but only to shoot back again through her state-room door, and be seen +no more;--all this is quite pleasant and refreshing if you are tired +of land, but you get quite enough of it in a couple of weeks. You +become, in time, even a little tired of the Jew who goes about +wishing "he vas a veek older;" and the eccentric man, who looks at no +one, and streaks about the cabin and on deck, without any purpose, +and plays shuffle-board alone, always beating himself, and goes on +the deck occasionally through the sky-light instead of by the cabin +door, washes himself at the salt-water pump, and won't sleep in his +state-room, saying he is n't used to sleeping in a bed,--as if the +hard narrow, uneasy shelf of a berth was anything like a bed!--and +you have heard at last pretty nearly all about the officers, and +their twenty and thirty years of sea-life, and every ocean and port +on the habitable globe where they have been. There comes a day when +you are quite ready for land, and the scream of the "gull" is a +welcome sound. + +Even the sailors lose the vivacity of the first of the voyage. The +first two or three days we had their quaint and half-doleful singing +in chorus as they pulled at the ropes: now they are satisfied with +short ha-ho's, and uncadenced grunts. It used to be that the leader +sang, in ever-varying lines of nonsense, and the chorus struck in +with fine effect, like this: + + +"I wish I was in Liverpool town. + Handy-pan, handy O! + +O captain! where 'd you ship your crew + Handy-pan, handy O! + +Oh! pull away, my bully crew, + Handy-pan, handy O!" + + +There are verses enough of this sort to reach across the Atlantic; +and they are not the worst thing about it either, or the most +tedious. One learns to respect this ocean, but not to love it; and +he leaves it with mingled feelings about Columbus. + +And now, having crossed it,--a fact that cannot be concealed,--let us +not be under the misapprehension that we are set to any task other +than that of sauntering where it pleases us. + + + + + +PARIS AND LONDON + + +SURFACE CONTRASTS OF PARIS AND LONDON + +I wonder if it is the Channel? Almost everything is laid to the +Channel: it has no friends. The sailors call it the nastiest bit of +water in the world. All travelers anathematize it. I have now +crossed it three times in different places, by long routes and short +ones, and have always found it as comfortable as any sailing +anywhere, sailing being one of the most tedious and disagreeable +inventions of a fallen race. But such is not the usual experience: +most people would make great sacrifices to avoid the hour and three +quarters in one of those loathsome little Channel boats,--they always +call them loathsome, though I did n't see but they are as good as any +boats. I have never found any boat that hasn't a detestable habit of +bobbing round. The Channel is hated: and no one who has much to do +with it is surprised at the projects for bridging it and for boring a +hole under it; though I have scarcely ever met an Englishman who +wants either done,--he does not desire any more facile communication +with the French than now exists. The traditional hatred may not be +so strong as it was, but it is hard to say on which side is the most +ignorance and contempt of the other. + +It must be the Channel: that is enough to produce a physical +disagreement even between the two coasts; and there cannot be a +greater contrast in the cultivated world than between the two lands +lying so close to each other; and the contrast of their capitals is +even more decided,--I was about to say rival capitals, but they have +not enough in common to make them rivals. I have lately been over to +London for a week, going by the Dieppe and New Haven route at night, +and returning by another; and the contrasts I speak of were impressed +upon me anew. Everything here in and about Paris was in the green +and bloom of spring, and seemed to me very lovely; but my first +glance at an English landscape made it all seem pale and flat. We +went up from New Haven to London in the morning, and feasted our eyes +all the way. The French foliage is thin, spindling, sparse; the +grass is thin and light in color--in contrast. The English trees are +massive, solid in substance and color; the grass is thick, and green +as emerald; the turf is like the heaviest Wilton carpet. The whole +effect is that of vegetable luxuriance and solidity, as it were a +tropical luxuriance, condensed and hardened by northern influences. +If my eyes remember well, the French landscapes are more like our +own, in spring tone, at least; but the English are a revelation to us +strangers of what green really is, and what grass and trees can be. +I had been told that we did well to see England before going to the +Continent, for it would seem small and only pretty afterwards. Well, +leaving out Switzerland, I have seen nothing in that beauty which +satisfies the eye and wins the heart to compare with England in +spring. When we annex it to our sprawling country which lies +out-doors in so many climates, it will make a charming little retreat +for us in May and June, a sort of garden of delight, whence we shall +draw our May butter and our June roses. It will only be necessary to +put it under glass to make it pleasant the year round. + +When we passed within the hanging smoke of London town, threading our +way amid numberless railway tracks, sometimes over a road and +sometimes under one, now burrowing into the ground, and now running +along among the chimney-pots,--when we came into the pale light and +the thickening industry of a London day, we could but at once +contrast Paris. Unpleasant weather usually reduces places to an +equality of disagreeableness. But Paris, with its wide streets, +light, handsome houses, gay windows and smiling little parks and +fountains, keeps up a tolerably pleasant aspect, let the weather do +its worst. But London, with its low, dark, smutty brick houses and +insignificant streets, settles down hopelessly into the dumps when +the weather is bad. Even with the sun doing its best on the eternal +cloud of smoke, it is dingy and gloomy enough, and so dirty, after +spick-span, shining Paris. And there is a contrast in the matter of +order and system; the lack of both in London is apparent. You detect +it in public places, in crowds, in the streets. The "social evil" is +bad enough in its demonstrations in Paris: it is twice as offensive +in London. I have never seen a drunken woman in Paris: I saw many of +them in the daytime in London. I saw men and women fight in the +streets,--a man kick and pound a woman; and nobody interfered. There +is a brutal streak in the Anglo-Saxon, I fear,--a downright animal +coarseness, that does not exhibit itself the other side of the +Channel. It is a proverb, that the London policemen are never at +hand. The stout fellows with their clubs look as if they might do +service; but what a contrast they are to the Paris sergents de ville! +The latter, with his dress-coat, cocked hat, long rapier, white +gloves, neat, polite, attentive, alert,--always with the manner of a +jesuit turned soldier,--you learn to trust very much, if not respect; +and you feel perfectly secure that he will protect you, and give you +your rights in any corner of Paris. It does look as if he might slip +that slender rapier through your body in a second, and pull it out +and wipe it, and not move a muscle; but I don't think he would do it +unless he were directly ordered to. He would not be likely to knock +you down and drag you out, in mistake for the rowdy who was +assaulting you. + +A great contrast between the habits of the people of London and Paris +is shown by their eating and drinking. Paris is brilliant with +cafes: all the world frequents them to sip coffee (and too often +absinthe), read the papers, and gossip over the news; take them away, +as all travelers know, and Paris would not know itself. There is not +a cafe in London: instead of cafes, there are gin-mills; instead of +light wine, there is heavy beer. The restaurants and restaurant life +are as different as can be. You can get anything you wish in Paris: +you can live very cheaply or very dearly, as you like. The range is +more limited in London. I do not fancy the usual run of Paris +restaurants. You get a great deal for your money, in variety and +quantity; but you don't exactly know what it is: and in time you tire +of odds and ends, which destroy your hunger without exactly +satisfying you. For myself, after a pretty good run of French +cookery (and it beats the world for making the most out of little), +when I sat down again to what the eminently respectable waiter in +white and black calls "a dinner off the Joint, sir," with what +belongs to it, and ended up with an attack on a section of a cheese +as big as a bass-drum, not to forget a pewter mug of amber liquid, I +felt as if I had touched bottom again,--got something substantial, +had what you call a square meal. The English give you the +substantials, and better, I believe, than any other people. +Thackeray used to come over to Paris to get a good dinner now and +then. I have tried his favorite restaurant here, the cuisine of +which is famous far beyond the banks of the Seine; but I think if he, +hearty trencher-man that he was, had lived in Paris, he would have +gone to London for a dinner oftener than he came here. + +And as for a lunch,--this eating is a fascinating theme,--commend me +to a quiet inn of England. We happened to be out at Kew Gardens the +other afternoon. You ought to go to Kew, even if the Duchess of +Cambridge is not at home. There is not such a park out of England, +considering how beautiful the Thames is there. What splendid trees +it has! the horse-chestnut, now a mass of pink-and-white blossoms, +from its broad base, which rests on the ground, to its high rounded +dome; the hawthorns, white and red, in full flower; the sweeps and +glades of living green,--turf on which you walk with a grateful sense +of drawing life directly from the yielding, bountiful earth,--a green +set out and heightened by flowers in masses of color (a great variety +of rhododendrons, for one thing), to say nothing of magnificent +greenhouses and outlying flower-gardens. Just beyond are Richmond +Hill and Hampton Court, and five or six centuries of tradition and +history and romance. Before you enter the garden, you pass the +green. On one side of it are cottages, and on the other the old +village church and its quiet churchyard. Some boys were playing +cricket on the sward, and children were getting as intimate with the +turf and the sweet earth as their nurses would let them. We turned +into a little cottage, which gave notice of hospitality for a +consideration; and were shown, by a pretty maid in calico, into an +upper room,--a neat, cheerful, common room, with bright flowers in +the open windows, and white muslin curtains for contrast. We looked +out on the green and over to the beautiful churchyard, where one of +England's greatest painters, Gainsborough, lies in rural repose. It +is nothing to you, who always dine off the best at home, and never +encounter dirty restaurants and snuffy inns, or run the gauntlet of +Continental hotels, every meal being an experiment of great interest, +if not of danger, to say that this brisk little waitress spread a +snowy cloth, and set thereon meat and bread and butter and a salad: +that conveys no idea to your mind. Because you cannot see that the +loaf of wheaten bread was white and delicate, and full of the +goodness of the grain; or that the butter, yellow as a guinea, tasted +of grass and cows, and all the rich juices of the verdant year, and +was not mere flavorless grease; or that the cuts of roast beef, fat +and lean, had qualities that indicate to me some moral elevation in +the cattle,--high-toned, rich meat; or that the salad was crisp and +delicious, and rather seemed to enjoy being eaten, at least, did n't +disconsolately wilt down at the prospect, as most salad does. I do +not wonder that Walter Scott dwells so much on eating, or lets his +heroes pull at the pewter mugs so often. Perhaps one might find a +better lunch in Paris, but he surely couldn't find this one. + + + + +PARIS IN MAY--FRENCH GIRLS--THE EMPEROR AT LONGCHAMPS + +It was the first of May when we came up from Italy. The spring grew +on us as we advanced north; vegetation seemed further along than it +was south of the Alps. Paris was bathed in sunshine, wrapped in +delicious weather, adorned with all the delicate colors of blushing +spring. Now the horse-chestnuts are all in bloom) and so is the +hawthorn; and in parks and gardens there are rows and alleys of +trees, with blossoms of pink and of white; patches of flowers set in +the light green grass; solid masses of gorgeous color, which fill all +the air with perfume; fountains that dance in the sunlight as if just +released from prison; and everywhere the soft suffusion of May. +Young maidens who make their first communion go into the churches in +processions of hundreds, all in white, from the flowing veil to the +satin slipper; and I see them everywhere for a week after the +ceremony, in their robes of innocence, often with bouquets of +flowers, and attended by their friends; all concerned making it a +joyful holiday, as it ought to be. I hear, of course, with what +false ideas of life these girls are educated; how they are watched +before marriage; how the marriage is only one of arrangement, and +what liberty they eagerly seek afterwards. I met a charming Paris +lady last winter in Italy, recently married, who said she had never +been in the Louvre in her life; never had seen any of the magnificent +pictures or world-famous statuary there, because girls were not +allowed to go there, lest they should see something that they ought +not to see. I suppose they look with wonder at the young American +girls who march up to anything that ever was created, with undismayed +front. + +Another Frenchwoman, a lady of talent and the best breeding, recently +said to a friend, in entire unconsciousness that she was saying +anything remarkable, that, when she was seventeen, her great desire +was to marry one of her uncles (a thing not very unusual with the +papal dispensation), in order to keep all the money in the family! +That was the ambition of a girl of seventeen. + +I like, on these sunny days, to look into the Luxembourg Garden: +nowhere else is the eye more delighted with life and color. In the +afternoon, especially, it is a baby-show worth going far to see. The +avenues are full of children, whose animated play, light laughter, +and happy chatter, and pretty, picturesque dress, make a sort of +fairy grove of the garden; and all the nurses of that quarter bring +their charges there, and sit in the shade, sewing, gossiping, and +comparing the merits of the little dears. One baby differs from +another in glory, I suppose; but I think on such days that they are +all lovely, taken in the mass, and all in sweet harmony with the +delicious atmosphere, the tender green, and the other flowers of +spring. A baby can't do better than to spend its spring days in the +Luxembourg Garden. + +There are several ways of seeing Paris besides roaming up and down +before the blazing shop-windows, and lounging by daylight or gaslight +along the crowded and gay boulevards; and one of the best is to go to +the Bois de Boulogne on a fete-day, or when the races are in +progress. This famous wood is very disappointing at first to one who +has seen the English parks, or who remembers the noble trees and +glades and avenues of that at Munich. To be sure, there is a lovely +little lake and a pretty artificial cascade, and the roads and walks +are good; but the trees are all saplings, and nearly all the "wood" +is a thicket of small stuff. Yet there is green grass that one can +roll on, and there is a grove of small pines that one can sit under. +It is a pleasant place to drive toward evening; but its great +attraction is the crowd there. All the principal avenues are lined +with chairs, and there people sit to watch the streams of carriages. + +I went out to the Bois the other day, when there were races going on; +not that I went to the races, for I know nothing about them, per se, +and care less. All running races are pretty much alike. You see a +lean horse, neck and tail, flash by you, with a jockey in colors on +his back; and that is the whole of it. Unless you have some money on +it, in the pool or otherwise, it is impossible to raise any +excitement. The day I went out, the Champs Elysees, on both sides, +its whole length, was crowded with people, rows and ranks of them +sitting in chairs and on benches. The Avenue de l'Imperatrice, from +the Arc de l'Etoile to the entrance of the Bois, was full of +promenaders; and the main avenues of the Bois, from the chief +entrance to the race-course, were lined with people, who stood or +sat, simply to see the passing show. There could not have been less +than ten miles of spectators, in double or triple rows, who had taken +places that afternoon to watch the turnouts of fashion and rank. +These great avenues were at all times, from three till seven, filled +with vehicles; and at certain points, and late in the day, there was, +or would have been anywhere else except in Paris, a jam. I saw a +great many splendid horses, but not so many fine liveries as one will +see on a swell-day in London. There was one that I liked. A +handsome carriage, with one seat, was drawn by four large and elegant +black horses, the two near horses ridden by postilions in blue and +silver,--blue roundabouts, white breeches and topboots, a round- +topped silver cap, and the hair, or wig, powdered, and showing just a +little behind. A footman mounted behind, seated, wore the same +colors; and the whole establishment was exceedingly tonnish. + +The race-track (Longchamps, as it is called), broad and beautiful +springy turf, is not different from some others, except that the +inclosed oblong space is not flat, but undulating just enough for +beauty, and so framed in by graceful woods, and looked on by chateaux +and upland forests, that I thought I had never seen a sweeter bit of +greensward. St. Cloud overlooks it, and villas also regard it from +other heights. The day I saw it, the horse-chestnuts were in bloom; +and there was, on the edges, a cloud of pink and white blossoms, that +gave a soft and charming appearance to the entire landscape. The +crowd in the grounds, in front of the stands for judges, royalty, and +people who are privileged or will pay for places, was, I suppose, +much as usual,--an excited throng of young and jockey-looking men, +with a few women-gamblers in their midst, making up the pool; a pack +of carriages along the circuit of the track, with all sorts of +people, except the very good; and conspicuous the elegantly habited +daughters of sin and satin, with servants in livery, as if they had +been born to it; gentlemen and ladies strolling about, or reclining +on the sward, and a refreshment-stand in lively operation. + +When the bell rang, we all cleared out from the track, and I happened +to get a position by the railing. I was looking over to the +Pavilion, where I supposed the Emperor to be, when the man next to me +cried, "Voila!" and, looking up, two horses brushed right by my face, +of which I saw about two tails and one neck, and they were gone. +Pretty soon they came round again, and one was ahead, as is apt to be +the case; and somebody cried, "Bully for Therise!" or French to that +effect, and it was all over. Then we rushed across to the Emperor's +Pavilion, except that I walked with all the dignitV consistent with +rapidity, and there, in the midst of his suite, sat the Man of +December, a stout, broad, and heavy-faced man as you know, but a man +who impresses one with a sense of force and purpose,--sat, as I say, +and looked at us through his narrow, half-shut eyes, till he was +satisfied that I had got his features through my glass, when he +deliberately arose and went in. + +All Paris was out that day,--it is always out, by the way, when the +sun shines, and in whatever part of the city you happen to be; and it +seemed to me there was a special throng clear down to the gate of the +Tuileries, to see the Emperor and the rest of us come home. He went +round by the Rue Rivoli, but I walked through the gardens. The +soldiers from Africa sat by the gilded portals, as usual,--aliens, +and yet always with the port of conquerors here in Paris. Their +nonchalant indifference and soldierly bearing always remind me of the +sort of force the Emperor has at hand to secure his throne. I think +the blouses must look askance at these satraps of the desert. The +single jet fountain in the basin was springing its highest,--a +quivering pillar of water to match the stone shaft of Egypt which +stands close by. The sun illuminated it, and threw a rainbow from it +a hundred feet long, upon the white and green dome of chestnut-trees +near. When I was farther down the avenue, I had the dancing column +of water, the obelisk, and the Arch of Triumph all in line, and the +rosy sunset beyond. + + + + +AN IMPERIAL REVIEW + +The Prince and Princess of Wales came up to Paris in the beginning of +May, from Italy, Egypt, and alongshore, stayed at a hotel on the +Place Vendome, where they can get beef that is not horse, and is +rare, and beer brewed in the royal dominions, and have been +entertained with cordiality by the Emperor. Among the spectacles +which he has shown them is one calculated to give them an idea of his +peaceful intentions,-a grand review of cavalry and artillery at the +Bois de Boulogne. It always seems to me a curious comment upon the +state of our modern civilization, + +when one prince visits another here in Europe, the first thing that +the visited does, by way of hospitality is to get out his troops, and +show his rival how easily he could "lick" him, if it came to that. +It is a little puerile. At any rate, it is an advance upon the old +fashion of getting up a joust at arms, and inviting the guest to come +out and have his head cracked in a friendly way. + +The review, which had been a good deal talked about, came off in the +afternoon; and all the world went to it. The avenues of the Bois +were crowded with carriages, and the walks with footpads. Such a +constellation of royal personages met on one field must be seen; for, +besides the imperial family and Albert Edward and his Danish beauty, +there was to be the Archduke of Austria) and no end of titled +personages besides. At three o'clock the royal company, in the +Emperor's carriages, drove upon the training-ground of the Bois, +where the troops awaited them. All the party, except the Princess of +Wales, then mounted horses, and rode along the lines, and afterwards +retired to a wood-covered knoll at one end to witness the evolutions. +The training-ground is a noble, slightly undulating piece of +greensward, perhaps three quarters of a mile long and half that in +breadth, hedged about with graceful trees, and bounded on one side by +the Seine. Its borders were rimmed that day with thousands of people +on foot and in carriages,--a gay sight, in itself, of color and +fashion. A more brilliant spectacle than the field presented cannot +well be imagined. Attention was divided between the gentle eminence +where the imperial party stood,--a throng of noble persons backed by +the gay and glittering Guard of the Emperor, as brave a show as +chivalry ever made,--and the field of green, with its long lines in +martial array; every variety of splendid uniforms, the colors and +combinations that most dazzle and attract, with shining brass and +gleaming steel, and magnificent horses of war, regiments of black, +gray, and bay. + +The evolutions were such as to stir the blood of the most sluggish. +A regiment, full front, would charge down upon a dead run from the +far field, men shouting, sabers flashing, horses thundering along, so +that the ground shook, towards the imperial party, and, when near, +stop suddenly, wheel to right and left, and gallop back. Others +would succeed them rapidly, coming up the center while their +predecessors filed down the sides; so that the whole field was a +moving mass of splendid color and glancing steel. Now and then a +rider was unhorsed in the furious rush, and went scrambling out of +harm, while the steed galloped off with free rein. This display was +followed by that of the flying artillery, battalion after battalion, +which came clattering and roaring along, in double lines stretching +half across the field, stopped and rapidly discharged its pieces, +waking up all the region with echoes, filling the plain with the +smoke of gunpowder, and starting into rearing activity all the +carriage-horses in the Bois. How long this continued I do not know, +nor how many men participated in the review, but they seemed to pour +up from the far end in unending columns. I think the regiments must +have charged over and over again. It gave some people the impression +that there were a hundred thousand troops on the ground. I set it at +fifteen to twenty thousand. Gallignani next morning said there were +only six thousand! After the charging was over, the reviewing party +rode to the center of the field, and the troops galloped round them; +and the Emperor distributed decorations. We could recognize the +Emperor and Empress; Prince Albert in huzzar uniform, with a green +plume in his cap; and the Prince Imperial, in cap and the uniform of +a lieutenant, on horseback in front; while the Princess occupied a +carriage behind them. + +There was a crush of people at the entrance to see the royals make +their exit. Gendarmes were busy, and mounted guards went smashing +through the crowd to clear a space. Everybody was on the tiptoe of +expectation. There is a portion of the Emperor's guard; there is an +officer of the household; there is an emblazoned carriage; and, +quick, there! with a rush they come, driving as if there was no +crowd, with imperial haste, postilions and outriders and the imperial +carriage. There is a sensation, a cordial and not loud greeting, but +no Yankee-like cheers. That heavy gentleman in citizen's dress, who +looks neither to right nor left, is Napoleon III.; that handsome +woman, grown full in the face of late, but yet with the bloom of +beauty and the sweet grace of command, in hat and dark riding-habit, +bowing constantly to right and left, and smiling, is the Empress +Eugenie. And they are gone. As we look for something more, there is +a rout in the side avenue; something is coming, unexpected, from +another quarter: dragoons dash through the dense mass, shouting and +gesticulating, and a dozen horses go by, turning the corner like a +small whirlwind, urged on by whip and spur, a handsome boy riding in +the midst,--a boy in cap and simple uniform, riding gracefully and +easily and jauntily, and out of sight in a minute. It is the boy +Prince Imperial and his guard. It was like him to dash in +unexpectedly, as he has broken into the line of European princes. He +rides gallantly, and Fortune smiles on him to-day; but he rides into +a troubled future. There was one more show,--a carriage of the +Emperor, with officers, in English colors and side-whiskers, riding +in advance and behind: in it the future King of England, the heavy, +selfish-faced young man, and beside him his princess, popular +wherever she shows her winning face,--a fair, sweet woman, in light +and flowing silken stuffs of spring, a vision of lovely youth and +rank, also gone in a minute. + +These English visitors are enjoying the pleasures of the French +capital. On Sunday, as I passed the Hotel Bristol, a crowd, +principally English, was waiting in front of it to see the Prince and +Princess come out, and enter one of the Emperor's carriages in +waiting. I heard an Englishwoman, who was looking on with admiration +"sticking out" all over, remark to a friend in a very loud whisper, +"I tell you, the Prince lives every day of his life." The princely +pair came out at length, and drove away, going to visit Versailles. +I don't know what the Queen would think of this way of spending +Sunday; but if Albert Edward never does anything worse, he does n't +need half the praying for that he gets every Sunday in all the +English churches and chapels. + + + + +THE LOW COUNTRIES AND RHINELAND + + +AMIENS AND QUAINT OLD BRUGES + +They have not yet found out the secret in France of banishing dust +from railway-carriages. Paris, late in June, was hot, but not dusty: +the country was both. There is an uninteresting glare and hardness +in a French landscape on a sunny day. The soil is thin, the trees +are slender, and one sees not much luxury or comfort. Still, one +does not usually see much of either on a flying train. We spent a +night at Amiens, and had several hours for the old cathedral, the +sunset light on its noble front and towers and spire and flying +buttresses, and the morning rays bathing its rich stone. As one +stands near it in front, it seems to tower away into heaven, a mass +of carving and sculpture,--figures of saints and martyrs who have +stood in the sun and storm for ages, as they stood in their lifetime, +with a patient waiting. It was like a great company, a Christian +host, in attitudes of praise and worship. There they were, ranks on +ranks, silent in stone, when the last of the long twilight illumined +them; and there in the same impressive patience they waited the +golden day. It required little fancy to feel that they had lived, +and now in long procession came down the ages. The central portal is +lofty, wide, and crowded with figures. The side is only less rich +than the front. Here the old Gothic builders let their fancy riot in +grotesque gargoyles,--figures of animals, and imps of sin, which +stretch out their long necks for waterspouts above. From the ground +to the top of the unfinished towers is one mass of rich stone-work, +the creation of genius that hundreds of years ago knew no other way +to write its poems than with the chisel. The interior is very +magnificent also, and has some splendid stained glass. At eight +o'clock, the priests were chanting vespers to a larger congregation +than many churches have on Sunday: their voices were rich and +musical, and, joined with the organ notes, floated sweetly and +impressively through the dim and vast interior. We sat near the +great portal, and, looking down the long, arched nave and choir to +the cluster of candles burning on the high altar, before which the +priests chanted, one could not but remember how many centuries the +same act of worship had been almost uninterrupted within, while the +apostles and martyrs stood without, keeping watch of the unchanging +heavens. + +When I stepped in, early in the morning, the first mass was in +progress. The church was nearly empty. Looking within the choir, I +saw two stout young priests lustily singing the prayers in deep, rich +voices. One of them leaned back in his seat, and sang away, as if he +had taken a contract to do it, using, from time to time, an enormous +red handkerchief, with which and his nose he produced a trumpet +obligato. As I stood there, a poor dwarf bobbled in and knelt on the +bare stones, and was the only worshiper, until, at length, a +half-dozen priests swept in from the sacristy, and two processions of +young school-girls entered from either side. They have the skull of +John the Baptist in this cathedral. I did not see it, although I +suppose I could have done so for a franc to the beadle: but I saw a +very good stone imitation of it; and his image and story fill the +church. It is something to have seen the place that contains his +skull. + +The country becomes more interesting as one gets into Belgium. +Windmills are frequent: in and near Lille are some six hundred of +them; and they are a great help to a landscape that wants fine trees. +At Courtrai, we looked into Notre Dame, a thirteenth century +cathedral, which has a Vandyke ("The Raising of the Cross"), and the +chapel of the Counts of Flanders, where workmen were uncovering some +frescoes that were whitewashed over in the war-times. The town hall +has two fine old chimney-pieces carved in wood, with quaint figures,- +-work that one must go to the Netherlands to see. Toward evening we +came into the ancient town of Bruges. The country all day has been +mostly flat, but thoroughly cultivated. Windmills appear to do all +the labor of the people,--raising the water, grinding the grain, +sawing the lumber; and they everywhere lift their long arms up to the +sky. Things look more and more what we call "foreign." Harvest is +going on, of hay and grain; and men and women work together in the +fields. The gentle sex has its rights here. We saw several women +acting as switch-tenders. Perhaps the use of the switch comes +natural to them. Justice, however, is still in the hands of the men. +We saw a Dutch court in session in a little room in the town hall at +Courtrai. The justice wore a little red cap, and sat informally +behind a cheap table. I noticed that the witnesses were treated with +unusual consideration, being allowed to sit down at the table +opposite the little justice, who interrogated them in a loud voice. +At the stations to-day we see more friars in coarse, woolen dresses, +and sandals, and the peasants with wooden sabots. + +As the sun goes to the horizon, we have an effect sometimes produced +by the best Dutch artists,--a wonderful transparent light, in which +the landscape looks like a picture, with its church-spires of stone, +its windmills, its slender trees, and red-roofed houses. It is a +good light and a good hour in which to enter Bruges, that city of the +past. Once the city was greater than Antwerp; and up the Rege came +the commerce of the East, merchants from the Levant, traders in +jewels and silks. Now the tall houses wait for tenants, and the +streets have a deserted air. After nightfall, as we walked in the +middle of the roughly paved streets, meeting few people, and hearing +only the echoing clatter of the wooden sabots of the few who were +abroad, the old spirit of the place came over us. We sat on a bench +in the market-place, a treeless square, hemmed in by quaint, gabled +houses, late in the evening, to listen to the chimes from the belfry. +The tower is less than four hundred feet high, and not so high by +some seventy feet as the one on Notre Dame near by; but it is very +picturesque, in spite of the fact that it springs out of a rummagy- +looking edifice, one half of which is devoted to soldiers' barracks, +and the other to markets. The chimes are called the finest in +Europe. It is well to hear the finest at once, and so have done with +the tedious things. The Belgians are as fond of chimes as the Dutch +are of stagnant water. We heard them everywhere in Belgium; and in +some towns they are incessant, jangling every seven and a half +minutes. The chimes at Bruges ring every quarter hour for a minute, +and at the full hour attempt a tune. The revolving machinery grinds +out the tune, which is changed at least once a year; and on Sundays a +musician, chosen by the town, plays the chimes. In so many bells +(there are forty-eight), the least of which weighs twelve pounds, and +the largest over eleven thousand, there must be soft notes and +sonorous tones; so sweet jangled sounds were showered down: but we +liked better than the confused chiming the solemn notes of the great +bell striking the hour. There is something very poetical about this +chime of bells high in the air, flinging down upon the hum and +traffic of the city its oft-repeated benediction of peace; but +anybody but a Lowlander would get very weary of it. These chimes, to +be sure, are better than those in London, which became a nuisance; +but there is in all of them a tinkling attempt at a tune, which +always fails, that is very annoying. + +Bruges has altogether an odd flavor. Piles of wooden sabots are for +sale in front of the shops; and this ugly shoe, which is mysteriously +kept on the foot, is worn by all the common sort. We see long, +slender carts in the street, with one horse hitched far ahead with +rope traces, and no thills or pole. + +The women-nearly every one we saw-wear long cloaks of black cloth +with a silk hood thrown back. Bruges is famous of old for its +beautiful women, who are enticingly described as always walking the +streets with covered faces, and peeping out from their mantles. They +are not so handsome now they show their faces, I can testify. +Indeed, if there is in Bruges another besides the beautiful girl who +showed us the old council-chamber in the Palace of justice, she must +have had her hood pulled over her face. + +Next morning was market-day. The square was lively with carts, +donkeys, and country people, and that and all the streets leading to +it were filled with the women in black cloaks, who flitted about as +numerous as the rooks at Oxford, and very much like them, moving in a +winged way, their cloaks outspread as they walked, and distended with +the market-basket underneath. Though the streets were full, the town +did not seem any less deserted; and the early marketers had only come +to life for a day, revisiting the places that once they thronged. In +the shade of the tall houses in the narrow streets sat red-cheeked +girls and women making lace, the bobbins jumping under their nimble +fingers. At the church doors hideous beggars crouched and whined,-- +specimens of the fifteen thousand paupers of Bruges. In the +fishmarket we saw odd old women, with Rembrandt colors in faces and +costume; and while we strayed about in the strange city, all the time +from the lofty tower the chimes fell down. What history crowds upon +us! Here in the old cathedral, with its monstrous tower of brick, a +portion of it as old as the tenth century, Philip the Good +established, in 1429, the Order of the Golden Fleece, the last +chapter of which was held by Philip the Bad in 1559, in the rich old +Cathedral of St. Bavon, at Ghent. Here, on the square, is the site +of the house where the Emperor Maximilian was imprisoned by his +rebellious Flemings; and next it, with a carved lion, that in which +Charles II. of England lived after the martyrdom of that patient and +virtuous ruler, whom the English Prayerbook calls that "blessed +martyr, Charles the First." In Notre Dame are the tombs of Charles +the Bold and Mary his daughter. + +We begin here to enter the portals of Dutch painting. Here died Jan +van Eyck, the father of oil painting; and here, in the hospital of +St. John, are the most celebrated pictures of Hans Memling. The most +exquisite in color and finish is the series painted on the casket +made to contain the arm of St. Ursula, and representing the story of +her martyrdom. You know she went on a pilgrimage to Rome, with her +lover, Conan, and eleven thousand virgins; and, on their return to +Cologne, they were all massacred by the Huns. One would scarcely +believe the story, if he did not see all their bones at Cologne. + + + + +GHENT AND ANTWERP + +What can one do in this Belgium but write down names, and let memory +recall the past? We came to Ghent, still a hand some city, though +one thinks of the days when it was the capital of Flanders, and its +merchants were princes. On the shabby old belfry-tower is the gilt +dragon which Philip van Artevelde captured, and brought in triumph +from Bruges. It was originally fetched from a Greek church in +Constantinople by some Bruges Crusader; and it is a link to recall to +us how, at that time, the merchants of Venice and the far East traded +up the Scheldt, and brought to its wharves the rich stuffs of India +and Persia. The old bell Roland, that was used to call the burghers +together on the approach of an enemy, hung in this tower. What +fierce broils and bloody fights did these streets witness centuries +ago! There in the Marche au Vendredi, a large square of +old-fashioned houses, with a statue of Jacques van Artevelde, fifteen +hundred corpses were strewn in a quarrel between the hostile guilds +of fullers and brewers; and here, later, Alva set blazing the fires +of the Inquisition. Near the square is the old cannon, Mad Margery, +used in 1382 at the siege of Oudenarde,--a hammered-iron hooped +affair, eighteen feet long. But why mention this, or the magnificent +town hall, or St. Bavon, rich in pictures and statuary; or try to put +you back three hundred years to the wild days when the iconoclasts +sacked this and every other church in the Low Countries? + +Up to Antwerp toward evening. All the country flat as the flattest +part of Jersey, rich in grass and grain, cut up by canals, +picturesque with windmills and red-tiled roofs, framed with trees in +rows. It has been all day hot and dusty. The country everywhere +seems to need rain; and dark clouds are gathering in the south for a +storm, as we drive up the broad Place de Meir to our hotel, and take +rooms that look out to the lace-like spire of the cathedral, which is +sharply defined against the red western sky. + +Antwerp takes hold of you, both by its present and its past, very +strongly. It is still the home of wealth. It has stately buildings, +splendid galleries of pictures, and a spire of stone which charms +more than a picture, and fascinates the eye as music does the ear. +It still keeps its strong fortifications drawn around it, to which +the broad and deep Scheldt is like a string to a bow, mindful of the +unstable state of Europe. While Berlin is only a vast camp of +soldiers, every less city must daily beat its drums, and call its +muster-roll. From the tower here one looks upon the cockpit of +Europe. And yet Antwerp ought to have rest: she has had tumult +enough in her time. Prosperity seems returning to her; but her old, +comparative splendor can never come back. In the sixteenth century +there was no richer city in Europe. + +We walked one evening past the cathedral spire, which begins in the +richest and most solid Gothic work, and grows up into the sky into an +exquisite lightness and grace, down a broad street to the Scheldt. +What traffic have not these high old houses looked on, when two +thousand and five hundred vessels lay in the river at one time, and +the commerce of Europe found here its best mart. Along the stream +now is a not very clean promenade for the populace; and it is lined +with beer-houses, shabby theaters, and places of the most childish +amusements. There is an odd liking for the simple among these +people. In front of the booths, drums were beaten and instruments +played in bewildering discord. Actors in paint and tights stood +without to attract the crowd within. On one low balcony, a +copper-colored man, with a huge feather cap and the traditional dress +of the American savage, was beating two drums; a burnt-cork black man +stood beside him; while on the steps was a woman, in hat and shawl, +making an earnest speech to the crowd. In another place, where a +crazy band made furious music, was an enormous "go-round" of wooden +ponies, like those in the Paris gardens, only here, instead of +children, grown men and women rode the hobby-horses, and seemed +delighted with the sport. In the general Babel, everybody was +good-natured and jolly. Little things suffice to amuse the lower +classes, who do not have to bother their heads with elections and +mass meetings. + +In front of the cathedral is the well, and the fine canopy of +iron-work, by Quentin Matsys, the blacksmith of Antwerp, some of +whose pictures we saw in the Museum, where one sees, also some of the +finest pictures of the Dutch school,--the "Crucifixion" of Rubens, +the "Christ on the Cross" of Vandyke; paintings also by Teniers, Otto +Vennius, Albert Cuyp, and others, and Rembrandt's portrait of his +wife,--a picture whose sweet strength and wealth of color draws one +to it with almost a passion of admiration. We had already seen "The +Descent from the Cross" and "The Raising of the Cross" by Rubens, in +the cathedral. With all his power and rioting luxuriance of color, I +cannot come to love him as I do Rembrandt. Doubtless he painted what +he saw; and we still find the types of his female figures in the +broad-hipped, ruddy-colored women of Antwerp. We walked down to his +house, which remains much as it was two hundred and twenty-five years +ago. From the interior court, an entrance in the Italian style leads +into a pleasant little garden full of old trees and flowers, with a +summer-house embellished with plaster casts, and having the very +stone table upon which Rubens painted. It is a quiet place, and fit +for an artist; but Rubens had other houses in the city, and lived the +life of a man who took a strong hold of the world. + + + + +AMSTERDAM + +The rail from Antwerp north was through a land flat and sterile. +After a little, it becomes a little richer; but a forlorner land to +live in I never saw. One wonders at the perseverance of the Flemings +and Dutchmen to keep all this vast tract above water when there is so +much good solid earth elsewhere unoccupied. At Moerdjik we changed +from the cars to a little steamer on the Maas, which flows between +high banks. The water is higher than the adjoining land, and from +the deck we look down upon houses and farms. At Dort, the Rhine +comes in with little promise of the noble stream it is in the +highlands. Everywhere canals and ditches dividing the small fields +instead of fences; trees planted in straight lines, and occasionally +trained on a trellis in front of the houses, with the trunk painted +white or green; so that every likeness of nature shall be taken away. +>From Rotterdam, by cars, it is still the same. The Dutchman spends +half his life, apparently, in fighting the water. He has to watch +the huge dikes which keep the ocean from overwhelming him, and the +river-banks, which may break, and let the floods of the Rhine swallow +him up. The danger from within is not less than from without. Yet +so fond is he of his one enemy, that, when he can afford it, he +builds him a fantastic summer-house over a stagnant pool or a slimy +canal, in one corner of his garden, and there sits to enjoy the +aquatic beauties of nature; that is, nature as he has made it. The +river-banks are woven with osiers to keep them from washing; and at +intervals on the banks are piles of the long withes to be used in +emergencies when the swollen streams threaten to break through. + +And so we come to Amsterdam, the oddest city of all,--a city wholly +built on piles, with as many canals as streets, and an architecture +so quaint as to even impress one who has come from Belgium. The +whole town has a wharf-y look; and it is difficult to say why the +tall brick houses, their gables running by steps to a peak, and each +one leaning forward or backward or sideways, and none perpendicular, +and no two on a line, are so interesting. But certainly it is a most +entertaining place to the stranger, whether he explores the crowded +Jews' quarter, with its swarms of dirty people, its narrow streets, +and high houses hung with clothes, as if every day were washing-day; +or strolls through the equally narrow streets of rich shops; or +lounges upon the bridges, and looks at the queer boats with clumsy +rounded bows, great helms' painted in gay colors, with flowers in the +cabin windows,--boats where families live; or walks down the +Plantage, with the zoological gardens on the one hand and rows of +beer-gardens on the other; or round the great docks; or saunters at +sunset by the banks of the Y, and looks upon flat North Holland and +the Zuyder Zee. + +The palace on the Dam (square) is a square, stately edifice, and the +only building that the stranger will care to see. Its interior is +richer and more fit to live in than any palace we have seen. There +is nothing usually so dreary as your fine Palace. There are some +good frescoes, rooms richly decorated in marble, and a magnificent +hall, or ball-room, one hundred feet in height, without pillars. +Back of it is, of course, a canal, which does not smell fragrantly in +the summer; and I do not wonder that William III. and his queen +prefer to stop away. From the top is a splendid view of Amsterdam +and all the flat region. I speak of it with entire impartiality, for +I did not go up to see it. But better than palaces are the +picture-galleries, three of which are open to the sightseer. Here +the ancient and modern Dutch painters are seen at their best, and I +know of no richer feast of this sort. Here Rembrandt is to be seen +in his glory; here Van der Helst, Jan Steen, Gerard Douw, Teniers the +younger, Hondekoeter, Weenix, Ostade, Cuyp, and other names as +familiar. These men also painted what they saw, the people, the +landscapes, with which they were familiar. It was a strange pleasure +to meet again and again in the streets of the town the faces, or +types of them, that we had just seen on canvas so old. + +In the Low Countries, the porters have the grand title of +commissionaires. They carry trunks and bundles, black boots, and act +as valets de place. As guides, they are quite as intolerable in +Amsterdam as their brethren in other cities. Many of them are Jews; +and they have a keen eye for a stranger. The moment he sallies from +his hotel, there is a guide. Let him hesitate for an instant in his +walk, either to look at something or to consult his map, or let him +ask the way, and he will have a half dozen of the persistent guild +upon him; and they cannot easily be shaken off. The afternoon we +arrived, we had barely got into our rooms at Brack's Oude Doelan, +when a gray-headed commissionaire knocked at our door, and offered +his services to show us the city. We deferred the pleasure of his +valuable society. Shortly, when we came down to the street, a +smartly dressed Israelite took off his hat to us, and offered to show +us the city. We declined with impressive politeness, and walked on. +The Jew accompanied us, and attempted conversation, in which we did +not join. He would show us everything for a guilder an hour,--for +half a guilder. Having plainly told the Jew that we did not desire +his attendance, he crossed to the other side of the street, and kept +us in sight, biding his opportunity. At the end of the street, we +hesitated a moment whether to cross the bridge or turn up by the +broad canal. The Jew was at our side in a moment, having divined +that we were on the way to the Dam and the palace. He obligingly +pointed the way, and began to walk with us, entering into +conversation. We told him pointedly, that we did not desire his +services, and requested him to leave us. He still walked in our +direction, with the air of one much injured, but forgiving, and was +more than once beside us with a piece of information. When we +finally turned upon him with great fierceness, and told him to +begone, he regarded us with a mournful and pitying expression; and as +the last act of one who returned good for evil, before he turned +away, pointed out to us the next turn we were to make. I saw him +several times afterward; and I once had occasion to say to him, that +I had already told him I would not employ him; and he always lifted +his hat, and looked at me with a forgiving smile. I felt that I had +deeply wronged him. As we stood by the statue, looking up at the +eastern pediment of the palace, another of the tribe (they all speak +a little English) asked me if I wished to see the palace. I told him +I was looking at it, and could see it quite distinctly. Half a dozen +more crowded round, and proffered their aid. Would I like to go into +the palace ? They knew, and I knew, that they could do nothing more +than go to the open door, through which they would not be admitted, +and that I could walk across the open square to that, and enter +alone. I asked the first speaker if he wished to go into the palace. +Oh, yes! he would like to go. I told him he had better go at once,- +-they had all better go in together and see the palace,--it was an +excellent opportunity. They seemed to see the point, and slunk away +to the other side to wait for another stranger. + +I find that this plan works very well with guides: when I see one +approaching, I at once offer to guide him. It is an idea from which +he does not rally in time to annoy us. The other day I offered to +show a persistent fellow through an old ruin for fifty kreuzers: as +his price for showing me was forty-eight, we did not come to terms. +One of the most remarkable guides, by the way, we encountered at +Stratford-on-Avon. As we walked down from the Red Horse Inn to the +church, a full-grown boy came bearing down upon us in the most +wonderful fashion. Early rickets, I think, had been succeeded by the +St. Vitus' dance. He came down upon us sideways, his legs all in a +tangle, and his right arm, bent and twisted, going round and round, +as if in vain efforts to get into his pocket, his fingers spread out +in impotent desire to clutch something. There was great danger that +he would run into us, as he was like a steamer with only one +side-wheel and no rudder. He came up puffing and blowing, and +offered to show us Shakespeare's tomb. Shade of the past, to be +accompanied to thy resting-place by such an object! But he fastened +himself on us, and jerked and hitched along in his side-wheel +fashion. We declined his help. He paddled on, twisting himself into +knots, and grinning in the most friendly manner. We told him to +begone. "I am," said he, wrenching himself into a new contortion, "I +am what showed Artemus Ward round Stratford." This information he +repeated again and again, as if we could not resist him after we had +comprehended that. We shook him off; but when we returned at sundown +across the fields, from a visit to Anne Hathaway's cottage, we met +the sidewheeler cheerfully towing along a large party, upon whom he +had fastened. + +The people of Amsterdam are only less queer than their houses. The +men dress in a solid, old-fashioned way. Every one wears the +straight, high-crowned silk hat that went out with us years ago, and +the cut of clothing of even the most buckish young fellows is behind +the times. I stepped into the Exchange, an immense interior, that +will hold five thousand people, where the stock-gamblers meet twice a +day. It was very different from the terrible excitement and noise of +the Paris Bourse. There were three or four thousand brokers there, +yet there was very little noise and no confusion. No stocks were +called, and there was no central ring for bidding, as at the Bourse +and the New York Gold Room; but they quietly bought and sold. Some +of the leading firms had desks or tables at the side, and there +awaited orders. Everything was phlegmatically and decorously done. + +In the streets one still sees peasant women in native costume. There +was a group to-day that I saw by the river, evidently just crossed +over from North Holland. They wore short dresses, with the upper +skirt looped up, and had broad hips and big waists. On the head was +a cap with a fall of lace behind; across the back of the head a broad +band of silver (or tin) three inches broad, which terminated in front +and just above the ears in bright pieces of metal about two inches +square, like a horse's blinders, Only flaring more from the head; +across the forehead and just above the eyes a gilt band, embossed; on +the temples two plaits of hair in circular coils; and on top of all a +straw hat, like an old-fashioned bonnet) stuck on hindside before. +Spiral coils of brass wire, coming to a point in front, are also worn +on each side of the head by many. Whether they are for ornament or +defense, I could not determine. + +Water is brought into the city now from Haarlem, and introduced into +the best houses; but it is still sold in the streets by old men and +women, who sit at the faucets. I saw one dried-up old grandmother, +who sat in her little caboose, fighting away the crowd of dirty +children who tried to steal a drink when her back was turned, keeping +count of the pails of water carried away with a piece of chalk on the +iron pipe, and trying to darn her stocking at the same time. Odd +things strike you at every turn. There is a sledge drawn by one poor +horse, and on the front of it is a cask of water pierced with holes, +so that the water squirts out and wets the stones, making it easier +sliding for the runners. It is an ingenious people! + +After all, we drove out five miles to Broek, the clean village; +across the Y, up the canal, over flatness flattened. Broek is a +humbug, as almost all show places are. A wooden little village on a +stagnant canal, into which carriages do not drive, and where the +front doors of the houses are never open; a dead, uninteresting +place, neat but not specially pretty, where you are shown into one +house got up for the purpose, which looks inside like a crockery +shop, and has a stiff little garden with box trained in shapes of +animals and furniture. A roomy-breeched young Dutchman, whose +trousers went up to his neck, and his hat to a peak, walked before us +in slow and cow-like fashion, and showed us the place; especially +some horrid pleasure-grounds, with an image of an old man reading in +a summer-house, and an old couple in a cottage who sat at a table and +worked, or ate, I forget which, by clock-work; while a dog barked by +the same means. In a pond was a wooden swan sitting on a stick, the +water having receded, and left it high and dry. Yet the trip is +worth while for the view of the country and the people on the way: +men and women towing boats on the canals; the red-tiled houses +painted green, and in the distance the villages, with their spires +and pleasing mixture of brown, green, and red tints, are very +picturesque. The best thing that I saw, however, was a traditional +Dutchman walking on the high bank of a canal, with soft hat, short +pipe, and breeches that came to the armpits above, and a little below +the knees, and were broad enough about the seat and thighs to carry +his no doubt numerous family. He made a fine figure against the sky. + + + + +COLOGNE AND ST. URSULA + +It is a relief to get out of Holland and into a country nearer to +hills. The people also seem more obliging. In Cologne, a +brown-cheeked girl pointed us out the way without waiting for a +kreuzer. Perhaps the women have more to busy themselves about in the +cities, and are not so curious about passers-by. We rarely see a +reflector to exhibit us to the occupants of the second-story windows. +In all the cities of Belgium and Holland the ladies have small +mirrors, with reflectors, fastened to their windows; so that they can +see everybody who passes, without putting their heads out. I trust +we are not inverted or thrown out of shape when we are thus caught up +and cast into my lady's chamber. Cologne has a cheerful look, for +the Rhine here is wide and promising; and as for the "smells," they +are certainly not so many nor so vile as those at Mainz. + +Our windows at the hotel looked out on the finest front of the +cathedral. If the Devil really built it, he is to be credited with +one good thing, and it is now likely to be finished, in spite of him. +Large as it is, it is on the exterior not so impressive as that at +Amiens; but within it has a magnificence born of a vast design and +the most harmonious proportions, and the grand effect is not broken +by any subdivision but that of the choir. Behind the altar and in +front of the chapel, where lie the remains of the Wise Men of the +East who came to worship the Child, or, as thev are called, the Three +Kings of Cologne, we walked over a stone in the pavement under which +is the heart of Mary de Medicis: the remainder of her body is in St. +Denis near Paris. The beadle in red clothes, who stalks about the +cathedral like a converted flamingo, offered to open for us the +chapel; but we declined a sight of the very bones of the Wise Men. +It was difficult enough to believe they were there, without seeing +them. One ought not to subject his faith to too great a strain at +first in Europe. The bones of the Three Kings, by the way, made the +fortune of the cathedral. They were the greatest religious card of +the Middle Ages, and their fortunate possession brought a flood of +wealth to this old Domkirche. The old feudal lords would swear by +the Almighty Father, or the Son, or Holy Ghost, or by everything +sacred on earth, and break their oaths as they would break a wisp of +straw: but if you could get one of them to swear by the Three Kings +of Cologne, he was fast; for that oath he dare not disregard. + +The prosperity of the cathedral on these valuable bones set all the +other churches in the neighborhood on the same track; and one can +study right here in this city the growth of relic worship. But the +most successful achievement was the collection of the bones of St. +Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins, and their preservation in the +church on the very spot where they suffered martyrdom. There is +probably not so large a collection of the bones of virgins elsewhere +in the world; and I am sorry to read that Professor Owen has thought +proper to see and say that many of them are the bones of lower orders +of animals. They are built into the walls of the church, arranged +about the choir, interred in stone coffins, laid under the pavements; +and their skulls grin at you everywhere. In the chapel the bones are +tastefully built into the wall and overhead, like rustic wood-work; +and the skulls stand in rows, some with silver masks, like the jars +on the shelves of an apothecary's shop. It is a cheerful place. On +the little altar is the very skull of the saint herself, and that of +Conan, her ]over, who made the holy pilgrimage to Rome with her and +her virgins, and also was slain by the Huns at Cologne. There is a +picture of the eleven thousand disembarking from one boat on the +Rhine, which is as wonderful as the trooping of hundreds of spirits +out of a conjurer's bottle. The right arm of St. Ursula is preserved +here: the left is at Bruges. I am gradually getting the hang of this +excellent but somewhat scattered woman, and bringing her together in +my mind. Her body, I believe, lies behind the altar in this same +church. She must have been a lovely character, if Hans Memling's +portrait of her is a faithful one. I was glad to see here one of the +jars from the marriage-supper in Cana. We can identify it by a piece +which is broken out; and the piece is in Notre Dame in Paris. It has +been in this church five hundred years. The sacristan, a very +intelligent person, with a shaven crown and his hair cut straight +across his forehead, who showed us the church, gave us much useful +information about bones, teeth, and the remains of the garments that +the virgins wore; and I could not tell from his face how much he +expected us to believe. I asked the little fussy old guide of an +English party who had joined us, how much he believed of the story. +He was a Protestant, and replied, still anxious to keep up the credit +of his city, "Tousands is too many; some hundreds maybe; tousands is +too many." + + + + +A GLIMPSE OF THE RHINE + +You have seen the Rhine in pictures; you have read its legends. You +know, in imagination at least, how it winds among craggy hills of +splendid form, turning so abruptly as to leave you often shut in with +no visible outlet from the wall of rock and forest; how the castles, +some in ruins so as to be as unsightly as any old pile of rubbish, +others with feudal towers and battlements, still perfect, hang on the +crags, or stand sharp against the sky, or nestle by the stream or on +some lonely island. You know that the Rhine has been to Germans what +the Nile was to the Egyptians,--a delight, and the theme of song and +story. Here the Roman eagles were planted; here were the camps of +Drusus; here Caesar bridged and crossed the Rhine; here, at every +turn, a feudal baron, from his high castle, levied toll on the +passers; and here the French found a momentary halt to their invasion +of Germany at different times. You can imagine how, in a misty +morning, as you leave Bonn, the Seven Mountains rise up in their +veiled might, and how the Drachenfels stands in new and changing +beauty as you pass it and sail away. You have been told that the +Hudson is like the Rhine. Believe me, there is no resemblance; nor +would there be if the Hudson were lined with castles, and Julius +Caesar had crossed it every half mile. The Rhine satisfies you, and +you do not recall any other river. It only disappoints you as to its +"vine-clad hills." You miss trees and a covering vegetation, and are +not enamoured of the patches of green vines on wall-supported +terraces, looking from the river like hills of beans or potatoes. +And, if you try the Rhine wine on the steamers, you will wholly lose +your faith in the vintage. We decided that the wine on our boat was +manufactured in the boiler. + +There is a mercenary atmosphere about hotels and steamers on the +Rhine, a watering-place, show sort of feeling, that detracts very +much from one's enjoyment. The old habit of the robber barons of +levying toll on all who sail up and down has not been lost. It is not +that one actually pays so much for sightseeing, but the charm of +anything vanishes when it is made merchandise. One is almost as +reluctant to buy his "views" as he is to sell his opinions. But one +ought to be weeks on the Rhine before attempting to say anything +about it. + +One morning, at Bingen,--I assure you it was not six o'clock,--we +took a big little rowboat, and dropped down the stream, past the +Mouse Tower, where the cruel Bishop Hatto was eaten up by rats, under +the shattered Castle of Ehrenfels, round the bend to the little +village of Assmannshausen, on the hills back of which is grown the +famous red wine of that name. On the bank walked in line a dozen +peasants, men and women, in picturesque dress, towing, by a line +passed from shoulder to shoulder, a boat filled with marketing for +Rudesheim. We were bound up the Niederwald, the mountain opposite +Bingen, whose noble crown of forest attracted us. At the landing, +donkeys awaited us; and we began the ascent, a stout, good-natured +German girl acting as guide and driver. Behind us, on the opposite +shore, set round about with a wealth of foliage, was the Castle of +Rheinstein, a fortress more pleasing in its proportions and situation +than any other. Our way was through the little town which is jammed +into the gorge; and as we clattered up the pavement, past the church, +its heavy bell began to ring loudly for matins, the sound +reverberating in the narrow way, and following us with its +benediction when we were far up the hill, breathing the fresh, +inspiring morning air. The top of the Niederwald is a splendid +forest of trees, which no impious Frenchman has been allowed to trim, +and cut into allees of arches, taking one in thought across the water +to the free Adirondacks. We walked for a long time under the welcome +shade, approaching the brow of the hill now and then, where some +tower or hermitage is erected, for a view of the Rhine and the Nahe, +the villages below, and the hills around; and then crossed the +mountain, down through cherry orchards, and vine yards, walled up, +with images of Christ on the cross on the angles of the walls, down +through a hot road where wild flowers grew in great variety, to the +quaint village of Rudesheim, with its queer streets and ancient +ruins. Is it +possible that we can have too many ruins? "Oh dear!" exclaimed the +jung-frau as we sailed along the last day, "if there is n't another +castle!" + + + + +HEIDELBERG + +If you come to Heidelberg, you will never want to go away. To arrive +here is to come into a peaceful state of rest and content. The great +hills out of which the Neckar flows, infold the town in a sweet +security; and yet there is no sense of imprisonment, for the view is +always wide open to the great plains where the Neckar goes to join +the Rhine, and where the Rhine runs for many a league through a rich +and smiling land. One could settle down here to study, without a +desire to go farther, nor any wish to change the dingy, shabby old +buildings of the university for anything newer and smarter. What the +students can find to fight their little duels about I cannot see; but +fight they do, as many a scarred cheek attests. The students give +life to the town. They go about in little caps of red, green, and +blue, many of them embroidered in gold, and stuck so far on the +forehead that they require an elastic, like that worn by ladies, +under the back hair, to keep them on; and they are also distinguished +by colored ribbons across the breast. The majority of them are +well-behaved young gentlemen, who carry switch-canes, and try to keep +near the fashions, like students at home. Some like to swagger about +in their little skull-caps, and now and then one is attended by a +bull-dog. + +I write in a room which opens out upon a balcony. Below it is a +garden, below that foliage, and farther down the town with its old +speckled roofs, spires, and queer little squares. Beyond is the +Neckar, with the bridge, and white statues on it, and an old city +gate at this end, with pointed towers. Beyond that is a white road +with a wall on one side, along which I see peasant women walking with +large baskets balanced on their heads. The road runs down the river +to Neuenheim. Above it on the steep hillside are vineyards; and a +winding path goes up to the Philosopher's Walk, which runs along for +a mile or more, giving delightful views of the castle and the +glorious woods and hills back of it. Above it is the mountain of +Heiligenberg, from the other side of which one looks off toward +Darmstadt and the famous road, the Bergstrasse. If I look down the +stream, I see the narrow town, and the Neckar flowing out of it into +the vast level plain, rich with grain and trees and grass, with many +spires and villages; Mannheim to the northward, shining when the sun +is low; the Rhine gleaming here and there near the horizon; and the +Vosges Mountains, purple in the last distance: on my right, and so +near that I could throw a stone into them, the ruined tower and +battlements of the northwest corner of the castle, half hidden in +foliage, with statues framed in ivy, and the garden terrace, built +for Elizabeth Stuart when she came here the bride of the Elector +Frederick, where giant trees grow. Under the walls a steep path goes +down into the town, along which little houses cling to the hillside. +High above the castle rises the noble Konigstuhl, whence the whole of +this part of Germany is visible, and, in a clear day, Strasburg +Minster, ninety miles away. + +I have only to go a few steps up a narrow, steep street, lined with +the queerest houses, where is an ever-running pipe of good water, to +which all the neighborhood resorts, and I am within the grounds of +the castle. I scarcely know where to take you; for I never know +where to go myself, and seldom do go where I intend when I set forth. +We have been here several days; and I have not yet seen the Great +Tun, nor the inside of the show-rooms, nor scarcely anything that is +set down as a "sight." I do not know whether to wander on through the +extensive grounds, with splendid trees, bits of old ruin, overgrown, +cozy nooks, and seats where, through the foliage, distant prospects +open into quiet retreats that lead to winding walks up the terraced +hill, round to the open terrace overlooking the Neckar, and giving +the best general view of the great mass of ruins. If we do, we shall +be likely to sit in some delicious place, listening to the band +playing in the "Restauration," and to the nightingales, till the moon +comes up. Or shall we turn into the garden through the lovely Arch +of the Princess Elizabeth, with its stone columns cut to resemble +tree-trunks twined with ivy? Or go rather through the great archway, +and under the teeth of the portcullis, into the irregular quadrangle, +whose buildings mark the changing style and fortune of successive +centuries, from 1300 down to the seventeenth century? There is +probably no richer quadrangle in Europe: there is certainly no other +ruin so vast, so impressive, so ornamented with carving, except the +Alhambra. And from here we pass out upon the broad terrace of +masonry, with a splendid flanking octagon tower, its base hidden in +trees, a rich facade for a background, and below the town the river, +and beyond,the plain and floods of golden sunlight. What shall we +do? Sit and dream in the Rent Tower under the lindens that grow in +its top? The day passes while one is deciding how to spend it, and +the sun over Heiligenberg goes down on his purpose. + + + + +ALPINE NOTES + +ENTERING SWITZERLAND BERNE ITS BEAUTIES AND BEARS + +If you come to Bale, you should take rooms on the river, or stand on +the bridge at evening, and have a sunset of gold and crimson +streaming down upon the wide and strong Rhine, where it rushes +between the houses built plumb up to it, or you will not care much +for the city. And yet it is pleasant on the high ground, where are +some stately buildings, and where new gardens are laid out, and where +the American consul on the Fourth of July flies our flag over the +balcony of a little cottage smothered in vines and gay with flowers. +I had the honor of saluting it that day, though I did not know at the +time that gold had risen two or three per cent. under its blessed +folds at home. Not being a shipwrecked sailor, or a versatile and +accomplished but impoverished naturalized citizen, desirous of quick +transit to the land of the free, I did not call upon the consul, but +left him under the no doubt correct impression that he was doing a +good thing by unfolding the flag on the Fourth. + +You have not journeyed far from Bale before you are aware that you +are in Switzerland. It was showery the day we went down; but the +ride filled us with the most exciting expectations. The country +recalled New England, or what New England might be, if it were +cultivated and adorned, and had good roads and no fences. Here at +last, after the dusty German valleys, we entered among real hills, +round which and through which, by enormous tunnels, our train slowly +went: rocks looking out of foliage; sweet little valleys, green as in +early spring; the dark evergreens in contrast; snug cottages nestled +in the hillsides, showing little else than enormous brown roofs that +come nearly to the ground, giving the cottages the appearance of huge +toadstools; fine harvests of grain; thrifty apple-trees, and cherry- +trees purple with luscious fruit. And this shifting panorama +continues until, towards evening, behold, on a hill, Berne, shining +through showers, the old feudal round tower and buildings overhanging +the Aar, and the tower of the cathedral over all. From the balcony +of our rooms at the Bellevue, the long range of the Bernese Oberland +shows its white summits for a moment in the slant sunshine, and then +the clouds shut down, not to lift again for two days. Yet it looks +warmer on the snow-peaks than in Berne, for summer sets in in +Switzerland with a New England chill and rigor. + +The traveler finds no city with more flavor of the picturesque and +quaint than Berne; and I think it must have preserved the Swiss +characteristics better than any other of the large towns in Helvetia. +It stands upon a peninsula, round which the Aar, a hundred feet +below, rapidly flows; and one has on nearly every side very pretty +views of the green basin of hills which rise beyond the river. It is +a most comfortable town on a rainy day; for all the principal streets +have their houses built on arcades, and one walks under the low +arches, with the shops on one side and the huge stone pillars on the +other. These pillars so stand out toward the street as to give the +house-fronts a curved look. Above are balconies, in which, upon red +cushions, sit the daughters of Berne, reading and sewing, and +watching their neighbors; and in nearly every window are quantities +of flowers of the most brilliant colors. The gray stone of the +houses, which are piled up from the streets, harmonizes well with the +colors in the windows and balconies, and the scene is quite Oriental +as one looks down, especially if it be upon a market morning, when +the streets are as thronged as the Strand. Several terraces, with +great trees, overlook the river, and command prospects of the Alps. +These are public places; for the city government has a queer notion +that trees are not hideous, and that a part of the use of living is +the enjoyment of the beautiful. I saw an elegant bank building, with +carved figures on the front, and at each side of the entrance door a +large stand of flowers,--oleanders, geraniums, and fuchsias; while +the windows and balconies above bloomed with a like warmth of floral +color. Would you put an American bank president in the Retreat who +should so decorate his banking-house? We all admire the tasteful +display of flowers in foreign towns: we go home, and carry nothing +with us but a recollection. But Berne has also fountains everywhere; +some of them grotesque, like the ogre that devours his own children, +but all a refreshment and delight. And it has also its clock-tower, +with one of those ingenious pieces of mechanism, in which the sober +people of this region take pleasure. At the hour, a procession of +little bears goes round, a jolly figure strikes the time, a cock +flaps his wings and crows, and a solemn Turk opens his mouth to +announce the flight of the hours. It is more grotesque, but less +elaborate, than the equally childish toy in the cathedral at +Strasburg. + +We went Sunday morning to the cathedral; and the excellent woman who +guards the portal--where in ancient stone the Last Judgment is +enacted, and the cheerful and conceited wise virgins stand over +against the foolish virgins, one of whom has been in the penitential +attitude of having a stone finger in her eye now for over three +hundred years--refused at first to admit us to the German Lutheran +service, which was just beginning. It seems that doors are locked, +and no one is allowed to issue forth until after service. There +seems to be an impression that strangers go only to hear the organ, +which is a sort of rival of that at Freiburg, and do not care much +for the well-prepared and protracted discourse in Swiss-German. We +agreed to the terms of admission; but it did not speak well for +former travelers that the woman should think it necessary to say, +"You must sit still, and not talk." It is a barn-like interior. The +women all sit on hard, high-backed benches in the center of the +church, and the men on hard, higher-backed benches about the sides, +inclosing and facing the women, who are more directly under the +droppings of the little pulpit, hung on one of the pillars,--a very +solemn and devout congregation, who sang very well, and paid strict +attention to the sermon. + +I noticed that the names of the owners, and sometimes their coats-of- +arms, were carved or painted on the backs of the seats, as if the +pews were not put up at yearly auction. One would not call it a +dressy congregation, though the homely women looked neat in black +waists and white puffed sleeves and broadbrimmed hats. + +The only concession I have anywhere seen to women in Switzerland, as +the more delicate sex, was in this church: they sat during most of +the service, but the men stood all the time, except during the +delivery of the sermon. The service began at nine o'clock, as it +ought to with us in summer. The costume of the peasant women in and +about Berne comes nearer to being picturesque than in most other +parts of Switzerland, where it is simply ugly. You know the sort of +thing in pictures,--the broad hat, short skirt) black, pointed +stomacher, with white puffed sleeves, and from each breast a large +silver chain hanging, which passes under the arm and fastens on the +shoulder behind,--a very favorite ornament. This costume would not +be unbecoming to a pretty face and figure: whether there are any such +native to Switzerland, I trust I may not be put upon the witness- +stand to declare. Some of the peasant young men went without coats, +and with the shirt sleeves fluted; and others wore butternut-colored +suits, the coats of which I can recommend to those who like the +swallow-tailed variety. I suppose one would take a man into the +opera in London, where he cannot go in anything but that sort. The +buttons on the backs of these came high up between the shoulders, and +the tails did not reach below the waistband. There is a kind of +rooster of similar appearance. I saw some of these young men from +the country, with their sweethearts, leaning over the stone parapet, +and looking into the pit of the bear-garden, where the city bears +walk round, or sit on their hind legs for bits of bread thrown to +them, or douse themselves in the tanks, or climb the dead trees set +up for their gambols. Years ago they ate up a British officer who +fell in; and they walk round now ceaselessly, as if looking for +another. But one cannot expect good taste in a bear. + +If you would see how charming a farming country can be, drive out on +the highway towards Thun. For miles it is well shaded with giant +trees of enormous trunks, and a clean sidewalk runs by the fine road. +On either side, at little distances from the road, are picturesque +cottages and rambling old farmhouses peeping from the trees and vines +and flowers. Everywhere flowers, before the house, in the windows, +at the railway stations. But one cannot stay forever even in +delightful Berne, with its fountains and terraces, and girls on red +cushions in the windows, and noble trees and flowers, and its stately +federal Capitol, and its bears carved everywhere in stone and wood, +and its sunrises, when all the Bernese Alps lie like molten silver in +the early light, and the clouds drift over them, now hiding, now +disclosing, the enchanting heights. + + + + +HEARING THE FREIBURG ORGAN--FIRST SIGHT OF LAKE LEMAN + +Freiburg, with its aerial suspension-bridges, is also on a peninsula, +formed by the Sarine; with its old walls, old watch-towers, its +piled-up old houses, and streets that go upstairs, and its delicious +cherries, which you can eat while you sit in the square by the famous +linden-tree, and wait for the time when the organ will be played in +the cathedral. For all the world stops at Freiburg to hear and enjoy +the great organ,--all except the self-satisfied English clergyman, +who says he does n't care much for it, and would rather go about town +and see the old walls; and the young and boorish French couple, whose +refined amusement in the railway-carriage consisted in the young +man's catching his wife's foot in the window-strap, and hauling it up +to the level of the window, and who cross themselves and go out after +the first tune; and the two bread-and-butter English young ladies, +one of whom asks the other in the midst of the performance, if she +has thought yet to count the pipes,--a thoughtful verification of +Murray, which is very commendable in a young woman traveling for the +improvement of her little mind. + +One has heard so much of this organ, that he expects impossibilities, +and is at first almost disappointed, although it is not long in +discovering its vast compass, and its wonderful imitations, now of a +full orchestra, and again of a single instrument. One has not to +wait long before he is mastered by its spell. The vox humana stop +did not strike me as so perfect as that of the organ in the Rev. +Mr. Hale's church in Boston, though the imitation of choir-voices +responding to the organ was very effective. But it is not in tricks +of imitation that this organ is so wonderful: it is its power of +revealing, by all its compass, the inmost part of any musical +composition. + +The last piece we heard was something like this: the sound of a bell, +tolling at regular intervals, like the throbbing of a life begun; +about it an accompaniment of hopes, inducements, fears, the flute, +the violin, the violoncello, promising, urging, entreating, +inspiring; the life beset with trials, lured with pleasures, +hesitating, doubting, questioning; its purpose at length grows more +certain and fixed, the bell tolling becomes a prolonged undertone, +the flow of a definite life; the music goes on, twining round it, now +one sweet instrument and now many, in strife or accord, all the +influences of earth and heaven and the base underworld meeting and +warring over the aspiring soul; the struggle becomes more earnest, +the undertone is louder and clearer; the accompaniment indicates +striving, contesting passion, an agony of endeavor and resistance, +until at length the steep and rocky way is passed, the world and self +are conquered, and, in a burst of triumph from a full orchestra, the +soul attains the serene summit. But the rest is only for a moment. +Even in the highest places are temptations. The sunshine fails, +clouds roll up, growling of low, pedal thunder is heard, while sharp +lightning-flashes soon break in clashing peals about the peaks. This +is the last Alpine storm and trial. After it the sun bursts out +again, the wide, sunny valleys are disclosed, and a sweet evening +hymn floats through all the peaceful air. We go out from the cool +church into the busy streets of the white, gray town awed and +comforted. + +And such a ride afterwards! It was as if the organ music still +continued. All the world knows the exquisite views southward from +Freiburg; but such an atmosphere as we had does not overhang them +many times in a season. First the Moleross, and a range of mountains +bathed in misty blue light,--rugged peaks, scarred sides, white and +tawny at once, rising into the clouds which hung large and soft in +the blue; soon Mont Blanc, dim and aerial, in the south; the lovely +valley of the River Sense; peasants walking with burdens on the white +highway; the quiet and soft-tinted mountains beyond; towns perched on +hills, with old castles and towers; the land rich with grass, grain, +fruit, flowers; at Palezieux a magnificent view of the silver, +purple, and blue mountains, with their chalky seams and gashed sides, +near at hand; and at length, coming through a long tunnel, as if we +had been shot out into the air above a country more surprising than +any in dreams, the most wonderful sight burst upon us,--the +low-lying, deep-blue Lake Leman, and the gigantic mountains rising +from its shores, and a sort of mist, translucent, suffused with +sunlight, like the liquid of the golden wine the Steinberger poured +into the vast basin. We came upon it out of total darkness, without +warning; and we seemed, from our great height, to be about to leap +into the splendid gulf of tremulous light and color. + +This Lake of Geneva is said to combine the robust mountain grandeur +of Luzerne with all the softness of atmosphere of Lake Maggiore. +Surely, nothing could exceed the loveliness as we wound down the +hillside, through the vineyards, to Lausanne, and farther on, near +the foot of the lake, to Montreux, backed by precipitous but +tree-clad hills, fronted by the lovely water, and the great mountains +which run away south into Savoy, where Velan lifts up its snows. +Below us, round the curving bay, lies white Chillon; and at sunset we +row down to it over the bewitched water, and wait under its grim +walls till the failing light brings back the romance of castle and +prisoner. Our garcon had never heard of the prisoner; but he knew +about the gendarmes who now occupy the castle. + + + + +OUR ENGLISH FRIENDS + +Not the least of the traveler's pleasure in Switzerland is derived +from the English people who overrun it: they seem to regard it as a +kind of private park or preserve belonging to England; and they +establish themselves at hotels, or on steamboats and diligences, with +a certain air of ownership that is very pleasant. I am not very +fresh in my geology; but it is my impression that Switzerland was +created especially for the English, about the year of the Magna +Charta, or a little later. The Germans who come here, and who don't +care very much what they eat, or how they sleep, provided they do not +have any fresh air in diningroom or bedroom, and provided, also, that +the bread is a little sour, growl a good deal about the English, and +declare that they have spoiled Switzerland. The natives, too, who +live off the English, seem to thoroughly hate them; so that one is +often compelled, in self-defense, to proclaim his nationality, which +is like running from Scylla upon Charybdis; for, while the American +is more popular, it is believed that there is no bottom to his +pocket. + +There was a sprig of the Church of England on the steamboat on Lake +Leman, who spread himself upon a center bench, and discoursed very +instructively to his friends,--a stout, fat-faced young man in a +white cravat, whose voice was at once loud and melodious, and whom +our manly Oxford student set down as a man who had just rubbed +through the university, and got into a scanty living. + +"I met an American on the boat yesterday," the oracle was saying to +his friends, "who was really quite a pleasant fellow. He--ah really +was, you know, quite a sensible man. I asked him if they had +anything like this in America; and he was obliged to say that they +had n't anything like it in his country; they really had n't. He was +really quite a sensible fellow; said he was over here to do the +European tour, as he called it." + +Small, sympathetic laugh from the attentive, wiry, red-faced woman on +the oracle's left, and also a chuckle, at the expense of the +American, from the thin Englishman on his right, who wore a large +white waistcoat, a blue veil on his hat, and a face as red as a live +coal. + +"Quite an admission, was n't it, from an American? But I think they +have changed since the wah, you know." + +At the next landing, the smooth and beaming churchman was left by his +friends; and he soon retired to the cabin, where I saw him +self-sacrificingly denying himself the views on deck, and consoling +himself with a substantial lunch and a bottle of English ale. + +There is one thing to be said about the English abroad: the variety +is almost infinite. The best acquaintances one makes will be +English,--people with no nonsense and strong individuality; and one +gets no end of entertainment from the other sort. Very different +from the clergyman on the boat was the old lady at table-d'hote in +one of the hotels on the lake. One would not like to call her a +delightfully wicked old woman, like the Baroness Bernstein; but she +had her own witty and satirical way of regarding the world. She had +lived twenty-five years at Geneva, where people, years ago, coming +over the dusty and hot roads of France, used to faint away when they +first caught sight of the Alps. Believe they don't do it now. She +never did; was past the susceptible age when she first came; was +tired of the people. Honest? Why, yes, honest, but very fond of +money. Fine Swiss wood-carving? Yes. You'll get very sick of it. +It's very nice, but I 'm tired of it. Years ago, I sent some of it +home to the folks in England. They thought everything of it; and it +was not very nice, either,--a cheap sort. Moral ideas? I don't care +for moral ideas: people make such a fuss about them lately (this in +reply to her next neighbor, an eccentric, thin man, with bushy hair, +shaggy eyebrows, and a high, falsetto voice, who rallied the witty +old lady all dinner-time about her lack of moral ideas, and +accurately described the thin wine on the table as "water- +bewitched"). Why did n't the baroness go back to England, if she was +so tired of Switzerland? Well, she was too infirm now; and, besides, +she did n't like to trust herself on the railroads. And there were +so many new inventions nowadays, of which she read. What was this +nitroglycerine, that exploded so dreadfully? No: she thought she +should stay where she was. + +There is little risk of mistaking the Englishman, with or without his +family, who has set out to do Switzerland. He wears a brandy-flask, +a field-glass, and a haversack. Whether he has a silk or soft hat, +he is certain to wear a veil tied round it. This precaution is +adopted when he makes up his mind to come to Switzerland, I think, +because he has read that a veil is necessary to protect the eyes from +the snow-glare. There is probably not one traveler in a hundred who +gets among the ice and snow-fields where he needs a veil or green +glasses: but it is well to have it on the hat; it looks adventurous. +The veil and the spiked alpenstock are the signs of peril. +Everybody--almost everybody--has an alpenstock. It is usually a +round pine stick, with an iron spike in one end. That, also, is a +sign of peril. We saw a noble young Briton on the steamer the other +day, who was got up in the best Alpine manner. He wore a short +sack,--in fact, an entire suit of light gray flannel, which closely +fitted his lithe form. His shoes were of undressed leather, with +large spikes in the soles; and on his white hat he wore a large +quantity of gauze, which fell in folds down his neck. I am sorry to +say that he had a red face, a shaven chin, and long side-whiskers. +He carried a formidable alpenstock; and at the little landing where +we first saw him, and afterward on the boat, he leaned on it in a +series of the most graceful and daring attitudes that I ever saw the +human form assume. Our Oxford student knew the variety, and guessed +rightly that he was an army man. He had his face burned at Malta. +Had he been over the Gemmi? Or up this or that mountain? asked +another English officer. "No, I have not." And it turned out that +he had n't been anywhere, and did n't seem likely to do anything but +show himself at the frequented valley places. And yet I never saw +one whose gallant bearing I so much admired. We saw him afterward at +Interlaken, enduring all the hardships of that fashionable place. +There was also there another of the same country, got up for the most +dangerous Alpine climbing, conspicuous in red woolen stockings that +came above his knees. I could not learn that he ever went up +anything higher than the top of a diligence. + + + + +THE DILIGENCE TO CHAMOUNY + +The greatest diligence we have seen, one of the few of the +old-fashioned sort, is the one from Geneva to Chamouny. It leaves +early in the morning; and there is always a crowd about it to see the +mount and start. The great ark stands before the diligence-office, +and, for half an hour before the hour of starting, the porters are +busy stowing away the baggage, and getting the passengers on board. +On top, in the banquette, are seats for eight, besides the postilion +and guard; in the coup6, under the postilion's seat and looking upon +the horses, seats for three; in the interior, for three; and on top, +behind, for six or eight. The baggage is stowed in the capacious +bowels of the vehicle. At seven, the six horses are brought out and +hitched on, three abreast. We climb up a ladder to the banquette: +there is an irascible Frenchman, who gets into the wrong seat; and +before he gets right there is a terrible war of words between him and +the guard and the porters and the hostlers, everybody joining in with +great vivacity; in front of us are three quiet Americans, and a slim +Frenchman with a tall hat and one eye-glass. The postilion gets up +to his place. Crack, crack, crack, goes the whip; and, amid +"sensation" from the crowd, we are off at a rattling pace, the whip +cracking all the time like Chinese fireworks. The great passion of +the drivers is noise; and they keep the whip going all day. No +sooner does a fresh one mount the box than he gives a half-dozen +preliminary snaps; to which the horses pay no heed, as they know it +is only for the driver's amusement. We go at a good gait, changing +horses every six miles, till we reach the Baths of St. Gervais, where +we dine, from near which we get our first glimpse of Mont Blanc +through clouds,--a section of a dazzlingly white glacier, a very +exciting thing to the imagination. Thence we go on in small +carriages, over a still excellent but more hilly road, and begin to +enter the real mountain wonders; until, at length, real glaciers +pouring down out of the clouds nearly to the road meet us, and we +enter the narrow Valley of Chamouny, through which we drive to the +village in a rain. + +Everybody goes to Chamouny, and up the Flegere, and to Montanvert, +and over the Mer de Glace; and nearly everybody down the Mauvais Pas +to the Chapeau, and so back to the village. It is all easy to do; +and yet we saw some French people at the Chapeau who seemed to think +they had accomplished the most hazardous thing in the world in coming +down the rocks of the Mauvais Pas. There is, as might be expected, a +great deal of humbug about the difficulty of getting about in the +Alps, and the necessity of guides. Most of the dangers vanish on +near approach. The Mer de Glace is inferior to many other glaciers, +and is not nearly so fine as the Glacier des Bossons: but it has a +reputation, and is easy of access; so people are content to walk over +the dirty ice. One sees it to better effect from below, or he must +ascend it to the Jardin to know that it has deep crevasses, and is as +treacherous as it is grand. And yet no one will be disappointed at +the view from Montanvert, of the upper glacier, and the needles of +rock and snow which rise beyond. + +We met at the Chapeau two jolly young fellows from Charleston, S. C. +who had been in the war, on the wrong side. They knew no language +but American, and were unable to order a cutlet and an omelet for +breakfast. They said they believed they were going over the Tete +Noire. They supposed they had four mules waiting for them somewhere, +and a guide; but they couldn't understand a word he said, and he +couldn't understand them. The day before, they had nearly perished +of thirst, because they could n't make their guide comprehend that +they wanted water. One of them had slung over his shoulder an Alpine +horn, which he blew occasionally, and seemed much to enjoy. All this +while we sit on a rock at the foot of the Mauvais Pas, looking out +upon the green glacier, which here piles itself up finely, and above +to the Aiguilles de Charmoz and the innumerable ice-pinnacles that +run up to the clouds, while our muleteer is getting his breakfast. +This is his third breakfast this morning. + +The day after we reached Chamouny, Monseigneur the bishop arrived +there on one of his rare pilgrimages into these wild valleys. Nearly +all the way down from Geneva, we had seen signs of his coming, in +preparations as for the celebration of a great victory. I did not +know at first but the Atlantic cable had been laid; or rather that +the decorations were on account of the news of it reaching this +region. It was a holiday for all classes; and everybody lent a hand +to the preparations. First, the little church where the +confirmations were to take place was trimmed within and without; and +an arch of green spanned the gateway. At Les Pres, the women were +sweeping the road, and the men were setting small evergreen-trees on +each side. The peasants were in their best clothes; and in front of +their wretched hovels were tables set out with flowers. So cheerful +and eager were they about the bishop, that they forgot to beg as we +passed: the whole valley was in a fever of expectation. At one +hamlet on the mulepath over the Tete Noire, where the bishop was that +day expected, and the women were sweeping away all dust and litter +from the road, I removed my hat, and gravely thanked them for their +thoughtful preparation for our coming. But they only stared a +little, as if we were not worthy to be even forerunners of +Monseigneur. + +I do not care to write here how serious a drawback to the pleasures +of this region are its inhabitants. You get the impression that half +of them are beggars. The other half are watching for a chance to +prey upon you in other ways. I heard of a woman in the Zermatt +Valley who refused pay for a glass of milk; but I did not have time +to verify the report. Besides the beggars, who may or may not be +horrid-looking creatures, there are the grinning Cretins, the old +women with skins of parchment and the goitre, and even young children +with the loathsome appendage, the most wretched and filthy hovels, +and the dirtiest, ugliest people in them. The poor women are the +beasts of burden. They often lead, mowing in the hayfield; they +carry heavy baskets on their backs; they balance on their heads and +carry large washtubs full of water. The more appropriate load of one +was a cradle with a baby in it, which seemed not at all to fear +falling. When one sees how the women are treated, he does not wonder +that there are so many deformed, hideous children. I think the +pretty girl has yet to be born in Switzerland. + +This is not much about the Alps? Ah, well, the Alps are there. Go +read your guide-book, and find out what your emotions are. As I +said, everybody goes to Chamouny. Is it not enough to sit at your +window, and watch the clouds when they lift from the Mont Blanc +range, disclosing splendor after splendor, from the Aiguille de Goute +to the Aiguille Verte,--white needles which pierce the air for twelve +thousand feet, until, jubilate! the round summit of the monarch +himself is visible, and the vast expanse of white snow-fields, the +whiteness of which is rather of heaven than of earth, dazzles the +eyes, even at so great a distance? Everybody who is patient and +waits in the cold and inhospitable-looking valley of the Chamouny +long enough, sees Mont Blanc; but every one does not see a sunset of +the royal order. The clouds breaking up and clearing, after days of +bad weather, showed us height after height, and peak after peak, now +wreathing the summits, now settling below or hanging in patches on +the sides, and again soaring above, until we had the whole range +lying, far and brilliant, in the evening light. The clouds took on +gorgeous colors, at length, and soon the snow caught the hue, and +whole fields were rosy pink, while uplifted peaks glowed red, as with +internal fire. Only Mont Blanc, afar off, remained purely white, in +a kind of regal inaccessibility. And, afterward, one star came out +over it, and a bright light shone from the hut on the Grand Mulets, a +rock in the waste of snow, where a Frenchman was passing the night on +his way to the summit. + +Shall I describe the passage of the Tete Noire? My friend, it is +twenty-four miles, a road somewhat hilly, with splendid views of Mont +Blanc in the morning, and of the Bernese Oberland range in the +afternoon, when you descend into Martigny,--a hot place in the dusty +Rhone Valley, which has a comfortable hotel, with a pleasant garden, +in which you sit after dinner and let the mosquitoes eat you. + + + + +THE MAN WHO SPEAKS ENGLISH + +It was eleven o'clock at night when we reached Sion, a dirty little +town at the end of the Rhone Valley Railway, and got into the omnibus +for the hotel; and it was also dark and rainy. They speak German in +this part of Switzerland, or what is called German. There were two +very pleasant Americans, who spoke American, going on in the +diligence at half-past five in the morning, on their way over the +Simplex. One of them was accustomed to speak good, broad English +very distinctly to all races; and he seemed to expect that he must be +understood if he repeated his observations in a louder tone, as he +always did. I think he would force all this country to speak English +in two months. We all desired to secure places in the diligence, +which was likely to be full, as is usually the case when a railway +discharges itself into a postroad. + +We were scarcely in the omnibus, when the gentleman said to the +conductor: + +"I want two places in the coupe of the diligence in the morning. Can +I have them? " + +"Yah" replied the good-natured German, who did n't understand a word. + +"Two places, diligence, coupe, morning. Is it full?" + +"Yah," replied the accommodating fellow. "Hotel man spik English." + +I suggested the banquette as desirable, if it could be obtained, and +the German was equally willing to give it to us. Descending from the +omnibus at the hotel, in a drizzling rain, and amidst a crowd of +porters and postilions and runners, the "man who spoke English" +immediately presented himself; and upon him the American pounced with +a torrent of questions. He was a willing, lively little waiter, with +his moony face on the top of his head; and he jumped round in the +rain like a parching pea, rolling his head about in the funniest +manner. + +The American steadied the little man by the collar, and began, +"I want to secure two seats in the coupe of the diligence in the. +morning." + +"Yaas," jumping round, and looking from one to another. "Diligence, +coupe, morning." + +"I--want--two seats--in--coupe. If I can't get them, two--in-- +banquette." + +"Yaas banquette, coupe,--yaas, diligence." + +"Do you understand? Two seats, diligence, Simplon, morning. Will +you get them?" + +"Oh, yaas! morning, diligence. Yaas, sirr." + +"Hang the fellow! Where is the office? "And the gentleman left the +spry little waiter bobbing about in the middle of the street, +speaking English, but probably comprehending nothing that was said to +him. I inquired the way to the office of the conductor: it was +closed, but would soon be open, and I waited; and at length the +official, a stout Frenchman, appeared, and I secured places in the +interior, the only ones to be had to Visp. I had seen a diligence at +the door with three places in the coupe, and one perched behind; no +banquette. The office is brightly lighted; people are waiting to +secure places; there is the usual crowd of loafers, men and women, +and the Frenchman sits at his desk. Enter the American. + +"I want two places in coupe, in the morning. Or banquette. Two +places, diligence." The official waves him off, and says something. + +"What does he say?" + +"He tells you to sit down on that bench till he is ready." + +Soon the Frenchman has run over his big waybills, and turns to us. + +"I want two places in the diligence, coupe," etc, etc, says the +American. + +This remark being lost on the official, I explain to him as well as I +can what is wanted, at first,--two places in the coupe. + +"One is taken," is his reply. + +"The gentleman will take two," I said, having in mind the diligence +in the yard, with three places in the coupe. + +"One is taken," he repeats. + +"Then the gentleman will take the other two." + +"One is taken! "he cries, jumping up and smiting the table,--" one +is taken, I tell you!" + +"How many are there in the coupe?" + +"TWO." + +"Oh! then the gentleman will take the one remaining in the coupe and +the one on top." + +So it is arranged. When I come back to the hotel, the Americans are +explaining to the lively waiter "who speaks English" that they are to +go in the diligence at half-past five, and that they are to be called +at half-past four and have breakfast. He knows all about it,-- +"Diligence, half-past four breakfast, Oh, yaas!" While I have been +at the diligence-office, my companions have secured room and gone to +them; and I ask the waiter to show m to my room. First, however, I +tell him that we three two ladies and myself, who came together, are +going in the diligence at half-past five, and want to be called and +have breakfaSt. Did he comprehend? + +"Yaas," rolling his face about on the top of his head violently. +"You three gentleman want breakfast. What you have?" + +I had told him before what we would I have, an now I gave up all hope +of keeping our parties separate in his mind; so I said, +"Five persons want breakfast at five o'clock. Five persons, five +hours. Call all of them at half-past four." And I repeated it, and +made him repeat it in English and French. He then insisted on +putting me into the room of one of the American gentlemen +and then he knocked at the door of a lady, who cried out in +indignation at being disturbed; and, finally, I found my room. At +the door I reiterated the instructions for the morning; and he +cheerfully bade me good-night. But he almost immediately came back, +and poked in his head with,-- + +"Is you go by de diligence?" + +"Yes, you stupid." + +In the morning one of our party was called at halfpast three, and +saved the rest of us from a like fate; and we were not aroused at +all, but woke early enough to get down and find the diligence nearly +ready, and no breakfast, but "the man who spoke English " as lively +as ever. And we had a breakfast brought out, so filthy in all +respects that nobody could eat it. Fortunately, there was not time +to seriously try; but we paid for it, and departed. The two American +gentlemen sat in front of the house, waiting. The lively waiter had +called them at half-past three, for the railway train, instead of the +diligence; and they had their wretched breakfast early. They will +remember the funny adventure with "the man who speaks English," and, +no doubt, unite with us in warmly commending the Hotel Lion d'Or at +Sion as the nastiest inn in Switzerland. + + + + +A WALK TO THE GORNER GRAT + +When one leaves the dusty Rhone Valley, and turns southward from +Visp, he plunges into the wildest and most savage part of +Switzerland, and penetrates the heart of the Alps. The valley is +scarcely more than a narrow gorge, with high precipices on either +side, through which the turbid and rapid Visp tears along at a +furious rate, boiling and leaping in foam over its rocky bed, and +nearly as large as the Rhone at the junction. From Visp to St. +Nicolaus, twelve miles, there is only a mule-path, but a very good +one, winding along on the slope, sometimes high up, and again +descending to cross the stream, at first by vineyards and high stone +walls, and then on the edges of precipices, but always romantic and +wild. It is noon when we set out from Visp, in true pilgrim fashion, +and the sun is at first hot; but as we slowly rise up the easy +ascent, we get a breeze, and forget the heat in the varied charms of +the walk. + +Everything for the use of the upper valley and Zermatt, now a place +of considerable resort, must be carried by porters, or on horseback; +and we pass or meet men and women, sometimes a dozen of them +together, laboring along under the long, heavy baskets, broad at the +top and coming nearly to a point below, which are universally used +here for carrying everything. The tubs for transporting water are of +the same sort. There is no level ground, but every foot is +cultivated. High up on the sides of the precipices, where it seems +impossible for a goat to climb, are vineyards and houses, and even +villages, hung on slopes, nearly up to the clouds, and with no +visible way of communication with the rest of the world. + +In two hours' time we are at Stalden, a village perched upon a rocky +promontory, at the junction of the valleys of the Saas and the Visp, +with a church and white tower conspicuous from afar. We climb up to +the terrace in front of it, on our way into the town. A seedy- +looking priest is pacing up and down, taking the fresh breeze, his +broad-brimmed, shabby hat held down upon the wall by a big stone. +His clothes are worn threadbare; and he looks as thin and poor as a +Methodist minister in a stony town at home, on three hundred a year. +He politely returns our salutation, and we walk on. Nearly all the +priests in this region look wretchedly poor,--as poor as the people. +Through crooked, narrow streets, with houses overhanging and +thrusting out corners and gables, houses with stables below, and +quaint carvings and odd little windows above, the panes of glass +hexagons, so that the windows looked like sections of honey-comb,--we +found our way to the inn, a many-storied chalet, with stairs on the +outside, stone floors in the upper passages, and no end of queer +rooms; built right in the midst of other houses as odd, decorated +with German-text carving, from the windows of which the occupants +could look in upon us, if they had cared to do so; but they did not. +They seem little interested in anything; and no wonder, with their +hard fight with Nature. Below is a wine-shop, with a little side +booth, in which some German travelers sit drinking their wine, and +sputtering away in harsh gutturals. The inn is very neat inside, and +we are well served. Stalden is high; but away above it on the +opposite side is a village on the steep slope, with a slender white +spire that rivals some of the snowy needles. Stalden is high, but +the hill on which it stands is rich in grass. The secret of the +fertile meadows is the most thorough irrigation. Water is carried +along the banks from the river, and distributed by numerous +sluiceways below; and above, the little mountain streams are brought +where they are needed by artificial channels. Old men and women in +the fields were constantly changing the direction of the currents. +All the inhabitants appeared to be porters: women were transporting +on their backs baskets full of soil; hay was being backed to the +stables; burden-bearers were coming and going upon the road: we were +told that there are only three horses in the place. There is a +pleasant girl who brings us luncheon at the inn; but the inhabitants +for the most part are as hideous as those we see all day: some have +hardly the shape of human beings, and they all live in the most +filthy manner in the dirtiest habitations. A chalet is a sweet thing +when you buy a little model of it at home. + +After we leave Stalden, the walk becomes more picturesque, the +precipices are higher, the gorges deeper. It required some +engineering to carry the footpath round the mountain buttresses and +over the ravines. Soon the village of Emd appears on the right,--a +very considerable collection of brown houses, and a shining white +church-spire, above woods and precipices and apparently unscalable +heights, on a green spot which seems painted on the precipices; with +nothing visible to keep the whole from sliding down, down, into the +gorge of the Visp. Switzerland may not have so much population to +the square mile as some countries; but she has a population to some +of her square miles that would astonish some parts of the earth's +surface elsewhere. Farther on we saw a faint, zigzag footpath, that +we conjectured led to Emd; but it might lead up to heaven. All day +we had been solicited for charity by squalid little children, who +kiss their nasty little paws at us, and ask for centimes. The +children of Emd, however, did not trouble us. It must be a serious +affair if they ever roll out of bed. + +Late in the afternoon thunder began to tumble about the hills, and +clouds snatched away from our sight the snow-peaks at the end of the +valley; and at length the rain fell on those who had just arrived and +on the unjust. We took refuge from the hardest of it in a lonely +chalet high up on the hillside, where a roughly dressed, frowzy +Swiss, who spoke bad German, and said he was a schoolmaster, gave us +a bench in the shed of his schoolroom. He had only two pupils in +attendance, and I did not get a very favorable impression of this +high school. Its master quite overcame us with thanks when we gave +him a few centimes on leaving. It still rained, and we arrived in +St. Nicolaus quite damp. + +There is a decent road from St. Nicolaus to Zermatt, over which go +wagons without springs. The scenery is constantly grander as we +ascend. The day is not wholly clear; but high on our right are the +vast snow-fields of the Weishorn, and out of the very clouds near it +seems to pour the Bies Glacier. In front are the splendid Briethorn, +with its white, round summit; the black Riffelhorn; the sharp peak of +the little Matterhorn; and at last the giant Matterhorn itself rising +before us, the most finished and impressive single mountain in +Switzerland. Not so high as Mont Blanc by a thousand feet, it +appears immense in its isolated position and its slender aspiration. +It is a huge pillar of rock, with sharply cut edges, rising to a +defined point, dusted with snow, so that the rock is only here and +there revealed. To ascend it seems as impossible as to go up the +Column of Luxor; and one can believe that the gentlemen who first +attempted it in 1864, and lost their lives, did fall four thousand +feet before their bodies rested on the glacier below. + +We did not stay at Zermatt, but pushed on for the hotel on the top of +the Riffelberg,--a very stiff and tiresome climb of about three +hours, an unending pull up a stony footpath. Within an hour of the +top, and when the white hotel is in sight above the zigzag on the +breast of the precipice, we reach a green and widespread Alp where +hundreds of cows are feeding, watched by two forlorn women,--the +"milkmaids all forlorn " of poetry. At the rude chalets we stop, and +get draughts of rich, sweet cream. As we wind up the slope, the +tinkling of multitudinous bells from the herd comes to us, which is +also in the domain of poetry. All the way up,we have found wild +flowers in the greatest profusion; and the higher we ascend, the more +exquisite is their color and the more perfect their form. There are +pansies; gentians of a deeper blue than flower ever was before; +forget-me-nots, a pink variety among them; violets, the Alpine rose +and the Alpine violet; delicate pink flowers of moss; harebells; and +quantities for which we know no names, more exquisite in shape and +color than the choicest products of the greenhouse. Large slopes are +covered with them,--a brilliant show to the eye, and most pleasantly +beguiling the way of its tediousness. As high as I ascended, I still +found some of these delicate flowers, the pink moss growing in +profusion amongst the rocks of the GornerGrat, and close to the +snowdrifts. + +The inn on the Riffelberg is nearly eight thousand feet high, almost +two thousand feet above the hut on Mount Washington; yet it is not so +cold and desolate as the latter. Grass grows and flowers bloom on +its smooth upland, and behind it and in front of it are the +snow-peaks. That evening we essayed the Gorner-Grat, a rocky ledge +nearly ten thousand feet above the level of the sea; but after a +climb of an hour and a half, and a good view of Monte Rosa and the +glaciers and peaks of that range, we were prevented from reaching the +summit, and driven back by a sharp storm of hail and rain. The next +morning I started for the GornerGrat again, at four o'clock. The +Matterhorn lifted its huge bulk sharply against the sky, except where +fleecy clouds lightly draped it and fantastically blew about it. As +I ascended, and turned to look at it, its beautifully cut peak had +caught the first ray of the sun, and burned with a rosy glow. Some +great clouds drifted high in the air: the summits of the Breithorn, +the Lyscamm, and their companions, lay cold and white; but the snow +down their sides had a tinge of pink. When I stood upon the summit +of the Gorner-Grat, the two prominent silver peaks of Monte Rosa were +just touched with the sun, and its great snow-fields were visible to +the glacier at its base. The Gorner-Grat is a rounded ridge of rock, +entirely encirled by glaciers and snow-peaks. The panorama from it +is unexcelled in Switzerland. + +Returning down the rocky steep, I descried, solitary in that great +waste of rock and snow, the form of a lady whom I supposed I had left +sleeping at the inn, overcome with the fatigue of yesterday's tramp. +Lured on by the apparently short distance to the backbone of the +ridge, she had climbed the rocks a mile or more above the hotel, and +come to meet me. She also had seen the great peaks lift themselves +out of the gray dawn, and Monte Rosa catch the first rays. We stood +awhile together to see how jocund day ran hither and thither along +the mountain-tops, until the light was all abroad, and then silently +turned downward, as one goes from a mount of devotion + + + + +THE BATHS OF LEUK + +In order to make the pass of the Gemmi, it is necessary to go through +the Baths of Leuk. The ascent from the Rhone bridge at Susten is +full of interest, affording fine views of the valley, which is better +to look at than to travel through, and bringing you almost +immediately to the old town of Leuk, a queer, old, towered place, +perched on a precipice, with the oddest inn, and a notice posted up +to the effect, that any one who drives through its steep streets +faster than a walk will be fined five francs. I paid nothing extra +for a fast walk. The road, which is one of the best in the country, +is a wonderful piece of engineering, spanning streams, cut in rock, +rounding precipices, following the wild valley of the Dala by many a +winding and zigzag. + +The Baths of Leuk, or Loeche-les-Bains, or Leukerbad, is a little +village at the very head of the valley, over four thousand feet above +the sea, and overhung by the perpendicular walls of the Gemmi, which +rise on all sides, except the south, on an average of two thousand +feet above it. There is a nest of brown houses, clustered together +like bee-hives, into which the few inhabitants creep to hibernate in +the long winters, and several shops, grand hotels, and bathing-houses +open for the season. Innumerable springs issue out of this green, +sloping meadow among the mountains, some of them icy cold, but over +twenty of them hot, and seasoned with a great many disagreeable +sulphates, carbonates, and oxides, and varying in temperature from +ninety-five to one hundred and twenty-three degrees Fahrenheit. +Italians, French, and Swiss resort here in great numbers to take the +baths, which are supposed to be very efficacious for rheumatism and +cutaneous affections. Doubtless many of them do up their bathing for +the year while here; and they may need no more after scalding and +soaking in this water for a couple of months. + +Before we reached the hotel, we turned aside into one of the +bath-houses. We stood inhaling a sickly steam in a large, close +hall, which was wholly occupied by a huge vat, across which low +partitions, with bridges, ran, dividing it into four compartments. +When we entered, we were assailed with yells in many languages, and +howls in the common tongue, as if all the fiends of the pit had +broken loose. We took off our hats in obedience to the demand; but +the clamor did not wholly subside, and was mingled with singing and +horrible laughter. Floating about in each vat, we at first saw +twenty or thirty human heads. The women could be distinguished from +the men by the manner of dressing the hair. Each wore a loose woolen +gown. Each had a little table floating before him or her, which he +or she pushed about at pleasure. One wore a hideous mask; another +kept diving in the opaque pool and coming up to blow, like the +hippopotamus in the Zoological Gardens; some were taking a lunch from +their tables, others playing chess; some sitting on the benches round +the edges, with only heads out of water, as doleful as owls, while +others roamed about, engaged in the game of spattering with their +comrades, and sang and shouted at the top of their voices. The +people in this bath were said to be second class; but they looked as +well and behaved better than those of the first class, whom we saw in +the establishment at our hotel afterward. + +It may be a valuable scientific fact, that the water in these vats, +in which people of all sexes, all diseases, and all nations spend so +many hours of the twenty-four, is changed once a day. The +temperature at which the bath is given is ninety-eight. The water is +let in at night, and allowed to cool. At five in the morning, the +bathers enter it, and remain until ten o'clock,--five hours, having +breakfast served to them on the floating tables, "as they sail, as +they sail." They then have a respite till two, and go in till five. +Eight hours in hot water! Nothing can be more disgusting than the +sight of these baths. Gustave Dore must have learned here how to +make those ghostly pictures of the lost floating about in the Stygian +pools, in his illustrations of the Inferno; and the rocks and +cavernous precipices may have enabled him to complete the picture. +On what principle cures are effected in these filthy vats, I could +not learn. I have a theory, that, where so many diseases meet and +mingle in one swashing fluid, they neutralize each other. It may be +that the action is that happily explained by one of the Hibernian +bathmen in an American water-cure establishment. "You see, sir," +said he, "that the shock of the water unites with the electricity of +the system, and explodes the disease." I should think that the shock +to one's feeling of decency and cleanliness, at these baths, would +explode any disease in Europe. But, whatever the result may be, I am +not sorry to see so many French and Italians soak themselves once a +year. + +Out of the bath these people seem to enjoy life. There is a long +promenade, shaded and picturesque, which they take at evening, +sometimes as far as the Ladders, eight of which are fastened, in a +shackling manner, to the perpendicular rocks,--a high and somewhat +dangerous ascent to the village of Albinen, but undertaken constantly +by peasants with baskets on their backs. It is in winter the only +mode Leukerbad has of communicating with the world; and in summer it +is the only way of reaching Albinen, except by a long journey down +the Dala and up another valley and height. The bathers were +certainly very lively and social at table-d'hote, where we had the +pleasure of meeting some hundred of them, dressed. It was presumed +that the baths were the subject of the entertaining conversation; for +I read in a charming little work which sets forth the delights of +Leuk, that La poussee forms the staple of most of the talk. La +poussee, or, as this book poetically calls it, "that daughter of the +waters of Loeche," "that eruption of which we have already spoken, +and which proves the action of the baths upon the skin,"--becomes the +object, and often the end, of all conversation. And it gives +specimens of this pleasant converse, as: + +"Comment va votre poussee?" + +"Avez-vous la poussee?" + +"Je suis en pleine poussee" + +"Ma poussee s'est fort bien passee!" + +Indeed says this entertaining tract, sans poussee, one would not be +able to hold, at table or in the salon, with a neighbor of either +sex, the least conversation. Further, it is by grace a la poussee +that one arrives at those intimacies which are the characteristics of +the baths. Blessed, then, be La poussee, which renders possible such +a high society and such select and entertaining conversation! Long +may the bathers of Leuk live to soak and converse! In the morning, +when we departed for the ascent of the Gemmi, we passed one of the +bathing-houses. I fancied that a hot steam issued out of the +crevices; from within came a discord of singing and caterwauling; +and, as a door swung open, I saw that the heads floating about on the +turbid tide were eating breakfast from the swimming tables. + + + + +OVER THE GEMMI + +I spent some time, the evening before, studying the face of the cliff +we were to ascend, to discover the path; but I could only trace its +zigzag beginning. When we came to the base of the rock, we found a +way cut, a narrow path, most of the distance hewn out of the rock, +winding upward along the face of the precipice. The view, as one +rises, is of the break-neck description. The way is really safe +enough, even on mule-back, ascending; but one would be foolhardy to +ride down. We met a lady on the summit who was about to be carried +down on a chair; and she seemed quite to like the mode of conveyance: +she had harnessed her husband in temporarily for one of the bearers, +which made it still more jolly for her. When we started, a cloud of +mist hung over the edge of the rocks. As we rose, it descended to +meet us, and sunk below, hiding the valley and its houses, which had +looked like Swiss toys from our height. When we reached the summit, +the mist came boiling up after us, rising like a thick wall to the +sky, and hiding all that great mountain range, the Vallais Alps, from +which we had come, and which we hoped to see from this point. +Fortunately, there were no clouds on the other side, and we looked +down into a magnificent rocky basin, encircled by broken and +overtopping crags and snow-fields, at the bottom of which was a green +lake. It is one of the wildest of scenes. + +An hour from the summit, we came to a green Alp, where a herd of cows +were feeding; and in the midst of it were three or four dirty +chalets, where pigs, chickens, cattle, and animals constructed very +much like human beings, lived; yet I have nothing to say against +these chalets, for we had excellent cream there. We had, on the way +down, fine views of the snowy Altels, the Rinderhorn, the Finster- +Aarhorn, a deep valley which enormous precipices guard, but which +avalanches nevertheless invade, and, farther on, of the Blumlisalp, +with its summit of crystalline whiteness. The descent to Kandersteg +is very rapid, and in a rain slippery. This village is a resort for +artists for its splendid views of the range we had crossed: it stands +at the gate of the mountains. From there to the Lake of Thun is a +delightful drive,--a rich country, with handsome cottages and a +charming landscape, even if the pyramidal Niesen did not lift up its +seven thousand feet on the edge of the lake. So, through a smiling +land, and in the sunshine after the rain, we come to Spiez, and find +ourselves at a little hotel on the slope, overlooking town and lake +and mountains. + +Spiez is not large: indeed, its few houses are nearly all +picturesquely grouped upon a narrow rib of land which is thrust into +the lake on purpose to make the loveliest picture in the world. +There is the old castle, with its many slim spires and its square- +peaked roofed tower; the slender-steepled church; a fringe of old +houses below on the lake, one overhanging towards the point; and the +promontory, finished by a willo drooping to the water. Beyond, in +hazy light, over the lucid green of the lake, are mountains whose +masses of rock seem soft and sculptured. To the right, at the foot +of the lake, tower the great snowy mountains, the cone of the +Schreckhorn, the square top of the Eiger, the Jungfrau, just showing +over the hills, and the Blumlisalp rising into heaven clear and +silvery. + +What can one do in such a spot, but swim in the lake, lie on the +shore, and watch the passing steamers and the changing light on the +mountains? Down at the wharf, when the small boats put off for the +steamer, one can well entertain himself. The small boat is an +enormous thing, after all, and propelled by two long, heavy sweeps, +one of which is pulled, and the other pushed. The laboring oar is, +of course, pulled by a woman; while her husband stands up in the +stern of the boat, and gently dips the other in a gallant fashion. +There is a boy there, whom I cannot make out,--a short, square boy, +with tasseled skull-cap, and a face that never changes its +expression, and never has any expression to change; he may be older +than these hills; he looks old enough to be his own father: and there +is a girl, his counterpart, who might be, judging her age by her +face, the mother of both of them. These solemn old-young people are +quite busy doing nothing about the wharf, and appear to be afflicted +with an undue sense of the responsibility of life. There is a +beer-garden here, where several sober couples sit seriously drinking +their beer. There are some horrid old women, with the parchment skin +and the disagreeable necks. Alone, in a window of the castle, sits a +lady at her work, who might be the countess; only, I am sorry, there +is no countess, nothing but a frau, in that old feudal dwelling. And +there is a foreigner, thinking how queer it all is. And while he +sits there, the melodious bell in the church-tower rings its evening +song. + + + + +BAVARIA. + + +AMERICAN IMPATIENCE + +We left Switzerland, as we entered it, in a rain,--a kind of double +baptism that may have been necessary, and was certainly not too heavy +a price to pay for the privileges of the wonderful country. The wind +blew freshly, and swept a shower over the deck of the little +steamboat, on board of which we stepped from the shabby little pier +and town of Romanshorn. After the other Swiss lakes, Constance is +tame, except at the southern end, beyond which rise the Appenzell +range and the wooded peaks of the Bavarian hills. Through the dash +of rain, and under the promise of a magnificent rainbow,--rainbows +don't mean anything in Switzerland, and have no office as +weather-prophets, except to assure you, that, as it rains to-day, so +it will rain tomorrow,--we skirted the lower bend of the lake,--and +at twilight sailed into the little harbor of Lindau, through the +narrow entrance between the piers, on one of which is a small +lighthouse, and on the other sits upright a gigantic stone lion,--a +fine enough figure of a Bavarian lion, but with a comical, +wide-awake, and expectant expression of countenance, as if he might +bark right out at any minute, and become a dog. Yet in the +moonlight, shortly afterward, the lion looked very grand and stately, +as he sat regarding the softly plashing waves, and the high, drifting +clouds, and the old Roman tower by the bridge which connects the +Island of Lindau with the mainland, and thinking perhaps, if stone +lions ever do think, of the time when Roman galleys sailed on Lake +Constance, and when Lindau was an imperial town with a thriving +trade. + +On board the little steamer was an American, accompanied by two +ladies, and traveling, I thought, for their gratification, who was +very anxious to get on faster than he was able to do,--though why any +one should desire to go fast in Europe I do not know. One easily +falls into the habit of the country, to take things easily, to go +when the slow German fates will, and not to worry one's self +beforehand about times and connections. But the American was in a +fever of impatience, desirous, if possible, to get on that night. I +knew he was from the Land of the Free by a phrase I heard him use in +the cars: he said, "I'll bet a dollar." Yet I must flatter myself +that Americans do not always thus betray themselves. I happened, on +the Isle of Wight, to hear a bland landlord "blow up" his glib- +tongued son because the latter had not driven a stiffer bargain with +us for the hire of a carriage round the island. + +"Didn't you know they were Americans?" asks the irate father. "I +knew it at once." + +"No," replies young hopeful: "they didn't say GUESS once." + +And straightway the fawning-innkeeper returns to us, professing, with +his butter-lips, the greatest admiration of all Americans, and the +intensest anxiety to serve them, and all for pure good-will. The +English are even more bloodthirsty at sight of a travelere than the +Swiss, and twice as obsequious. But to return to our American. He +had all the railway timetables that he could procure; and he was +busily studying them, with the design of "getting on." I heard him +say to his companions, as he ransacked his pockets, that he was a +mass of hotel-bills and timetables. He confided to me afterward, +that his wife and her friend had got it into their heads that they +must go both to Vienna and Berlin. Was Berlin much out of the way in +going from Vienna to Paris? He said they told him it was n't. At +any rate, he must get round at such a date: he had no time to spare. +Then, besides the slowness of getting on, there were the trunks. He +lost a trunk in Switzerland, and consumed a whole day in looking it +up. While the steamboat lay at the wharf at Rorschach, two stout +porters came on board, and shouldered his baggage to take it ashore. +To his remonstrances in English they paid no heed; and it was some +time before they could be made to understand that the trunks were to +go on to Lindau. "There," said he, "I should have lost my trunks. +Nobody understands what I tell them: I can't get any information." +Especially was he unable to get any information as to how to "get +on." I confess that the restless American almost put me into a +fidget, and revived the American desire to "get on," to take the fast +trains, make all the connections,--in short, in the handsome language +of the great West, to "put her through." When I last saw our +traveler, he was getting his luggage through the custom-house, still +undecided whether to push on that night at eleven o'clock. But I +forgot all about him and his hurry when, shortly after, we sat at the +table-d'hote at the hotel, and the sedate Germans lit their cigars, +some of them before they had finished eating, and sat smoking as if +there were plenty of leisure for everything in this world, + + + + +A CITY OF COLOR + +After a slow ride, of nearly eight hours, in what, in Germany, is +called an express train, through a rain and clouds that hid from our +view the Tyrol and the Swabian mountains, over a rolling, pleasant +country, past pretty little railway station-houses, covered with +vines, gay with flowers in the windows, and surrounded with beds of +flowers, past switchmen in flaming scarlet jackets, who stand at the +switches and raise the hand to the temple, and keep it there, in a +military salute, as we go by, we come into old Augsburg, whose +Confession is not so fresh in our minds as it ought to be. Portions +of the ancient wall remain, and many of the towers; and there are +archways, picturesquely opening from street to street, under several +of which we drive on our way to the Three Moors, a stately hostelry +and one of the oldest in Germany. + +It stood here in the year 1500; and the room is still shown, +unchanged since then, in which the rich Count Fugger entertained +Charles V. The chambers are nearly all immense. That in which we +are lodged is large enough for Queen Victoria; indeed, I am glad to +say that her sleeping-room at St. Cloud was not half so spacious. +One feels either like a count, or very lonesome, to sit down in a +lofty chamber, say thirty-five feet square, with little furniture, +and historical and tragical life-size figures staring at one from the +wall-paper. One fears that they may come down in the deep night, and +stand at the bedside,--those narrow, canopied beds there in the +distance, like the marble couches in the cathedral. It must be a +fearful thing to be a royal person, and dwell in a palace, with +resounding rooms and naked, waxed, inlaid floors. At the Three Moors +one sees a visitors' book, begun in 18oo, which contains the names of +many noble and great people, as well as poets and doctors and titled +ladies, and much sentimental writing in French. It is my impression, +from an inspection of the book, that we are the first untitled +visitors. + +The traveler cannot but like Augsburg at once, for its quaint houses, +colored so diversely and yet harmoniously. Remains of its former +brilliancy yet exist in the frescoes on the outside of the buildings, +some of which are still bright in color, though partially defaced. +Those on the House of Fugger have been restored, and are very brave +pictures. These frescoes give great animation and life to the +appearance of a street, and I am glad to see a taste for them +reviving. Augsburg must have been very gay with them two and three +hundred years ago, when, also, it was the home of beautiful women of +the middle class, who married princes. We went to see the house in +which lived the beautiful Agnes Bernauer, daughter of a barber, who +married Duke Albert III. of Bavaria. The house was nought, as old +Samuel Pepys would say, only a high stone building, in a block of +such; but it is enough to make a house attractive for centuries if a +pretty woman once looks out of its latticed windows, as I have no +doubt Agnes often did when the duke and his retinue rode by in +clanking armor. + +But there is no lack of reminders of old times. The cathedral, which +was begun before the Christian era could express its age with four +figures, has two fine portals, with quaint carving, and bronze doors +of very old work, whereon the story of Eve and the serpent is +literally given,--a representation of great theological, if of small +artistic value. And there is the old clock and watch tower, which +for eight hundred years has enabled the Augsburgers to keep the time +of day and to look out over the plain for the approach of an enemy. +The city is full of fine bronze fountains some of them of very +elaborate design, and adding a convenience and a beauty to the town +which American cities wholly want. In one quarter of the town is the +Fuggerei, a little city by itself, surrounded by its own wall, the +gates of which are shut at night, with narrow streets and neat little +houses. It was built by Hans Jacob Fugger the Rich, as long ago as +1519, and is still inhabited by indigent Roman-Catholic families, +according to the intention of its founder. In the windows were +lovely flowers. I saw in the street several of those mysterious, +short, old women,--so old and yet so little, all body and hardly any +legs, who appear to have grown down into the ground with advancing +years. + +It happened to be a rainy day, and cold, on the 30th of July, when we +left Augsburg; and the flat fields through which we passed were +uninviting under the gray light. Large flocks of geese were feeding +on the windy plains, tended by boys and women, who are the living +fences of this country. I no longer wonder at the number of +feather-beds at the inns, under which we are apparently expected to +sleep even in the warmest nights. Shepherds with the regulation +crooks also were watching herds of sheep. Here and there a cluster +of red-roofed houses were huddled together into a village, and in all +directions rose tapering spires. Especially we marked the steeple of +Blenheim, where Jack Churchill won the name for his magnificent +country-seat, early in the eighteenth century. All this plain where +the silly geese feed has been marched over and fought over by armies +time and again. We effect the passage of, the Danube without +difficulty, and on to Harburg, a little town of little red houses, +inhabited principally by Jews, huddled under a rocky ridge, upon the +summit of which is a picturesque medieval castle, with many towers +and turrets, in as perfect preservation as when feudal flags floated +over it. And so on, slowly, with long stops at many stations, to +give opportunity, I suppose, for the honest passengers to take in +supplies of beer and sausages, to Nuremberg. + + + + +A CITY LIVING ON THE PAST + +Nuremberg, or Nurnberg, was built, I believe, about the beginning of +time. At least, in an old black-letter history of the city which I +have seen, illustrated with powerful wood-cuts, the first +representation is that of the creation of the world, which is +immediately followed by another of Nuremberg. No one who visits it +is likely to dispute its antiquity. " Nobody ever goes to Nuremberg +but Americans," said a cynical British officer at Chamouny; "but they +always go there. I never saw an American who had n't been or was not +going to Nuremberg." Well, I suppose they wish to see the +oldest-looking, and, next to a true Briton on his travels, the oddest +thing on the Continent. The city lives in the past still, and on its +memories, keeping its old walls and moat entire, and nearly fourscore +wall-towers, in stern array. But grass grows in the moat, fruit +trees thrive there, and vines clamber on the walls. One wanders +about in the queer streets with the feeling of being transported back +to the Middle Ages; but it is difficult to reproduce the impression +on paper. Who can describe the narrow and intricate ways; the odd +houses with many little gables; great roofs breaking out from eaves +to ridgepole, with dozens of dormer-windows; hanging balconies of +stone, carved and figure-beset, ornamented and frescoed fronts; the +archways, leading into queer courts and alleys, and out again into +broad streets; the towers and fantastic steeples; and the many old +bridges, with obelisks and memorials of triumphal entries of +conquerors and princes? + +The city, as I said, lives upon the memory of what it has been, and +trades upon relics of its former fame. What it would have been +without Albrecht Durer, and Adam Kraft the stone-mason, and Peter +Vischer the bronze-worker, and Viet Stoss who carved in wood, and +Hans Sachs the shoemaker and poet-minstrel, it is difficult to say. +Their statues are set up in the streets; their works still live in +the churches and city buildings,--pictures, and groups in stone and +wood; and their statues, in all sorts of carving, are reproduced, big +and little, in all the shop-windows, for sale. So, literally, the +city is full of the memory of them; and the business of the city, +aside from its manufactory of endless, curious toys, seems to consist +in reproducing them and their immortal works to sell to strangers. + +Other cities project new things, and grow with a modern impetus: +Nuremberg lives in the past, and traffics on its ancient reputation. +Of course, we went to see the houses where these old worthies lived, +and the works of art they have left behind them,--things seen and +described by everybody. The stone carving about the church portals +and on side buttresses is inexpressibly quaint and naive. The +subjects are sacred; and with the sacred is mingled the comic, here +as at Augsburg, where over one portal of the cathedral, with saints +and angels, monkeys climb and gibber. A favorite subject is that of +our Lord praying in the Garden, while the apostles, who could not +watch one hour, are sleeping in various attitudes of stony +comicality. All the stone-cutters seem to have tried their chisels +on this group, and there are dozens of them. The wise and foolish +virgins also stand at the church doors in time-stained stone,--the +one with a perked-up air of conscious virtue, and the other with a +penitent dejection that seems to merit better treatment. Over the +great portal of St. Lawrence--a magnificent structure, with lofty +twin spires and glorious rosewindow is carved "The Last Judgment." +Underneath, the dead are climbing out of their stone coffins; above +sits the Judge, with the attending angels. On the right hand go away +the stiff, prim saints, in flowing robes, and with palms and harps, +up steps into heaven, through a narrow door which St. Peter opens for +them; while on the left depart the wicked, with wry faces and +distorted forms, down into the stone flames, towards which the Devil +is dragging them by their stony hair. + +The interior of the Church of St. Lawrence is richer than any other I +remember, with its magnificent pillars of dark red stone, rising and +foliating out to form the roof; its splendid windows of stained +glass, glowing with sacred story; a high gallery of stone entirely +round the choir, and beautiful statuary on every column. Here, too, +is the famous Sacrament House of honest old Adam Kraft, the most +exquisite thing I ever saw in stone. The color is light gray; and it +rises beside one of the dark, massive pillars, sixty-four feet, +growing to a point, which then strikes the arch of the roof, and +there curls up like a vine to avoid it. The base is supported by the +kneeling figures of Adam Kraft and two fellow-workmen, who labored on +it for four years. Above is the Last Supper, Christ blessing little +children, and other beautiful tableaux in stone. The Gothic spire +grows up and around these, now and then throwing out graceful +tendrils, like a vine, and seeming to be rather a living plant than +inanimate stone. The faithful artist evidently had this feeling for +it; for, as it grew under his hands, he found that it would strike +the roof, or he must sacrifice something of its graceful proportion. +So his loving and daring genius suggested the happy design of letting +it grow to its curving, graceful completeness. + +He who travels by a German railway needs patience and a full +haversack. Time is of no value. The rate of speed of the trains is +so slow, that one sometimes has a desire to get out and walk, and the +stoppages at the stations seem eternal; but then we must remember +that it is a long distance to the bottom of a great mug of beer. We +left Lindau on one of the usual trains at half-past five in the +morning, and reached Augsburg at one o'clock in the afternoon: the +distance cannot be more than a hundred miles. That is quicker than +by diligence, and one has leisure to see the country as he jogs +along. There is nothing more sedate than a German train in motion; +nothing can stand so dead still as a German train at a station. But +there are express trains. + +We were on one from Augsburg to Nuremberg, and I think must have run +twenty miles an hour. The fare on the express trains is one fifth +higher than on the others. The cars are all comfortable; and the +officials, who wear a good deal of uniform, are much more civil and +obliging than officials in a country where they do not wear uniforms. +So, not swiftly, but safely and in good-humor, we rode to the capital +of Bavaria. + + + + +OUTSIDE ASPECTS OF MUNICH + +I saw yesterday, on the 31st of August, in the English Garden, dead +leaves whirling down to the ground, a too evident sign that the +summer weather is going. Indeed, it has been sour, chilly weather +for a week now, raining a little every day, and with a very autumn +feeling in the air. The nightly concerts in the beer-gardens must +have shivering listeners, if the bands do not, as many of them do, +play within doors. The line of droschke drivers, in front of the +post-office colonnade, hide the red facings of their coats under long +overcoats, and stand in cold expectancy beside their blanketed +horses, which must need twice the quantity of black-bread in this +chilly air; for the horses here eat bread, like people. I see the +drivers every day slicing up the black loaves, and feeding them, +taking now and then a mouthful themselves, wetting it down with a +pull from the mug of beer that stands within reach. And lastly (I am +still speaking of the weather), the gay military officers come abroad +in long cloaks, to some extent concealing their manly forms and smart +uniforms, which I am sure they would not do, except under the +pressure of necessity. + +Yet I think this raw weather is not to continue. It is only a rough +visit from the Tyrol, which will give place to kinder influences. We +came up here from hot Switzerland at the end of July, expecting to +find Munich a furnace. It will be dreadful in Munich everybody said. +So we left Luzerne, where it was warm, not daring to stay till the +expected rival sun, Victoria of England, should make the heat +overpowering. But the first week of August in Munich it was +delicious weather,--clear, sparkling, bracing air, with no chill in +it and no languor in it, just as you would say it ought to be on a +high, gravelly plain, seventeen hundred feet above the sea. Then +came a week of what the Muncheners call hot weather, with the +thermometer up to eighty degrees Fahrenheit, and the white wide +streets and gray buildings in a glare of light; since then, weather +of the most uncertain sort. + +Munich needs the sunlight. Not that it cannot better spare it than +grimy London; for its prevailing color is light gray, and its +many-tinted and frescoed fronts go far to relieve the most cheerless +day. Yet Munich attempts to be an architectural reproduction of +classic times; and, in order to achieve any success in this +direction, it is necessary to have the blue heavens and golden +sunshine of Greece. The old portion of the city has some remains of +the Gothic, and abounds in archways and rambling alleys, that +suddenly become broad streets and then again contract to the width of +an alderman, and portions of the old wall and city gates; old feudal +towers stand in the market-place, and faded frescoes on old +clock-faces and over archways speak of other days of splendor. + +But the Munich of to-day is as if built to order,--raised in a day by +the command of one man. It was the old King Ludwig I., whose +flower-wreathed bust stands in these days in the vestibule of the +Glyptothek, in token of his recent death, who gave the impulse for +all this, though some of the best buildings and streets in the city +have been completed by his successors. The new city is laid out on a +magnificent scale of distances, with wide streets, fine, open +squares, plenty of room for gardens, both public and private; and the +art buildings and art monuments are well distributed; in fact, many a +stately building stands in such isolation that it seems to ask every +passer what it was put there for. Then, again, some of the new +adornments lack fitness of location or purpose. At the end of the +broad, monotonous Ludwig Strasse, and yet not at the end, for the +road runs straight on into the flat country between rows of slender +trees, stands the Siegesthor, or Gate of Victory, an imitation of the +Constantine arch at Rome. It is surmounted by a splendid group in +bronze, by Schwanthaler, Bavaria in her war-chariot, drawn by four +lions; and it is in itself, both in its proportions and its numerous +sculptural figures and bas-reliefs, a fine recognition of the valor +"of the Bavarian army," to whom it is erected. Yet it is so dwarfed +by its situation, that it seems to have been placed in the middle of +the street as an obstruction. A walk runs on each side of it. The +Propylaeum, another magnificent gateway, thrown across the handsome +Brienner Strasse, beyond the Glyptothek, is an imitation of that on +the Acropolis at Athens. It has fine Doric columns on the outside, +and Ionic within, and the pediment groups are bas-reliefs, by +Schwanthaler, representing scenes in modern Greek history. The +passageways for carriages are through the side arches; and thus the +"sidewalk" runs into the center of the street, and foot-passers must +twice cross the carriage-drive in going through the gate. Such +things as these give one the feeling that art has been forced beyond +use in Munich; and it is increased when one wanders through the new +churches, palaces, galleries, and finds frescoes so prodigally +crowded out of the way, and only occasionally opened rooms so +overloaded with them, and not always of the best, as to sacrifice all +effect, and leave one with the sense that some demon of unrest has +driven painters and sculptors and plasterers, night and day, to adorn +the city at a stroke; at least, to cover it with paint and bedeck it +with marbles, and to do it at once, leaving nothing for the sweet +growth and blossoming of time. + +You see, it is easy to grumble, and especially in a cheerful, open, +light, and smiling city, crammed with works Of art, ancient and +modern, its architecture a study of all styles, and its foaming beer, +said by antiquarians to be a good deal better than the mead drunk in +Odin's halls, only seven and a half kreuzers the quart. Munich has +so much, that it, of course, contains much that can be criticised. +The long, wide Ludwig Strasse is a street of palaces,--a street built +up by the old king, and regarded by him with great pride. But all +the buildings are in the Romanesque style,--a repetition of one +another to a monotonous degree: only at the lower end are there any +shops or shop-windows, and a more dreary promenade need not be +imagined. It has neither shade nor fountains; and on a hot day you +can see how the sun would pour into it, and blind the passers. But +few ever walk there at any time. A street that leads nowhere, and +has no gay windows, does not attract. Toward the lower end, in the +Odeon Platz, is the equestrian statue of Ludwig, a royally commanding +figure, with a page on either side. The street is closed (so that it +flows off on either side into streets of handsome shops) by the +Feldherrnhalle, Hall of the Generals, an imitation of the beautiful +Loggia dei Lanzi, at Florence, that as yet contains only two statues, +which seem lost in it. Here at noon, with parade of infantry, comes +a military band to play for half an hour; and there are always plenty +of idlers to listen to them. In the high arcade a colony of doves is +domesticated; and I like to watch them circling about and wheeling +round the spires of the over-decorated Theatine church opposite, and +perching on the heads of the statues on the facade. + +The royal palace, near by, is a huddle of buildings and courts, that +I think nobody can describe or understand, built at different times +and in imitation of many styles. The front, toward the Hof Garden, a +grassless square of small trees, with open arcades on two sides for +shops, and partially decorated with frescoes of landscapes and +historical subjects, is "a building of festive halls," a facade eight +hundred feet long, in the revived Italian style, and with a fine +Ionic porch. The color is the royal, dirty yellow. + +On the Max Joseph Platz, which has a bronze statue of King Max, a +seated figure, and some elaborate bas-reliefs, is another front of +the palace, the Konigsbau, an imitation, not fully carried out, of +the Pitti Palace, at Florence. Between these is the old Residenz, +adorned with fountain groups and statues in bronze. On another side +are the church and theater of the Residenz. The interior of this +court chapel is dazzling in appearance: the pillars are, I think, +imitation of variegated marble; the sides are imitation of the same; +the vaulting is covered with rich frescoes on gold ground. The whole +effect is rich, but it is not at all sacred. Indeed, there is no +church in Munich, except the old cathedral, the Frauenkirche, with +its high Gothic arches, stained windows, and dusty old carvings, that +gives one at all the sort of feeling that it is supposed a church +should give. The court chapel interior is boastingly said to +resemble St. Mark's, in Venice. + +You see how far imitation of the classic and Italian is carried here +in Munich; so, as I said, the buildings need the southern sunlight. +Fortunately, they get the right quality much of the time. The +Glyptothek, a Grecian structure of one story, erected to hold the +treasures of classic sculpture that King Ludwig collected, has a +beautiful Ionic porch and pediment. On the outside are niches filled +with statues. In the pure sunshine and under a deep blue sky, its +white marble glows with an almost ethereal beauty. Opposite stands +another successful imitation of the Grecian style of architecture,--a +building with a Corinthian porch, also of white marble. These, with +the Propylaeum, before mentioned, come out wonderfully against a blue +sky. A few squares distant is the Pinakothek, with its treasures of +old pictures, and beyond it the New Pinakothek, containing works of +modern artists. Its exterior is decorated with frescoes, from +designs by Kaulbach: these certainly appear best in a sparkling +light; though I am bound to say that no light can make very much of +them. + +Yet Munich is not all imitation. Its finest street, the Maximilian, +built by the late king of that name, is of a novel and wholly modern +style of architecture, not an imitation, though it may remind some of +the new portions of Paris. It runs for three quarters of a mile, +beginning with the postoffice and its colonnades, with frescoes on +one side, and the Hof Theater, with its pediment frescoes, the +largest opera-house in Germany, I believe; with stately buildings +adorned with statues, and elegant shops, down to the swift-flowing +Isar, which is spanned by a handsome bridge; or rather by two +bridges, for the Isar is partly turned from its bed above, and made +to turn wheels, and drive machinery. At the lower end the street +expands into a handsome platz, with young shade trees, plats of +grass, and gay beds of flowers. I look out on it as I write; and I +see across the Isar the college building begun by Maximilian for the +education of government officers; and I see that it is still +unfinished, indeed, a staring mass of brick, with unsightly +scaffolding and gaping windows. Money was left to complete it; but +the young king, who does not care for architecture, keeps only a +mason or two on the brick-work, and an artist on the exterior +frescoes. At this rate, the Cologne Cathedral will be finished and +decay before this is built. On either side of it, on the elevated +bank of the river, stretch beautiful grounds, with green lawns, fine +trees, and well-kept walks. + +Not to mention the English Garden, in speaking of the outside aspects +of the city, would be a great oversight. It was laid out originally +by the munificent American, Count Rumford, and is called English, I +suppose, because it is not in the artificial Continental style. +Paris has nothing to compare with it for natural beauty,--Paris, +which cannot let a tree grow, but must clip it down to suit French +taste. It is a noble park four miles in length, and perhaps a +quarter of that in width,--a park of splendid old trees, grand, +sweeping avenues, open glades of free-growing grass, with delicious, +shady walks, charming drives and rivers of water. For the Isar is +trained to flow through it in two rapid streams, under bridges and +over rapids, and by willow-hung banks. There is not wanting even a +lake; and there is, I am sorry to say, a temple on a mound, quite in +the classic style, from which one can see the sun set behind the many +spires of Munich. At the Chinese Tower two military bands play every +Saturday evening in the summer; and thither the carriages drive, and +the promenaders assemble there, between five and six o'clock; and +while the bands play, the Germans drink beer, and smoke cigars, and +the fashionably attired young men walk round and round the, circle, +and the smart young soldiers exhibit their handsome uniforms, and +stride about with clanking swords. + +We felicitated ourselves that we should have no lack of music when we +came to Munich. I think we have not; though the opera has only just +begun, and it is the vacation of the Conservatoire. There are first +the military bands: there is continually a parade somewhere, and the +streets are full of military music, and finely executed too. Then of +beer-gardens there is literally no end, and there are nightly +concerts in them. There are two brothers Hunn, each with his band, +who, like the ancient Huns, have taken the city; and its gardens are +given over to their unending waltzes, polkas, and opera medleys. +Then there is the church music on Sundays and holidays, which is +largely of a military character; at least, has the aid of drums and +trumpets, and the whole band of brass. For the first few days of our +stay here we had rooms near the Maximilian Platz and the Karl's Thor. +I think there was some sort of a yearly fair in progress, for the +great platz was filled with temporary booths: a circus had set itself +up there, and there were innumerable side-shows and lottery-stands; +and I believe that each little shanty and puppet-show had its band or +fraction of a band, for there was never heard such a tooting and +blowing and scraping, such a pounding and dinning and slang-whanging, +since the day of stopping work on the Tower of Babel. The circus +band confined itself mostly to one tune; and as it went all day long, +and late into the night, we got to know it quite well; at least, the +bass notes of it, for the lighter tones came to us indistinctly. You +know that blurt, blurt, thump, thump, dissolute sort of caravan tune. +That was it. + +The English Caf‚ was not far off, and there the Hunns and others also +made night melodious. The whole air was one throb and thrump. The +only refuge from it was to go into one of the gardens, and give +yourself over to one band. And so it was possible to have delightful +music, and see the honest Germans drink beer, and gossip in friendly +fellowship and with occasional hilarity. But music we had, early and +late. We expected quiet in our present quarters. The first morning, +at six o'clock, we were startled by the resonant notes of a military +band, that set the echoes flying between the houses, and a regiment +of cavalry went clanking down the street. But that is a not +unwelcome morning serenade and reveille. Not so agreeable is the +young man next door, who gives hilarious concerts to his friends, and +sings and bangs his piano all day Sunday; nor the screaming young +woman opposite. Yet it is something to be in an atmosphere of music. + + + + +THE MILITARY LIFE OF MUNICH + +This morning I was awakened early by the strains of a military band. +It was a clear, sparkling morning, the air full of life, and yet the +sun showing its warm, southern side. As the mounted musicians went +by, the square was quite filled with the clang of drum and trumpet, +which became fainter and fainter, and at length was lost on the ear +beyond the Isar, but preserved the perfection of time and the +precision of execution for which the military bands of the city are +remarkable. After the band came a brave array of officers in bright +uniform, upon horses that pranced and curveted in the sunshine; and +the regiment of cavalry followed, rank on rank of splendidly mounted +men, who ride as if born to the saddle. The clatter of hoofs on the +pavement, the jangle of bit and saber, the occasional word of +command, the onward sweep of the well-trained cavalcade, continued +for a long time, as if the lovely morning had brought all the cavalry +in the city out of barracks. But this is an almost daily sight in +Munich. One regiment after another goes over the river to the +drill-ground. In the hot mornings I used quite to pity the troopers +who rode away in the glare in scorching brazen helmets and +breastplates. But only a portion of the regiments dress in that +absurd manner. The most wear a simple uniform, and look very +soldierly. The horses are almost invariably fine animals, and I have +not seen such riders in Europe. Indeed, everybody in Munich who +rides at all rides well. Either most of the horsemen have served in +the cavalry, or horsemanship, that noble art "to witch the world," is +in high repute here. + +Speaking of soldiers, Munich is full of them. There are huge caserns +in every part of the city, crowded with troops. This little kingdom +of Bavaria has a hundred and twenty thousand troops of the line. +Every man is obliged to serve in the army continuously three years; +and every man between the ages of twenty-one and forty-five must go +with his regiment into camp or barrack several weeks in each year, no +matter if the harvest rots in the field, or the customers desert the +uncared-for shop. The service takes three of the best years of a +young man's life. Most of the soldiers in Munich are young one meets +hundreds of mere boys in the uniform of officers. I think every +seventh man you meet is a soldier. There must be between fifteen and +twenty thousand troops quartered in the city now. The young officers +are everywhere, lounging in the cafes, smoking and sipping coffee, on +all the public promenades, in the gardens, the theaters, the +churches. And most of them are fine-looking fellows, good figures in +elegantly fitting and tasteful uniforms; but they do like to show +their handsome forms and hear their sword-scabbards rattle on the +pavement as they stride by. The beer-gardens are full of the common +soldiers, who empty no end of quart mugs in alternate pulls from the +same earthen jug, with the utmost jollity and good fellowship. On +the street, salutes between officers and men are perpetual, +punctiliously given and returned,--the hand raised to the temple, and +held there for a second. A young gallant, lounging down the +Theatiner or the Maximilian Strasse, in his shining and snug uniform, +white kids, and polished boots, with jangling spurs and the long +sword clanking on the walk, raising his hand ever and anon in +condescending salute to a lower in rank, or with affable grace to an +equal, is a sight worth beholding, and for which one cannot be too +grateful. We have not all been created with the natural shape for +soldiers, but we have eyes given us that we may behold them. + +Bavaria fought, you know, on the wrong side at Sadowa; but the result +of the war left her in confederation with Prussia. The company is +getting to be very distasteful, for Austria is at present more +liberal than Prussia. Under Prussia one must either be a soldier or +a slave, the democrats of Munich say. Bavaria has the most liberal +constitution in Germany, except that of Wurtemberg, and the people +are jealous of any curtailment of liberty. It seems odd that anybody +should look to the house of Hapsburg for liberality. The attitude of +Prussia compels all the little states to keep up armies, which eat up +their substance, and burden the people with taxes. This is the more +to be regretted now, when Bavaria is undergoing a peaceful +revolution, and throwing off the trammels of galling customs in other +respects. + + + + +THE EMANCIPATION OF MUNICH + +The 1st of September saw go into complete effect the laws enacted in +1867, which have inaugurated the greatest changes in business and +social life, and mark an era in the progress of the people worthy of +fetes and commemorative bronzes. We heard the other night at the +opera-house "William Tell" unmutilated. For many years this liberty- +breathing opera was not permitted to be given in Bavaria, except with +all the life of it cut out. It was first presented entire by order +of young King Ludwig, who, they say, was induced to command its +unmutilated reproduction at the solicitation of Richard Wagner, who +used to be, and very likely is now, a "Red," and was banished from +Saxony in 1848 for fighting on the people's side of a barricade in +Dresden. It is the fashion to say of the young king, that he pays no +heed to the business of the kingdom. You hear that the handsome boy +cares only for music and horseback exercise: he plays much on the +violin, and rides away into the forest attended by only one groom, +and is gone for days together. He has composed an opera, which has +not yet been put on the stage. People, when they speak of him, tap +their foreheads with one finger. But I don't believe it. The same +liberality that induced him, years ago, to restore "William Tell" to +the stage has characterized the government under him ever since. + +Formerly no one could engage in any trade or business in Bavaria +without previous examination before, and permission from, a +magistrate. If a boy wished to be a baker, for instance, he had +first to serve four years of apprenticeship. If then he wished to +set up business for himself, he must get permission, after passing an +examination. This permission could rarely be obtained; for the +magistrate usually decided that there were already as many bakers as +the town needed. His only other resource was to buy out an existing +business, and this usually costs a good deal. When he petitioned for +the privilege of starting a bakery, all the bakers protested. And he +could not even buy out a stand, and carry it on, without strict +examination as to qualifications. This was the case in every trade. +And to make matters worse, a master workman could not employ a +journeyman out of his shop; so that, if a journeyman could not get a +regular situation, he had no work. Then there were endless +restrictions upon the manufacture and sale of articles: one person +could make only one article, or one portion of an article; one might +manufacture shoes for women, but not for men; he might make an +article in the shop and sell it, but could not sell it if any one +else made it outside, or vice versa. + +Nearly all this mass of useless restriction on trades and business, +which palsied all effort in Bavaria, is removed. Persons are free to +enter into any business they like. The system of apprenticeship +continues, but so modified as not to be oppressive; and all trades +are left to regulate themselves by natural competition. Already +Munich has felt the benefit of the removal of these restrictions, +which for nearly a year has been anticipated, in a growth of +population and increased business. + +But the social change is still more important. The restrictions upon +marriage were a serious injury to the state. If Hans wished to +marry, and felt himself adequate to the burdens and responsibilities +of the double state, and the honest fraulein was quite willing to +undertake its trials and risks with him, it was not at all enough +that in the moonlighted beergarden, while the band played, and they +peeled the stinging radish, and ate the Switzer cheese, and drank +from one mug, she allowed his arm to steal around her stout waist. +All this love and fitness went for nothing in the eyes of the +magistrate, who referred the application for permission to marry to +his associate advisers, and they inquired into the applicant's +circumstances; and if, in their opinion, he was not worth enough +money to support a wife properly, permission was refused for him to +try. The consequence was late marriages, and fewer than there ought +to be, and other ill results. Now the matrimonial gates are lifted +high, and the young man has not to ask permission of any snuffy old +magistrate to marry. I do not hear that the consent of the maidens +is more difficult to obtain than formerly. + +No city of its size is more prolific of pictures than Munich. I do +not know how all its artists manage to live, but many of them count +upon the American public. I hear everywhere that the Americans like +this, and do not like that; and I am sorry to say that some artists, +who have done better things, paint professedly to suit Americans, and +not to express their own conceptions of beauty. There is one who is +now quite devoted to dashing off rather lamp-blacky moonlights, +because, he says, the Americans fancy that sort of thing. I see one +of his smirchy pictures hanging in a shop window, awaiting the advent +of the citizen of the United States. I trust that no word of mine +will injure the sale of the moonlights. There are some excellent +figure-painters here, and one can still buy good modern pictures for +reasonable prices. + + + + +FASHION IN THE STREETS + +Was there ever elsewhere such a blue, transparent sky as this here in +Munich? At noon, looking up to it from the street, above the gray +houses, the color and depth are marvelous. It makes a background for +the Grecian art buildings and gateways, that would cheat a risen +Athenian who should see it into the belief that he was restored to +his beautiful city. The color holds, too, toward sundown, and seems +to be poured, like something solid, into the streets of the city. + +You should see then the Maximilian Strasse, when the light floods the +platz where Maximilian in bronze sits in his chair, illuminates the +frescoes on the pediments of the Hof Theater, brightens the Pompeian +red under the colonnade of the post-office, and streams down the gay +thoroughfare to the trees and statues in front of the National +Museum, and into the gold-dusted atmosphere beyond the Isar. The +street is filled with promenaders: strangers who saunter along with +the red book in one hand,--a man and his wife, the woman dragged +reluctantly past the windows of fancy articles, which are "so cheap," +the man breaking his neck to look up at the buildings, especially at +the comical heads and figures in stone that stretch out from the +little oriel-windows in the highest story of the Four Seasons Hotel, +and look down upon the moving throng; Munich bucks in coats of +velvet, swinging light canes, and smoking cigars through long and +elaborately carved meerschaum holders; Munich ladies in dresses of +that inconvenient length that neither sweeps the pavement nor clears +it; peasants from the Tyrol, the men in black, tight breeches, that +button from the knee to the ankle, short jackets and vests set +thickly with round silver buttons) and conical hats with feathers, +and the women in short quilted and quilled petticoats, of barrel-like +roundness from the broad hips down, short waists ornamented with +chains and barbarous brooches of white metal, with the oddest +head-gear of gold and silver heirlooms; students with little red or +green embroidered brimless caps, with the ribbon across the breast, a +folded shawl thrown over one shoulder, and the inevitable +switch-cane; porters in red caps, with a coil of twine about the +waist; young fellows from Bohemia, with green coats, or coats trimmed +with green, and green felt hats with a stiff feather stuck in the +side; and soldiers by the hundreds, of all ranks and organizations; +common fellows in blue, staring in at the shop windows, officers in +resplendent uniforms, clanking their swords as they swagger past. Now +and then, an elegant equipage dashes by,--perhaps the four horses of +the handsome young king, with mounted postilions and outriders, or a +liveried carriage of somebody born with a von before his name. As +the twilight comes on, the shutters of the shop windows are put up. +It is time to go to the opera, for the curtain rises at half-past +six, or to the beer-gardens, where delicious music marks, but does +not interrupt, the flow of excellent beer. + +Or you may if you choose, and I advise you to do it, walk at the same +hour in the English Garden, which is but a step from the arcades of +the Hof Garden,--but a step to the entrance, whence you may wander +for miles and miles in the most enchanting scenery. Art has not been +allowed here to spoil nature. The trees, which are of magnificent +size, are left to grow naturally;--the Isar, which is turned into it, +flows in more than one stream with its mountain impetuosity; the lake +is gracefully indented and overhung with trees, and presents ever- +changing aspects of loveliness as you walk along its banks; there are +open, sunny meadows, in which single giant trees or splendid groups +of them stand, and walks without end winding under leafy Gothic +arches. You know already that Munich owes this fine park to the +foresight and liberality of an American Tory, Benjamin Thompson +(Count Rumford), born in Rumford, Vt, who also relieved Munich of +beggars. + +I have spoken of the number of soldiers in Munich. For six weeks the +Landwehr, or militia, has been in camp in various parts of Bavaria. +There was a grand review of them the other day on the Field of Mars, +by the king, and many of them have now gone home. They strike an +unmilitary man as a very efficient body of troops. So far as I could +see, they were armed with breech-loading rifles. There is a treaty +by which Bavaria agreed to assimilate her military organization to +that of Prussia. It is thus that Bismarck is continually getting +ready. But if the Landwehr is gone, there are yet remaining troops +enough of the line. Their chief use, so far as it concerns me, is to +make pageants in the streets, and to send their bands to play at noon +in the public squares. Every day, when the sun shines down upon the +mounted statue of Ludwig I., in front of the Odeon, a band plays in +an open Loggia, and there is always a crowd of idlers in the square +to hear it. Everybody has leisure for that sort of thing here in +Europe; and one can easily learn how to be idle and let the world +wag. They have found out here what is disbelieved in America,--that +the world will continue to turn over once in about twenty-four hours +(they are not accurate as to the time) without their aid. To return +to our soldiers. The cavalry most impresses me; the men are so +finely mounted, and they ride royally. In these sparkling mornings, +when the regiments clatter past, with swelling music and shining +armor, riding away to I know not what adventure and glory, I confess +that I long to follow them. I have long had this desire; and the +other morning, determining to satisfy it, I seized my hat and went +after the prancing procession. I am sorry I did. For, after +trudging after it through street after street, the fine horsemen all +rode through an arched gateway, and disappeared in barracks, to my +great disgust; and the troopers dismounted, and led their steeds into +stables. + +And yet one never loses a walk here in Munich. I found myself that +morning by the Isar Thor, a restored medieval city gate. The gate is +double, with flanking octagonal towers, inclosing a quadrangle. Upon +the inner wall is a fresco of "The Crucifixion." Over the outer front +is a representation, in fresco painting, of the triumphal entry into +the city of the Emperor Louis of Bavaria after the battle of Ampfing. +On one side of the gate is a portrait of the Virgin, on gold ground, +and on the other a very passable one of the late Dr. Hawes of +Hartford, with a Pope's hat on. Walking on, I came to another arched +gateway and clock-tower; near it an old church, with a high wall +adjoining, whereon is a fresco of cattle led to slaughter, showing +that I am in the vicinity of the Victual Market; and I enter it +through a narrow, crooked alley. There is nothing there but an +assemblage of shabby booths and fruit-stands, and an ancient stone +tower in ruins and overgrown with ivy. + +Leaving this, I came out to the Marian Platz, where stands the +column, with the statue of the Virgin and Child, set up by Maximilian +I. in 1638 to celebrate the victory in the battle which established +the Catholic supremacy in Bavaria. It is a favorite praying-place +for the lower classes. Yesterday was a fete day, and the base of the +column and half its height are lost in a mass of flowers and +evergreens. In front is erected an altar with a broad, carpeted +platform; and a strip of the platz before it is inclosed with a +railing, within which are praying-benches. The sun shines down hot; +but there are several poor women kneeling there, with their baskets +beside them. I happen along there at sundown; and there are a score +of women kneeling on the hard stones, outside the railing saying +their prayers in loud voices. The mass of flowers is still sweet and +gay and fresh; a fountain with fantastic figures is flashing near by; +the crowd, going home to supper and beer, gives no heed to the +praying; the stolid droschke-drivers stand listlessly by. At the +head of the square is an artillery station, and a row of cannon +frowns on it. On one side is a house with a tablet in the wall, +recording the fact that Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden once lived in it. + +When we came to Munich, the great annual fair was in progress; and +the large Maximilian Platz (not to be confounded with the street of +that name) was filled with booths of cheap merchandise, puppet-shows, +lottery shanties, and all sorts of popular amusements. It was a fine +time to study peasant costumes. The city was crowded with them on +Sunday; and let us not forget that the first visit of the peasants +was to the churches; they invariably attended early mass before they +set out upon the day's pleasure. Most of the churches have services +at all hours till noon, some of them with fine classical and military +music. One could not but be struck with the devotional manner of the +simple women, in their queer costumes, who walked into the gaudy +edifices, were absorbed in their prayers for an hour, and then went +away. I suppose they did not know how odd they looked in their high, +round fur hats, or their fantastic old ornaments, nor that there was +anything amiss in bringing their big baskets into church with them. +At least, their simple, unconscious manner was better than that of +many of the city people, some of whom stare about a good deal, while +going through the service, and stop in the midst of crossings and +genuflections to take snuff and pass it to their neighbors. But +there are always present simple and homelike sort of people, who +neither follow the fashions nor look round on them; respectable, neat +old ladies, in the faded and carefully preserved silk gowns, such as +the New England women wear to "meeting." + +No one can help admiring the simplicity, kindliness, and honesty of +the Germans. The universal courtesy and friendliness of manner have +a very different seeming from the politeness of the French. At the +hotels in the country, the landlord and his wife and the servant join +in hoping you will sleep well when you go to bed. The little maid at +Heidelberg who served our meals always went to the extent of wishing +us a good appetite when she had brought in the dinner. Here in +Munich the people we have occasion to address in the street are +uniformly courteous. The shop-keepers are obliging, and rarely +servile, like the English. You are thanked, and punctiliously wished +the good-day, whether you purchase anything or not. In shops tended +by women, gentlemen invariably remove their hats. If you buy only a +kreuzer's worth of fruit of an old woman, she says words that would +be, literally translated, "I thank you beautifully." With all this, +one looks kindly on the childish love the Germans have for titles. +It is, I believe, difficult for the German mind to comprehend that we +can be in good standing at home, unless we have some title prefixed +to our names, or some descriptive phrase added. Our good landlord, +who waits at the table and answers our bell, one of whose tenants is +a living baron, having no title to put on his doorplate under that of +the baron, must needs dub himself "privatier;" and he insists upon +prefixing the name of this unambitious writer with the ennobling von; +and at the least he insists, in common with the tradespeople, that I +am a "Herr Doctor." The bills of purchases by madame come made out +to "Frau----, well-born." At a hotel in Heidelberg, where I had +registered my name with that distinctness of penmanship for which +newspaper men are justly conspicuous, and had added to my own name "& +wife," I was not a little flattered to appear in the reckoning as +"Herr Doctor Mamesweise." + + + + +THE GOTTESACKER AND BAVARIAN FUNERALS + +To change the subject from gay to grave. The Gottesacker of Munich +is called the finest cemetery in Germany; at least, it surpasses them +in the artistic taste of its monuments. Natural beauty it has none: +it is simply a long, narrow strip of ground inclosed in walls, with +straight, parallel walks running the whole length, and narrow +cross-walks; and yet it is a lovely burial-ground. There are but few +trees; but the whole inclosure is a conservatory of beautiful +flowers. Every grave is covered with them, every monument is +surrounded with them. The monuments are unpretending in size, but +there are many fine designs, and many finely executed busts and +statues and allegorical figures, in both marble and bronze. The +place is full of sunlight and color. I noticed that it was much +frequented. In front of every place of sepulcher stands a small urn +for water, with a brush hanging by, with which to sprinkle the +flowers. I saw, also, many women and children coming and going with +watering-pots, so that the flowers never droop for want of care. At +the lower end of the old ground is an open arcade, wherein are some +effigies and busts, and many ancient tablets set into the wall. +Beyond this is the new cemetery, an inclosure surrounded by a high +wall of brick, and on the inside by an arcade. The space within is +planted with flowers, and laid out for the burial of the people; the +arcades are devoted to the occupation of those who can afford costly +tombs. Only a small number of them are yet occupied; there are some +good busts and monuments, and some frescoes on the panels rather more +striking for size and color than for beauty. + +Between the two cemeteries is the house for the dead. When I walked +down the long central all& of the old ground, I saw at the farther +end, beyond a fountain) twinkling lights. Coming nearer, I found +that they proceeded from the large windows of a building, which was a +part of the arcade. People were looking in at the windows, going and +coming to and from them continually; and I was prompted by curiosity +to look within. A most unexpected sight met my eye. In a long room, +upon elevated biers, lay people dead: they were so disposed that the +faces could be seen; and there they rested in a solemn repose. +Officers in uniform, citizens in plain dress, matrons and maids in +the habits that they wore when living, or in the white robes of the +grave. About most of them were lighted candles. About all of them +were flowers: some were almost covered with bouquets. There were +rows of children, little ones scarce a span long,--in the white caps +and garments of innocence, as if asleep in beds of flowers. How +naturally they all were lying, as if only waiting to be called! +Upon the thumb of every adult was a ring in which a string was tied +that went through a pulley above and communicated with a bell in the +attendant's room. How frightened he would be if the bell should ever +sound, and he should go into that hall of the dead to see who rang! +And yet it is a most wise and humane provision; and many years ago, +there is a tradition, an entombment alive was prevented by it. There +are three rooms in all; and all those who die in Munich must be +brought and laid in one of them, to be seen of all who care to look +therein. I suppose that wealth and rank have some privileges; but it +is the law that the person having been pronounced dead by the +physician shall be the same day brought to the dead-house, and lie +there three whole days before interment. + +There is something peculiar in the obsequies of Munich, especially in +the Catholic portion of the population. Shortly after the death, +there is a short service in the courtyard of the house, which, with +the entrance, is hung in costly mourning, if the deceased was rich. +The body is then carried in the car to the dead-house, attended by +the priests, the male members of the family, and a procession of +torch-bearers, if that can be afforded. Three days after, the burial +takes place from the dead-house, only males attending. The women +never go to the funeral; but some days after, of which public notice +is given by advertisement, a public service is held in church, at +which all the family are present, and to which the friends are +publicly invited. Funeral obsequies are as costly here as in +America; but everything is here regulated and fixed by custom. There +are as many as five or six classes of funerals recognized. Those of +the first class, as to rank and expense, cost about a thousand +guldens. The second class is divided into six subclasses. The third +is divided into two. The cost of the first of the third class is +about four hundred guldens. The lowest class of those able to have a +funeral costs twenty-five guldens. A gulden is about two francs. +There are no carriages used at the funerals of Catholics, only at +those of Protestants and Jews. + +I spoke of the custom of advertising the deaths. A considerable +portion of the daily newspapers is devoted to these announcements, +which are printed in display type, like the advertisements of +dry-goods sellers with you. I will roughly translate one which I +happen to see just now. It reads, "Death advertisement. It has +pleased God the Almighty, in his inscrutable providence, to take away +our innermost loved, best husband, father, grandfather, uncle, +brother-in-law, and cousin, Herr---, dyer of cloth and silk, +yesterday night, at eleven o'clock, after three weeks of severe +suffering, having partaken of the holy sacrament, in his sixty-sixth +year, out of this earthly abode of calamity into the better Beyond. +Those who knew his good heart, his great honesty, as well as his +patience in suffering, will know how justly to estimate our grief." +This is signed by the "deep-grieving survivors,"--the widow, son, +daughter, and daughter-in-law, in the name of the absent relatives. +After the name of the son is written, "Dyer in cloth and silk." The +notice closes with an announcement of the funeral at the cemetery, +and a service at the church the day after. The advertisement I have +given is not uncommon either for quaintness or simplicity. It is +common to engrave upon the monument the business as well as the title +of the departed. + + + + +THE OCTOBER FEST THE PEASANTS AND THE KING + +On the 11th of October the sun came out, after a retirement of nearly +two weeks. The cause of the appearance was the close of the October +Fest. This great popular carnival has the same effect upon the +weather in Bavaria that the Yearly Meeting of Friends is known to +produce in Philadelphia, and the Great National Horse Fair in New +England. It always rains during the October Fest. Having found this +out, I do not know why they do not change the time of it; but I +presume they are wise enough to feel that it would be useless. A +similar attempt on the part of the Pennsylvania Quakers merely +disturbed the operations of nature, but did not save the drab bonnets +from the annual wetting. There is a subtle connection between such +gatherings and the gathering of what are called the elements,--a +sympathetic connection, which we shall, no doubt, one day understand, +when we have collected facts enough on the subject to make a +comprehensive generalization, after Mr. Buckle's method. + +This fair, which is just concluded, is a true Folks-Fest, a season +especially for the Bavarian people, an agricultural fair and cattle +show, but a time of general jollity and amusement as well. Indeed, +the main object of a German fair seems to be to have a good time and +in this it is in marked contrast with American fairs. The October +Fest was instituted for the people by the old Ludwig I. on the +occasion of his marriage; and it has ever since retained its position +as the great festival of the Bavarian people, and particularly of the +peasants. It offers a rare opportunity to the stranger to study the +costumes of the peasants, and to see how they amuse themselves. One +can judge a good deal of the progress of a people by the sort of +amusements that satisfy them. I am not about to draw any +philosophical inferences,--I am a mere looker-on in Munich; but I +have never anywhere else seen puppet-shows afford so much delight, +nor have I ever seen anybody get more satisfaction out of a sausage +and a mug of beer, with the tum-tum of a band near, by, than a +Bavarian peasant. + +The Fest was held on the Theresien Wiese, a vast meadow on the +outskirts of the city. The ground rises on one side of this by an +abrupt step, some thirty or forty feet high, like the "bench" of a +Western river. This bank is terraced for seats the whole length, or +as far down as the statue of Bavaria; so that there are turf seats, I +should judge, for three quarters of a mile, for a great many +thousands of people, who can look down upon the race-course, the +tents, houses, and booths of the fair-ground, and upon the roof and +spires of the city beyond. The statue is, as you know, the famous +bronze Bavaria of Schwanthaler, a colossal female figure fifty feet +high, and with its pedestal a hundred feet high, which stands in +front of the Hall of Fame, a Doric edifice, in the open colonnades of +which are displayed the busts of the most celebrated Bavarians, +together with those of a few poets and scholars who were so +unfortunate as not to be born here. The Bavaria stands with the +right hand upon the sheathed sword, and the left raised in the act of +bestowing a wreath of victory; and the lion of the kingdom is beside +her. This representative being is, of course, hollow. There is room +for eight people in her head, which I can testify is a warm place on +a sunny day; and one can peep out through loopholes and get a good +view of the Alps of the Tyrol. To say that this statue is graceful +or altogether successful would be an error; but it is rather +impressive, from its size, if for no other reason. In the cast of +the hand exhibited at the bronze foundry, the forefinger measures +over three feet long. + +Although the Fest did not officially begin until Friday, October 12, +yet the essential part of it, the amusements, was well under way on +the Sunday before. The town began to be filled with country people, +and the holiday might be said to have commenced; for the city gives +itself up to the occasion. The new art galleries are closed for some +days; but the collections and museums of various sorts are daily +open, gratis; the theaters redouble their efforts; the concert-halls +are in full blast; there are dances nightly, and masked balls in the +Folks' Theater; country relatives are entertained; the peasants go +about the streets in droves, in a simple and happy frame of mind, +wholly unconscious that they are the oddest-looking guys that have +come down from the Middle Ages; there is music in all the gardens, +singing in the cafes, beer flowing in rivers, and a mighty smell of +cheese, that goes up to heaven. If the eating of cheese were a +religious act, and its odor an incense, I could not say enough of the +devoutness of the Bavarians. + +Of the picturesqueness and oddity of the Bavarian peasants' costumes, +nothing but a picture can give you any idea. You can imagine the men +in tight breeches, buttoned below the knee, jackets of the jockey +cut, and both jacket and waistcoat covered with big metal buttons, +sometimes coins, as thickly as can be sewed on: but the women defy +the pen; a Bavarian peasant woman, in holiday dress, is the most +fearfully and wonderfully made object in the universe. She displays +a good length of striped stockings, and wears thin slippers, or +sandals; her skirts are like a hogshead in size and shape, and reach +so near her shoulders as to make her appear hump-backed; the sleeves +are hugely swelled out at the shoulder, and taper to the wrist; the +bodice is a stiff and most elaborately ornamented piece of armor; and +there is a kind of breastplate, or center-piece, of gold, silver, and +precious stones, or what passes for them; and the head is adorned +with some monstrous heirloom, of finely worked gold or silver, or a +tower, gilded and shining with long streamers, or bound in a simple +black turban, with flowing ends. Little old girls, dressed like +their mothers, have the air of creations of the fancy, who have +walked out of a fairy-book. There is an endless variety in these old +costumes; and one sees, every moment, one more preposterous than the +preceding. The girls from the Tyrol, with their bright neckerchiefs +and pointed black felt hats, with gold cord and tassels, are some of +them very pretty: but one looks a long time for a bright face among +the other class; and, when it is discovered, the owner appears like a +maiden who was enchanted a hundred years ago, and has not been +released from the spell, but is still doomed to wear the garments and +the ornaments that should long ago have mouldered away with her +ancestors. + +The Theresien Wiese was a city of Vanity Fair for two weeks, every +day crowded with a motley throng. Booths, and even structures of +some solidity, rose on it as if by magic. The lottery-houses were +set up early, and, to the last, attracted crowds, who could not +resist the tempting display of goods and trinkets, which might be won +by investing six kreuzers in a bit of paper, which might, when +unrolled, contain a number. These lotteries are all authorized: some +of them were for the benefit of the agricultural society; some were +for the poor, and others on individual account: and they always +thrive; for the German, above all others, loves to try his luck. +There were streets of shanties, where various things were offered for +sale besides cheese and sausages. There was a long line of booths, +where images could be shot at with bird-guns; and when the shots were +successful, the images went through astonishing revolutions. There +was a circus, in front of which some of the spangled performers +always stood beating drums and posturing, in order to entice in +spectators. There were the puppet-booths, before which all day stood +gaping, delighted crowds, who roared with laughter whenever the +little frau beat her loutish husband about the head, and set him to +tend the baby, who continued to wail, notwithstanding the man knocked +its head against the doorpost. There were the great beer- +restaurants, with temporary benches and tables' planted about with +evergreens, always thronged with a noisy, jolly crowd. There were +the fires, over which fresh fish were broiling on sticks; and, if you +lingered, you saw the fish taken alive from tubs of water standing +by, dressed and spitted and broiling before the wiggle was out of +their tails. There were the old women, who mixed the flour and fried +the brown cakes before your eyes, or cooked the fragrant sausage, and +offered it piping hot. + +And every restaurant and show had its band, brass or string,--a full +array of red-faced fellows tooting through horns, or a sorry +quartette, the fat woman with the harp, the lean man blowing himself +out through the clarinet, the long-haired fellow with the flute, and +the robust and thick-necked fiddler. Everywhere there was music; the +air was full of the odor of cheese and cooking sausage; so that there +was nothing wanting to the most complete enjoyment. The crowd surged +round, jammed together, in the best possible humor. Those who could +not sit at tables sat on the ground, with a link of an eatable I have +already named in one hand, and a mug of beer beside them. Toward +evening, the ground was strewn with these gray quart mugs, which gave +as perfect evidence of the battle of the day as the cannon-balls on +the sand before Fort Fisher did of the contest there. Besides this, +for the amusement of the crowd, there is, every day, a wheelbarrow +race, a sack race, a blindfold contest, or something of the sort, +which turns out to be a very flat performance. But all the time the +eating and the drinking go on, and the clatter and clink of it fill +the air; so that the great object of the fair is not lost sight of. + +Meantime, where is the agricultural fair and cattle-show? You must +know that we do these things differently in Bavaria. On the +fair-ground, there is very little to be seen of the fair. There is +an inclosure where steam-engines are smoking and puffing, and +threshing-machines are making a clamor; where some big church-bells +hang, and where there are a few stalls for horses and cattle. But +the competing horses and cattle are led before the judges elsewhere; +the horses, for instance, by the royal stables in the city. I saw no +such general exhibition of do mestic animals as you have at your +fairs. The horses that took the prizes were of native stock, a very +serviceable breed, excellent for carriage-horses, and admirable in +the cavalry service. The bulls and cows seemed also native and to +the manor born, and were worthy of little remark. The mechanical, +vegetable, and fruit exhibition was in the great glass palace, in the +city, and was very creditable in the fruit department, in the show of +grapes and pears especially. The products of the dairy were less, +though I saw one that I do not recollect ever to have seen in +America, a landscape in butter. Inclosed in a case, it looked very +much like a wood-carving. There was a Swiss cottage, a milkmaid, +with cows in the foreground; there were trees, and in the rear rose +rocky precipices, with chamois in the act of skipping thereon. I +should think something might be done in our country in this line of +the fine arts; certainly, some of the butter that is always being +sold so cheap at St. Albans, when it is high everywhere else, must be +strong enough to warrant the attempt. As to the other departments of +the fine arts in the glass palace, I cannot give you a better idea of +them than by saying that they were as well filled as the like ones in +the American county fairs. There were machines for threshing, for +straw-cutting, for apple-paring, and generally such a display of +implements as would give one a favorable idea of Bavarian +agriculture. There was an interesting exhibition of live fish, great +and small, of nearly every sort, I should think, in Bavarian waters. +The show in the fire-department was so antiquated, that I was +convinced that the people of Munich never intend to have any fires. + +The great day of the fete was Sunday, October 5 for on that day the +king went out to the fair-ground, and distributed the prizes to the +owners of the best horses, and, as they appeared to me, of the most +ugly-colored bulls. The city was literally crowded with peasants and +country people; the churches were full all the morning with devout +masses, which poured into the waiting beer-houses afterward with +equal zeal. By twelve o'clock, the city began to empty itself upon +the Theresien meadow; and long before the time for the king to arrive +--two o'clock--there were acres of people waiting for the performance +to begin. The terraced bank, of which I have spoken, was taken +possession of early, and held by a solid mass of people; while the +fair-ground proper was packed with a swaying concourse, densest near +the royal pavilion, which was erected immediately on the race-course, +and opposite the bank. + +At one o'clock the grand stand opposite to the royal one is taken +possession of by a regiment band and by invited guests. All the +space, except the race-course, is, by this time, packed with people, +who watch the red and white gate at the head of the course with +growing impatience. It opens to let in a regiment of infantry, which +marches in and takes position. It swings, every now and then, for a +solitary horseman, who gallops down the line in all the pride of +mounted civic dignity, to the disgust of the crowd; or to let in a +carriage, with some overdressed officer or splendid minister, who is +entitled to a place in the royal pavilion. It is a people' fete, and +the civic officers enjoy one day of conspicuous glory. Now a +majestic person in gold lace is set down; and now one in a scarlet +coat, as beautiful as a flamingo. These driblets of splendor only +feed the popular impatience. Music is heard in the distance, and a +procession with colored banners is seen approaching from the city. +That, like everything else that is to come, stops beyond the closed +gate; and there it halts, ready to stream down before our eyes in a +variegated pageant. The time goes on; the crowd gets denser, for +there have been steady rivers of people pouring into the grounds for +more than an hour. + +The military bands play in the long interval; the peasants jabber in +unintelligible dialects; the high functionaries on the royal stand +are good enough to move around, and let us see how brave and majestic +they are. + +At last the firing of cannon announces the coming of royalty. There +is a commotion in the vast crowd yonder, the eagerly watched gates +swing wide, and a well-mounted company of cavalry dashes down the +turf, in uniforms of light blue and gold. It is a citizens' company +of butchers and bakers and candlestick-makers, which would do no +discredit to the regular army. Driving close after is a four-horse +carriage with two of the king's ministers; and then, at a rapid pace, +six coal-black horses in silver harness, with mounted postilions, +drawing a long, slender, open carriage with one seat, in which ride +the king and his brother, Prince Otto, come down the way, and are +pulled up in front of the pavilion; while the cannon roars, the big +bells ring, all the flags of Bavaria, Prussia, and Austria, on +innumerable poles, are blowing straight out, the band plays "God save +the King," the people break into enthusiastic shouting, and the young +king, throwing off his cloak, rises and stands in his carriage for a +moment, bowing right and left before he descends. He wears to-day +the simple uniform of the citizens' company which has escorted him, +and is consequently more plainly and neatly dressed than any one else +on the platform,--a tall (say six feet), slender, gallant-looking +young fellow of three and twenty, with an open face and a graceful +manner. + +But, when he has arrived, things again come to a stand; and we wait +for an hour, and watch the thickening of the clouds, while the king +goes from this to that delighted dignitary on the stand and +converses. At the end of this time, there is a movement. A white +dog has got into the course, and runs up and down between the walls +of people in terror, headed off by soldiers at either side of the +grand stand, and finally, becoming desperate, he makes a dive for the +royal pavilion. The consternation is extreme. The people cheer the +dog and laugh: a white-handed official, in gold lace, and without his +hat, rushes out to "shoo" the dog away, but is unsuccessful; for the +animal dashes between his legs, and approaches the royal and carpeted +steps. More men of rank run at him, and he is finally captured and +borne away; and we all breathe freer that the danger to royalty is +averted. At one o'clock six youths in white jackets, with clubs and +coils of rope, had stationed themselves by the pavilion, but they did +not go into action at this juncture; and I thought they rather +enjoyed the activity of the great men who kept off the dog. + +At length there was another stir; and the king descended from the +rear of his pavilion, attended by his ministers, and moved about +among the people, who made way for him, and uncovered at his +approach. He spoke with one and another, and strolled about as his +fancy took him. I suppose this is called mingling with the common +people. After he had mingled about fifteen minutes, he returned, and +took his place on the steps in front of the pavilion; and the +distribution of prizes began. First the horses were led out; and +their owners, approaching the king, received from his hands the +diplomas, and a flag from an attendant. Most of them were peasants; +and they exhibited no servility in receiving their marks of +distinction, but bowed to the king as they would to any other man, +and his majesty touched his cocked hat in return. Then came the +prize-cattle, many of them led by women, who are as interested as +their husbands in all farm matters. Everything goes off smoothly, +except there is a momentary panic over a fractious bull, who plunges +into the crowd; but the six white jackets are about him in an +instant, and entangle him with their ropes. + +This over, the gates again open, and the gay cavalcade that has been +so long in sight approaches. First a band of musicians in costumes +of the Middle Ages; and then a band of pages in the gayest apparel, +bearing pictured banners and flags of all colors, whose silken luster +would have been gorgeous in sunshine; these were followed by mounted +heralds with trumpets, and after them were led the running horses +entered for the race. The banners go up on the royal stand, and +group themselves picturesquely; the heralds disappear at the other +end of the list; and almost immediately the horses, ridden by young +jockeys in stunning colors, come flying past in a general scramble. +There are a dozen or more horses; but, after the first round, the +race lies between two. The course is considerably over an English +mile, and they make four circuits; so that the race is fully six- +miles,--a very hard one. It was a run in a rain, however, which +began when it did, and soon forced up the umbrellas. The vast crowd +disappeared under a shed of umbrellas, of all colors,--black, green, +red, blue; and the effect was very singular, especially when it moved +from the field: there was then a Niagara of umbrellas. The race was +soon over: it is only a peasants' race, after all; the aristocratic +races of the best horses take place in May. It was over. The king's +carriage was brought round, the people again shouted, the cannon +roared, the six black horses reared and plunged, and away he went. + +After all, says the artist, "the King of Bavaria has not much power." + +"You can see," returns a gentleman who speaks English, "just how much +he has: it is a six-horse power." + +On other days there was horse-trotting, music production, and for +several days prize-shooting. The latter was admirably conducted: the +targets were placed at the foot of the bank; and opposite, I should +think not more than two hundred yards off, were shooting-houses, each +with a room for the register of the shots, and on each side of him +closets where the shooters stand. Signal-wires run from these houses +to the targets, where there are attendants who telegraph the effect +of every shot. Each competitor has a little book; and he shoots at +any booth he pleases, or at all, and has his shots registered. There +was a continual fusillade for a couple of days; but what it all came +to, I cannot tell. I can only say, that, if they shoot as steadily +as they drink beer, there is no other corps of shooters that can +stand before them. + + + + +INDIAN SUMMER + +We are all quiet along the Isar since the October Fest; since the +young king has come back from his summer castle on the Starnberg See +to live in his dingy palace; since the opera has got into good +working order, and the regular indoor concerts at the cafes have +begun. There is no lack of amusements, with balls, theaters, and the +cheap concerts, vocal and instrumental. I stepped into the West Ende +Halle the other night, having first surrendered twelve kreuzers to +the money-changer at the entrance,--double the usual fee, by the way. +It was large and well lighted, with a gallery all round it and an +orchestral platform at one end. The floor and gallery were filled +with people of the most respectable class, who sat about little round +tables, and drank beer. Every man was smoking a cigar; and the +atmosphere was of that degree of haziness that we associate with +Indian summer at home; so that through it the people in the gallery +appeared like glorified objects in a heathen Pantheon, and the +orchestra like men playing in a dream. Yet nobody seemed to mind it; +and there was, indeed, a general air of social enjoyment and good +feeling. Whether this good feeling was in process of being produced +by the twelve or twenty glasses of beer which it is not unusual for a +German to drink of an evening, I do not know. "I do not drink much +beer now," said a German acquaintance,--"not more than four or five +glasses in an evening." This is indeed moderation, when we remember +that sixteen glasses of beer is only two gallons. The orchestra +playing that night was Gungl's; and it performed, among other things, +the whole of the celebrated Third (or Scotch) Symphony of Mendelssohn +in a manner that would be greatly to the credit of orchestras that +play without the aid of either smoke or beer. Concerts of this sort, +generally with more popular music and a considerable dash of Wagner, +in whom the Munichers believe, take place every night in several +cafes; while comic singing, some of it exceedingly well done, can be +heard in others. Such amusements--and nothing can be more harmless +--are very cheap. + +Speaking of Indian summer, the only approach to it I have seen was in +the hazy atmosphere at the West Ende Halle. October outdoors has +been an almost totally disagreeable month, with the exception of some +days, or rather parts of days, when we have seen the sun, and +experienced a mild atmosphere. At such times, I have liked to sit +down on one of the empty benches in the Hof Garden, where the leaves +already half cover the ground, and the dropping horse-chestnuts keep +up a pattering on them. Soon the fat woman who has a fruit-stand at +the gate is sure to come waddling along, her beaming face making a +sort of illumination in the autumn scenery, and sit down near me. As +soon as she comes, the little brown birds and the doves all fly that +way, and look up expectant at her. They all know her, and expect the +usual supply of bread-crumbs. Indeed, I have seen her on a still +Sunday morning, when I have been sitting there waiting for the +English ceremony of praying for Queen Victoria and Albert Edward to +begin in the Odeon, sit for an hour, and cut up bread for her little +brown flock. She sits now knitting a red stocking, the picture of +content; one after another her old gossips pass that way, and stop a +moment to exchange the chat of the day; or the policeman has his joke +with her, and when there is nobody else to converse with, she talks +to the birds. A benevolent old soul, I am sure, who in a New England +village would be universally called "Aunty," and would lay all the +rising generation under obligation to her for doughnuts and +sweet-cake. As she rises to go away, she scrapes together a +half-dozen shining chestnuts with her feet; and as she cannot +possibly stoop to pick them up, she motions to a boy playing near, +and smiles so happily as the urchin gathers them and runs away +without even a "thank ye." + + + + +A TASTE OF ULTRAMONTANISM + +If that of which every German dreams, and so few are ready to take +any practical steps to attain,--German unity,--ever comes, it must +ride roughshod over the Romish clergy, for one thing. Of course +there are other obstacles. So long as beer is cheap, and songs of +the Fatherland are set to lilting strains, will these excellent +people "Ho, ho, my brothers," and "Hi, hi, my brothers," and wait for +fate, in the shape of some compelling Bismarck, to drive them into +anything more than the brotherhood of brown mugs of beer and Wagner's +mysterious music of the future. I am not sure, by the way, that the +music of Richard Wagner is not highly typical of the present (1868) +state of German unity,--an undefined longing which nobody exactly +understands. There are those who think they can discern in his music +the same revolutionary tendency which placed the composer on the +right side of a Dresden barricade in 1848, and who go so far as to +believe that the liberalism of the young King of Bavaria is not a +little due to his passion for the disorganizing operas of this +transcendental writer. Indeed, I am not sure that any other people +than Germans would not find in the repetition of the five hours of +the "Meister-Singer von Nurnberg," which was given the other night at +the Hof Theater, sufficient reason for revolution. + +Well, what I set out to say was, that most Germans would like unity +if they could be the unit. Each State would like to be the center of +the consolidated system, and thus it happens that every practical +step toward political unity meets a host of opponents at once. When +Austria, or rather the house of Hapsburg, had a preponderance in the +Diet, and it seemed, under it, possible to revive the past reality, +or to realize the dream of a great German empire, it was clearly seen +that Austria was a tyranny that would crush out all liberties. And +now that Prussia, with its vital Protestantism and free schools, +proposes to undertake the reconstruction of Germany, and make a +nation where there are now only the fragmentary possibilities of a +great power, why, Prussia is a military despot, whose subjects must +be either soldiers or slaves, and the young emperor at Vienna is +indeed another Joseph, filled with the most tender solicitude for the +welfare of the chosen German people. + +But to return to the clergy. While the monasteries and nunneries are +going to the ground in superstition-saturated Spain; while eager +workmen are demolishing the last hiding-places of monkery, and +letting the daylight into places that have well kept the frightful +secrets of three hundred years, and turning the ancient cloister +demesne into public parks and pleasure-grounds,--the Romish +priesthood here, in free Bavaria, seem to imagine that they cannot +only resist the progress of events, but that they can actually bring +back the owlish twilight of the Middle Ages. The reactionary party +in Bavaria has, in some of the provinces, a strong majority; and its +supporters and newspapers are belligerent and aggressive. A few +words about the politics of Bavaria will give you a clew to the +general politics of the country. + +The reader of the little newspapers here in Munich finds evidence of +at least three parties. There is first the radical. Its members +sincerely desire a united Germany, and, of course, are friendly to +Prussia, hate Napoleon, have little confidence in the Hapsburgs, like +to read of uneasiness in Paris, and hail any movement that overthrows +tradition and the prescriptive right of classes. If its members are +Catholic, they are very mildly so; if they are Protestant, they are +not enough so to harm them; and, in short, if their religious +opinions are not as deep as a well, they are certainly broader than a +church door. They are the party of free inquiry, liberal thought, +and progress. Akin to them are what may be called the conservative +liberals, the majority of whom may be Catholics in profession, but +are most likely rationalists in fact; and with this party the king +naturally affiliates, taking his music devoutly every Sunday morning +in the Allerheiligenkirche, attached to the Residenz, and getting his +religion out of Wagner; for, progressive as the youthful king is, he +cannot be supposed to long for a unity which would wheel his throne +off into the limbo of phantoms. The conservative liberals, +therefore, while laboring for thorough internal reforms, look with +little delight on the increasing strength of Prussia, and sympathize +with the present liberal tendencies of Austria. Opposed to both +these parties is the ultramontane, the head of which is the Romish +hierarchy, and the body of which is the inert mass of ignorant +peasantry, over whom the influence of the clergy seems little shaken +by any of the modern moral earthquakes. Indeed I doubt if any new +ideas will ever penetrate a class of peasants who still adhere to +styles of costume that must have been ancient when the Turks +threatened Vienna, which would be highly picturesque if they were not +painfully ugly, and arrayed in which their possessors walk about in +the broad light of these latter days, with entire unconsciousness +that they do not belong to this age, and that their appearance is as +much of an anachronism as if the figures should step out of Holbein's +pictures (which Heaven forbid), or the stone images come down from +the portals of the cathedral and walk about. The ultramontane party, +which, so far as it is an intelligent force in modern affairs, is the +Romish clergy, and nothing more, hears with aversion any hint of +German unity, listens with dread to the needle-guns at Sadowa, hates +Prussia in proportion as it fears her, and just now does not draw +either with the Austrian Government, whose liberal tendencies are +exceedingly distasteful. It relies upon that great unenlightened +mass of Catholic people in Southern Germany and in Austria proper, +one of whose sins is certainly not skepticism. The practical fight +now in Bavaria is on the question of education; the priests being +resolved to keep the schools of the people in their own control, and +the liberal parties seeking to widen educational facilities and admit +laymen to a share in the management of institutions of learning. Now +the school visitors must all be ecclesiastics; and although their +power is not to be dreaded in the cities, where teachers, like other +citizens, are apt to be liberal, it gives them immense power in the +rural districts. The election of the Lower House of the Bavarian +parliament, whose members have a six years' tenure of office, which +takes place next spring, excites uncommon interest; for the leading +issue will be that of education. The little local newspapers--and +every city has a small swarm of them, which are remarkable for the +absence of news and an abundance of advertisements--have broken out +into a style of personal controversy, which, to put it mildly, makes +me, an American, feel quite at home. Both parties are very much in +earnest, and both speak with a freedom that is, in itself, a very +hopeful sign. + +The pretensions of the ultramontane clergy are, indeed, remarkable +enough to attract the attention of others besides the liberals of +Bavaria. They assume an influence and an importance in the +ecclesiastical profession, or rather an authority, equal to that ever +asserted by the Church in its strongest days. Perhaps you will get +an idea of the height of this pretension if I translate a passage +which the liberal journal here takes from a sermon preached in the +parish church of Ebersburg, in Ober-Dorfen, by a priest, Herr +Kooperator Anton Hiring, no longer ago than August 16, 1868. It +reads: "With the power of absolution, Christ has endued the +priesthood with a might which is terrible to hell, and against which +Lucifer himself cannot stand,-a might which, indeed, reaches over +into eternity, where all other earthly powers find their limit and +end,--a might, I say, which is able to break the fetters which, for +an eternity, were forged through the commission of heavy sin. Yes, +further, this Power of the forgiveness of sins makes the priest, in a +certain measure, a second God; for God alone naturally can forgive +sins. And yet this is not the highest reach of the priestly might: +his power reaches still higher; he compels God himself to serve him. +How so? When the priest approaches the altar, in order to bring +there the holy mass-offering, there, at that moment, lifts himself up +Jesus Christ, who sits at the right hand of the Father, upon his +throne, in order to be ready for the beck of his priests upon earth. +And scarcely does the priest begin the words of consecration, than +there Christ already hovers, surrounded by the heavenly host, come +down from heaven to earth, and to the altar of sacrifice, and +changes, upon the words of the priest, the bread and wine into his +holy flesh and blood, and permits himself then to be taken up and to +lie in the hands of the priest, even though the priest is the most +sinful and the most unworthy. Further, his power surpasses that of +the highest archangels, and of the Queen of Heaven. Right did the +holy Franciscus say, 'If I should meet a priest and an angel at the +same time, I should salute the priest first, and then the angel; +because the priest is possessed of far higher might and holiness than +the angel.'" + +The radical journal calls this "ultramontane blasphemy," and, the day +after quoting it, adds a charge that must be still more annoying to +the Herr Kooperator Hiring than that of blasphemy: it accuses him of +plagiarism; and, to substantiate the charge, quotes almost the very +same language from a sermon preached in 1785--In this it is boldly +claimed that "in heaven, on earth, or under the earth, there is +nothing mightier than a priest, except God; and, to be exact, God +himself must obey the priest in the mass." And then, in words which +I do not care to translate, the priest is made greater than the +Virgin Mary, because Christ was only born of the Virgin once, while +the priest "with five words, as often and wherever he will," can +"bring forth the Saviour of the world." So to-day keeps firm hold of +the traditions of a hundred years ago, and ultramontanism wisely +defends the last citadel where the Middle Age superstition makes a +stand,--the popular veneration for the clergy. + +And the clergy take good care to keep up the pomps and shows even +here in skeptical Munich. It was my inestimable privilege the other +morning--it was All-Saints' Day--to see the archbishop in the old +Frauenkirche, the ancient cathedral, where hang tattered banners that +were captured from the Turks three centuries ago,--to see him seated +in the choir, overlooked by saints and apostles carved in wood by +some forgotten artist of the fifteenth century. I supposed he was at +least an archbishop, from the retinue of priests who attended and +served him, and also from his great size. When he sat down, it +required a dignitary of considerable rank to put on his hat; and when +he arose to speak a few precious words, the effect was visible a good +many yards from where he stood. At the close of the service he went +in great state down the center aisle, preceded by the gorgeous +beadle--a character that is always awe-inspiring to me in these +churches, being a cross between a magnificent drum-major and a verger +and two persons in livery, and followed by a train of splendidly +attired priests, six of whom bore up his long train of purple silk. +The whole cortege was resplendent in embroidery and ermine; and as +the great man swept out of my sight, and was carried on a priestly +wave into his shining carriage, and the noble footman jumped up +behind, and he rolled away to his dinner, I stood leaning against a +pillar, and reflected if it could be possible that that religion +could be anything but genuine which had so much genuine ermine. And +the organ-notes, rolling down the arches, seemed to me to have a very +ultramontane sound. + + + + +CHANGING QUARTERS + +Perhaps it may not interest you to know how we moved, that is, +changed our apartments. I did not see it mentioned in the cable +dispatches, and it may not be generally known, even in Germany; but +then, the cable is so occupied with relating how his Serenity this, +and his Highness that, and her Loftiness the other one, went outdoors +and came in again, owing to a slight superfluity of the liquid +element in the atmosphere, that it has no time to notice the real +movements of the people. And yet, so dry are some of these little +German newspapers of news, that it is refreshing to read, now and +then, that the king, on Sunday, walked out with the Duke of Hesse +after dinner (one would like to know if they also had sauerkraut and +sausage), and that his prospective mother-in-law, the Empress of +Russia, who was here the other day, on her way home from Como, where +she was nearly drowned out by the inundation, sat for an hour on +Sunday night, after the opera, in the winter garden of the palace, +enjoying the most easy family intercourse. + +But about moving. Let me tell you that to change quarters in the +face of a Munich winter, which arrives here the 1st of November, is +like changing front to the enemy just before a battle; and if we had +perished in the attempt, it might have been put upon our monuments, +as it is upon the out-of-cannon-cast obelisk in the Karolina Platz, +erected to the memory of the thirty thousand Bavarian soldiers who +fell in the disastrous Russian winter campaign of Napoleon, fighting +against all the interests of Germany,--"they, too, died for their +Fatherland." Bavaria happened also to fight on the wrong side at +Sadowa and I suppose that those who fell there also died for +Fatherland: it is a way the Germans have of doing, and they mean +nothing serious by it. But, as I was saying, to change quarters here +as late as November is a little difficult, for the wise ones seek to +get housed for the winter by October: they select the sunny +apartments, get on the double windows, and store up wood. The plants +are tied up in the gardens, the fountains are covered over, and the +inhabitants go about in furs and the heaviest winter clothing long +before we should think of doing so at home. And they are wise: the +snow comes early, and, besides, a cruel fog, cold as the grave and +penetrating as remorse, comes down out of the near Tyrol. One +morning early in November, I looked out of the window to find snow +falling, and the ground covered with it. There was dampness and +frost enough in the air to make it cling to all the tree-twigs, and +to take fantastic shapes on all the queer roofs and the slenderest +pinnacles and most delicate architectural ornamentations. The city +spires had a mysterious appearance in the gray haze; and above all, +the round-topped towers of the old Frauenkirche, frosted with a +little snow, loomed up more grandly than ever. When I went around to +the Hof Garden, where I late had sat in the sun, and heard the brown +horse-chestnuts drop on the leaves, the benches were now full of +snow, and the fat and friendly fruit-woman at the gate had retired +behind glass windows into a little shop, which she might well warm by +her own person, if she radiated heat as readily as she used to absorb +it on the warm autumn days, when I have marked her knitting in the +sunshine. + +But we are not moving. The first step we took was to advertise our +wants in the "Neueste Nachrichten" ("Latest News ") newspaper. We +desired, if possible, admission into some respectable German family, +where we should be forced to speak German, and in which our society, +if I may so express it, would be some compensation for our bad +grammar. We wished also to live in the central part of the city,--in +short, in the immediate neighborhood of all the objects of interest +(which are here very much scattered), and to have pleasant rooms. In +Dresden, where the people are not so rich as in Munich, and where +different customs prevail, it is customary for the best people, I +mean the families of university professors, for instance, to take in +foreigners, and give them tolerable food and a liberal education. +Here it is otherwise. Nearly all families occupy one floor of a +building, renting just rooms enough for the family, so that their +apartments are not elastic enough to take in strangers, even if they +desire to do so. And generally they do not. Munich society is +perhaps chargeable with being a little stiff and exclusive. Well, we +advertised in the "Neueste Nachrichten." This is the liberal paper +of Munich. It is a poorly printed, black-looking daily sheet, folded +in octavo size, and containing anywhere from sixteen to thirty-four +pages, more or less, as it happens to have advertisements. It +sometimes will not have more than two or three pages of reading +matter. There will be a scrap or two of local news, the brief +telegrams taken from the official paper of the day before, a bit or +two of other news, and perhaps a short and slashing editorial on the +ultramontane party. The advantage of printing and folding it in such +small leaves is, that the size can be varied according to the demands +of advertisements or news (if the German papers ever find out what +that is); so that the publisher is always giving, every day, just +what it pays to give that day; and the reader has his regular +quantity of reading matter, and does not have to pay for advertising +space, which in journals of unchangeable form cannot always be used +profitably. This little journal was started something like twenty +years ago. It probably spends little for news, has only one or, at +most, two editors, is crowded with advertisements, which are inserted +cheap, and costs, delivered, a little over six francs a year. It +circulates in the city some thirty-five thousand. There is another +little paper here of the same size, but not so many leaves, called +"The Daily Advertiser," with nothing but advertisements, principally +of theaters, concerts, and the daily sights, and one page devoted to +some prodigious yarn, generally concerning America, of which country +its readers must get the most extraordinary and frightful impression. +The "Nachrichten" made the fortune of its first owner, who built +himself a fine house out of it, and retired to enjoy his wealth. It +was recently sold for one hundred thousand guldens; and I can see +that it is piling up another fortune for its present owner. The +Germans, who herein show their good sense and the high state of +civilization to which they have reached, are very free advertisers, +going to the newspapers with all their wants, and finding in them +that aid which all interests and all sorts of people, from kaiser to +kerl, are compelled, in these days, to seek in the daily journal. +Every German town of any size has three or four of these little +journals of flying leaves, which are excellent papers in every +respect, except that they look like badly printed handbills, and have +very little news and no editorials worth speaking of. An exception +to these in Bavaria is the "Allgerneine Zeitung" of Augsburg, which +is old and immensely respectable, and is perhaps, for extent of +correspondence and splendidly written editorials on a great variety +of topics, excelled by no journal in Europe except the London +"Times." It gives out two editions daily, the evening one about the +size of the New York "Nation;" and it has all the telegraphic news. +It is absurdly old-grannyish, and is malevolent in its pretended +conservatism and impartiality. Yet it circulates over forty thousand +copies, and goes all over Germany. + +But were we not saying something about moving? The truth is, that +the best German families did not respond to our appeal with that +alacrity which we had no right to expect, and did not exhibit that +anxiety for our society which would have been such a pleasant +evidence of their appreciation of the honor done to the royal city of +Munich by the selection of it as a residence during the most +disagreeable months of the year by the advertising undersigned. Even +the young king, whose approaching marriage to the Russian princess, +one would think, might soften his heart, did nothing to win our +regard, or to show that he appreciated our residence "near" his +court, and, so far as I know, never read with any sort of attention +our advertisement, which was composed with as much care as Goethe's +"Faust," and probably with the use of more dictionaries. And this, +when he has an extraordinary large Residenz, to say nothing about +other outlying palaces and comfortable places to live in, in which I +know there are scores of elegantly furnished apartments, which stand +idle almost the year round, and might as well be let to appreciative +strangers, who would accustom the rather washy and fierce frescoes on +the walls to be stared at. I might have selected rooms, say on the +court which looks on the exquisite bronze fountain, Perseus with the +head of Medusa, a copy of the one in Florence by Benvenuto Cellini, +where we could have a southern exposure. Or we might, so it would +seem, have had rooms by the winter garden, where tropical plants +rejoice in perennial summer, and blossom and bear fruit, while a +northern winter rages without. Yet the king did not see it "by those +lamps;" and I looked in vain on the gates of the Residenz for the +notice so frequently seen on other houses, of apartments to let. And +yet we had responses. The day after the announcement appeared, our +bell ran perpetually; and we had as many letters as if we had +advertised for wives innumerable. The German notes poured in upon us +in a flood; each one of them containing an offer tempting enough to +beguile an angel out of paradise, at least, according to our +translation: they proffered us chambers that were positively +overheated by the flaming sun (which, I can take my oath, only +ventures a few feet above the horizon at this season), which were +friendly in appearance, splendidly furnished and near to every +desirable thing, and in which, usually, some American family had long +resided, and experienced a content and happiness not to be felt out +of Germany. + +I spent some days in calling upon the worthy frauen who made these +alluring offers. The visits were full of profit to the student of +human nature, but profitless otherwise. I was ushered into low, dark +chambers, small and dreary, looking towards the sunless north, which +I was assured were delightful and even elegant. I was taken up to +the top of tall houses, through a smell of cabbage that was +appalling, to find empty and dreary rooms, from which I fled in +fright. We were visited by so many people who had chambers to rent, +that we were impressed with the idea that all Munich was to let; and +yet, when we visited the places offered, we found they were only to +be let alone. One of the frauen who did us the honor to call, also +wrote a note, and inclosed a letter that she had just received from +an American gentleman (I make no secret of it that he came from +Hartford), in which were many kindly expressions for her welfare, and +thanks for the aid he had received in his study of German; and yet I +think her chambers are the most uninviting in the entire city. There +were people who were willing to teach us German, without rooms or +board; or to lodge us without giving us German or food; or to feed +us, and let us starve intellectually, and lodge where we could. + +But all things have an end, and so did our hunt for lodgings. I +chanced one day in my walk to find, with no help from the +advertisement, very nearly what we desired,--cheerful rooms in a +pleasant neighborhood, where the sun comes when it comes out at all, +and opposite the Glass Palace, through which the sun streams in the +afternoon with a certain splendor, and almost next door to the +residence and laboratory of the famous chemist, Professor Liebig; so +that we can have our feelings analyzed whenever it is desirable. +When we had set up our household gods, and a fire was kindled in the +tall white porcelain family monument, which is called here a stove,-- +and which, by the way, is much more agreeable than your hideous black +and air-scorching cast-iron stoves,--and seen that the feather-beds +under which we were expected to lie were thick enough to roast the +half of the body, and short enough to let the other half freeze, we +determined to try for a season the regular German cookery, our table +heretofore having been served with food cooked in the English style +with only a slight German flavor. A week of the experiment was quite +enough. I do not mean to say that the viands served us were not +good, only that we could not make up our minds to eat them. The +Germans eat a great deal of meat; and we were obliged to take meat +when we preferred vegetables. Now, when a deep dish is set before +you wherein are chunks of pork reposing on stewed potatoes, and +another wherein a fathomless depth of sauerkraut supports coils of +boiled sausage, which, considering that you are a mortal and +responsible being, and have a stomach, will you choose? Herein +Munich, nearly all the bread is filled with anise or caraway seed; it +is possible to get, however, the best wheat bread we have eaten in +Europe, and we usually have it; but one must maintain a constant +vigilance against the inroads of the fragrant seeds. Imagine, then, +our despair, when one day the potato, the one vegetable we had always +eaten with perfect confidence, appeared stewed with caraway seeds. +This was too much for American human nature, constituted as it is. +Yet the dish that finally sent us back to our ordinary and excellent +way of living is one for which I have no name. It may have been +compounded at different times, have been the result of many tastes or +distastes: but there was, after all, a unity in it that marked it as +the composition of one master artist; there was an unspeakable +harmony in all its flavors and apparently ununitable substances. It +looked like a terrapin soup, but it was not. Every dive of the spoon +into its dark liquid brought up a different object,--a junk of +unmistakable pork, meat of the color of roast hare, what seemed to be +the neck of a goose, something in strings that resembled the rags of +a silk dress, shreds of cabbage, and what I am quite willing to take +my oath was a bit of Astrachan fur. If Professor Liebig wishes to +add to his reputation, he could do so by analyzing this dish, and +publishing the result to the world. + +And, while we are speaking of eating, it may be inferred that the +Germans are good eaters; and although they do not begin early, seldom +taking much more than a cup of coffee before noon, they make it up by +very substantial dinners and suppers. To say nothing of the +extraordinary dishes of meats which the restaurants serve at night, +the black bread and odorous cheese and beer which the men take on +board in the course of an evening would soon wear out a cast-iron +stomach in America; and yet I ought to remember the deadly pie and +the corroding whisky of my native land. The restaurant life of the +people is, of course, different from their home life, and perhaps an +evening entertainment here is no more formidable than one in America, +but it is different. Let me give you the outlines of a supper to +which we were invited the other night: it certainly cannot hurt you +to read about it. We sat down at eight. There were first courses of +three sorts of cold meat, accompanied with two sorts of salad; the +one, a composite, with a potato basis, of all imaginable things that +are eaten. Beer and bread were unlimited. There was then roast +hare, with some supporting dish, followed by jellies of various +sorts, and ornamented plates of something that seemed unable to +decide whether it would be jelly or cream; and then came assorted +cake and the white wine of the Rhine and the red of Hungary. We were +then surprised with a dish of fried eels, with a sauce. Then came +cheese; and, to crown all, enormous, triumphal-looking loaves of +cake, works of art in appearance, and delicious to the taste. We sat +at the table till twelve o'clock; but you must not imagine that +everybody sat still all the time, or that, appearances to the +contrary notwithstanding, the principal object of the entertainment +was eating. The songs that were sung in Hungarian as well as German, +the poems that were recited, the burlesques of actors and acting, the +imitations that were inimitable, the take-off of table-tipping and of +prominent musicians, the wit and constant flow of fun, as constant as +the good-humor and free hospitality, the unconstrained ease of the +whole evening, these things made the real supper which one remembers +when the grosser meal has vanished, as all substantial things do +vanish. + + + + +CHRISTMAS TIME-MUSIC + +For a month Munich has been preparing for Christmas. The shop +windows have had a holiday look all December. I see one every day in +which are displayed all the varieties of fruits, vegetables, and +confectionery possible to be desired for a feast, done in wax,--a +most dismal exhibition, and calculated to make the adjoining window, +which has a little fountain and some green plants waving amidst +enormous pendent sausages and pigs' heads and various disagreeable +hashes of pressed meat, positively enticing. And yet there are some +vegetables here that I should prefer to have in wax,--for instance, +sauerkraut. The toy windows are worthy of study, and next to them +the bakers'. A favorite toy of the season is a little crib, with the +Holy Child, in sugar or wax, lying in it in the most uncomfortable +attitude. Babies here are strapped upon pillows, or between pillows, +and so tied up and wound up that they cannot move a muscle, except, +perhaps, the tongue; and so, exactly like little mummies, they are +carried about the street by the nurses,--poor little things, packed +away so, even in the heat of summer, their little faces looking out +of the down in a most pitiful fashion. The popular toy is a +representation, in sugar or wax, of this period of life. Generally +the toy represents twins, so swathed and bound; and, not +infrequently, the bold conception of the artist carries the point of +the humor so far as to introduce triplets, thus sporting with the +most dreadful possibilities of life. + +The German bakers are very ingenious; and if they could be convinced +of this great error, that because things are good separately, they +must be good in combination, the produce of their ovens would be much +more eatable. As it is, they make delicious cake, and of endless +variety; but they also offer us conglomerate formations that may have +a scientific value, but are utterly useless to a stomach not trained +in Germany. Of this sort, for the most part, is the famous +Lebkuchen, a sort of gingerbread manufactured in Nurnberg, and sent +all over Germany: "age does not [seem to] impair, nor custom stale +its infinite variety." It is very different from our simple cake of +that name, although it is usually baked in flat cards. It may +contain nuts or fruit, and is spoiled by a flavor of conflicting +spices. I should think it might be sold by the cord, it is piled up +in such quantities; and as it grows old and is much handled, it +acquires that brown, not to say dirty, familiar look, which may, for +aught I know, be one of its chief recommendations. The cake, +however, which prevails at this season of the year comes from the +Tyrol; and as the holidays approach, it is literally piled up on the +fruit-stands. It is called Klatzenbrod, and is not a bread at all, +but and amalgamation of fruits and spices. It is made up into small +round or oblong forms; and the top is ornamented in various patterns, +with split almond meats. The color is a faded black, as if it had +been left for some time in a country store; and the weight is just +about that of pig-iron. I had formed a strong desire, mingled with +dread, to taste it, which I was not likely to gratify,--one gets so +tired of such experiments after a time--when a friend sent us a ball +of it. There was no occasion to call in Professor Liebig to analyze +the substance: it is a plain case. The black mass contains, cut up +and pressed together, figs, citron, oranges, raisins, dates, various +kinds of nuts, cinnamon) nutmeg, cloves, and I know not what other +spices, together with the inevitable anise and caraway seeds. It +would make an excellent cannon-ball, and would be specially fatal if +it hit an enemy in the stomach. These seeds invade all dishes. The +cooks seem possessed of one of the rules of whist,--in case of doubt, +play a trump: in case of doubt, they always put in anise seed. It is +sprinkled profusely in the blackest rye bread, it gets into all the +vegetables, and even into the holiday cakes. + +The extensive Maximilian Platz has suddenly grown up into booths and +shanties, and looks very much like a temporary Western village. +There are shops for the sale of Christmas articles, toys, cakes, and +gimcracks; and there are, besides, places of amusement, if one of the +sorry menageries of sick beasts with their hair half worn off can be +so classed. One portion of the platz is now a lively and picturesque +forest of evergreens, an extensive thicket of large and small trees, +many of them trimmed with colored and gilt strips of paper. I meet +in every street persons lugging home their little trees; for it must +be a very poor household that cannot have its Christmas tree, on +which are hung the scanty store of candy, nuts, and fruit, and the +simple toys that the needy people will pinch themselves otherwise to +obtain. + +At this season, usually, the churches get up some representations for +the children, the stable at Bethlehem, with the figures of the Virgin +and Child, the wise men, and the oxen standing by. At least, the +churches must be put in spick-and-span order. I confess that I like +to stray into these edifices, some of them gaudy enough when they +are, so to speak, off duty, when the choir is deserted, and there is +only here and there a solitary worshiper at his prayers; unless, +indeed, as it sometimes happens, when I fancy myself quite alone, I +come by chance upon a hundred people, in some remote corner before a +side chapel, where mass is going on, but so quietly that the sense of +solitude in the church is not disturbed. Sometimes, when the place +is left entirely to myself, and the servants who are putting it to +rights and, as it were, shifting the scenes, I get a glimpse of the +reality of all the pomp and parade of the services. At first I may +be a little shocked with the familiar manner in which the images and +statues and the gilded paraphernalia are treated, very different from +the stately ceremony of the morning, when the priests are at the +altar, the choir is in the organ-loft, and the people crowd nave and +aisles. Then everything is sanctified and inviolate. Now, as I +loiter here, the old woman sweeps and dusts about as if she were in +an ordinary crockery store: the sacred things are handled without +gloves. And, lo! an unclerical servant, in his shirt-sleeves, +climbs up to the altar, and, taking down the silver-gilded cherubs, +holds them, head down, by one fat foot, while he wipes them off with +a damp cloth. To think of submitting a holy cherub to the indignity +of a damp cloth! + +One could never say too much about the music here. I do not mean +that of the regimental bands, or the orchestras in every hall and +beer-garden, or that in the churches on Sundays, both orchestral and +vocal. Nearly every day, at half-past eleven, there is a parade by +the Residenz, and another on the Marian Platz; and at each the bands +play for half an hour. In the Loggie by the palace the music-stands +can always be set out, and they are used in the platz when it does +not storm; and the bands play choice overtures and selections from +the operas in fine style. The bands are always preceded and followed +by a great crowd as they march through the streets, people who seem +to live only for this half hour in the day, and whom no mud or snow +can deter from keeping up with the music. It is a little gleam of +comfort in the day for the most wearied portion of the community: I +mean those who have nothing to do. + +But the music of which I speak is that of the conservatoire and +opera. The Hof Theater, opera, and conservatoire are all under one +royal direction. The latter has been recently reorganized with a new +director, in accordance with the Wagner notions somewhat. The young +king is cracked about Wagner, and appears to care little for other +music: he brings out his operas at great expense, and it is the +fashion here to like Wagner whether he is understood or not. The +opera of the "Meister-Singer von Nurnberg," which was brought out +last summer, occupied over five hours in the representation, which is +unbearable to the Germans, who go to the opera at six o'clock or +half-past, and expect to be at home before ten. His latest opera, +which has not yet been produced, is founded on the Niebelungen Lied, +and will take three evenings in the representation, which is almost +as bad as a Chinese play. The present director of the conservatoire +and opera, a Prussian, Herr von Bulow, is a friend of Wagner. There +are formed here in town two parties: the Wagner and the conservative, +the new and the old, the modern and classical; only the Wagnerites do +not admit that their admiration of Beethoven and the older composers +is less than that of the others, and so for this reason Bulow has +given us more music of Beethoven than of any other composer. One +thing is certain, that the royal orchestra is trained to a high state +of perfection: its rendition of the grand operas and its weekly +concerts in the Odeon cannot easily be surpassed. The singers are +not equal to the orchestra, for Berlin and Vienna offer greater +inducements; but there are people here who regard this orchestra as +superlative. They say that the best orchestras in the world are in +Germany; that the best in Germany is in Munich; and, therefore, you +can see the inevitable deduction. We have another parallel +syllogism. The greatest pianist in the world is Liszt; but then Herr +Bulow is actually a better performer than Liszt; therefore you see +again to what you must come. At any rate, we are quite satisfied in +this provincial capital; and, if there is anywhere better music, we +don't know it. Bulow's orchestra is not very large,--there are less +than eighty pieces, but it is so handled and drilled, that when we +hear it give one of the symphonies of Beethoven or Mendelssohn, there +is little left to be desired. Bulow is a wonderful conductor, a +little man, all nerve and fire, and he seems to inspire every +instrument. It is worth something to see him lead an orchestra: his +baton is magical; head, arms, and the whole body are in motion; he +knows every note of the compositions; and the precision with which he +evokes a solitary note out of a distant instrument with a jerk of his +rod, or brings a wail from the concurring violins, like the moaning +of a pine forest in winter, with a sweep of his arm, is most +masterly. About the platform of the Odeon are the marble busts of +the great composers; and while the orchestra is giving some of +Beethoven's masterpieces, I like to fix my eyes on his serious and +genius-full face, which seems cognizant of all that is passing, and +believe that he has a posthumous satisfaction in the interpretation +of his great thoughts. + +The managers of the conservatoire also give vocal concerts, and there +are, besides, quartette soiries; so that there are few evenings +without some attraction. The opera alternates with the theater two +or three times a week. The singers are, perhaps, not known in Paris +and London, but some of them are not unworthy to be. There is the +baritone, Herr Kindermann, who now, at the age of sixty-five, has a +superb voice and manner, and has had few superiors in his time on the +German stage. There is Frau Dietz, at forty-five, the best of +actresses, and with a still fresh and lovely voice. There is Herr +Nachbar, a tenor, who has a future; Fraulein Stehle, a soprano, young +and with an uncommon voice, who enjoys a large salary, and was the +favorite until another soprano, the Malinger, came and turned the +heads of king and opera habitues. The resources of the Academy are, +however, tolerably large; and the practice of pensioning for life the +singers enables them to keep always a tolerable company. This habit +of pensioning officials, as well as musicians and poets, is very +agreeable to the Germans. A gentleman the other day, who expressed +great surprise at the smallness of the salary of our President, said, +that, of course, Andrew Johnson would receive a pension when he +retired from office. I could not explain to him how comical the idea +was to me; but when I think of the American people pensioning Andrew +Johnson,--well, like the fictitious Yankee in "Mugby Junction," +"I laff, I du." + +There is some fashion, in a fudgy, quaint way, here in Munich; but it +is not exhibited in dress for the opera. People go--and it is +presumed the music is the attraction in ordinary apparel. They save +all their dress parade for the concerts; and the hall of the Odeon is +as brilliant as provincial taste can make it in toilet. The ladies +also go to operas and concerts unattended by gentlemen, and are +brought, and fetched away, by their servants. There is a freedom and +simplicity about this which I quite like; and, besides, it leaves +their husbands and brothers at liberty to spend a congenial evening +in the cafes, beer-gardens, and clubs. But there is always a heavy +fringe of young officers and gallants both at opera and concert, +standing in the outside passages. It is cheaper to stand, and one +can hear quite as well, and see more. + + + + +LOOKING FOR WARM WEATHER + + +FROM MUNICH TO NAPLES + +At all events, saith the best authority, "pray that your flight be +not in winter;" and it might have added, don't go south if you desire +warm weather. In January, 1869, I had a little experience of hunting +after genial skies; and I will give you the benefit of it in some +free running notes on my journey from Munich to Naples. + +It was the middle of January, at eleven o'clock at night, that we +left Munich, on a mixed railway train, choosing that time, and the +slowest of slow trains, that we might make the famous Brenner Pass by +daylight. It was no easy matter, at last, to pull up from the dear +old city in which we had become so firmly planted, and to leave the +German friends who made the place like home to us. One gets to love +Germany and the Germans as he does no other country and people in +Europe. There has been something so simple, honest, genuine, in our +Munich life, that we look back to it with longing eyes from this land +of fancy, of hand-organ music, and squalid splendor. I presume the +streets are yet half the day hid in a mountain fog; but I know the +superb military bands are still playing at noon in the old Marian +Platz and in the Loggie by the Residenz; that at half-past six in the +evening our friends are quietly stepping in to hear the opera at the +Hof Theater, where everybody goes to hear the music, and nobody for +display, and that they will be at home before half-past nine, and +have dispatched the servant for the mugs of foaming beer; I know that +they still hear every week the choice conservatoire orchestral +concerts in the Odeon; and, alas that experience should force me to +think of it! I have no doubt that they sip, every morning, coffee +which is as much superior to that of Paris as that of Paris is to +that of London; and that they eat the delicious rolls, in comparison +with which those of Paris are tasteless. I wonder, in this land of +wine,--and yet it must be so,--if the beer-gardens are still filled +nightly; and if it could be that I should sit at a little table +there, a comely lass would, before I could ask for what everybody is +presumed to want, place before me a tall glass full of amber liquid, +crowned with creamy foam. Are the handsome officers still sipping +their coffee in the Caf‚ Maximilian; and, on sunny days, is the crowd +of fashion still streaming down to the Isar, and the high, sightly +walks and gardens beyond? + +As I said, it was eleven o'clock of a clear and not very severe +night; for Munich had had no snow on the ground since November. A +deputation of our friends were at the station to see us off, and the +farewells between the gentlemen were in the hearty fashion of the +country. I know there is a prejudice with us against kissing between +men; but it is only a question of taste: and the experience of +anybody will tell him that the theory that this sort of salutation +must necessarily be desirable between opposite sexes is a delusion. +But I suppose it cannot be denied that kissing between men was +invented in Germany before they wore full beards. Well, our goodbyes +said, we climbed into our bare cars. There is no way of heating the +German cars, except by tubes filled with hot water, which are placed +under the feet, and are called foot-warmers. As we slowly moved out +over the plain, we found it was cold; in an hour the foot-warmers, +not hot to start with, were stone cold. You are going to sunny +Italy, our friends had said: as soon as you pass the Brenner you will +have sunshine and delightful weather. This thought consoled us, but +did not warm our feet. The Germans, when they travel by rail, wrap +themselves in furs and carry foot-sacks. + +We creaked along, with many stoppings. At two o'clock we were at +Rosenheim. Rosenheim is a windy place, with clear starlight, with a +multitude of cars on a multiplicity of tracks, and a large, lighted +refreshment-room, which has a glowing, jolly stove. We stay there an +hour, toasting by the fire and drinking excellent coffee. Groups of +Germans are seated at tables playing cards, smoking, and taking +coffee. Other trains arrive; and huge men stalk in, from Vienna or +Russia, you would say, enveloped in enormous fur overcoats, reaching +to the heels, and with big fur boots coming above the knees, in which +they move like elephants. Another start, and a cold ride with +cooling foot-warmers, droning on to Kurfstein. It is five o'clock +when we reach Kurfstein, which is also a restaurant, with a hot +stove, and more Germans going on as if it were daytime; but by this +time in the morning the coffee had got to be wretched. + +After an hour's waiting, we dream on again, and, before we know it, +come out of our cold doze into the cold dawn. Through the thick +frost on the windows we see the faint outlines of mountains. +Scraping away the incrustation, we find that we are in the Tyrol, +high hills on all sides, no snow in the valley, a bright morning, and +the snow-peaks are soon rosy in the sunrise. It is just as we +expected,--little villages under the hills, and slender church spires +with brick-red tops. At nine o'clock we are in Innsbruck, at the +foot of the Brenner. No snow yet. It must be charming here in the +summer. + +During the night we have got out of Bavaria. The waiter at the +restaurant wants us to pay him ninety kreuzers for our coffee, which +is only six kreuzers a cup in Munich. Remembering that it takes one +hundred kreuzers to make a gulden in Austria, I launch out a Bavarian +gulden, and expect ten kreuzers in change. I have heard that sixty +Bavarian kreuzers are equal to one hundred Austrian; but this waiter +explains to me that my gulden is only good for ninety kreuzers. I, +in my turn, explain to the waiter that it is better than the coffee; +but we come to no understanding, and I give up, before I begin, +trying to understand the Austrian currency. During the day I get my +pockets full of coppers, which are very convenient to take in change, +but appear to have a very slight purchasing, power in Austria even, +and none at all elsewhere, and the only use for which I have found is +to give to Italian beggars. One of these pieces satisfies a beggar +when it drops into his hat; and then it detains him long enough in +the examination of it, so that your carriage has time to get so far +away that his renewed pursuit is usually unavailing. + +The Brenner Pass repaid us for the pains we had taken to see it, +especially as the sun shone and took the frost from our windows, and +we encountered no snow on the track; and, indeed, the fall was not +deep, except on the high peaks about us. Even if the engineering of +the road were not so interesting, it was something to be again amidst +mountains that can boast a height of ten thousand feet. After we +passed the summit, and began the zigzag descent, we were on a sharp +lookout for sunny Italy. I expected to lay aside my heavy overcoat, +and sun myself at the first station among the vineyards. Instead of +that, we bade good-by to bright sky, and plunged into a snowstorm, +and, so greeted, drove down into the narrow gorges, whose steep +slopes we could see were terraced to the top, and planted with vines. +We could distinguish enough to know that, with the old Roman ruins, +the churches and convent towers perched on the crags, and all, the +scenery in summer must be finer than that of the Rhine, especially as +the vineyards here are picturesque,--the vines being trained so as to +hide and clothe the ground with verdure. + +It was four o'clock when we reached Trent, and colder than on top of +the Brenner. As the Council, owing to the dead state of its members +for now three centuries, was not in session, we made no long tarry. +We went into the magnificent large refreshment-room to get warm; but +it was as cold as a New England barn. I asked the proprietor if we +could not get at a fire; but he insisted that the room was warm, that +it was heated with a furnace, and that he burned good stove-coal, and +pointed to a register high up in the wall. Seeing that I looked +incredulous, he insisted that I should test it. Accordingly, I +climbed upon a table, and reached up my hand. A faint warmth came +out; and I gave it up, and congratulated the landlord on his furnace. +But the register had no effect on the great hall. You might as well +try to heat the dome of St. Peter's with a lucifer-match. At dark, +Allah be praised! we reached Ala, where we went through the humbug +of an Italian custom-house, and had our first glimpse of Italy in the +picturesque-looking idlers in red-tasseled caps, and the jabber of a +strange tongue. The snow turned into a cold rain: the foot-warmers, +we having reached the sunny lands, could no longer be afforded; and +we shivered along till nine o'clock, dark and rainy, brought us to +Verona. We emerged from the station to find a crowd of omnibuses, +carriages, drivers, runners, and people anxious to help us, all +vociferating in the highest key. Amidst the usual Italian clamor +about nothing, we gained our hotel omnibus, and sat there for ten +minutes watching the dispute over our luggage, and serenely listening +to the angry vituperations of policemen and drivers. It sounded like +a revolution, but it was only the ordinary Italian way of doing +things; and we were at last rattling away over the broad pavements. + +Of course, we stopped at a palace turned hotel, drove into a court +with double flights of high stone and marble stairways, and were +hurried up to the marble-mosaic landing by an active boy, and, almost +before we could ask for rooms, were shown into a suite of magnificent +apartments. I had a glimpse of a garden in the rear,--flowers and +plants, and a balcony up which I suppose Romeo climbed to hold that +immortal love-prattle with the lovesick Juliet. Boy began to light +the candles. Asked in English the price of such fine rooms. Reply +in Italian. Asked in German. Reply in Italian. Asked in French, +with the same result. Other servants appeared, each with a piece of +baggage. Other candles were lighted. Everybody talked in chorus. +The landlady--a woman of elegant manners and great command of her +native tongue--appeared with a candle, and joined in the melodious +confusion. What is the price of these rooms? More jabber, more +servants bearing lights. We seemed suddenly to have come into an +illumination and a private lunatic asylum. The landlady and her +troop grew more and more voluble and excited. Ah, then, if these +rooms do not suit the signor and signoras, there are others; and we +were whisked off to apartments yet grander, great suites with high, +canopied beds, mirrors, and furniture that was luxurious a hundred +years ago. The price? Again a torrent of Italian; servants pouring +in, lights flashing, our baggage arriving, until, in the tumult, +hopeless of any response to our inquiry for a servant who could speak +anything but Italian, and when we had decided, in despair, to hire +the entire establishment, a waiter appeared who was accomplished in +all languages, the row subsided, and we were left alone in our glory, +and soon in welcome sleep forgot our desperate search for a warm +climate. + +The next day it was rainy and not warm; but the sun came out +occasionally, and we drove about to see some of the sights. The +first Italian town which the stranger sees he is sure to remember, +the outdoor life of the people is so different from that at the +North. It is the fiction in Italy that it is always summer; and the +people sit in the open market-place, shiver in the open doorways, +crowd into corners where the sun comes, and try to keep up the +beautiful pretense. The picturesque groups of idlers and traffickers +were more interesting to us than the palaces with sculptured fronts +and old Roman busts, or tombs of the Scaligers, and old gates. +Perhaps I ought to except the wonderful and perfect Roman +amphitheater, over every foot of which a handsome boy in rags +followed us, looking over every wall that we looked over, peering +into every hole that we peered into, thus showing his fellowship with +us, and at every pause planting himself before us, and throwing a +somerset, and then extending his greasy cap for coppers, as if he +knew that the modern mind ought not to dwell too exclusively on hoary +antiquity without some relief. + +Anxious, as I have said, to find the sunny South, we left Verona that +afternoon for Florence, by way of Padua and Bologna. The ride to +Padua was through a plain, at this season dreary enough, were it not, +here and there, for the abrupt little hills and the snowy Alps, which +were always in sight, and towards sundown and between showers +transcendently lovely in a purple and rosy light. But nothing now +could be more desolate than the rows of unending mulberry-trees, +pruned down to the stumps, through which we rode all the afternoon. +I suppose they look better when the branches grow out with the tender +leaves for the silk-worms, and when they are clothed with grapevines. +Padua was only to us a name. There we turned south, lost mountains +and the near hills, and had nothing but the mulberry flats and +ditches of water, and chilly rain and mist. It grew unpleasant as we +went south. At dark we were riding slowly, very slowly, for miles +through a country overflowed with water, out of which trees and +houses loomed up in a ghastly show. At all the stations soldiers +were getting on board, shouting and singing discordantly choruses +from the operas; for there was a rising at Padua, and one feared at +Bologna the populace getting up insurrections against the enforcement +of the grist-tax,--a tax which has made the government very +unpopular, as it falls principally upon the poor. + +Creeping along at such a slow rate, we reached Bologna too late for +the Florence train, It was eight o'clock, and still raining. The +next train went at two o'clock in the morning, and was the best one +for us to take. We had supper in an inn near by, and a fair attempt +at a fire in our parlor. I sat before it, and kept it as lively as +possible, as the hours wore away, and tried to make believe that I +was ruminating on the ancient greatness of Bologna and its famous +university, some of whose chairs had been occupied by women, and upon +the fact that it was on a little island in the Reno, just below here, +that Octavius and Lepidus and Mark Antony formed the second +Triumvirate, which put an end to what little liberty Rome had left; +but in reality I was thinking of the draught on my back, and the +comforts of a sunny clime. But the time came at length for starting; +and in luxurious cars we finished the night very comfortably, and +rode into Florence at eight in the morning to find, as we had hoped, +on the other side of the Apennines, a sunny sky and balmy air. + +As this is strictly a chapter of travel and weather, I may not stop +to say how impressive and beautiful Florence seemed to us; how +bewildering in art treasures, which one sees at a glance in the +streets; or scarcely to hint how lovely were the Boboli Gardens +behind the Pitti Palace, the roses, geraniums etc, in bloom, the +birds singing, and all in a soft, dreamy air. The next day was not +so genial; and we sped on, following our original intention of +seeking the summer in winter. In order to avoid trouble with baggage +and passports in Rome, we determined to book through for Naples, +making the trip in about twenty hours. We started at nine o'clock in +the evening, and I do not recall a more thoroughly uncomfortable +journey. It grew colder as the night wore on, and we went farther +south. Late in the morning we were landed at the station outside of +Rome. There was a general appearance of ruin and desolation. The +wind blew fiercely from the hills, and the snowflakes from the flying +clouds added to the general chilliness. There was no chance to get +even a cup of coffee, and we waited an hour in the cold car. If I +had not been so half frozen, the consciousness that I was actually on +the outskirts of the Eternal City, that I saw the Campagna and the +aqueducts, that yonder were the Alban Hills, and that every foot of +soil on which I looked was saturated with history, would have excited +me. The sun came out here and there as we went south, and we caught +some exquisite lights on the near and snowy hills; and there was +something almost homelike in the miles and miles of olive orchards, +that recalled the apple-trees, but for their shining silvered leaves. +And yet nothing could be more desolate than the brown marshy ground, +the brown hillocks, with now and then a shabby stone hut or a bit of +ruin, and the flocks of sheep shivering near their corrals, and their +shepherd, clad in sheepskin, as his ancestor was in the time of +Romulus, leaning on his staff, with his back to the wind. Now and +then a white town perched on a hillside, its houses piled above each +other, relieved the eye; and I could imagine that it might be all the +poets have sung of it, in the spring, though the Latin poets, I am +convinced, have wonderfully imposed upon us. + +To make my long story short, it happened to be colder next morning at +Naples than it was in Germany. The sun shone; but the northeast +wind, which the natives poetically call the Tramontane, was blowing, +and the white smoke of Vesuvius rolled towards the sea. It would +only last three days, it was very unusual, and all that. The next +day it was colder, and the next colder yet. Snow fell, and blew +about unmelted: I saw it in the streets of Pompeii. + +The fountains were frozen, icicles hung from the locks of the marble +statues in the Chiaia. And yet the oranges glowed like gold among +their green leaves; the roses, the heliotrope, the geraniums, bloomed +in all the gardens. It is the most contradictory climate. We +lunched one day, sitting in our open carriage in a lemon grove, and +near at hand the Lucrine Lake was half frozen over. We feasted our +eyes on the brilliant light and color on the sea, and the lovely +outlined mountains round the shore, and waited for a change of wind. +The Neapolitans declare that they have not had such weather in twenty +years. It is scarcely one's ideal of balmy Italy. + +Before the weather changed, I began to feel in this great Naples, +with its roaring population of over half a million, very much like +the sailor I saw at the American consul's, who applied for help to be +sent home, claiming to be an American. He was an oratorical bummer, +and told his story with all the dignity and elevated language of an +old Roman. He had been cast away in London. How cast away? Oh! it +was all along of a boarding-house. And then he found himself shipped +on an English vessel, and he had lost his discharge-papers; and +"Listen, your honor," said he, calmly extending his right hand, "here +I am cast away on this desolate island with nothing before me but +wind and weather." + + + + +RAVENNA + +A DEAD CITY + +Ravenna is so remote from the route of general travel in Italy, that +I am certain you can have no late news from there, nor can I bring +you anything much later than the sixth century. Yet, if you were to +see Ravenna, you would say that that is late enough. I am surprised +that a city which contains the most interesting early Christian +churches and mosaics, is the richest in undisturbed specimens of +early Christian art, and contains the only monuments of Roman +emperors still in their original positions, should be so seldom +visited. Ravenna has been dead for some centuries; and because +nobody has cared to bury it, its ancient monuments are yet above +ground. Grass grows in its wide streets, and its houses stand in a +sleepy, vacant contemplation of each other: the wind must like to +mourn about its silent squares. The waves of the Adriatic once +brought the commerce of the East to its wharves; but the deposits of +the Po and the tides have, in process of time, made it an inland +town, and the sea is four miles away. + +In the time of Augustus, Ravenna was a favorite Roman port and harbor +for fleets of war and merchandise. There Theodoric, the great king +of the Goths, set up his palace, and there is his enormous mausoleum. +As early as A. D. 44 it became an episcopal see, with St. +Apollinaris, a disciple of St. Peter, for its bishop. There some of +the later Roman emperors fixed their residences, and there they +repose. In and about it revolved the adventurous life of Galla +Placidia, a woman of considerable talent and no principle, the +daughter of Theodosius (the great Theodosius, who subdued the Arian +heresy, the first emperor baptized in the true faith of the Trinity, +the last who had a spark of genius), the sister of one emperor, and +the mother of another,--twice a slave, once a queen, and once an +empress; and she, too, rests there in the great mausoleum builded for +her. There, also, lies Dante, in his tomb "by the upbraiding shore;" +rejected once of ungrateful Florence, and forever after passionately +longed for. There, in one of the earliest Christian churches in +existence, are the fine mosaics of the Emperor Justinian and +Theodora, the handsome courtesan whom he raised to the dignity and +luxury of an empress on his throne in Constantinople. There is the +famous forest of pines, stretching--unbroken twenty miles down the +coast to Rimini, in whose cool and breezy glades Dante and Boccaccio +walked and meditated, which Dryden has commemorated, and Byron has +invested with the fascination of his genius; and under the whispering +boughs of which moved the glittering cavalcade which fetched the +bride to Rimini,--the fair Francesca, whose sinful confession Dante +heard in hell. + +We went down to Ravenna from Bologna one afternoon, through a country +level and rich, riding along toward hazy evening, the land getting +flatter as we proceeded (you know, there is a difference between +level and flat), through interminable mulberry-trees and vines, and +fields with the tender green of spring, with church spires in the +rosy horizon; on till the meadows became marshes, in which millions +of frogs sang the overture of the opening year. Our arrival, I have +reason to believe, was an event in the old town. We had a crowd of +moldy loafers to witness it at the station, not one of whom had +ambition enough to work to earn a sou by lifting our traveling-bags. +We had our hotel to ourselves, and wished that anybody else had it. +The rival house was quite aware of our advent, and watched us with +jealous eyes; and we, in turn, looked wistfully at it, for our own +food was so scarce that, as an old traveler says, we feared that we +shouldn't have enough, until we saw it on the table, when its quality +made it appear too much. The next morning, when I sallied out to hire +a conveyance, I was an object of interest to the entire population, +who seemed to think it very odd that any one should walk about and +explore the quiet streets. If I were to describe Ravenna, I should +say that it is as flat as Holland and as lively as New London. There +are broad streets, with high houses, that once were handsome, palaces +that were once the abode of luxury, gardens that still bloom, and +churches by the score. It is an open gate through which one walks +unchallenged into the past, with little to break the association with +the early Christian ages, their monuments undimmed by time, untouched +by restoration and innovation, the whole struck with ecclesiastical +death. With all that we saw that day,--churches, basilicas, mosaics, +statues, mausoleums,--I will not burden these pages; but I will set +down is enough to give you the local color, and to recall some +of the most interesting passages in Christian history in this out- +of-the-way city on the Adriatic. + +Our first pilgrimage was to the Church of St. Apollinare Nuova; but +why it is called new I do not know, as Theodoric built it for an +Arian cathedral in about the year 500. It is a noble interior, +having twenty-four marble columns of gray Cippolino, brought from +Constantinople, with composite capitals, on each of which is an +impost with Latin crosses sculptured on it. These columns support +round arches, which divide the nave from the aisles, and on the whole +length of the wall of the nave so supported are superb mosaics, +full-length figures, in colors as fresh as if done yesterday, though +they were executed thirteen hundred years ago. The mosaic on the +left side--which is, perhaps, the finest one of the period in +existence--is interesting on another account. It represents the city +of Classis, with sea and ships, and a long procession of twenty-two +virgins presenting offerings to the Virgin and Child, seated on a +throne. The Virgin is surrounded by angels, and has a glory round +her head, which shows that homage is being paid to her. It has been +supposed, from the early monuments of Christian art, that the worship +of the Virgin is of comparatively recent origin; but this mosaic +would go to show that Mariolatry was established before the end of +the sixth century. Near this church is part of the front of the +palace of Theodoric, in which the Exarchs and Lombard kings +subsequently resided. Its treasures and marbles Charlemagne carried +off to Germany. + + + + +DOWN TO THE PINETA + +We drove three miles beyond the city, to the Church of St. Apollinare +in Classe, a lonely edifice in a waste of marsh, a grand old +basilica, a purer specimen of Christian art than Rome or any other +Italian town can boast. Just outside the city gate stands a Greek +cross on a small fluted column, which marks the site of the once +magnificent Basilica of St. Laurentius, which was demolished in the +sixteenth century, its stone built into a new church in town, and its +rich marbles carried to all-absorbing Rome. It was the last relic of +the old port of Caesarea, famous since the time of Augustus. A +marble column on a green meadow is all that remains of a once +prosperous city. Our road lay through the marshy plain, across an +elevated bridge over the sluggish united stream of the Ronco and +Montone, from which there is a wide view, including the Pineta (or +Pine Forest), the Church of St. Apollinare in the midst of +rice-fields and marshes, and on a clear day the Alps and Apennines. + +I can imagine nothing more desolate than this solitary church, or the +approach to it. Laborers were busy spading up the heavy, wet ground, +or digging trenches, which instantly filled with water, for the whole +country was afloat. The frogs greeted us with clamorous chorus out +of their slimy pools, and the mosquitoes attacked us as we rode +along. I noticed about on the bogs, wherever they could find +standing-room, half-naked wretches, with long spears, having several +prongs like tridents, which they thrust into the grass and shallow +water. Calling one of them to us, we found that his business was +fishing, and that he forked out very fat and edible-looking fish with +his trident. Shaggy, undersized horses were wading in the water, +nipping off the thin spears of grass. Close to the church is a +rickety farmhouse. If I lived there, I would as lief be a fish as a +horse. + +The interior of this primitive old basilica is lofty and imposing, +with twenty-four handsome columns of the gray Cippolino marble, and +an elevated high altar and tribune, decorated with splendid mosaics +of the sixth century,--biblical subjects, in all the stiff +faithfulness of the holy old times. The marble floor is green and +damp and slippery. Under the tribune is the crypt, where the body of +St. Apollinaris used to lie (it is now under the high altar above); +and as I desired to see where he used to rest, I walked in. I also +walked into about six inches of water, in the dim, irreligious light; +and so made a cold-water Baptist devotee of myself. In the side +aisles are wonderful old sarcophagi, containing the ashes of +archbishops of Ravenna, so old that the owners' names are forgotten +of two of them, which shows that a man may build a tomb more enduring +than his memory. The sculptured bas-reliefs are very interesting, +being early Christian emblems and curious devices,--symbols of sheep, +palms, peacocks, crosses, and the four rivers of Paradise flowing +down in stony streams from stony sources, and monograms, and pious +rebuses. At the entrance of the crypt is an open stone book, called +the Breviary of Gregory the Great. Detached from the church is the +Bell Tower, a circular campanile of a sort peculiar to Ravenna, which +adds to the picturesqueness of the pile, and suggests the notion that +it is a mast unshipped from its vessel, the church, which +consequently stands there water-logged, with no power to catch any +wind, of doctrine or other, and move. I forgot to say that the +basilica was launched in the year 534. + +A little weary with the good but damp old Christians, we ordered our +driver to continue across the marsh to the Pineta, whose dark fringe +bounded all our horizon toward the Adriatic. It is the largest +unbroken forest in Italy, and by all odds the most poetic in itself +and its associations. It is twenty-five miles long, and from one to +three in breadth, a free growth of stately pines, whose boughs are +full of music and sweet odors,--a succession of lovely glades and +avenues, with miles and miles of drives over the springy turf. At +the point where we entered is a farmhouse. Laborers had been +gathering the cones, which were heaped up in immense windrows, +hundreds of feet in length. Boys and men were busy pounding out the +seeds from the cones. The latter are used for fuel, and the former +are pressed for their oil. They are also eaten: we have often had +them served at hotel tables, and found them rather tasteless, but not +unpleasant. The turf, as we drove into the recesses of the forest, +was thickly covered with wild flowers, of many colors and delicate +forms; but we liked best the violets, for they reminded us of home, +though the driver seemed to think them less valuable than the seeds +of the pine-cones. A lovely day and history and romance united to +fascinate us with the place. We were driving over the spot where, +eighteen centuries ago, the Roman fleet used to ride at anchor. +Here, it is certain, the gloomy spirit of Dante found congenial place +for meditation, and the gay Boccaccio material for fiction. Here for +hours, day after day, Byron used to gallop his horse, giving vent to +that restless impatience which could not all escape from his fiery +pen, hearing those voices of a past and dead Italy which he, more +truthfully and pathetically than any other poet, has put into living +verse. The driver pointed out what is called Byron's Path, where he +was wont to ride. Everybody here, indeed, knows of Byron; and I +think his memory is more secure than any saint of them all in their +stone boxes, partly because his poetry has celebrated the region, +perhaps rather from the perpetuated tradition of his generosity. No +foreigner was ever so popular as he while he lived at Ravenna. At +least, the people say so now, since they find it so profitable to +keep his memory alive and to point out his haunts. The Italians) to +be sure, know how to make capital out of poets and heroes, and are +quick to learn the curiosity of foreigners, and to gratify it for a +compensation. But the evident esteem in which Byron's memory is held +in the Armenian monastery of St. Lazzaro, at Venice, must be +otherwise accounted for. The monks keep his library-room and table +as they were when he wrote there, and like to show his portrait, and +tell of his quick mastery of the difficult Armenian tongue. We have +a notable example of a Person who became a monk when he was sick; but +Byron accomplished too much work during the few months he was on the +Island of St. Lazzaro, both in original composition and in +translating English into Armenian, for one physically ruined and +broken. + + + + +DANTE AND BYRON + +The pilgrim to Ravenna, who has any idea of what is due to the genius +of Dante, will be disappointed when he approaches his tomb. Its +situation is in a not very conspicuous corner, at the foot of a +narrow street, bearing the poet's name, and beside the Church of San +Francisco, which is interesting as containing the tombs of the +Polenta family, whose hospitality to the wandering exile has rescued +their names from oblivion. Opposite the tomb is the shabby old brick +house of the Polentas, where Dante passed many years of his life. It +is tenanted now by all sorts of people, and a dirty carriage-shop in +the courtyard kills the poetry of it. Dante died in 1321, and was at +first buried in the neighboring church; but this tomb, since twice +renewed, was erected, and his body removed here, in 1482. It is a +square stuccoed structure, stained light green, and covered by a +dome,--a tasteless monument, embellished with stucco medallions, +inside, of the poet, of Virgil, of Brunetto Latini, the poet's +master, and of his patron, Guido da Polenta. On the sarcophagus is +the epitaph, composed in Latin by Dante himself, who seems to have +thought, with Shakespeare, that for a poet to make his own epitaph +was the safest thing to do. Notwithstanding the mean appearance of +this sepulcher, there is none in all the soil of Italy that the +traveler from America will visit with deeper interest. Near by is +the house where Byron first resided in Ravenna, as a tablet records. + +The people here preserve all the memorials of Byron; and, I should +judge, hold his memory in something like affection. The Palace +Guiccioli, in which he subsequently resided, is in another part of +the town. He spent over two years in Ravenna, and said he preferred +it to any place in Italy. Why I cannot see, unless it was remote +from the route of travel, and the desolation of it was congenial to +him. Doubtless he loved these wide, marshy expanses on the Adriatic, +and especially the great forest of pines on its shore; but Byron was +apt to be governed in his choice of a residence by the woman with +whom he was intimate. The palace was certainly pleasanter than his +gloomy house in the Strada di Porta Sisi, and the society of the +Countess Guiccioli was rather a stimulus than otherwise to his +literary activity. At her suggestion he wrote the "Prophecy of +Dante;" and the translation of "Francesca da Rimini" was "executed at +Ravenna, where, five centuries before, and in the very house in which +the unfortunate lady was born, Dante's poem had been composed." Some +of his finest poems were also produced here, poems for which Venice +is as grateful as Ravenna. Here he wrote "Marino Faliero," "The Two +Foscari," "Morganti Maggiore," "Sardanapalus," "The Blues," "The +fifth canto of Don Juan," " Cain," "Heaven and Earth," and "The +Vision of Judgment." I looked in at the court of the palace,--a +pleasant, quiet place,--where he used to work, and tried to guess +which were the windows of his apartments. The sun was shining +brightly, and a bird was singing in the court; but there was no other +sign of life, nor anything to remind one of the profligate genius who +was so long a guest here. + + + + +RESTING-PLACE OF CAESARS--PICTURE OF A BEAUTIFUL HERETIC + +Very different from the tomb of Dante, and different in the +associations it awakes, is the Rotunda or Mausoleum of Theodoric the +Goth, outside the Porta Serrata, whose daughter, Amalasuntha, as it +is supposed, about the year 530, erected this imposing structure as a +certain place "to keep his memory whole and mummy hid" for ever. But +the Goth had not lain in it long before Arianism went out of fashion +quite, and the zealous Roman Catholics despoiled his costly +sleeping-place, and scattered his ashes abroad. I do not know that +any dead person has lived in it since. The tomb is still a very +solid affair,--a rotunda built of solid blocks of limestone, and +resting on a ten-sided base, each side having a recess surmounted by +an arch. The upper story is also decagonal, and is reached by a +flight of modern stone steps. The roof is composed of a single block +of Istrian limestone, scooped out like a shallow bowl inside; and, +being the biggest roof-stone I ever saw, I will give you the +dimensions. It is thirty-six feet in diameter, hollowed out to the +depth of ten feet, four feet thick at the center, and two feet nine +inches at the edges, and is estimated to weigh two hundred tons. +Amalasuntha must have had help in getting it up there. The lower +story is partly under water. The green grass of the inclosure in +which it stands is damp enough for frogs. An old woman opened the +iron gate to let us in. Whether she was any relation of the ancient +proprietor, I did not inquire; but she had so much trouble in, +turning the key in the rusty lock, and letting us in, that I presume +we were the only visitors she has had for some centuries. + +Old women abound in Ravenna; at least, she was not young who showed +us the mausoleum of Galla Placidia. Placidia was also prudent and +foreseeing, and built this once magnificent sepulcher for her own +occupation. It is in the form of a Latin cross, forty-six feet in +length by about forty in width. The floor is paved with rich +marbles; the cupola is covered with mosaics of the time of the +empress; and in the arch over the door is a fine representation of +the Good Shepherd. Behind the altar is the massive sarcophagus of +marble (its cover of silver plates was long ago torn off) in which +are literally the ashes of the empress. She was immured in it as a +mummy, in a sitting position, clothed in imperial robes; and there +the ghastly corpse sat in a cypress-wood chair, to be looked at by +anybody who chose to peep through the aperture, for more than eleven +hundred years, till one day, in 1577, some children introduced a +lighted candle, perhaps out of compassion for her who sat so long in +darkness, when her clothes caught fire, and she was burned up,--a +warning to all children not to play with a dead and dry empress. In +this resting-place are also the tombs of Honorius II., her brother, +of Constantius III., her second husband, and of Honoria, her +daughter. + +There are no other undisturbed tombs of the Caesars in existence. +Hers is almost the last, and the very small last, of a great +succession. What thoughts of a great empire in ruins do not force +themselves on one in the confined walls of this little chamber! +What a woman was she whose ashes lie there! She saw and aided the +ruin of the empire; but it may be said of her, that her vices were +greater than her misfortunes. And what a story is her life! Born to +the purple, educated in the palace at Constantinople, accomplished +but not handsome, at the age of twenty she was in Rome when Alaric +besieged it. Carried off captive by the Goths, she became the not +unwilling object of the passion of King Adolphus, who at length +married her at Narbonne. At the nuptials the king, in a Roman habit, +occupied a seat lower than hers, while she sat on a throne habited as +a Roman empress, and received homage. Fifty handsome youths bore to +her in each hand a dish of gold, one filled with coin, and the other +with precious stones,--a small part only, these hundred vessels of +treasure, of the spoils the Goths brought from her country. When +Adolphus, who never abated his fondness for his Roman bride, was +assassinated at Barcelona, she was treated like a slave by his +assassins, and driven twelve miles on foot before the horse of his +murderer. Ransomed at length for six hundred thousand measures of +wheat by her brother Honorius, who handed her over struggling to +Constantius, one of his generals. But, once married, her reluctance +ceased; and she set herself to advance the interests of herself and +husband, ruling him as she had done the first one. Her purpose was +accomplished when he was declared joint emperor with Honorius. He +died shortly after; and scandalous stories of her intimacy with her +brother caused her removal to Constantinople; but she came back +again, and reigned long as the regent of her son, Valentinian III.,-- +a feeble youth, who never grew to have either passions or talents, +and was very likely, as was said, enervated by his mother in +dissolute indulgence, so that she might be supreme. But she died at +Rome in 450, much praised for her orthodoxy and her devotion to the +Trinity. And there was her daughter, Honoria, who ran off with a +chamberlain, and afterward offered to throw herself into the arms of +Attila who wouldn't take her as a gift at first, but afterward +demanded her, and fought to win her and her supposed inheritance. +But they were a bad lot altogether; and it is no credit to a +Christian of the nineteenth century to stay in this tomb so long. + +Near this mausoleum is the magnificent Basilica of St. Vitale, built +in the reign of Justinian, and consecrated in 547, I was interested +to see it because it was erected in confessed imitation of St. Sophia +at Constantinople, is in the octagonal form, and has all the +accessories of Eastern splendor, according to the architectural +authorities. Its effect is really rich and splendid; and it rather +dazzled us with its maze of pillars, its upper and lower columns, its +galleries, complicated capitals, arches on arches, and Byzantine +intricacies. To the student of the very early ecclesiastical art, it +must be an object of more interest than even of wonder. But what I +cared most to see were the mosaics in the choir, executed in the time +of Justinian, and as fresh and beautiful as on the day they were +made. The mosaics and the exquisite arabesques on the roof of the +choir, taken together, are certainly unequaled by any other early +church decoration I have seen; and they are as interesting as they +are beautiful. Any description of them is impossible; but mention +may be made of two characteristic groups, remarkable for execution, +and having yet a deeper interest. + +In one compartment of the tribune is the figure of the Emperor +Justinian, holding a vase with consecrated offerings, and surrounded +by courtiers and soldiers. Opposite is the figure of the Empress +Theodora, holding a similar vase, and attended by ladies of her +court. There is a refinement and an elegance about the empress, a +grace and sweet dignity, that is fascinating. This is royalty,-- +stately and cold perhaps: even the mouth may be a little cruel, I +begin to perceive, as I think of her; but she wears the purple by +divine right. I have not seen on any walls any figure walking out of +history so captivating as this lady, who would seem to have been +worthy of apotheosis in a Christian edifice. Can there be any doubt +that this lovely woman was orthodox? She, also, has a story, which +you doubtless have been recalling as you read. Is it worth while to +repeat even its outlines? This charming regal woman was the daughter +of the keeper of the bears in the circus at Constantinople; and she +early went upon the stage as a pantomimist and buffoon. She was +beautiful, with regular features, a little pale, but with a tinge of +natural color, vivacious eyes, and an easy motion that displayed to +advantage the graces of her small but elegant figure. I can see all +that in the mosaic. But she sold her charms to whoever cared to buy +them in Constantinople; she led a life of dissipation that cannot be +even hinted at in these days; she went off to Egypt as the concubine +of a general; was deserted, and destitute even to misery in Cairo; +wandered about a vagabond in many Eastern cities, and won the +reputation everywhere of the most beautiful courtesan of her time; +reappeared in Constantinople; and, having, it is said, a vision of +her future, suddenly took to a pretension of virtue and plain sewing; +contrived to gain the notice of Justinian, to inflame his passions as +she did those of all the world besides, to captivate him into first +an alliance, and at length a marriage. The emperor raised her to an +equal seat with himself on his throne; and she was worshiped as +empress in that city where she had been admired as harlot. And on +the throne she was a wise woman, courageous and chaste; and had her +palaces on the Bosphorus; and took good care of her beauty, and +indulged in the pleasures of a good table; had ministers who kissed +her feet; a crowd of women and eunuchs in her secret chambers, whose +passions she indulged; was avaricious and sometimes cruel; and +founded a convent for the irreclaimably bad of her own sex, some of +whom liked it, and some of whom threw themselves into the sea in +despair; and when she died was an irreparable loss to her emperor. +So that it seems to me it is a pity that the historian should say +that she was devout, but a little heretic. + + + + +A HIGH DAY IN ROME + + + +PALM SUNDAY IN ST. PETER'S + +The splendid and tiresome ceremonies of Holy Week set in; also the +rain, which held up for two days. Rome without the sun, and with +rain and the bone-penetrating damp cold of the season, is a wretched +place. Squalor and ruins and cheap splendor need the sun; the +galleries need it; the black old masters in the dark corners of the +gaudy churches need it; I think scarcely anything of a cardinal's +big, blazing footman, unless the sun shines on him, and radiates from +his broad back and his splendid calves; the models, who get up in +theatrical costumes, and get put into pictures, and pass the world +over for Roman peasants (and beautiful many of them are), can't sit +on the Spanish Stairs in indolent pose when it rains; the streets are +slimy and horrible; the carriages try to run over you, and stand a +very good chance of succeeding, where there are no sidewalks, and you +are limping along on the slippery round cobble-stones; you can't get +into the country, which is the best part of Rome: but when the sun +shines all this is changed; the dear old dirty town exercises, its +fascinations on you then, and you speedily forget your recent misery. + +Holy Week is a vexation to most people. All the world crowds here to +see its exhibitions and theatrical shows, and works hard to catch a +glimpse of them, and is tired out, if not disgusted, at the end. The +things to see and hear are Palm Sunday in St. Peter's; singing of the +Miserere by the pope's choir on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in +the Sistine Chapel; washing of the pilgrims' feet in a chapel of St. +Peter's, and serving the apostles at table by the pope on Thursday, +with a papal benediction from the balcony afterwards; Easter Sunday, +with the illumination of St. Peter's in the evening; and fireworks +(this year in front of St. Peter's in Montorio) Monday evening. +Raised seats are built up about the high altar under the dome in St. +Peter's, which will accommodate a thousand, and perhaps more, ladies; +and for these tickets are issued without numbers, and for twice as +many as they will seat. Gentlemen who are in evening dress are +admitted to stand in the reserved places inside the lines of +soldiers. For the Miserere in the Sistine Chapel tickets are also +issued. As there is only room for about four hundred ladies, and a +thousand and more tickets are given out, you may imagine the +scramble. Ladies go for hours before the singing begins, and make a +grand rush when the doors are open. I do not know any sight so +unseemly and cruel as a crowd of women intent on getting in to such a +ceremony: they are perfectly rude and unmerciful to each other. They +push and trample one another under foot; veils and dresses are torn; +ladies faint away in the scrimmage, and only the strongest and most +unscrupulous get in. I have heard some say, who have been in the +pellmell, that, not content with elbowing and pushing and pounding, +some women even stick pins into those who are in the way. I hope +this latter is not true; but it is certain that the conduct of most +of the women is brutal. A weak or modest or timid woman stands no +more chance than she would in a herd of infuriated Campagna cattle. +The same scenes are enacted in the efforts to see the pope wash feet, +and serve at the table. For the possession of the seats under the +dome on Palm Sunday and Easter there is a like crush. The ceremonies +do not begin until half-past nine; but ladies go between five and six +o'clock in the morning, and when the passages are open they make a +grand rush. The seats, except those saved for the nobility, are soon +all taken, and the ladies who come after seven are lucky if they can +get within the charmed circle, and find a spot to sit down on a +campstool. They can then see only a part of the proceedings, and +have a weary, exhausting time of it for hours. This year Rome is +more crowded than ever before. There are American ladies enough to +fill all the reserved places; and I fear they are energetic enough to +get their share of them. + +It rained Sunday; but there was a steady stream of people and +carriages all the morning pouring over the Bridge of St. Angelo, and +discharging into the piazza of St. Peter's. It was after nine when I +arrived on the ground. There was a crowd of carriages under the +colonnades, and a heavy fringe in front of them; but the hundreds of +people moving over the piazza, and up the steps to the entrances, +made only the impression of dozens in the vast space. I do not know +if there are people enough in Rome to fill St. Peter's; certainly +there was no appearance of a crowd as we entered, although they had +been pouring in all the morning, and still thronged the doors. I +heard a traveler say that he followed ten thousand soldiers into the +church, and then lost them from sight: they disappeared in the side +chapels. He did not make his affidavit as to the number of soldiers. +The interior area of the building is not much greater than the square +of St. Mark in Venice. To go into the great edifice is almost like +going outdoors. Lines of soldiers kept a wide passage clear from the +front door away down to the high altar; and there was a good mass of +spectators on the outside. The tribunes for the ladies, built up +under the dome, were of course, filled with masses of ladies in +solemn black; and there was more or less of a press of people surging +about in that vicinity. Thousands of people were also roaming about +in the great spaces of the edifice; but there was nowhere else +anything like a crowd. It had very much the appearance of a large +fair-ground, with little crowds about favorite booths. Gentlemen in +dress-coats were admitted to the circle under the dome. The pope's +choir was stationed in a gallery there opposite the high altar. Back +of the altar was a wide space for the dignitaries; seats were there, +also, for ambassadors and those born to the purple; and the pope's +seat was on a raised dais at the end. Outsiders could see nothing of +what went on within there; and the ladies under the dome could only +partially see, in the seats they had fought so gallantly to obtain. + +St. Peter's is a good place for grand processions and ceremonies; but +it is a poor one for viewing them. A procession which moves down the +nave is hidden by the soldiers who stand on either side, or is +visible only by sections as it passes: there is no good place to get +the grand effect of the masses of color, and the total of the +gorgeous pageantry. I should like to see the display upon a grand +stage, and enjoy it in a coup d,oeil. It is a fine study of color +and effect, and the groupings are admirable; but the whole affair is +nearly lost to the mass of spectators. It must be a sublime feeling +to one in the procession to walk about in such monstrous fine +clothes; but what would his emotions be if more people could see him! +The grand altar stuck up under the dome not only breaks the effect of +what would be the fine sweep of the nave back to the apse, but it +cuts off all view of the celebration of the mass behind it, and, in +effect, reduces what should be the great point of display in the +church to a mere chapel. And when you add to that the temporary +tribunes erected under the dome for seating the ladies, the entire +nave is shut off from a view of the gorgeous ceremony of high mass. +The effect would be incomparable if one could stand in the door, or +anywhere in the nave, and, as in other churches, look down to the end +upon a great platform) with the high altar and all the sublime +spectacle in full view, with the blaze of candles and the clouds of +incense rising in the distance. + +At half-past nine the great doors opened, and the procession began, +in slow and stately moving fashion, to enter. One saw a throng of +ecclesiastics in robes and ermine; the white plumes of the Guard +Noble; the pages and chamberlains in scarlet; other pages, or what +not, in black short-clothes, short swords, gold chains, cloak hanging +from the shoulder, and stiff white ruffs; thirty-six cardinals in +violet robes, with high miter-shaped white silk hats, that looked not +unlike the pasteboard "trainer-caps" that boys wear when they play +soldier; crucifixes, and a blazoned banner here and there; and, at +last, the pope, in his red chair, borne on the shoulders of red +lackeys, heaving along in a sea-sicky motion, clad in scarlet and +gold, with a silver miter on his head, feebly making the papal +benediction with two upraised fingers, and moving his lips in +blessing. As the pope came in, a supplementary choir of men and +soprano hybrids, stationed near the door, set up a high, welcoming +song, or chant, which echoed rather finely through the building. All +the music of the day is vocal. + +The procession having reached its destination, and disappeared behind +the altar of the dome, the pope dismounted, and took his seat on his +throne. The blessing of the palms began, the cardinals first +approaching, and afterwards the members of the diplomatic corps, the +archbishops and bishops, the heads of the religious orders, and such +private persons as have had permission to do so. I had previously +seen the palms carried in by servants in great baskets. It is, +perhaps, not necessary to say that they are not the poetical green +waving palms, but stiff sort of wands, woven out of dry, yellow, +split palm-leaves, sometimes four or five feet in length, braided +into the semblance of a crown on top,--a kind of rough basket-work. +The palms having been blessed, a procession was again formed down the +nave and out the door, all in it "carrying palms in their hands," the +yellow color of which added a new element of picturesqueness to the +splendid pageant. The pope was carried as before, and bore in his +hand a short braided palm, with gold woven in, flowers added, and the +monogram "I. H. S." worked in the top. It is the pope's custom to +give this away when the ceremony is over. Last year he presented it +to an American lady, whose devotion attracted him; this year I saw it +go away in a gilded coach in the hands of an ecclesiastic. The +procession disappeared through the great portal into the vestibule, +and the door closed. In a moment somebody knocked three times on the +door: it opened, and the procession returned, and moved again to the +rear of the altar, the singers marching with it and chanting. The +cardinals then changed their violet for scarlet robes; and high mass, +for an hour, was celebrated by a cardinal priest: and I was told that +it was the pope's voice that we heard, high and clear, singing the +passion. The choir made the responses, and performed at intervals. +The singing was not without a certain power; indeed, it was marvelous +how some of the voices really filled the vast spaces of the edifice, +and the choruses rolled in solemn waves of sound through the arches. +The singing, with the male sopranos, is not to my taste; but it +cannot be denied that it had a wild and strange effect. + +While this was going on behind the altar, the people outside were +wandering about, looking at each other, and on the watch not to miss +any of the shows of the day. People were talking, chattering, and +greeting each other as they might do in the street. Here and there +somebody was kneeling on the pavement, unheeding the passing throng. +At several of the chapels, services were being conducted; and there +was a large congregation, an ordinary church full, about each of +them. But the most of those present seemed to regard it as a +spectacle only; and as a display of dress, costumes, and +nationalities it was almost unsurpassed. There are few more +wonderful sights in this world than an Englishwoman in what she +considers full dress. An English dandy is also a pleasing object. +For my part, as I have hinted, I like almost as well as anything the +big footmen,--those in scarlet breeches and blue gold-embroidered +coats. I stood in front of one of the fine creations for some time, +and contemplated him as one does the Farnese Hercules. One likes to +see to what a splendor his species can come, even if the brains have +all run down into the calves of the legs. There were also the pages, +the officers of the pope's household, in costumes of the Middle Ages; +the pope's Swiss guard in the showy harlequin uniform designed by +Michael Angelo; the foot-soldiers in white short-clothes, which +threatened to burst, and let them fly into pieces; there were fine +ladies and gentlemen, loafers and loungers, from every civilized +country, jabbering in all the languages; there were beggars in rags, +and boors in coats so patched that there was probably none of the +original material left; there were groups of peasants from the +Campagna, the men in short jackets and sheepskin breeches with the +wool side out, the women with gay-colored folded cloths on their +heads, and coarse woolen gowns; a squad of wild-looking Spanish +gypsies, burning-eyed, olive-skinned, hair long, black, crinkled, and +greasy, as wild in raiment as in face; priests and friars, Zouaves in +jaunty light gray and scarlet; rags and velvets, silks and serge +cloths,--a cosmopolitan gathering poured into the world's great place +of meeting,--a fine religious Vanity Fair on Sunday. + +There came an impressive moment in all this confusion, a point of +august solemnity. Up to that instant, what with chanting and singing +the many services, and the noise of talking and walking, there was a +wild babel. But at the stroke of the bell and the elevation of the +Host, down went the muskets of the guard with one clang on the +marble; the soldiers kneeled; the multitude in the nave, in the +aisles, at all the chapels, kneeled; and for a minute in that vast +edifice there was perfect stillness: if the whole great concourse had +been swept from the earth, the spot where it lately was could not +have been more silent. And then the military order went down the +line, the soldiers rose, the crowd rose, and the mass and the hum +went on. + +It was all over before one; and the pope was borne out again, and the +vast crowd began to discharge itself. But it was a long time before +the carriages were all filled and rolled off. I stood for a half +hour watching the stream go by,--the pompous soldiers, the peasants +and citizens, the dazzling equipages, and jaded, exhausted women in +black, who had sat or stood half a day under the dome, and could get +no carriage; and the great state coaches of the cardinals, swinging +high in the air, painted and gilded, with three noble footmen hanging +on behind each, and a cardinal's broad face in the window. + + + + +VESUVIUS + +CLIMBING A VOLCANO + +Everybody who comes to Naples,--that is, everybody except the lady +who fell from her horse the other day at Resina and injured her +shoulder, as she was mounting for the ascent,--everybody, I say, goes +up Vesuvius, and nearly every one writes impressions and descriptions +of the performance. If you believe the tales of travelers, it is an +undertaking of great hazard, an experience of frightful emotions. +How unsafe it is, especially for ladies, I heard twenty times in +Naples before I had been there a day. Why, there was a lady thrown +from her horse and nearly killed, only a week ago; and she still lay +ill at the next hotel, a witness of the truth of the story. I +imagined her plunged down a precipice of lava, or pitched over the +lip of the crater, and only rescued by the devotion of a gallant +guide, who threatened to let go of her if she didn't pay him twenty +francs instantly. This story, which will live and grow for years in +this region, a waxing and never-waning peril of the volcano, I found, +subsequently, had the foundation I have mentioned above. The lady +did go to Resina in order to make the ascent of Vesuvius, mounted a +horse there, fell off, being utterly unhorsewomanly, and hurt +herself; but her injury had no more to do with Vesuvius than it had +with the entrance of Victor Emanuel into Naples, which took place a +couple of weeks after. Well, as I was saying, it is the fashion to +write descriptions of Vesuvius; and you might as well have mine, +which I shall give to you in rough outline. + +There came a day when the Tramontane ceased to blow down on us the +cold air of the snowy Apennines, and the white cap of Vesuvius, which +is, by the way, worn generally like the caps of the Neapolitans, +drifted inland instead of toward the sea. Warmer weather had come to +make the bright sunshine no longer a mockery. For some days I had +been getting the gauge of the mountain. With its white plume it is a +constant quantity in the landscape: one sees it from every point of +view; and we had been scarcely anywhere that volcanic remains, or +signs of such action,--a thin crust shaking under our feet, as at +Solfatara, where blasts of sulphurous steam drove in our faces,--did +not remind us that the whole ground is uncertain, and undermined by +the subterranean fires that have Vesuvius for a chimney. All the +coast of the bay, within recent historic periods, in different spots +at different times, has risen and sunk and risen again, in simple +obedience to the pulsations of the great fiery monster below. It +puffs up or sinks, like the crust of a baking apple-pie. This region +is evidently not done; and I think it not unlikely it may have to be +turned over again before it is. We had seen where Herculaneum lies +under the lava and under the town of Resina; we had walked those +clean and narrow streets of Pompeii, and seen the workmen picking +away at the imbedded gravel, sand, and ashes which still cover nearly +two thirds of the nice little, tight little Roman city; we had looked +at the black gashes on the mountain-sides, where the lava streams had +gushed and rolled and twisted over vineyards and villas and villages; +and we decided to take a nearer look at the immediate cause of all +this abnormal state of things. + +In the morning when I awoke the sun was just rising behind Vesuvius; +and there was a mighty display of gold and crimson in that quarter, +as if the curtain was about to be lifted on a grand performance, say +a ballet at San Carlo, which is the only thing the Neapolitans think +worth looking at. Straight up in the air, out of the mountain, rose +a white pillar, spreading out at the top like a palm-tree, or, to +compare it to something I have seen, to the Italian pines, that come +so picturesquely into all these Naples pictures. If you will believe +me, that pillar of steam was like a column of fire, from the sun +shining on and through it, and perhaps from the reflection of the +background of crimson clouds and blue and gold sky, spread out there +and hung there in royal and extravagant profusion, to make a highway +and a regal gateway, through which I could just then see coming the +horses and the chariot of a southern perfect day. They said that the +tree-shaped cloud was the sign of an eruption; but the hotel-keepers +here are always predicting that. The eruption is usually about two +or three weeks distant; and the hotel proprietors get this +information from experienced guides, who observe the action of the +water in the wells; so that there can be no mistake about it. + +We took carriages at nine o'clock to Resina, a drive of four miles, +and one of exceeding interest, if you wish to see Naples life. The +way is round the curving bay by the sea; but so continuously built up +is it, and so inclosed with high walls of villas, through the open +gates of which the golden oranges gleam, that you seem never to leave +the city. The streets and quays swarm with the most vociferous, +dirty, multitudinous life. It is a drive through Rag Fair. The +tall, whitey-yellow houses fronting the water, six, seven, eight +stories high, are full as beehives; people are at all the open +windows; garments hang from the balconies and from poles thrust out; +up every narrow, gloomy, ascending street are crowds of struggling +human shapes; and you see how like herrings in a box are packed the +over half a million people of Naples. In front of the houses are the +markets in the open air,--fish, vegetables, carts of oranges; in the +sun sit women spinning from distaffs or weaving fishing-nets; and +rows of children who were never washed and never clothed but once, +and whose garments have nearly wasted away; beggars, fishermen in red +caps, sailors, priests, donkeys, fruit-venders, street-musicians, +carriages, carts, two-wheeled break-down vehicles,--the whole tangled +in one wild roar and rush and babel,--a shifting, varied panorama of +color, rags,--a pandemonium such as the world cannot show elsewhere, +that is what one sees on the road to Resina. The drivers all drive +in the streets here as if they held a commission from the devil, +cracking their whips, shouting to their horses, and dashing into the +thickest tangle with entire recklessness. They have one cry, used +alike for getting more speed out of their horses or for checking +them, or in warning to the endangered crowds on foot. It is an +exclamatory grunt, which may be partially expressed by the letters +"a-e-ugh." Everybody shouts it, mule-driver, "coachee," or +cattle-driver; and even I, a passenger, fancied I could do it to +disagreeable perfection after a time. Out of this throng in the +streets I like to select the meek, patient, diminutive little +donkeys, with enormous panniers that almost hide them. One would +have a woman seated on top, with a child in one pannier and cabbages +in the other; another, with an immense stock of market-greens on his +back, or big baskets of oranges, or with a row of wine-casks and a +man seated behind, adhering, by some unknown law of adhesion, to the +sloping tail. Then there was the cart drawn by one diminutive +donkey, or by an ox, or by an ox and a donkey, or by a donkey and +horse abreast, never by any possibility a matched team. And, +funniest of all, was the high, two-wheeled caleche, with one seat, +and top thrown back, with long thills and poor horse. Upon this +vehicle were piled, Heaven knows how, behind, before, on the thills, +and underneath the high seat, sometimes ten, and not seldom as many +as eighteen people, men, women, and children,--all in flaunting rags, +with a colored scarf here and there, or a gay petticoat, or a scarlet +cap,--perhaps a priest, with broad black hat, in the center,--driving +along like a comet, the poor horse in a gallop, the bells on his +ornamented saddle merrily jingling, and the whole load in a roar of +merriment. + +But we shall never get to Vesuvius at this rate. I will not even +stop to examine the macaroni manufactories on the road. The long +strips of it were hung out on poles to dry in the streets, and to get +a rich color from the dirt and dust, to say nothing of its contact +with the filthy people who were making it. I am very fond of +macaroni. At Resina we take horses for the ascent. We had sent +ahead for a guide and horses for our party of ten; but we found +besides, I should think, pretty nearly the entire population of the +locality awaiting us, not to count the importunate beggars, the hags, +male and female, and the ordinary loafers of the place. We were +besieged to take this and that horse or mule, to buy walking-sticks +for the climb, to purchase lava cut into charms, and veritable +ancient coins, and dug-up cameos, all manufactured for the demand. +One wanted to hold the horse, or to lead it, to carry a shawl, or to +show the way. In the midst of infinite clamor and noise, we at last +got mounted, and, turning into a narrow lane between high walls, +began the ascent, our cavalcade attended by a procession of rags and +wretchedness up through the village. Some of them fell off as we +rose among the vineyards, and they found us proof against begging; +but several accompanied us all day, hoping that, in some unguarded +moment, they could do us some slight service, and so establish a +claim on us. Among these I noticed some stout fellows with short +ropes, with which they intended to assist us up the steeps. If I +looked away an instant, some urchin would seize my horse's bridle; +and when I carelessly let my stick fall on his hand, in token for him +to let go, he would fall back with an injured look, and grasp the +tail, from which I could only loosen him by swinging my staff and +preparing to break his head. + +The ascent is easy at first between walls and the vineyards which +produce the celebrated Lachryma Christi. After a half hour we +reached and began to cross the lava of 1858, and the wild desolation +and gloom of the mountain began to strike us. One is here conscious +of the titanic forces at work. Sometimes it is as if a giant had +ploughed the ground, and left the furrows without harrowing them to +harden into black and brown stone. We could see again how the broad +stream, flowing down, squeezed and squashed like mud, had taken all +fantastic shapes,--now like gnarled tree roots; now like serpents in +a coil; here the human form, or a part of it,--a torso or a limb,--in +agony; now in other nameless convolutions and contortions, as if +heaved up and twisted in fiery pain and suffering,--for there was +almost a human feeling in it; and again not unlike stone billows. We +could see how the cooling crust had been lifted and split and turned +over by the hot stream underneath, which, continually oozing from the +rent of the eruption, bore it down and pressed it upward. Even so +low as the point where we crossed the lava of 1858 were fissures +whence came hot air. + +An hour brought us to the resting-place called the Hermitage, an +osteria and observatory established by the government. Standing upon +the end of a spur, it seems to be safe from the lava, whose course +has always been on either side; but it must be an uncomfortable place +in a shower of stones and ashes. We rode half an hour longer on +horseback, on a nearly level path, to the foot of the steep ascent, +the base of the great crater. This ride gave us completely the wide +and ghastly desolation of the mountain, the ruin that the lava has +wrought upon slopes that were once green with vine and olive, and +busy with the hum of life. This black, contorted desert waste is +more sterile and hopeless than any mountain of stone, because the +idea of relentless destruction is involved here. This great +hummocked, sloping plain, ridged and seamed, was all about us, +without cheer or relaxation of grim solitude. Before us rose, as +black and bare, what the guides call the mountain, and which used to +be the crater. Up one side is worked in the lava a zigzag path, +steep, but not very fatiguing, if you take it slowly. Two thirds of +the way up, I saw specks of people climbing. Beyond it rose the cone +of ashes, out of which the great cloud of sulphurous smoke rises and +rolls night and day now. On the very edge of that, on the lip of it, +where the smoke rose, I also saw human shapes; and it seemed as if +they stood on the brink of Tartarus and in momently imminent peril. + +We left our horses in a wild spot, where scorched boulders had fallen +upon the lava bed; and guides and boys gathered about us like +cormorants: but, declining their offers to pull us up, we began the +ascent, which took about three quarters of an hour. We were then on +the summit, which is, after all, not a summit at all, but an uneven +waste, sloping away from the Cone in the center. This sloping lava +waste was full of little cracks,--not fissures with hot lava in them, +or anything of the sort,--out of which white steam issued, not unlike +the smoke from a great patch of burned timber; and the wind blew it +along the ground towards us. It was cool, for the sun was hidden by +light clouds, but not cold. The ground under foot was slightly warm. +I had expected to feel some dread, or shrinking, or at least some +sense of insecurity, but I did not the slightest, then or afterwards; +and I think mine is the usual experience. I had no more sense of +danger on the edge of the crater than I had in the streets of Naples. + +We next addressed ourselves to the Cone, which is a loose hill of +ashes and sand,--a natural slope, I should say, of about one and a +half to one, offering no foothold. The climb is very fatiguing, +because you sink in to the ankles, and slide back at every step; but +it is short,--we were up in six to eight minutes,--though the ladies, +who had been helped a little by the guides, were nearly exhausted, +and sank down on the very edge of the crater, with their backs to the +smoke. What did we see? What would you see if you looked into a +steam boiler? We stood on the ashy edge of the crater, the sharp +edge sloping one way down the mountain, and the other into the +bowels, whence the thick, stifling smoke rose. We rolled stones +down, and heard them rumbling for half a minute. The diameter of the +crater on the brink of which we stood was said to be an eighth of a +mile; but the whole was completely filled with vapor. The edge where +we stood was quite warm. + +We ate some rolls we had brought in our pockets, and some of the +party tried a bottle of the wine that one of the cormorants had +brought up, but found it anything but the Lachryma Christi it was +named. We looked with longing eyes down into the vapor-boiling +caldron; we looked at the wide and lovely view of land and sea; we +tried to realize our awful situation, munched our dry bread, and +laughed at the monstrous demands of the vagabonds about us for money, +and then turned and went down quicker than we came up. + +We had chosen to ascend to the old crater rather than to the new one +of the recent eruption on the side of the mountain, where there is +nothing to be seen. When we reached the bottom of the Cone, our +guide led us to the north side, and into a region that did begin to +look like business. The wind drove all the smoke round there, and we +were half stifled with sulphur fumes to begin with. Then the whole +ground was discolored red and yellow, and with many more gay and +sulphur-suggesting colors. And it actually had deep fissures in it, +over which we stepped and among which we went, out of which came +blasts of hot, horrid vapor, with a roaring as if we were in the +midst of furnaces. And if we came near the cracks the heat was +powerful in our faces, and if we thrust our sticks down them they +were instantly burned; and the guides cooked eggs; and the crust was +thin, and very hot to our boots; and half the time we couldn't see +anything; and we would rush away where the vapor was not so thick, +and, with handkerchiefs to our mouths, rush in again to get the full +effect. After we came out again into better air, it was as if we had +been through the burning, fiery furnace, and had the smell of it on +our garments. And, indeed, the sulphur had changed to red certain of +our clothes, and noticeably my pantaloons and the black velvet cap of +one of the ladies; and it was some days before they recovered their +color. But, as I say, there was no sense of danger in the adventure. + +We descended by a different route, on the south side of the mountain, +to our horses, and made a lark of it. We went down an ash slope, +very steep, where we sank in a foot or little less at every step, and +there was nothing to do for it, but to run and jump. We took steps +as long as if we had worn seven-league boots. When the whole party +got in motion, the entire slope seemed to slide a little with us, and +there appeared some danger of an avalanche. But we did n't stop for +it. It was exactly like plunging down a steep hillside that is +covered thickly with light, soft snow. There was a gray-haired +gentleman with us, with a good deal of the boy in him, who thought it +great fun. + +I have said little about the view; but I might have written about +nothing else, both in the ascent and descent. Naples, and all the +villages which rim the bay with white, the gracefully curving arms +that go out to sea, and do not quite clasp rocky Capri, which lies at +the entrance, made the outline of a picture of surpassing loveliness. +But as we came down, there was a sight that I am sure was unique. As +one in a balloon sees the earth concave beneath, so now, from where +we stood, it seemed to rise, not fall, to the sea, and all the white +villages were raised to the clouds; and by the peculiar light, the +sea looked exactly like sky, and the little boats on it seemed to +float, like balloons in the air. The illusion was perfect. As the +day waned, a heavy cloud hid the sun, and so let down the light that +the waters were a dark purple. Then the sun went behind Posilipo in +a perfect blaze of scarlet, and all the sea was violet. Only it +still was not the sea at all; but the little chopping waves looked +like flecked clouds; and it was exactly as if one of the violet, +cloud-beautified skies that we see at home over some sunsets had +fallen to the ground. And the slant white sails and the black specks +of boats on it hung in the sky, and were as unsubstantial as the +whole pageant. Capri alone was dark and solid. And as we descended +and a high wall hid it, a little handsome rascal, who had attended me +for an hour, now at the head and now at the tail of my pony, recalled +me to the realities by the request that I should give him a franc. +For what? For carrying signor's coat up the mountain. I rewarded +the little liar with a German copper. I had carried my own overcoat +all day. + + + + +SORRENTO DAYS + +OUTLINES + +The day came when we tired of the brilliancy and din of Naples, most +noisy of cities. Neapolis, or Parthenope, as is well known, was +founded by Parthenope, a siren who was cast ashore there. Her +descendants still live here; and we have become a little weary of +their inherited musical ability: they have learned to play upon many +new instruments, with which they keep us awake late at night, and +arouse us early in the morning. One of them is always there under +the window, where the moonlight will strike him, or the early dawn +will light up his love-worn visage, strumming the guitar with his +horny thumb, and wailing through his nose as if his throat was full +of seaweed. He is as inexhaustible as Vesuvius. We shall have to +flee, or stop our ears with wax, like the sailors of Ulysses. + +The day came when we had checked off the Posilipo, and the Grotto, +Pozzuoli, Baiae, Cape Misenum, the Museum, Vesuvius, Pompeii, +Herculaneum, the moderns buried at the Campo Santo; and we said, Let +us go and lie in the sun at Sorrento. But first let us settle our +geography. + +The Bay of Naples, painted and sung forever, but never adequately, +must consent to be here described as essentially a parallelogram, +with an opening towards the southwest. The northeast side of this, +with Naples in the right-hand corner, looking seaward and +Castellamare in the left-hand corner, at a distance of some fourteen +miles, is a vast rich plain, fringed on the shore with towns, and +covered with white houses and gardens. Out of this rises the +isolated bulk of Vesuvius. This growing mountain is manufactured +exactly like an ant-hill. + +The northwest side of the bay, keeping a general westerly direction, +is very uneven, with headlands, deep bays, and outlying islands. +First comes the promontory of Posilipo, pierced by two tunnels, +partly natural and partly Greek and Roman work, above the entrance of +one of which is the tomb of Virgil, let us believe; then a beautiful +bay, the shore of which is incrusted with classic ruins. On this bay +stands Pozzuoli, the ancient Puteoli where St. Paul landed one May +day, and doubtless walked up this paved road, which leads direct to +Rome. At the entrance, near the head of Posilipo, is the volcanic +island of "shining Nisida," to which Brutus retired after the +assassination of Caesar, and where he bade Portia good-by before he +departed for Greece and Philippi: the favorite villa of Cicero, where +he wrote many of his letters to Atticus, looked on it. Baiae, +epitome of the luxury and profligacy, of the splendor and crime of +the most sensual years of the Roman empire, spread there its temples, +palaces, and pleasure-gardens, which crowded the low slopes, and +extended over the water; and yonder is Cape Misenum, which sheltered +the great fleets of Rome. + +This region, which is still shaky from fires bubbling under the thin +crust, through which here and there the sulphurous vapor breaks out, +is one of the most sacred in the ancient world. Here are the Lucrine +Lake, the Elysian Fields, the cave of the Cumean Sibyl, and the Lake +Avernus. This entrance to the infernal regions was frozen over the +day I saw it; so that the profane prophecy of skating on the +bottomless pit might have been realized. The islands of Procida and +Ischia continue and complete this side of the bay, which is about +twenty miles long as the boat sails. + +At Castellamare the shore makes a sharp bend, and runs southwest +along the side of the Sorrentine promontory. This promontory is a +high, rocky, diversified ridge, which extends out between the bays of +Naples and Salerno, with its short and precipitous slope towards the +latter. Below Castellamare, the mountain range of the Great St. +Angelo (an offshoot of the Apennines) runs across the peninsula, and +cuts off that portion of it which we have to consider. The most +conspicuous of the three parts of this short range is over four +thousand seven hundred feet above the Bay of Naples, and the highest +land on it. From Great St. Angelo to the point, the Punta di +Campanella, it is, perhaps, twelve miles by balloon, but twenty by +any other conveyance. Three miles off this point lies Capri. + +This promontory has a backbone of rocky ledges and hills; but it has +at intervals transverse ledges and ridges, and deep valleys and +chains cutting in from either side; so that it is not very passable +in any direction. These little valleys and bays are warm nooks for +the olive and the orange; and all the precipices and sunny slopes are +terraced nearly to the top. This promontory of rocks is far from +being barren. + +>From Castellamare, driving along a winding, rockcut road by the bay,- +-one of the most charming in southern Italy,--a distance of seven +miles, we reach the Punta di Scutolo. This point, and the opposite +headland, the Capo di Sorrento, inclose the Piano di Sorrento, an +irregular plain, three miles long, encircled by limestone hills, +which protect it from the east and south winds. In this amphitheater +it lies, a mass of green foliage and white villages, fronting Naples +and Vesuvius. + +If nature first scooped out this nook level with the sea, and then +filled it up to a depth of two hundred to three hundred feet with +volcanic tufa, forming a precipice of that height along the shore, I +can understand how the present state of things came about. + +This plain is not all level, however. Decided spurs push down into +it from the hills; and great chasms, deep, ragged, impassable, split +in the tufa, extend up into it from the sea. At intervals, at the +openings of these ravines, are little marinas, where the fishermen +have their huts' and where their boats land. Little villages, +separate from the world, abound on these marinas. The warm volcanic +soil of the sheltered plain makes it a paradise of fruits and +flowers. + +Sorrento, ancient and romantic city, lies at the southwest end of +this plain, built along the sheer sea precipice, and running back to +the hills,--a city of such narrow streets, high walls, and luxuriant +groves that it can be seen only from the heights adjacent. The +ancient boundary of the city proper was the famous ravine on the east +side, a similar ravine on the south, which met it at right angles, +and was supplemented by a high Roman wall, and the same wall +continued on the west to the sea. The growing town has pushed away +the wall on the west side; but that on the south yet stands as good +as when the Romans made it. There is a little attempt at a mall, +with double rows of trees, under that wall, where lovers walk, and +ragged, handsome urchins play the exciting game of fives, or sit in +the dirt, gambling with cards for the Sorrento currency. I do not +know what sin it may be to gamble for a bit of printed paper which +has the value of one sou. + +The great ravine, three quarters of a mile long, the ancient boundary +which now cuts the town in two, is bridged where the main street, the +Corso, crosses, the bridge resting on old Roman substructions, as +everything else about here does. This ravine, always invested with +mystery, is the theme of no end of poetry and legend. Demons inhabit +it. Here and there, in its perpendicular sides, steps have been cut +for descent. Vines and lichens grow on the walls: in one place, at +the bottom, an orange grove has taken root. There is even a mill +down there, where there is breadth enough for a building; and +altogether, the ravine is not so delivered over to the power of +darkness as it used to be. It is still damp and slimy, it is true; +but from above, it is always beautiful, with its luxuriant growth of +vines, and at twilight mysterious. I like as well, however, to look +into its entrance from the little marina, where the old fishwives arc +weaving nets. + +These little settlements under the cliff, called marinas, are worlds +in themselves, picturesque at a distance, but squalid seen close at +hand. They are not very different from the little fishing-stations +on the Isle of Wight; but they are more sheltered, and their +inhabitants sing at their work, wear bright colors, and bask in the +sun a good deal, feeling no sense of responsibility for the world +they did not create. To weave nets, to fish in the bay, to sell +their fish at the wharves, to eat unexciting vegetables and fish, to +drink moderately, to go to the chapel of St. Antonino on Sunday, not +to work on fast and feast days, nor more than compelled to any day, +this is life at the marinas. Their world is what they can see, and +Naples is distant and almost foreign. Generation after generation is +content with the same simple life. They have no more idea of the bad +way the world is in than bees in their cells. + + + + +THE VILLA NARDI + +The Villa Nardi hangs over the sea. It is built on a rock, and I +know not what Roman and Greek foundations, and the remains of yet +earlier peoples, traders, and traffickers, whose galleys used to rock +there at the base of the cliff, where the gentle waves beat even in +this winter-time with a summer swing and sound of peace. + +It was at the close of a day in January that I first knew the Villa +Nardi,--a warm, lovely day, at the hour when the sun was just going +behind the Capo di Sorrento, in order to disrobe a little, I fancy, +before plunging into the Mediterranean off the end of Capri, as is +his wont about this time of year. When we turned out of the little +piazza, our driver was obliged to take off one of our team of three +horses driven abreast, so that we could pass through the narrow and +crooked streets, or rather lanes of blank walls. With cracking whip, +rattling wheels, and shouting to clear the way, we drove into the +Strada di San Francisca, and to an arched gateway. This led down a +straight path, between olives and orange and lemon-trees, gleaming +with shining leaves and fruit of gold, with hedges of rose-trees in +full bloom, to another leafy arch, through which I saw tropical +trees, and a terrace with a low wall and battered busts guarding it, +and beyond, the blue sea, a white sail or two slanting across the +opening, and the whiteness of Naples some twenty miles away on the +shore. + +The noble family of the Villa did not descend into the garden to +welcome us, as we should have liked; in fact, they have been absent +now for a long time, so long that even their ghosts, if they ever +pace the terrace-walk towards the convent, would appear strange to +one who should meet them; and yet our hostess, the Tramontano, did +what the ancient occupants scarcely could have done, gave us the +choice of rooms in the entire house. The stranger who finds himself +in this secluded paradise, at this season, is always at a loss +whether to take a room on the sea, with all its changeable +loveliness, but no sun, or one overlooking the garden, where the sun +all day pours itself into the orange boughs, and where the birds are +just beginning to get up a spring twitteration. My friend, whose +capacity for taking in the luxurious repose of this region is +something extraordinary, has tried, I believe, nearly every room in +the house, and has at length gone up to a solitary room on the top, +where, like a bird on a tree he looks all ways, and, so to say, +swings in the entrancing air. But, wherever you are, you will grow +into content with your situation. + +At the Villa Nardi we have no sound of wheels, no noise of work or +traffic, no suggestion of conflict. I am under the impression that +everything that was to have been done has been done. I am, it is +true, a little afraid that the Saracens will come here again, and +carry off more of the nut-brown girls, who lean over the walls, and +look down on us from under the boughs. I am not quite sure that a +French Admiral of the Republic will not some morning anchor his +three-decker in front, and open fire on us; but nothing else can +happen. Naples is a thousand miles away. The boom of the saluting +guns of Castel Nuovo is to us scarcely an echo of modern life. Rome +does not exist. And as for London and New York) they send their +people and their newspapers here, but no pulse of unrest from them +disturbs our tranquillity. Hemmed in on the land side by high walls, +groves, and gardens, perched upon a rock two hundred feet above the +water, how much more secure from invasion is this than any fabled +island of the southern sea, or any remote stream where the boats of +the lotus-eaters float! + +There is a little terrace and flower-plat, where we sometimes sit, +and over the wall of which we like to lean, and look down the cliff +to the sea. This terrace is the common ground of many exotics as +well as native trees and shrubs. Here are the magnolia, the laurel, +the Japanese medlar, the oleander, the pepper, the bay, the +date-palm, a tree called the plumbago, another from the Cape of Good +Hope, the pomegranate, the elder in full leaf, the olive, salvia, +heliotrope; close by is a banana-tree. + +I find a good deal of companionship in the rows of plaster busts that +stand on the wall, in all attitudes of listlessness, and all stages +of decay. I thought at first they were penates of the premises; but +better acquaintance has convinced me that they never were gods, but +the clayey representations of great men and noble dames. The stains +of time are on them; some have lost a nose or an ear; and one has +parted with a still more important member--his head,--an accident +that might profitably have befallen his neighbor, whose curly locks +and villainously low forehead proclaim him a Roman emperor. Cut in +the face of the rock is a walled and winding way down to the water. +I see below the archway where it issues from the underground recesses +of our establishment; and there stands a bust, in serious expectation +that some one will walk out and saunter down among the rocks; but no +one ever does. Just at the right is a little beach, with a few old +houses, and a mimic stir of life, a little curve in the cliff, the +mouth of the gorge, where the waves come in with a lazy swash. Some +fishing-boats ride there; and the shallow water, as I look down this +sunny morning, is thickly strewn with floating peels of oranges and +lemons, as if some one was brewing a gigantic bowl of punch. And +there is an uncommon stir of life; for a schooner is shipping a cargo +of oranges, and the entire population is in a clamor. Donkeys are +coming down the winding way, with a heavy basket on either flank; +stout girls are stepping lightly down with loads on their heads; the +drivers shout, the donkeys bray, the people jabber and order each +other about; and the oranges, in a continual stream, are poured into +the long, narrow vessel, rolling in with a thud, until there is a +yellow mass of them. Shouting, scolding, singing, and braying, all +come up to me a little mellowed. The disorder is not so great as on +the opera stage of San Carlo in Naples; and the effect is much more +pleasing. + +This settlement, the marina, under the cliff, used to extend along +the shore; and a good road ran down there close by the water. The +rock has split off, and covered it; and perhaps the shore has sunk. +They tell me that those who dig down in the edge of the shallow water +find sunken walls, and the remains of old foundations of Roman +workmanship. People who wander there pick up bits of marble, +serpentine, and malachite,--remains of the palaces that long ago fell +into the sea, and have not left even the names of their owners and +builders,-the ancient loafers who idled away their days as everybody +must in this seductive spot. Not far from here, they point out the +veritable caves of the Sirens, who have now shut up house, and gone +away, like the rest of the nobility. If I had been a mariner in +their day, I should have made no effort to sail by and away from +their soothing shore. + +I went, one day, through a long, sloping arch, near the sailors' +Chapel of St. Antonino, past a pretty shrine of the Virgin, down the +zigzag path to this little marina; but it is better to be content +with looking at it from above, and imagining how delightful it would +be to push off in one of the little tubs of boats. Sometimes, at +night, I hear the fishermen coming home, singing in their lusty +fashion; and I think it is a good haven to arrive at. I never go +down to search for stones on the beach: I like to believe that there +are great treasures there, which I might find; and I know that the +green and brown and spotty appearance of the water is caused by the +showing through of the pavements of courts, and marble floors of +palaces, which might vanish if I went nearer, such a place of +illusion is this. + +The Villa Nardi stands in pleasant relations to Vesuvius, which is +just across the bay, and is not so useless as it has been +represented; it is our weather-sign and prophet. When the white +plume on his top floats inland, that is one sort of weather; when it +streams out to sea, that is another. But I can never tell which is +which: nor in my experience does it much matter; for it seems +impossible for Sorrento to do anything but woo us with gentle +weather. But the use of Vesuvius, after all, is to furnish us a +background for the violet light at sundown, when the villages at its +foot gleam like a silver fringe. I have become convinced of one +thing: it is always best when you build a house to have it front +toward a volcano, if you can. There is just that lazy activity about +a volcano, ordinarily, that satisfies your demand for something that +is not exactly dead, and yet does not disturb you. + +Sometimes when I wake in the night,--though I don't know why one ever +wakes in the night, or the daytime either here,--I hear the bell of +the convent, which is in our demesne,--a convent which is suppressed, +and where I hear, when I pass in the morning, the humming of a +school. At first I tried to count the hour; but when the bell went +on to strike seventeen, and even twenty-one o'clock, the absurdity of +the thing came over me, and I wondered whether it was some frequent +call to prayer for a feeble band of sisters remaining, some reminder +of midnight penance and vigil, or whether it was not something more +ghostly than that, and was not responded to by shades of nuns, who +were wont to look out from their narrow latticed windows upon these +same gardens, as long ago as when the beautiful Queen Joanna used to +come down here to repent--if she ever did repent--of her wanton ways +in Naples. + +On one side of the garden is a suppressed monastery. The narrow +front towards the sea has a secluded little balcony, where I like to +fancy the poor orphaned souls used to steal out at night for a breath +of fresh air, and perhaps to see, as I did one dark evening, Naples +with its lights like a conflagration on the horizon. Upon the tiles +of the parapet are cheerful devices, the crossbones tied with a cord, +and the like. How many heavy-hearted recluses have stood in that +secluded nook, and been tempted by the sweet, lulling sound of the +waves below; how many have paced along this narrow terrace, and felt +like prisoners who wore paths in the stone floor where they trod; and +how many stupid louts have walked there, insensible to all the charm +of it! + +If I pass into the Tramontano garden, it is not to escape the +presence of history, or to get into the modern world, where travelers +are arriving, and where there is the bustle and proverbial discontent +of those who travel to enjoy themselves. In the pretty garden, which +is a constant surprise of odd nooks and sunny hiding-places, with +ruins, and most luxuriant ivy, is a little cottage where, I am told +in confidence, the young king of Bavaria slept three nights not very +long ago. I hope he slept well. But more important than the sleep, +or even death, of a king, is the birth of a poet, I take it; and +within this inclosure, on the eleventh day of March, 1541, Torquato +Tasso, most melancholy of men, first saw the light; and here was born +his noble sister Cornelia, the descendants of whose union with the +cavalier Spasiano still live here, and in a manner keep the memory of +the poet green with the present generation. I am indebted to a +gentleman who is of this lineage for many favors, and for precise +information as to the position in the house that stood here of the +very room in which Tasso was born. It is also minutely given in a +memoir of Tasso and his family, by Bartolommeo Capasso, whose careful +researches have disproved the slipshod statements of the guidebooks, +that the poet was born in a house which is still standing, farther to +the west, and that the room has fallen into the sea. The descendant +of the sister pointed out to me the spot on the terrace of the +Tramontano where the room itself was, when the house still stood; +and, of course, seeing is believing. The sun shone full upon it, as +we stood there; and the air was full of the scent of tropical fruit +and just-coming blossoms. One could not desire a more tranquil scene +of advent into life; and the wandering, broken-hearted author of +"Jerusalem Delivered " never found at court or palace any retreat so +soothing as that offered him here by his steadfast sister. + +If I were an antiquarian, I think I should have had Tasso born at the +Villa Nardi, where I like best to stay, and where I find traces of +many pilgrims from other countries. Here, in a little corner room on +the terrace, Mrs. Stowe dreamed and wrote; and I expect, every +morning, as I take my morning sun here by the gate, Agnes of Sorrento +will come down the sweet-scented path with a basket of oranges on her +head. + + + + +SEA AND SHORE + +It is not always easy, when one stands upon the highlands which +encircle the Piano di Sorrento, in some conditions of the atmosphere, +to tell where the sea ends and the sky begins. It seems. +practicable, at such times, for one to take ship and sail up into +heaven. I have often, indeed, seen white sails climbing up there, +and fishing-boats, at secure anchor I suppose, riding apparently like +balloons in the hazy air. Sea and air and land here are all kin, I +suspect, and have certain immaterial qualities in common. The +contours of the shores and the outlines of the hills are as graceful +as the mobile waves; and if there is anywhere ruggedness and +sharpness, the atmosphere throws a friendly veil over it, and tones +all that is inharmonious into the repose of beauty. + +The atmosphere is really something more than a medium: it is a +drapery, woven, one could affirm, with colors, or dipped in oriental +dyes. One might account thus for the prismatic colors I have often +seen on the horizon at noon, when the sun was pouring down floods of +clear golden light. The simple light here, if one could ever +represent it by pen, pencil, or brush, would draw the world hither to +bathe in it. It is not thin sunshine, but a royal profusion, a +golden substance, a transforming quality, a vesture of splendor for +all these Mediterranean shores. + +The most comprehensive idea of Sorrento and the great plain on which +it stands, imbedded almost out of sight in foliage, we obtained one +day from our boat, as we put out round the Capo di Sorrento, and +stood away for Capri. There was not wind enough for sails, but there +were chopping waves, and swell enough to toss us about, and to +produce bright flashes of light far out at sea. The red-shirted +rowers silently bent to their long sweeps; and I lay in the tossing +bow, and studied the high, receding shore. The picture is simple, a +precipice of rock or earth, faced with masonry in spots, almost of +uniform height from point to point of the little bay, except where a +deep gorge has split the rock, and comes to the sea, forming a cove, +where a cluster of rude buildings is likely to gather. Along the +precipice, which now juts and now recedes a little, are villas, +hotels, old convents, gardens, and groves. I can see steps and +galleries cut in the face of the cliff, and caves and caverns, +natural and artificial: for one can cut this tufa with a knife; and +it would hardly seem preposterous to attempt to dig out a cool, roomy +mansion in this rocky front with a spade. + +As we pull away, I begin to see the depth of the plain of Sorrento, +with its villages, walled roads, its groves of oranges, olives, +lemons, its figs, pomegranates, almonds, mulberries, and acacias; and +soon the terraces above, where the vineyards are planted, and the +olives also. These terraces must be a brave sight in the spring, +when the masses of olives are white as snow with blossoms, which fill +all the plain with their sweet perfume. Above the terraces, the eye +reaches the fine outline of the hill; and, to the east, the bare +precipice of rock, softened by the purple light; and turning still to +the left, as the boat lazily swings, I have Vesuvius, the graceful +dip into the plain, and the rise to the heights of Naples, Nisida, +the shining houses of Pozzuoli, Cape Misenum, Procida, and rough +Ischia. Rounding the headland, Capri is before us, so sharp and +clear that we seem close to it; but it is a weary pull before we get +under its rocky side. + +Returning from Capri late in the afternoon, we had one of those +effects which are the despair of artists. I had been told that +twilights are short here, and that, when the sun disappeared, color +vanished from the sky. There was a wonderful light on all the inner +bay, as we put off from shore. Ischia was one mass of violet color, +As we got from under the island, there was the sun, a red ball of +fire, just dipping into the sea. At once the whole horizon line of +water became a bright crimson, which deepened as evening advanced, +glowing with more intense fire, and holding a broad band of what +seemed solid color for more than three quarters of an hour. The +colors, meantime, on the level water, never were on painter's +palette, and never were counterfeited by the changeable silks of +eastern looms; and this gorgeous spectacle continued till the stars +came out, crowding the sky with silver points. + +Our boatmen, who had been reinforced at Capri, and were inspired +either by the wine of the island or the beauty of the night, pulled +with new vigor, and broke out again and again into the wild songs of +this coast. A favorite was the Garibaldi song, which invariably ended +in a cheer and a tiger, and threw the singers into such a spurt of +excitement that the oars forgot to keep time, and there was more +splash than speed. The singers all sang one part in minor: there was +no harmony, the voices were not rich, and the melody was not +remarkable; but there was, after all, a wild pathos in it. Music is +very much here what it is in Naples. I have to keep saying to myself +that Italy is a land of song; else I should think that people mistake +noise for music. + +The boatmen are an honest set of fellows, as Italians go; and, let us +hope, not unworthy followers of their patron, St. Antonino, whose +chapel is on the edge of the gorge near the Villa Nardi. A silver +image of the saint, half life-size, stands upon the rich marble +altar. This valuable statue has been,, if tradition is correct, five +times captured and carried away by marauders, who have at different +times sacked Sorrento of its marbles, bronzes, and precious things, +and each time, by some mysterious providence, has found its way back +again,--an instance of constancy in a solid silver image which is +worthy of commendation. The little chapel is hung all about with +votive offerings in wax of arms, legs, heads, hands, effigies, and +with coarse lithographs, in frames, of storms at sea and perils of +ships, hung up by sailors who, having escaped the dangers of the +deep, offer these tributes to their dear saint. The skirts of the +image are worn quite smooth with kissing. Underneath it, at the back +of the altar, an oil light is always burning; and below repose the +bones of the holy man. + + +The whole shore is fascinating to one in an idle mood, and is good +mousing-ground for the antiquarian. For myself, I am content with +one generalization, which I find saves a world of bother and +perplexity: it is quite safe to style every excavation, cavern, +circular wall, or arch by the sea, a Roman bath. It is the final +resort of the antiquarians. This theory has kept me from entering +the discussion, whether the substructions in the cliff under the +Poggio Syracuse, a royal villa, are temples of the Sirens, or caves +of Ulysses. I only know that I descend to the sea there by broad +interior flights of steps, which lead through galleries and +corridors, and high, vaulted passages, whence extend apartments and +caves far reaching into the solid rock. At intervals are landings, +where arched windows are cut out to the sea, with stone seats and +protecting walls. At the base of the cliff I find a hewn passage, as +if there had once been here a way of embarkation; and enormous +fragments of rocks, with steps cut in them, which have fallen from +above. + +Were these anything more than royal pleasure galleries, where one +could sit in coolness in the heat of summer and look on the bay and +its shipping, in the days when the great Roman fleet used to lie +opposite, above the point of Misenum? How many brave and gay +retinues have swept down these broad interior stairways, let us say +in the picturesque Middle Ages, to embark on voyages of pleasure or +warlike forays! The steps are well worn, and must have been trodden +for ages, by nobles and robbers, peasants and sailors, priests of +more than one religion, and traders of many seas, who have gone, and +left no record. The sun was slanting his last rays into the +corridors as I musingly looked down from one of the arched openings, +quite spellbound by the strangeness and dead silence of the place, +broken only by the plash of waves on the sandy beach below. I had +found my way down through a wooden door half ajar; and I thought of +the possibility of some one's shutting it for the night, and leaving +me a prisoner to await the spectres which I have no doubt throng here +when it grows dark. Hastening up out of these chambers of the past, +I escaped into the upper air, and walked rapidly home through the +narrow orange lanes. + + + + +ON TOP OF THE HOUSE + +The tiptop of the Villa Nardi is a flat roof, with a wall about it +three feet high, and some little turreted affairs, that look very +much like chimneys. Joseph, the gray-haired servitor, has brought my +chair and table up here to-day, and here I am, established to write. + +I am here above most earthly annoyances, and on a level with the +heavenly influences. It has always seemed to me that the higher one +gets, the easier it must be to write; and that, especially at a great +elevation, one could strike into lofty themes, and launch out, +without fear of shipwreck on any of the earthly headlands, in his +aerial voyages. Yet, after all, he would be likely to arrive +nowhere, I suspect; or, to change the figure, to find that, in +parting with the taste of the earth, he had produced a flavorless +composition. If it were not for the haze in the horizon to-day, I +could distinguish the very house in Naples--that of Manso, Marquis of +Villa,--where Tasso found a home, and where John Milton was +entertained at a later day by that hospitable nobleman. I wonder, if +he had come to the Villa Nardi and written on the roof, if the +theological features of his epic would have been softened, and if he +would not have received new suggestions for the adornment of the +garden. Of course, it is well that his immortal production was not +composed on this roof, and in sight of these seductive shores, or it +would have been more strongly flavored with classic mythology than it +is. But, letting Milton go, it may be necessary to say that my +writing to-day has nothing to do with my theory of composition in an +elevated position; for this is the laziest place that I have yet +found. + +I am above the highest olive-trees, and, if I turned that way, should +look over the tops of what seems a vast grove of them, out of which a +white roof, and an old time-eaten tower here and there, appears; and +the sun is flooding them with waves of light, which I think a person +delicately enough organized could hear beat. Beyond the brown roofs +of the town, the terraced hills arise, in semicircular embrace of the +plain; and the fine veil over them is partly the natural shimmer of +the heat, and partly the silver duskiness of the olive-leaves. I sit +with my back to all this, taking the entire force of this winter sun, +which is full of life and genial heat, and does not scorch one, as I +remember such a full flood of it would at home. It is putting +sweetness, too, into the oranges, which, I observe, are getting +redder and softer day by day. We have here, by the way, such a habit +of taking up an orange, weighing it in the hand, and guessing if it +is ripe, that the test is extending to other things. I saw a +gentleman this morning, at breakfast, weighing an egg in the same +manner; and some one asked him if it was ripe. + +It seems to me that the Mediterranean was never bluer than it is +to-day. It has a shade or two the advantage of the sky: though I +like the sky best, after all; for it is less opaque, and offers an +illimitable opportunity of exploration. Perhaps this is because I am +nearer to it. There are some little ruffles of air on the sea, which +I do not feel here, making broad spots of shadow, and here and there +flecks and sparkles. But the schooners sail idly, and the +fishing-boats that have put out from the marina float in the most +dreamy manner. I fear that the fishermen who have made a show of +industry, and got away from their wives, who are busily weaving nets +on shore, are yielding to the seductions of the occasion) and making +a day of it. And, as I look at them, I find myself debating which I +would rather be, a fisherman there in the boat, rocked by the swell, +and warmed by the sun, or a friar, on the terrace of the garden on +the summit of Deserto, lying perfectly tranquil, and also soaked in +the sun. There is one other person, now that I think of it, who may +be having a good time to-day, though I do not know that I envy him. +His business is a new one to me, and is an occupation that one would +not care to recommend to a friend until he had tried it: it is being +carried about in a basket. As I went up the new Massa road the other +day, I met a ragged, stout, and rather dirty woman, with a large +shallow basket on her head. In it lay her husband, a large man, +though I think a little abbreviated as to his legs. The woman asked +alms. Talk of Diogenes in his tub! How must the world look to a man +in a basket, riding about on his wife's head? When I returned, she +had put him down beside the road in the sun, and almost in danger of +the passing vehicles. I suppose that the affectionate creature +thought that, if he got a new injury in this way, his value in the +beggar market would be increased. I do not mean to do this exemplary +wife any injustice; and I only suggest the idea in this land, where +every beggar who is born with a deformity has something to thank the +Virgin for. This custom of carrying your husband on your head in a +basket has something to recommend it, and is an exhibition of faith +on the one hand, and of devotion on the other, that is seldom met +with. Its consideration is commended to my countrywomen at home. It +is, at least, a new commentary on the apostolic remark, that the man +is the head of the woman. It is, in some respects, a happy division +of labor in the walk of life: she furnishes the locomotive power, and +he the directing brains, as he lies in the sun and looks abroad; +which reminds me that the sun is getting hot on my back. The little +bunch of bells in the convent tower is jangling out a suggestion of +worship, or of the departure of the hours. It is time to eat an +orange. + +Vesuvius appears to be about on a level with my eyes and I never knew +him to do himself more credit than to-day. The whole coast of the +bay is in a sort of obscuration, thicker than an Indian summer haze; +and the veil extends almost to the top of Vesuvius. But his summit +is still distinct, and out of it rises a gigantic billowy column of +white smoke, greater in quantity than on any previous day of our +sojourn; and the sun turns it to silver. Above a long line of +ordinary looking clouds, float great white masses, formed of the +sulphurous vapor. This manufacture of clouds in a clear, sunny day +has an odd appearance; but it is easy enough, if one has such a +laboratory as Vesuvius. How it tumbles up the white smoke! It is +piled up now, I should say, a thousand feet above the crater, +straight into the blue sky,--a pillar of cloud by day. One might sit +here all day watching it, listening the while to the melodious spring +singing of the hundreds of birds which have come to take possession +of the garden, receiving southern reinforcements from Sicily and +Tunis every morning, and think he was happy. But the morning has +gone; and I have written nothing. + + + + +THE PRICE OF ORANGES + +If ever a northern wanderer could be suddenly transported to look +down upon the Piano di Sorrento, he would not doubt that he saw the +Garden of the Hesperides. The orange-trees cannot well be fuller: +their branches bend with the weight of fruit. With the almond-trees +in full flower, and with the silver sheen of the olive leaves, the +oranges are apples of gold in pictures of silver. As I walk in these +sunken roads, and between these high walls, the orange boughs +everywhere hang over; and through the open gates of villas I look +down alleys of golden glimmer, roses and geraniums by the walk, and +the fruit above,--gardens of enchantment, with never a dragon, that I +can see, to guard them. + +All the highways and the byways, the streets and lanes, wherever I +go, from the sea to the tops of the hills, are strewn with +orange-peel; so that one, looking above and below, comes back from a +walk with a golden dazzle in his eyes,--a sense that yellow is the +prevailing color. Perhaps the kerchiefs of the dark-skinned girls +and women, which take that tone, help the impression. The +inhabitants are all orange-eaters. The high walls show that the +gardens are protected with great care; yet the fruit seems to be as +free as apples are in a remote New England town about cider-time. + +I have been trying, ever since I have been here, to ascertain the +price of oranges; not for purposes of exportation, nor yet for the +personal importation that I daily practice, but in order to give an +American basis of fact to these idle chapters. In all the paths I +meet, daily, girls and boys bearing on their heads large baskets of +the fruit, and little children with bags and bundles of the same, as +large as they can stagger under; and I understand they are carrying +them to the packers, who ship them to New York, or to the depots, +where I see them lying in yellow heaps, and where men and women are +cutting them up, and removing the peel, which goes to England for +preserves. I am told that these oranges are sold for a couple of +francs a hundred. That seems to me so dear that I am not tempted +into any speculation, but stroll back to the Tramontano, in the +gardens of which I find better terms. + +The only trouble is to find a sweet tree; for the Sorrento oranges +are usually sour in February; and one needs to be a good judge of the +fruit, and know the male orange from the female, though which it is +that is the sweeter I can never remember (and should not dare to say, +if I did, in the present state of feeling on the woman question),--or +he might as well eat a lemon. The mercenary aspect of my query does +not enter in here. I climb into a tree, and reach out to the end of +the branch for an orange that has got reddish in the sun, that comes +off easily and is heavy; or I tickle a large one on the top bough +with a cane pole; and if it drops readily, and has a fine grain, I +call it a cheap one. I can usually tell whether they are good by +splitting them open and eating a quarter. The Italians pare their +oranges as we do apples; but I like best to open them first, and see +the yellow meat in the white casket. After you have eaten a few from +one tree, you can usually tell whether it is a good tree; but there +is nothing certain about it,--one bough that gets the sun will be +better than another that does not, and one half of an orange will +fill your mouth with more delicious juices than the other half. + +The oranges that you knock off with your stick, as you walk along the +lanes, don't cost anything; but they are always sour, as I think the +girls know who lean over the wall, and look on with a smile: and, in +that, they are more sensible than the lively dogs which bark at you +from the top, and wake all the neighborhood with their clamor. I +have no doubt the oranges have a market price; but I have been +seeking the value the gardeners set on them themselves. As I walked +towards the heights, the other morning, and passed an orchard, the +gardener, who saw my ineffectual efforts, with a very long cane, to +reach the boughs of a tree, came down to me with a basketful he had +been picking. As an experiment on the price, I offered him a +two-centime piece, which is a sort of satire on the very name of +money,--when he desired me to help myself to as many oranges as I +liked. He was a fine-looking fellow, with a spick-span new red +Phrygian cap; and I had n't the heart to take advantage of his +generosity, especially as his oranges were not of the sweetest. One +ought never to abuse generosity. + +Another experience was of a different sort, and illustrates the +Italian love of bargaining, and their notion of a sliding scale of +prices. One of our expeditions to the hills was one day making its +long, straggling way through the narrow street of a little village of +the Piano, when I lingered behind my companions, attracted by a +handcart with several large baskets of oranges. The cart stood +untended in the street; and selecting a large orange, which would +measure twelve inches in circumference, I turned to look for the +owner. After some time a fellow got from the open front of the +neighboring cobbler's shop, where he sat with his lazy cronies, +listening to the honest gossip of the follower of St. Crispin, and +sauntered towards me. + +"How much for this?" I ask. + +"One franc, signor," says the proprietor, with a polite bow, holding +up one finger. + +I shake my head, and intimate that that is altogether too much, in +fact, preposterous. + +The proprietor is very indifferent, and shrugs his shoulders in an +amiable manner. He picks up a fair, handsome orange, weighs it in +his hand, and holds it up temptingly. That also is one, franc. + +I suggest one sou as a fair price, a suggestion which he only +receives with a smile of slight pity, and, I fancy, a little disdain. +A woman joins him, and also holds up this and that gold-skinned one +for my admiration. + +As I stand, sorting over the fruit, trying to please myself with +size, color, and texture, a little crowd has gathered round; and I +see, by a glance, that all the occupations in that neighborhood, +including loafing, are temporarily suspended to witness the trade. +The interest of the circle visibly increases; and others take such a +part in the transaction that I begin to doubt if the first man is, +after all, the proprietor. + +At length I select two oranges, and again demand the price. There is +a little consultation and jabber, when I am told that I can have both +for a franc. I, in turn, sigh, shrug my shoulders, and put down the +oranges, amid a chorus of exclamations over my graspingness. My +offer of two sous is met with ridicule, but not with indifference. I +can see that it has made a sensation. These simple, idle children of +the sun begin to show a little excitement. I at length determine +upon a bold stroke, and resolve to show myself the Napoleon of +oranges, or to meet my Waterloo. I pick out four of the largest +oranges in the basket, while all eyes are fixed on me intently, and, +for the first time, pull out a piece of money. It is a two-sous +piece. I offer it for the four oranges. + +"No, no, no, no, signor! Ah, signor! ah, signor!" in a chorus from +the whole crowd. + +I have struck bottom at last, and perhaps got somewhere near the +value; and all calmness is gone. Such protestations, such +indignation, such sorrow, I have never seen before from so small a +cause. It cannot be thought of; it is mere ruin! I am, in turn, as +firm, and nearly as excited in seeming. I hold up the fruit, and +tender the money. + +"No, never, never! The signor cannot be in earnest." + +Looking round me for a moment, and assuming a theatrical manner, +befitting the gestures of those about me, I fling the fruit down, +and, with a sublime renunciation, stalk away. + +There is instantly a buzz and a hum that rises almost to a clamor. I +have not proceeded far, when a skinny old woman runs after me, and +begs me to return. I go back, and the crowd parts to receive me. + +The proprietor has a new proposition, the effect of which upon me is +intently watched. He proposes to give me five big oranges for four +sous. I receive it with utter scorn, and a laugh of derision. I +will give two sous for the original four, and not a centesimo more. +That I solemnly say, and am ready to depart. Hesitation and renewed +conference; but at last the proprietor relents; and, with the look of +one who is ruined for life, and who yet is willing to sacrifice +himself, he hands me the oranges. Instantly the excitement is dead, +the crowd disperses, and the street is as quiet as ever; when I walk +away, bearing my hard-won treasures. + +A little while after, as I sat upon the outer wall of the terrace of +the Camaldoli, with my feet hanging over, these same oranges were +taken from my pockets by Americans; so that I am prevented from +making any moral reflections upon the honesty of the Italians. + +There is an immense garden of oranges and lemons at the village of +Massa, through which travelers are shown by a surly fellow, who keeps +watch of his trees, and has a bulldog lurking about for the unwary. +I hate to see a bulldog in a fruit orchard. I have eaten a good many +oranges there, and been astonished at the boughs of immense lemons +which bend the trees to the ground. I took occasion to measure one +of the lemons, called a citron-lemon, and found its circumference to +be twenty-one inches one way by fifteen inches the other,--about as +big as a railway conductor's lantern. These lemons are not so sour +as the fellow who shows them: he is a mercenary dog, and his prices +afford me no clew to the just value of oranges. + +I like better to go to a little garden in the village of Meta, under +a sunny precipice of rocks overhung by the ruined convent of +Camaldoli. I turn up a narrow lane, and push open the wooden door in +the garden of a little villa. It is a pretty garden; and, besides +the orange and lemon-trees on the terrace, it has other fruit-trees, +and a scent of many flowers. My friend, the gardener, is sorting +oranges from one basket to another, on a green bank, and evidently +selling the fruit to some women, who are putting it into bags to +carry away. + +When he sees me approach, there is always the same pantomime. I +propose to take some of the fruit he is sorting. With a knowing air, +and an appearance of great mystery, he raises his left hand, the palm +toward me, as one says hush. Having dispatched his business, he +takes an empty basket, and with another mysterious flourish, desiring +me to remain quiet, he goes to a storehouse in one corner of the +garden, and returns with a load of immense oranges, all soaked with +the sun, ripe and fragrant, and more tempting than lumps of gold. I +take one, and ask him if it is sweet. He shrugs his shoulders, +raises his hands, and, with a sidewise shake of the head, and a look +which says, How can you be so faithless? makes me ashamed of my +doubts. + +I cut the thick skin, which easily falls apart and discloses the +luscious quarters, plump, juicy, and waiting to melt in the mouth. I +look for a moment at the rich pulp in its soft incasement, and then +try a delicious morsel. I nod. My gardener again shrugs his +shoulders, with a slight smile, as much as to say, It could not be +otherwise, and is evidently delighted to have me enjoy his fruit. I +fill capacious pockets with the choicest; and, if I have friends with +me, they do the same. I give our silent but most expressive +entertainer half a franc, never more; and he always seems surprised +at the size of the largesse. We exhaust his basket, and he proposes +to get more. + +When I am alone, I stroll about under the heavily-laden trees, and +pick up the largest, where they lie thickly on the ground, liking to +hold them in my hand and feel the agreeable weight, even when I can +carry away no more. The gardener neither follows nor watches me; and +I think perhaps knows, and is not stingy about it, that more valuable +to me than the oranges I eat or take away are those on the trees +among the shining leaves. And perhaps he opines that I am from a +country of snow and ice, where the year has six hostile months, and +that I have not money enough to pay for the rich possession of the +eye, the picture of beauty, which I take with me. + + + + +FASCINATION + +There are three places where I should like to live; naming them in +the inverse order of preference,--the Isle of Wight, Sorrento, and +Heaven. The first two have something in common, the almost mystic +union of sky and sea and shore, a soft atmospheric suffusion that +works an enchantment, and puts one into a dreamy mood. And yet there +are decided contrasts. The superabundant, soaking sunshine of +Sorrento is of very different quality from that of the Isle of Wight. +On the island there is a sense of home, which one misses on this +promontory, the fascination of which, no less strong, is that of a +southern beauty, whose charms conquer rather than win. I remember +with what feeling I one day unexpectedly read on a white slab, in the +little inclosure of Bonchurch, where the sea whispered as gently as +the rustle of the ivy-leaves, the name of John Sterling. Could there +be any fitter resting-place for that most, weary, and gentle spirit? +There I seemed to know he had the rest that he could not have +anywhere on these brilliant historic shores. Yet so impressible was +his sensitive nature, that I doubt not, if he had given himself up to +the enchantment of these coasts in his lifetime, it would have led +him by a spell he could not break. + +I am sometimes in doubt what is the spell of Sorrento, and half +believe that it is independent of anything visible. There is said to +be a fatal enchantment about Capri. The influences of Sorrento are +not so dangerous, but are almost as marked. I do not wonder that the +Greeks peopled every cove and sea-cave with divinities, and built +temples on every headland and rocky islet here; that the Romans built +upon the Grecian ruins; that the ecclesiastics in succeeding +centuries gained possession of all the heights, and built convents +and monasteries, and set out vineyards, and orchards of olives and +oranges, and took root as the creeping plants do, spreading +themselves abroad in the sunshine and charming air. The Italian of +to-day does not willingly emigrate, is tempted by no seduction of +better fortune in any foreign clime. And so in all ages the swarming +populations have clung to these shores, filling all the coasts and +every nook in these almost inaccessible hills with life. Perhaps the +delicious climate, which avoids all extremes, sufficiently accounts +for this; and yet I have sometimes thought there is a more subtle +reason why travelers from far lands are spellbound here, often +against will and judgment, week after week, month after month. + +However this may be, it is certain that strangers who come here, and +remain long enough to get entangled in the meshes which some +influence, I know not what, throws around them, are in danger of +never departing. I know there are scores of travelers, who whisk +down from Naples, guidebook in hand, goaded by the fell purpose of +seeing every place in Europe, ascend some height, buy a load of the +beautiful inlaid woodwork, perhaps row over to Capri and stay five +minutes in the azure grotto, and then whisk away again, untouched by +the glamour of the place. Enough that they write "delightful spot" +in their diaries, and hurry off to new scenes, and more noisy life. +But the visitor who yields himself to the place will soon find his +power of will departing. Some satirical people say, that, as one +grows strong in body here, he becomes weak in mind. The theory I do +not accept: one simply folds his sails, unships his rudder, and waits +the will of Providence, or the arrival of some compelling fate. The +longer one remains, the more difficult it is to go. We have a +fashion--indeed, I may call it a habit--of deciding to go, and of +never going. It is a subject of infinite jest among the habitues of +the villa, who meet at table, and who are always bidding each other +good-by. We often go so far as to write to Naples at night, and +bespeak rooms in the hotels; but we always countermand the order +before we sit down to breakfast. The good-natured mistress of +affairs, the head of the bureau of domestic relations, is at her +wits' end, with guests who always promise to go and never depart. +There are here a gentleman and his wife, English people of decision +enough, I presume, in Cornwall, who packed their luggage before +Christmas to depart, but who have not gone towards the end of +February,--who daily talk of going, and little by little unpack their +wardrobe, as their determination oozes out. It is easy enough to +decide at night to go next day; but in the morning, when the soft +sunshine comes in at the window, and when we descend and walk in the +garden, all our good intentions vanish. It is not simply that we do +not go away, but we have lost the motive for those long excursions +which we made at first, and which more adventurous travelers indulge +in. There are those here who have intended for weeks to spend a day +on Capri. Perfect day for the expedition succeeds perfect day, +boatload after boatload sails away from the little marina at the base +of the cliff, which we follow with eves of desire, but--to-morrow +will do as well. We are powerless to break the enchantment. + +I confess to the fancy that there is some subtle influence working +this sea-change in us, which the guidebooks, in their enumeration of +the delights of the region, do not touch, and which maybe reaches +back beyond the Christian era. I have always supposed that the story +of Ulysses and the Sirens was only a fiction of the poets, intended +to illustrate the allurements of a soul given over to pleasure, and +deaf to the call of duty and the excitement of a grapple with the +world. But a lady here, herself one of the entranced, tells me that +whoever climbs the hills behind Sorrento, and looks upon the Isle of +the Sirens, is struck with an inability to form a desire to depart +from these coasts. I have gazed at those islands more than once, as +they lie there in the Bay of Salerno; and it has always happened that +they have been in a half-misty and not uncolored sunlight, but not so +draped that I could not see they were only three irregular rocks, not +far from shore, one of them with some ruins on it. There are neither +sirens there now, nor any other creatures; but I should be sorry to +think I should never see them again. When I look down on them, I can +also turn and behold on the other side, across the Bay of Naples, the +Posilipo, where one of the enchanters who threw magic over them is +said to lie in his high tomb at the opening of the grotto. Whether +he does sleep in his urn in that exact spot is of no moment. Modern +life has disillusioned this region to a great extent; but the romance +that the old poets have woven about these bays and rocky promontories +comes very easily back upon one who submits himself long to the +eternal influences of sky and sea which made them sing. It is all +one,--to be a Roman poet in his villa, a lazy friar of the Middle +Ages toasting in the sun, or a modern idler, who has drifted here out +of the active currents of life, and cannot make up his mind to +depart. + + + + +MONKISH PERCHES + +On heights at either end of the Piano di Sorrento, and commanding it, +stood two religious houses: the Convent of the Carnaldoli to the +northeast, on the crest of the hill above Meta; the Carthusian +Monastery of the Deserto, to the southwest, three miles above +Sorrento. The longer I stay here, the more respect I have for the +taste of the monks of the Middle Ages. They invariably secured the +best places for themselves. They seized all the strategic points; +they appropriated all the commanding heights; they knew where the sun +would best strike the grapevines; they perched themselves wherever +there was a royal view. When I see how unerringly they did select +and occupy the eligible places, I think they were moved by a sort of +inspiration. In those days, when the Church took the first choice in +everything, the temptation to a Christian life must have been strong. + +The monastery at the Deserto was suppressed by the French of the +first republic, and has long been in a ruinous condition. Its +buildings crown the apex of the highest elevation in this part of the +promontory: from its roof the fathers paternally looked down upon the +churches and chapels and nunneries which thickly studded all this +region; so that I fancy the air must have been full of the sound of +bells, and of incense perpetually ascending. They looked also upon +St. Agata under the hill, with a church bigger than itself; upon more +distinct Massa, with its chapels and cathedral and overlooking feudal +tower; upon Torca, the Greek Theorica, with its Temple of Apollo, the +scene yet of an annual religious festival, to which the peasants of +Sorrento go as their ancestors did to the shrine of the heathen god; +upon olive and orange orchards, and winding paths and wayside shrines +innumerable. A sweet and peaceful scene in the foreground, it must +have been, and a whole horizon of enchantment beyond the sunny +peninsula over which it lorded: the Mediterranean, with poetic Capri, +and Ischia, and all the classic shore from Cape Misenum, Baiae, and +Naples, round to Vesuvius; all the sparkling Bay of Naples; and on +the other side the Bay of Salerno, covered with the fleets of the +commerce of Amalfi, then a republican city of fifty thousand people; +and Grecian Paestum on the marshy shore, even then a ruin, its +deserted porches and columns monuments of an architecture never +equaled elsewhere in Italy. Upon this charming perch, the old +Carthusian monks took the summer breezes and the winter sun, pruned +their olives, and trimmed their grapevines, and said prayers for the +poor sinners toiling in the valleys below. + +The monastery is a desolate old shed now. We left our donkeys to eat +thistles in front, while we climbed up some dilapidated steps, and +entered the crumbling hall. The present occupants are half a dozen +monks, and fine fellows too, who have an orphan school of some twenty +lads. We were invited to witness their noonday prayers. The +flat-roofed rear buildings extend round an oblong, quadrangular +space, which is a rich garden, watered from capacious tanks, and +coaxed into easy fertility by the impregnating sun. Upon these roofs +the brothers were wont to walk, and here they sat at peaceful +evening. Here, too, we strolled; and here I could not resist the +temptation to lie an unheeded hour or two) soaking in the benignant +February sun, above every human concern and care, looking upon a land +and sea steeped in romance. The sky was blue above; but in the south +horizon, in the direction of Tunis, were the prismatic colors. Why +not be a monk, and lie in the sun? + +One of the handsome brothers invited us into the refectory, a place +as bare and cheerless as the feeding-room of a reform school, and set +before us bread and cheese, and red wine, made by the monks. I +notice that the monks do not water their wine so much as the osteria +keepers do; which speaks equally well for their religion and their +taste. The floor of the room was brick, the table plain boards, and +the seats were benches; not much luxury. The monk who served us was +an accomplished man, traveled, and master of several languages. He +spoke English a little. He had been several years in America, and +was much interested when we told him our nationality. + +"Does the signor live near Mexico?" + +"Not in dangerous proximity," we replied; but we did not forfeit his +good opinion by saying that we visited it but seldom. + +Well, he had seen all quarters of the globe: he had been for years a +traveler, but he had come back here with a stronger love for it than +ever; it was to him the most delightful spot on earth, he said. And +we could not tell him where its equal is. If I had nothing else to +do, I think I should cast in my lot with him,--at least for a week. + +But the monks never got into a cozier nook than the Convent of the +Camaldoli. That also is suppressed: its gardens, avenues, colonnaded +walks, terraces, buildings, half in ruins. It is the level surface +of a hill, sheltered on the east by higher peaks, and on the north by +the more distant range of Great St. Angelo, across the valley, and is +one of the most extraordinarily fertile plots of ground I ever saw. +The rich ground responds generously to the sun. I should like to +have seen the abbot who grew on this fat spot. The workmen were busy +in the garden, spading and pruning. + +A group of wild, half-naked children came about us begging, as we sat +upon the walls of the terrace,--the terrace which overhangs the busy +plain below, and which commands the entire, varied, nooky promontory, +and the two bays. And these children, insensible to beauty, want +centesimi! + +In the rear of the church are some splendid specimens of the +umbrella-like Italian pine. Here we found, also, a pretty little +ruin,--it might be Greek and--it might be Druid for anything that +appeared, ivy-clad, and suggesting a religion older than that of the +convent. To the east we look into a fertile, terraced ravine; and +beyond to a precipitous brown mountain, which shows a sharp outline +against the sky; halfway up are nests of towns, white houses, +churches, and above, creeping along the slope, the thread of an +ancient road, with stone arches at intervals, as old as Caesar. + +We descend, skirting for some distance the monastery walls, over +which patches of ivy hang like green shawls. There are flowers in +profusion, scented violets, daisies, dandelions, and crocuses, large +and of the richest variety, with orange pistils, and stamens purple +and violet, the back of every alternate leaf exquisitely penciled. + +We descend into a continuous settlement, past shrines, past brown, +sturdy men and handsome girls working in the vineyards; we descend -- +but words express nothing--into a wonderful ravine, a sort of refined +Swiss scene,--high, bare steps of rock butting over a chasm, ruins, +old walls, vines, flowers. The very spirit of peace is here, and it +is not disturbed by the sweet sound of bells echoed in the passes. +On narrow ledges of precipices, aloft in the air where it would seem +that a bird could scarcely light, we distinguish the forms of men and +women; and their voices come down to us. They are peasants cutting +grass, every spire of which is too precious to waste. + +We descend, and pass by a house on a knoll, and a terrace of olives +extending along the road in front. Half a dozen children come to the +road to look at us as we approach, and then scamper back to the house +in fear, tumbling over each other and shouting, the eldest girl +making good her escape with the baby. My companion swings his hat, +and cries, "Hullo, baby!" And when we have passed the gate, and are +under the wall, the whole ragged, brown-skinned troop scurry out upon +the terrace, and run along, calling after us, in perfect English, as +long as we keep in sight, "Hullo, baby!" "Hullo, baby!" The next +traveler who goes that way will no doubt be hailed by the +quick-witted natives with this salutation; and, if he is of a +philological turn, he will probably benefit his mind by running the +phrase back to its ultimate Greek roots. + + + + +A DRY TIME + +For three years, once upon a time, it did not rain in Sorrento. Not +a drop out of the clouds for three years, an Italian lady here, born +in Ireland, assures me. If there was an occasional shower on the +Piano during all that drought, I have the confidence in her to think +that she would not spoil the story by noticing it. + +The conformation of the hills encircling the plain would be likely to +lead any shower astray, and discharge it into the sea, with whatever +good intentions it may have started down the promontory for Sorrento. +I can see how these sharp hills would tear the clouds asunder, and +let out all their water, while the people in the plain below watched +them with longing eyes. But it can rain in Sorrento. Occasionally +the northeast wind comes down with whirling, howling fury, as if it +would scoop villages and orchards out of the little nook; and the +rain, riding on the whirlwind, pours in drenching floods. At such +times I hear the beat of the waves at the foot of the rock, and feel +like a prisoner on an island. Eden would not be Eden in a rainstorm. + +The drought occurred just after the expulsion of the Bourbons from +Naples, and many think on account of it. There is this to be said in +favor of the Bourbons: that a dry time never had occurred while they +reigned,--a statement in which all good Catholics in Sorrento will +concur. As the drought went on, almost all the wells in the place +dried up, except that of the Tramontano and the one in the suppressed +convent of the Sacred Heart,--I think that is its name. + +It is a rambling pile of old buildings, in the center of the town, +with a courtyard in the middle, and in it a deep well, boring down I +know not how far into the rock, and always full of cold sweet water. +The nuns have all gone now; and I look in vain up at the narrow slits +in the masonry, which served them for windows, for the glance of a +worldly or a pious eye. The poor people of Sorrento, when the public +wells and fountains had gone dry, used to come and draw at the +Tramontano; but they were not allowed to go to the well of the +convent, the gates were closed. Why the government shut them I +cannot see: perhaps it knew nothing of it, and some stupid official +took the pompous responsibility. The people grumbled, and cursed the +government; and, in their simplicity, probably never took any steps +to revoke the prohibitory law. No doubt, as the government had +caused the drought, it was all of a piece, the good rustics thought. + +For the government did indirectly occasion the dry spell. I have the +information from the Italian lady of whom I have spoken. Among the +first steps of the new government of Italy was the suppression of the +useless convents and nunneries. This one at Sorrento early came +under the ban. It always seemed to me almost a pity to rout out this +asylum of praying and charitable women, whose occupation was the +encouragement of beggary and idleness in others, but whose prayers +were constant, and whose charities to the sick of the little city +were many. If they never were of much good to the community, it was +a pleasure to have such a sweet little hive in the center of it; and +I doubt not that the simple people felt a genuine satisfaction, as +they walked around the high walls, in believing that pure prayers +within were put up for them night and day; and especially when they +waked at night, and heard the bell of the convent, and knew that at +that moment some faithful soul kept her vigils, and chanted prayers +for them and all the world besides; and they slept the sounder for it +thereafter. I confess that, if one is helped by vicarious prayer, I +would rather trust a convent of devoted women (though many of them +are ignorant, and some of them are worldly, and none are fair to see) +to pray for me, than some of the houses of coarse monks which I have +seen. + +But the order came down from Naples to pack off all the nuns of the +Sacred Heart on a day named, to close up the gates of the nunnery, +and hang a flaming sword outside. The nuns were to be pulled up by +the roots, so to say, on the day specified, and without postponement, +and to be transferred to a house prepared for them at Massa, a few +miles down the promontory, and several hundred feet nearer heaven. +Sorrento was really in mourning: it went about in grief. It seemed +as if something sacrilegious were about to be done. It was the +intention of the whole town to show its sense of it in some way. + +The day of removal came, and it rained! It poured: the water came +down in sheets, in torrents, in deluges; it came down with the +wildest tempest of many a year. I think, from accurate reports of +those who witnessed it, that the beginning of the great Deluge was +only a moisture compared to this. To turn the poor women out of +doors such a day as this was unchristian, barbarous, impossible. +Everybody who had a shelter was shivering indoors. But the officials +were inexorable. In the order for removal, nothing was said about +postponement on account of weather; and go the nuns must. + +And go they did; the whole town shuddering at the impiety of it, but +kept from any demonstration by the tempest. Carriages went round to +the convent; and the women were loaded into them, packed into them, +carried and put in, if they were too infirm to go themselves. They +were driven away, cross and wet and bedraggled. They found their +dwelling on the hill not half prepared for them, leaking and cold and +cheerless. They experienced very rough treatment, if I can credit my +informant, who says she hates the government, and would not even look +out of her lattice that day to see the carriages drive past. + +And when the Lady Superior was driven away from the gate, she said to +the officials, and the few faithful attendants, prophesying in the +midst of the rain that poured about her, "The day will come shortly, +when you will want rain, and shall not have it; and you will pray for +my return." + +And it did not rain, from that day for three years. + +And the simple people thought of the good Superior, whose departure +had been in such a deluge, and who had taken away with her all the +moisture of the land; and they did pray for her return, and believed +that the gates of heaven would be again opened if only the nunnery +were repeopled. But the government could not see the connection +between convents and the theory of storms, and the remnant of pious +women was permitted to remain in their lodgings at Massa. Perhaps +the government thought they could, if they bore no malice, pray as +effectually for rain there as anywhere. + +I do not know, said my informant, that the curse of the Lady Superior +had anything to do with the drought, but many think it had; and those +are the facts. + + + + +CHILDREN OF THE SUN + +The common people of this region are nothing but children; and +ragged, dirty, and poor as they are, apparently as happy, to speak +idiomatically, as the day is long. It takes very little to please +them; and their easily-excited mirth is contagious. It is very rare +that one gets a surly return to a salutation; and, if one shows the +least good-nature, his greeting is met with the most jolly return. +The boatman hauling in his net sings; the brown girl, whom we meet +descending a steep path in the hills, with an enormous bag or basket +of oranges on her head, or a building-stone under which she stands as +erect as a pillar, sings; and, if she asks for something, there is a +merry twinkle in her eye, that says she hardly expects money, but +only puts in a "beg" at a venture because it is the fashion; the +workmen clipping the olive-trees sing; the urchins, who dance about +the foreigner in the street, vocalize their petitions for un po' di +moneta in a tuneful manner, and beg more in a spirit of deviltry than +with any expectation of gain. When I see how hard the peasants +labor, what scraps and vegetable odds and ends they eat, and in what +wretched, dark, and smoke-dried apartments they live, I wonder they +are happy; but I suppose it is the all-nourishing sun and the equable +climate that do the business for them. They have few artificial +wants, and no uneasy expectation--bred by the reading of books and +newspapers--that anything is going to happen in the world, or that +any change is possible. Their fruit-trees yield abundantly year +after year; their little patches of rich earth, on the built-up +terraces and in the crevices of the rocks, produce fourfold. The sun +does it all. + +Every walk that we take here with open mind and cheerful heart is +sure to be an adventure. Only yesterday, we were coming down a +branch of the great gorge which splits the plain in two. On one side +the path is a high wall, with garden trees overhanging. On the +other, a stone parapet; and below, in the bed of the ravine, an +orange orchard. Beyond rises a precipice; and, at its foot, men and +boys were quarrying stone, which workmen raised a couple of hundred +feet to the platform above with a windlass. As we came along, a +handsome girl on the height had just taken on her head a large block +of stone, which I should not care to lift, to carry to a pile in the +rear; and she stopped to look at us. We stopped, and looked at her. +This attracted the attention of the men and boys in the quarry below, +who stopped work, and set up a cry for a little money. We laughed, +and responded in English. The windlass ceased to turn. The workmen +on the height joined in the conversation. A grizzly beggar hobbled +up, and held out his greasy cap. We nonplussed him by extending our +hats, and beseeching him for just a little something. Some passers +on the road paused, and looked on, amused at the transaction. A boy +appeared on the high wall, and began to beg. I threatened to shoot +him with my walkingstick, whereat he ran nimbly along the wall in +terror The workmen shouted; and this started up a couple of yellow +dogs, which came to the edge of the wall and barked violently. The +girl, alone calm in the confusion, stood stock still under her +enormous load looking at us. We swung out hats, and hurrahed. The +crowd replied from above, below, and around us, shouting, laughing, +singing, until the whole little valley was vocal with a gale of +merriment, and all about nothing. The beggar whined; the spectators +around us laughed; and the whole population was aroused into a jolly +mood. Fancy such a merry hullaballoo in America. For ten minutes, +while the funny row was going on, the girl never moved, having +forgotten to go a few steps and deposit her load; and when we +disappeared round a bend of the path, she was still watching us, +smiling and statuesque. + +As we descend, we come upon a group of little children seated about a +doorstep, black-eyed, chubby little urchins, who are cutting oranges +into little bits, and playing "party," as children do on the other +side of the Atlantic. The instant we stop to speak to them, the +skinny hand of an old woman is stretched out of a window just above +our heads, the wrinkled palm itching for money. The mother comes +forward out of the house, evidently pleased with our notice of the +children, and shows us the baby in her arms. At once we are on good +terms with the whole family. The woman sees that there is nothing +impertinent in our cursory inquiry into her domestic concerns, but, I +fancy, knows that we are genial travelers, with human sympathies. So +the people universally are not quick to suspect any imposition, and +meet frankness with frankness, and good-nature with good-nature, in a +simple-hearted, primeval manner. If they stare at us from doorway +and balcony, or come and stand near us when we sit reading or writing +by the shore, it is only a childlike curiosity, and they are quite +unconscious of any breach of good manners. In fact, I think +travelers have not much to say in the matter of staring. I only pray +that we Americans abroad may remember that we are in the presence of +older races, and conduct ourselves with becoming modesty, remembering +always that we were not born in Britain. + +Very likely I am in error; but it has seemed to me that even the +funerals here are not so gloomy as in other places. I have looked in +at the churches when they are in progress, now and then, and been +struck with the general good feeling of the occasion. The real +mourners I could not always distinguish; but the seats would be +filled with a motley gathering of the idle and the ragged, who seemed +to enjoy the show and the ceremony. On one occasion, it was the +obsequies of an officer in the army. Guarding the gilded casket, +which stood upon a raised platform before the altar, were four +soldiers in uniform. Mass was being said and sung; and a priest was +playing the organ. The church was light and cheerful, and pervaded. +by a pleasant bustle. Ragged boys and beggars, and dirty children +and dogs, went and came wherever they chose--about the unoccupied +spaces of the church. The hired mourners, who are numerous in +proportion to the rank of the deceased, were clad in white cotton,--a +sort of nightgown put on over the ordinary clothes, with a hood of +the same drawn tightly over the face, in which slits were cut for the +eyes and mouth. Some of them were seated on benches near the front; +others were wandering about among the pillars, disappearing in the +sacristy, and reappearing with an aimless aspect, altogether +conducting themselves as if it were a holiday, and if there was +anything they did enjoy, it was mourning at other people's expense. +They laughed and talked with each other in excellent spirits; and one +varlet near the coffin, who had slipped off his mask, winked at me +repeatedly, as if to inform me that it was not his funeral. A +masquerade might have been more gloomy and depressing. + + + + +SAINT ANTONINO + +The most serviceable saint whom I know is St. Antonino. He is the +patron saint of the good town of Sorrento; he is the good genius of +all sailors and fishermen; and he has a humbler office,--that of +protector of the pigs. On his day the pigs are brought into the +public square to be blessed; and this is one reason why the pork of +Sorrento is reputed so sweet and wholesome. The saint is the friend, +and, so to say, companion of the common people. They seem to be all +fond of him, and there is little of fear in their confiding relation. +His humble origin and plebeian appearance have something to do with +his popularity, no doubt. There is nothing awe-inspiring in the +brown stone figure, battered and cracked, that stands at one corner +of the bridge, over the chasm at the entrance of the city. He holds +a crosier in one hand, and raises the other, with fingers uplifted, +in act of benediction. If his face is an indication of his +character, he had in him a mixture of robust good-nature with a touch +of vulgarity, and could rough it in a jolly manner with fishermen and +peasants. He may have appeared to better advantage when he stood on +top of the massive old city gate, which the present government, with +the impulse of a vandal, took down a few years ago. The demolition +had to be accomplished in the night, under a guard of soldiers, so +indignant were the populace. At that time the homely saint was +deposed; and he wears now, I think, a snubbed and cast-aside aspect. +Perhaps he is dearer to the people than ever; and I confess that I +like him much better than many grander saints, in stone, I have seen +in more conspicuous places. If ever I am in rough water and foul +weather, I hope he will not take amiss anything I have here written +about him. + +Sunday, and it happened to be St. Valentine's also, was the great +fete-day of St. Antonino. Early in the morning there was a great +clanging of bells; and the ceremony of the blessing of the pigs took +place,--I heard, but I was not abroad early enough to see it,--a +laziness for which I fancy I need not apologize, as the Catholic is +known to be an earlier religion than the Protestant. When I did go +out, the streets were thronged with people, the countryfolk having +come in for miles around. The church of the patron saint was the +great center of attraction. The blank walls of the little square in +front, and of the narrow streets near, were hung with cheap and +highly-colored lithographs of sacred subjects, for sale; tables and +booths were set up in every available space for the traffic in +pre-Raphaelite gingerbread, molasses candy, strings of dried nuts, +pinecone and pumpkin seeds, scarfs, boots and shoes, and all sorts of +trumpery. One dealer had preempted a large space on the pavement, +where he had spread out an assortment of bits of old iron, nails, +pieces of steel traps, and various fragments which might be useful to +the peasants. The press was so great, that it was difficult to get +through it; but the crowd was a picturesque one, and in the highest +good humor. The occasion was a sort of Fourth of July, but without +its worry and powder and flowing bars. + +The spectacle of the day was the procession bearing the silver image +of the saint through the streets. I think there could never be +anything finer or more impressive; at least, I like these little +fussy provincial displays,--these tag-rags and ends of grandeur, in +which all the populace devoutly believe, and at which they are lost +in wonder,--better than those imposing ceremonies at the capital, in +which nobody believes. There was first a band of musicians, walking +in more or less disorder, but blowing away with great zeal, so that +they could be heard amid the clangor of bells the peals of which +reverberate so deafeningly between the high houses of these narrow +streets. Then follow boys in white, and citizens in black and white +robes, carrying huge silken banners, triangular like sea-pennants, +and splendid silver crucifixes which flash in the sun. Then come +ecclesiastics, walking with stately step, and chanting in loud and +pleasant unison. These are followed by nobles, among whom I +recognize, with a certain satisfaction, two descendants of Tasso, +whose glowing and bigoted soul may rejoice in the devotion of his +posterity, who help to bear today the gilded platform upon which is +the solid silver image of the saint. The good old bishop walks +humbly in the rear, in full canonical rig, with crosier and miter, +his rich robes upborne by priestly attendants, his splendid footman +at a respectful distance, and his roomy carriage not far behind. + +The procession is well spread out and long; all its members carry +lighted tapers, a good many of which are not lighted, having gone out +in the wind. As I squeeze into a shallow doorway to let the cort6ge +pass, I am sorry to say that several of the young fellows in white +gowns tip me the wink, and even smile in a knowing fashion, as if it +were a mere lark, after all, and that the saint must know it. But +not so thinks the paternal bishop, who waves a blessing, which I +catch in the flash of the enormous emerald on his right hand. The +procession ends, where it started, in the patron's church; and there +his image is set up under a gorgeous canopy of crimson and gold, to +hear high mass, and some of the choicest solos, choruses, and +bravuras from the operas. + +In the public square I find a gaping and wondering crowd of rustics +collected about one of the mountebanks whose trade is not peculiar to +any country. This one might be a clock-peddler from Connecticut. He +is mounted in a one-seat vettura,, and his horse is quietly eating +his dinner out of a bag tied to his nose. There is nothing unusual +in the fellow's dress; he wears a shiny silk hat, and has one of +those grave faces which would be merry if their owner were not +conscious of serious business on hand. On the driver's perch before +him are arranged his attractions,--a box of notions, a grinning +skull, with full teeth and jaws that work on hinges, some vials of +red liquid, and a closed jar containing a most disagreeable +anatomical preparation. This latter he holds up and displays, +turning it about occasionally in an admiring manner. He is +discoursing, all the time, in the most voluble Italian. He has an +ointment, wonderfully efficacious for rheumatism and every sort of +bruise: he pulls up his sleeve, and anoints his arm with it, binding +it up with a strip of paper; for the simplest operation must be +explained to these grown children. He also pulls teeth, with an ease +and expedition hitherto unknown, and is in no want of patients among +this open-mouthed crowd. One sufferer after another climbs up into +the wagon, and goes through the operation in the public gaze. A +stolid, good-natured hind mounts the seat. The dentist examines his +mouth, and finds the offending tooth. He then turns to the crowd and +explains the case. He takes a little instrument that is neither +forceps nor turnkey, stands upon the seat, seizes the man's nose, and +jerks his head round between his knees, pulling his mouth open (there +is nothing that opens the mouth quicker than a sharp upward jerk of +the nose) with a rude jollity that sets the spectators in a roar. +Down he goes into the cavern, and digs away for a quarter of a +minute, the man the while as immovable as a stone image, when he +holds up the bloody tooth. The patient still persists in sitting +with his mouth stretched open to its widest limit, waiting for the +operation to begin, and will only close the orifice when he is well +shaken and shown the tooth. The dentist gives him some yellow liquid +to hold in his mouth, which the man insists on swallowing, wets a +handkerchief and washes his face, roughly rubbing his nose the wrong +way, and lets him go. Every step of the process is eagerly watched +by the delighted spectators. + +He is succeeded by a woman, who is put through the same heroic +treatment, and exhibits like fortitude. And so they come; and the +dentist after every operation waves the extracted trophy high in air, +and jubilates as if he had won another victory, pointing to the stone +statue yonder, and reminding them that this is the glorious day of +St. Antonino. But this is not all that this man of science does. He +has the genuine elixir d'amour, love-philters and powders which never +fail in their effects. I see the bashful girls and the sheepish +swains come slyly up to the side of the wagon, and exchange their +hard-earned francs for the hopeful preparation. O my brown beauty, +with those soft eyes and cheeks of smothered fire, you have no need +of that red philter! What a simple, childlike folk! The shrewd +fellow in the wagon is one of a race as old as Thebes and as new as +Porkopolis; his brazen face is older than the invention of bronze, +but I think he never had to do with a more credulous crowd than this. +The very cunning in the face of the peasants is that of the fox; it +is a sort of instinct, and not an intelligent suspicion. + +This is Sunday in Sorrento, under the blue sky. These peasants, who +are fooled by the mountebank and attracted by the piles of adamantine +gingerbread, do not forget to crowd the church of the saint at +vespers, and kneel there in humble faith, while the choir sings the +Agnus Dei, and the priests drone the service. Are they so different, +then, from other people? They have an idea on Capri that England is +such another island, only not so pleasant; that all Englishmen are +rich and constantly travel to escape the dreariness at home; and +that, if they are not absolutely mad, they are all a little queer. +It was a fancy prevalent in Hamlet's day. We had the English service +in the Villa Nardi in the evening. There are some Englishmen staying +here, of the class one finds in all the sunny spots of Europe, ennuye +and growling, in search of some elixir that shall bring back youth +and enjoyment. They seem divided in mind between the attractions of +the equable climate of this region and the fear of the gout which +lurks in the unfermented wine. One cannot be too grateful to the +sturdy islanders for carrying their prayers, like their drumbeat, all +round the globe; and I was much edified that night, as the reading +went on, by a row of rather battered men of the world, who stood in +line on one side of the room, and took their prayers with a certain +British fortitude, as if they were conscious of performing a +constitutional duty, and helping by the act to uphold the majesty of +English institutions. + + + + +PUNTA DELLA CAMPANELLA + +There is always a mild excitement about mounting donkeys in the +morning here for an excursion among the hills. The warm sun pouring +into the garden, the smell of oranges, the stimulating air, the +general openness and freshness, promise a day of enjoyment. There is +always a doubt as to who will go; generally a donkey wanting; +somebody wishes to join the party at the last moment; there is no end +of running up and downstairs, calling from balconies and terraces; +some never ready, and some waiting below in the sun; the whole house +in a tumult, drivers in a worry, and the sleepy animals now and then +joining in the clatter with a vocal performance that is neither a +trumpet-call nor a steam-whistle, but an indescribable noise, that +begins in agony and abruptly breaks down in despair. It is difficult +to get the train in motion. The lady who ordered Succarina has got a +strange donkey, and Macaroni has on the wrong saddle. Succarina is a +favorite, the kindest, easiest, and surest-footed of beasts,--a +diminutive animal, not bigger than a Friesland sheep; old, in fact +grizzly with years, and not unlike the aged, wizened little women who +are so common here: for beauty in this region dries up; and these +handsome Sorrento girls, if they live, and almost everybody does +live, have the prospect, in their old age, of becoming mummies, with +parchment skins. I have heard of climates that preserve female +beauty; this embalms it, only the beauty escapes in the process. As +I was saying, Succarina is little, old, and grizzly; but her head is +large, and one might be contented to be as wise as she looks. + +The party is at length mounted, and clatters away through the narrow +streets. Donkey-riding is very good for people who think they cannot +walk. It looks very much like riding, to a spectator; and it +deceives the person undertaking it into an amount of exercise equal +to walking. I have a great admiration for the donkey character. +There never was such patience under wrong treatment, such return of +devotion for injury. Their obstinacy, which is so much talked about, +is only an exercise of the right of private judgment, and an +intelligent exercise of it, no doubt, if we could take the donkey +point of view, as so many of us are accused of doing in other things. +I am certain of one thing: in any large excursion party there will be +more obstinate people than obstinate donkeys; and yet the poor brutes +get all the thwacks and thumps. We are bound to-day for the Punta +della Campanella, the extreme point of the promontory, and ten miles +away. The path lies up the steps from the new Massa carriage-road, +now on the backbone of the ridge, and now in the recesses of the +broken country. What an animated picture is the donkeycade, as it +mounts the steeps, winding along the zigzags! Hear the little +bridlebells jingling, the drivers groaning their " a-e-ugh, a-e-ugh," +the riders making a merry din of laughter, and firing off a fusillade +of ejaculations of delight and wonder. + +The road is between high walls; round the sweep of curved terraces +which rise above and below us, bearing the glistening olive; through +glens and gullies; over and under arches, vine-grown,--how little we +make use of the arch at home!--round sunny dells where orange +orchards gleam; past shrines, little chapels perched on rocks, rude +villas commanding most extensive sweeps of sea and shore. The almond +trees are in full bloom, every twig a thickly-set spike of the pink +and white blossoms; daisies and dandelions are out; the purple +crocuses sprinkle the ground, the petals exquisitely varied on the +reverse side, and the stamens of bright salmon color; the large +double anemones have come forth, certain that it is spring; on the +higher crags by the wayside the Mediterranean heather has shaken out +its delicate flowers, which fill the air with a mild fragrance; while +blue violets, sweet of scent like the English, make our path a +perfumed one. And this is winter. + +We have made a late start, owing to the fact that everybody is +captain of the expedition, and to the Sorrento infirmity that no one +is able to make up his mind about anything. It is one o'clock when +we reach a high transverse ridge, and find the headlands of the +peninsula rising before us, grim hills of limestone, one of them with +the ruins of a convent on top, and no road apparent thither, and +Capri ahead of us in the sea, the only bit of land that catches any +light; for as we have journeyed the sky has thickened, the clouds of +the sirocco have come up from the south; there has been first a mist, +and then a fine rain; the ruins on the peak of Santa Costanza are now +hid in mist. We halt for consultation. Shall we go on and brave a +wetting, or ignominiously retreat? There are many opinions, but few +decided ones. The drivers declare that it will be a bad time. One +gentleman, with an air of decision, suggests that it is best to go +on, or go back, if we do not stand here and wait. The deaf lady, +from near Dublin, being appealed to, says that, perhaps, if it is +more prudent, we had better go back if it is going to rain. It does +rain. Waterproofs are put on, umbrellas spread, backs turned to the +wind; and we look like a group of explorers under adverse +circumstances, "silent on a peak in Darien," the donkeys especially +downcast and dejected. Finally, as is usual in life, a, compromise +prevails. We decide to continue for half an hour longer and see what +the weather is. No sooner have we set forward over the brow of a +hill than it grows lighter on the sea horizon in the southwest, the +ruins on the peak become visible, Capri is in full sunlight. The +clouds lift more and more, and still hanging overhead, but with no +more rain, are like curtains gradually drawn up, opening to us a +glorious vista of sunshine and promise, an illumined, sparkling, +illimitable sea, and a bright foreground of slopes and picturesque +rocks. Before the half hour is up, there is not one of the party who +does not claim to have been the person who insisted upon going +forward. + +We halt for a moment to look at Capri, that enormous, irregular rock, +raising its huge back out of the sea) its back broken in the middle, +with the little village for a saddle. On the farther summit, above +Anacapri, a precipice of two thousand feet sheer down to the water on +the other side, hangs a light cloud. The east elevation, whence the +playful Tiberius used to amuse his green old age by casting his +prisoners eight hundred feet down into the sea, has the strong +sunlight on it; and below, the row of tooth-like rocks, which are the +extreme eastern point, shine in a warm glow. We descend through a +village, twisting about in its crooked streets. The inhabitants, who +do not see strangers every day, make free to stare at and comment on +us, and even laugh at something that seems very comical in our +appearance; which shows how ridiculous are the costumes of Paris and +New York in some places. Stalwart girls, with only an apology for +clothes, with bare legs, brown faces, and beautiful eyes, stop in +their spinning, holding the distaff suspended, while they examine us +at leisure. At our left, as we turn from the church and its sunny +piazza, where old women sit and gabble, down the ravine, is a snug +village under the mountain by the shore, with a great square medieval +tower. On the right, upon rocky points, are remains of round towers, +and temples perhaps. + +We sweep away to the left round the base of the hill, over a +difficult and stony path. Soon the last dilapidated villa is passed, +the last terrace and olive-tree are left behind; and we emerge upon a +wild, rocky slope, barren of vegetation, except little tufts of grass +and a sort of lentil; a wide sweep of limestone strata set on edge, +and crumbling in the beat of centuries, rising to a considerable +height on the left. Our path descends toward the sea, still creeping +round the end of the promontory. Scattered here and there over the +rocks, like conies, are peasants, tending a few lean cattle, and +digging grasses from the crevices. The women and children are wild +in attire and manner) and set up a clamor of begging as we pass. A +group of old hags begin beating a poor child as we approach, to +excite our compassion for the abused little object, and draw out +centimes. + +Walking ahead of the procession, which gets slowly down the rugged +path, I lose sight of my companions, and have the solitude, the sun +on the rocks, the glistening sea, all to myself. Soon I espy a man +below me sauntering down among the rocks. He sees me and moves away, +a solitary figure. I say solitary; and so it is in effect, although +he is leading a little boy, and calling to his dog, which runs back +to bark at me. Is this the brigand of whom I have read, and is he +luring me to his haunt? Probably. I follow. He throws his cloak +about his shoulders, exactly as brigands do in the opera, and loiters +on. At last there is the point in sight, a gray wall with blind +arches. The man disappears through a narrow archway, and I follow. +Within is an enormous square tower. I think it was built in Spanish +days, as an outlook for Barbary pirates. A bell hung in it, which +was set clanging when the white sails of the robbers appeared to the +southward; and the alarm was repeated up the coast, the towers were +manned, and the brown-cheeked girls flew away to the hills, I doubt +not, for the touch of the sirocco was not half so much to be dreaded +as the rough importunity of a Saracen lover. The bell is gone now, +and no Moslem rovers are in sight. The maidens we had just passed +would be safe if there were. My brigand disappears round the tower; +and I follow down steps, by a white wall, and lo! a house,--a red +stucco, Egyptian-looking building,--on the very edge of the rocks. +The man unlocks a door and goes in. I consider this an invitation, +and enter. On one side of the passage a sleeping-room, on the other +a kitchen,--not sumptuous quarters; and we come then upon a pretty +circular terrace; and there, in its glass case, is the lantern of the +point. My brigand is a lighthouse-keeper, and welcomes me in a quiet +way, glad, evidently, to see the face of a civilized being. It is +very solitary, he says. I should think so. It is the end of +everything. The Mediterranean waves beat with a dull thud on the +worn crags below. The rocks rise up to the sky behind. There is +nothing there but the sun, an occasional sail, and quiet, petrified +Capri, three miles distant across the strait. It is an excellent +place for a misanthrope to spend a week, and get cured. There must +be a very dispiriting influence prevailing here; the keeper refused +to take any money, the solitary Italian we have seen so affected. + +We returned late. The young moon, lying in the lap of the old one, +was superintending the brilliant sunset over Capri, as we passed the +last point commanding it; and the light, fading away, left us +stumbling over the rough path among the hills, darkened by the high +walls. We were not sorry to emerge upon the crest above the Massa +road. For there lay the sea, and the plain of Sorrento, with its +darkening groves and hundreds of twinkling lights. As we went down +the last descent, the bells of the town were all ringing, for it was +the eve of the fete of St. Antonino. + + + + +CAPRI + +"CAP, signor? Good day for Grott." Thus spoke a mariner, touching +his Phrygian cap. The people here abbreviate all names. With them +Massa is Mas, Meta is Met, Capri becomes Cap, the Grotta Azzurra is +reduced familiarly to Grott, and they even curtail musical Sorrento +into Serent. + +Shall we go to Capri? Should we dare return to the great Republic, +and own that we had not been into the Blue Grotto? We like to climb +the steeps here, especially towards Massa, and look at Capri. I have +read in some book that it used to be always visible from Sorrento. +But now the promontory has risen, the Capo di Sorrento has thrust out +its rocky spur with its ancient Roman masonry, and the island itself +has moved so far round to the south that Sorrento, which fronts +north, has lost sight of it. + +We never tire of watching it, thinking that it could not be spared +from the landscape. It lies only three miles from the curving end of +the promontory, and is about twenty miles due south of Naples. In +this atmosphere distances dwindle. The nearest land, to the +northwest, is the larger island of Ischia, distant nearly as far as +Naples; yet Capri has the effect of being anchored off the bay to +guard the entrance. It is really a rock, three miles and a half +long, rising straight out of the water, eight hundred feet high at +one end, and eighteen hundred feet at the other, with a depression +between. If it had been chiseled by hand and set there, it could not +be more sharply defined. So precipitous are its sides of rock, that +there are only two fit boat-landings, the marina on the north side, +and a smaller place opposite. One of those light-haired and freckled +Englishmen, whose pluck exceeds their discretion, rowed round the +island alone in rough water, last summer, against the advice of the +boatman, and unable to make a landing, and weary with the strife of +the waves, was in considerable peril. + +Sharp and clear as Capri is in outline, its contour is still most +graceful and poetic. This wonderful atmosphere softens even its +ruggedness, and drapes it with hues of enchanting beauty. Sometimes +the haze plays fantastic tricks with it,--a cloud-cap hangs on Monte +Solaro, or a mist obscures the base, and the massive summits of rock +seem to float in the air, baseless fabrics of a vision that the +rising wind will carry away perhaps. I know now what Homer means by +"wandering islands." Shall we take a boat and sail over there, and so +destroy forever another island of the imagination? The bane of +travel is the destruction of illusions. + +We like to talk about Capri, and to talk of going there. The +Sorrento people have no end of gossip about the wild island; and, +simple and primitive as they are, Capri is still more out of the +world. I do not know what enchantment there is on the island; but-- +whoever sets foot there, they say, goes insane or dies a drunkard. I +fancy the reason of this is found in the fact that the Capri girls +are raving beauties. I am not sure but the monotony of being +anchored off there in the bay, the monotony of rocks and precipices +that goats alone can climb, the monotony of a temperature that +scarcely ever, winter and summer, is below 55 or above 75 Fahrenheit +indoors, might drive one into lunacy. But I incline to think it is +due to the handsome Capri girls. + +There are beautiful girls in Sorrento, with a beauty more than skin +deep, a glowing, hidden fire, a ripeness like that of the grape and +the peach which grows in the soft air and the sun. And they wither, +like grapes that hang upon the stem. I have never seen a handsome, +scarcely a decent-looking, old woman here. They are lank and dry, +and their bones are covered with parchment. One of these brown- +cheeked girls, with large, longing eyes, gives the stranger a start, +now and then, when he meets her in a narrow way with a basket of +oranges on her head. I hope he has the grace to go right by. Let +him meditate what this vision of beauty will be like in twenty ears. + +The Capri girls are famed as magnificent beauties, but they fade like +their mainland sisters. The Saracens used to descend on their +island, and carry them off to their harems. The English, a very +adventurous people, who have no harems, have followed the Saracens. +The young lords and gentlemen have a great fondness for Capri. I +hear gossip enough about elopements, and not seldom marriages, with +the island girls,--bright girls, with the Greek mother-wit, and +surpassingly handsome; but they do not bear transportation to +civilized life (any more than some of the native wines do): they +accept no intellectual culture; and they lose their beauty as they +grow old. What then? The young English blade, who was intoxicated +by beauty into an injudicious match and might, as the proverb says, +have gone insane if he could not have made it, takes to drink now, +and so fulfills the other alternative. Alas! the fatal gift of +beauty. + +But I do not think Capri is so dangerous as it is represented. For +(of course we went to Capri) neither at the marina, where a crowd of +bare-legged, vociferous maidens with donkeys assailed us, nor in the +village above, did I see many girls for whom and one little isle a +person would forswear the world. But I can believe that they grow +here. One of our donkey girls was a handsome, dark-skinned, black- +eyed girl; but her little sister, a mite of a being of six years, who +could scarcely step over the small stones in the road, and was forced +to lead the donkey by her sister in order to establish another lien +on us for buona mano, was a dirty little angel in rags, and her great +soft black eyes will look somebody into the asylum or the drunkard's +grave in time, I have no doubt. There was a stout, manly, handsome +little fellow of five years, who established himself as the guide and +friend of the tallest of our party. His hat was nearly gone; he was +sadly out of repair in the rear; his short legs made the act of +walking absurd; but he trudged up the hill with a certain dignity. +And there was nothing mercenary about his attachment: he and his +friend got upon very cordial terms: they exchanged gifts of shells +and copper coin, but nothing was said about pay. + +Nearly all the inhabitants, young and old, joined us in lively +procession, up the winding road of three quarters of a mile, to the +town. At the deep gate, entering between thick walls, we stopped to +look at the sea. The crowd and clamor at our landing had been so +great that we enjoyed the sight of the quiet old woman sitting here +in the sun, and the few beggars almost too lazy to stretch out their +hands. Within the gate is a large paved square, with the government +offices and the tobacco-shop on one side, and the church opposite; +between them, up a flight of broad stone steps, is the Hotel Tiberio. +Our donkeys walk up them and into the hotel. The church and hotel +are six hundred years old; the hotel was a villa belonging to Joanna +II. of Naples. We climb to the roof of the quaint old building, and +sit there to drink in the strange oriental scene. The landlord says +it is like Jaffa or Jerusalem. The landlady, an Irish woman from +Devonshire, says it is six francs a day. In what friendly +intercourse the neighbors can sit on these flat roofs! How sightly +this is, and yet how sheltered! To the east is the height where +Augustus, and after him Tiberius, built palaces. To the west, up +that vertical wall, by means of five hundred steps cut in the face of +the rock, we go to reach the tableland of Anacapri, the primitive +village of that name, hidden from view here; the medieval castle of +Barbarossa, which hangs over a frightful precipice; and the height of +Monte Solaro. The island is everywhere strewn with Roman ruins, and +with faint traces of the Greeks. + +Capri turns out not to be a barren rock. Broken and picturesque as +it is, it is yet covered with vegetation. There is not a foot, one +might say a point, of soil that does not bear something; and there is +not a niche in the rock, where a scrap of dirt will stay, that is not +made useful. The whole island is terraced. The most wonderful thing +about it, after all, is its masonry. You come to think, after a +time, that the island is not natural rock, but a mass of masonry. If +the labor that has been expended here, only to erect platforms for +the soil to rest on, had been given to our country, it would have +built half a dozen Pacific railways, and cut a canal through the +Isthmus. + +But the Blue Grotto? Oh, yes! Is it so blue? That depends upon the +time of day, the sun, the clouds, and something upon the person who +enters it. It is frightfully blue to some. We bend down in our +rowboat, slide into the narrow opening which is three feet high, and +passing into the spacious cavern, remain there for half an hour. It +is, to be sure, forty feet high, and a hundred by a hundred and fifty +in extent, with an arched roof, and clear water for a floor. The +water appears to be as deep as the roof is high, and is of a light, +beautiful blue, in contrast with the deep blue of the bay. At the +entrance the water is illuminated, and there is a pleasant, mild +light within: one has there a novel subterranean sensation; but it +did not remind me of anything I have seen in the "Arabian Nights." I +have seen pictures of it that were much finer. + +As we rowed close to the precipice in returning, I saw many similar +openings, not so deep, and perhaps only sham openings; and the +water-line was fretted to honeycomb by the eating waves. Beneath the +water-line, and revealed here and there when the waves receded, was a +line of bright red coral. + + + + +THE STORY OF FIAMMETTA + +At vespers on the fete of St. Antonino, and in his church, I saw the +Signorina Fiammetta. I stood leaning against a marble pillar near +the altar-steps, during the service, when I saw the young girl +kneeling on the pavement in act of prayer. Her black lace veil had +fallen a little back from her head; and there was something in her +modest attitude and graceful figure that made her conspicuous among +all her kneeling companions, with their gay kerchiefs and bright +gowns. When she rose and sat down, with folded hands and eyes +downcast, there was something so pensive in her subdued mien that I +could not take my eyes from her. To say that she had the rich olive +complexion, with the gold struggling through, large, lustrous black +eyes, and harmonious features, is only to make a weak photograph, +when I should paint a picture in colors and infuse it with the sweet +loveliness of a maiden on the way to sainthood. I was sure that I +had seen her before, looking down from the balcony of a villa just +beyond the Roman wall, for the face was not one that even the most +unimpressible idler would forget. I was sure that, young as she was, +she had already a history; had lived her life, and now walked amid +these groves and old streets in a dream. The story which I heard is +not long. + +In the drawing-room of the Villa Nardi was shown, and offered for +sale, an enormous counterpane, crocheted in white cotton. Loop by +loop, it must have been an immense labor to knit it; for it was +fashioned in pretty devices, and when spread out was rich and showy +enough for the royal bed of a princess. It had been crocheted by +Fiammetta for her marriage, the only portion the poor child could +bring to that sacrament. Alas! the wedding was never to be; and the +rich work, into which her delicate fingers had knit so many maiden +dreams and hopes and fears, was offered for sale in the resort of +strangers. It could not have been want only that induced her to put +this piece of work in the market, but the feeling, also, that the +time never again could return when she would have need of it. I had +no desire to purchase such a melancholy coverlet, but I could well +enough fancy why she would wish to part with what must be rather a +pall than a decoration in her little chamber. + +Fiammetta lived with her mother in a little villa, the roof of which +is in sight from my sunny terrace in the Villa Nardi, just to the +left of the square old convent tower, rising there out of the silver +olive-boughs,--a tumble-down sort of villa, with a flat roof and odd +angles and parapets, in the midst of a thrifty but small grove of +lemons and oranges. They were poor enough, or would be in any +country where physical wants are greater than here, and yet did not +belong to that lowest class, the young girls of which are little more +than beasts of burden, accustomed to act as porters, bearing about on +their heads great loads of stone, wood, water, and baskets of oranges +in the shipping season. She could not have been forced to such +labor, or she never would have had the time to work that wonderful +coverlet. + +Giuseppe was an honest and rather handsome young fellow of Sorrento, +industrious and good-natured, who did not bother his head much about +learning. He was, however, a skillful workman in the celebrated +inlaid and mosaic woodwork of the place, and, it is said, had even +invented some new figures for the inlaid pictures in colored woods. +He had a little fancy for the sea as well, and liked to pull an oar +over to Capri on occasion, by which he could earn a few francs easier +than he could saw them out of the orangewood. For the stupid fellow, +who could not read a word in his prayer-book, had an idea of thrift +in his head, and already, I suspect, was laying up liras with an +object. There are one or two dandies in Sorrento who attempt to +dress as they do in Naples. Giuseppe was not one of these; but there +was not a gayer or handsomer gallant than he on Sunday, or one more +looked at by the Sorrento girls, when he had on his clean suit and +his fresh red Phrygian cap. At least the good Fiammetta thought so, +when she met him at church, though I feel sure she did not allow even +his handsome figure to come between her and the Virgin. At any rate, +there can be no doubt of her sentiments after church, when she and +her mother used to walk with him along the winding Massa road above +the sea, and stroll down to the shore to sit on the greensward over +the Temple of Hercules, or the Roman Baths, or the remains of the +villa of C. Fulvius Cunctatus Cocles, or whatever those ruins +subterranean are, there on the Capo di Sorrento. Of course, this is +mere conjecture of mine. They may have gone on the hills behind the +town instead, or they may have stood leaning over the garden-wall of +her mother's little villa, looking at the passers-by in the deep +lane, thinking about nothing in the world, and talking about it all +the sunny afternoon, until Ischia was purple with the last light, and +the olive terraces behind them began to lose their gray bloom. All I +do know is, that they were in love, blossoming out in it as the +almond-trees do here in February; and that all the town knew it, and +saw a wedding in the future, just as plain as you can see Capri from +the heights above the town. + +It was at this time that the wonderful counterpane began to grow, to +the continual astonishment of Giuseppe, to whom it seemed a marvel of +skill and patience, and who saw what love and sweet hope Fiammetta +was knitting into it with her deft fingers. I declare, as I think of +it, the white cotton spread out on her knees, in such contrast to the +rich olive of her complexion and her black shiny hair, while she +knits away so merrily, glancing up occasionally with those liquid, +laughing eyes to Giuseppe, who is watching her as if she were an +angel right out of the blue sky, I am tempted not to tell this story +further, but to leave the happy two there at the open gate of life, +and to believe that they entered in. + +This was about the time of the change of government, after this +region had come to be a part of the Kingdom of Italy. After the +first excitement was over, and the simple people found they were not +all made rich, nor raised to a condition in which they could live +without work, there began to be some dissatisfaction. Why the +convents need have been suppressed, and especially the poor nuns +packed off, they couldn't see; and then the taxes were heavier than +ever before; instead of being supported by the government, they had +to support it; and, worst of all, the able young fellows must still +go for soldiers. Just as one was learning his trade, or perhaps had +acquired it, and was ready to earn his living and begin to make a +home for his wife, he must pass the three best years of his life in +the army. The conscription was relentless. + +The time came to Giuseppe, as it did to the others. I never heard +but he was brave enough; there was no storm on the Mediterranean that +he dare not face in his little boat; and he would not have objected +to a campaign with the red shirts of Garibaldi. But to be torn away +from his occupations by which he was daily laying aside a little for +himself and Fiammetta, and to leave her for three years,--that seemed +dreadful to him. Three years is a longtime; and though he had no +doubt of the pretty Fiammetta, yet women are women, said the shrewd +fellow to himself, and who knows what might happen, if a gallant came +along who could read and write, as Fiammetta could, and, besides, +could play the guitar? + +The result was, that Giuseppe did not appear at the mustering-office +on the day set; and, when the file of soldiers came for him, he was +nowhere to be found. He had fled to the mountains. I scarcely know +what his plan was, but he probably trusted to some good luck to +escape the conscription altogether, if he could shun it now; and, at +least, I know that he had many comrades who did the same, so that at +times the mountains were full of young fellows who were lurking in +them to escape the soldiers. And they fared very roughly usually, +and sometimes nearly perished from hunger; for though the sympathies +of the peasants were undoubtedly with the quasi-outlaws rather than +with the carbineers, yet the latter were at every hamlet in the +hills, and liable to visit every hut, so that any relief extended to +the fugitives was attended with great danger; and, besides, the +hunted men did not dare to venture from their retreats. Thus +outlawed and driven to desperation by hunger, these fugitives, whom +nobody can defend for running away from their duties as citizens, +became brigands. A cynical German, who was taken by them some years +ago on the road to Castellamare, a few miles above here, and held for +ransom, declared that they were the most honest fellows he had seen +in Italy; but I never could see that he intended the remark as any +compliment to them. It is certain that the inhabitants of all these +towns held very loose ideas on the subject of brigandage: the poor +fellows, they used to say, only robbed because they were hungry, and +they must live somehow. + +What Fiammetta thought, down in her heart, is not told: but I presume +she shared the feelings of those about her concerning the brigands, +and, when she heard that Giuseppe had joined them, was more anxious +for the safety of his body than of his soul; though I warrant she did +not forget either, in her prayers to the Virgin and St. Antonino. +And yet those must have been days, weeks, months, of terrible anxiety +to the poor child; and if she worked away at the counterpane, netting +in that elaborate border, as I have no doubt she did, it must have +been with a sad heart and doubtful fingers. I think that one of the +psychological sensitives could distinguish the parts of the bedspread +that were knit in the sunny days from those knit in the long hours of +care and deepening anxiety. + +It was rarely that she received any message from him and it was then +only verbal and of the briefest; he was in the mountains above +Amalfi; one day he had come so far round as the top of the Great St. +Angelo, from which he could look down upon the piano of Sorrento, +where the little Fiammetta was; or he had been on the hills near +Salerno, hunted and hungry; or his company had descended upon some +travelers going to Paestum, made a successful haul, and escaped into +the steep mountains beyond. He didn't intend to become a regular +bandit, not at all. He hoped that something might happen so that he +could steal back into Sorrento, unmarked by the government; or, at +least, that he could escape away to some other country or island, +where Fiammetta could join him. Did she love him yet, as in the old +happy days? As for him, she was now everything to him; and he would +willingly serve three or thirty years in the army, if the government +could forget he had been a brigand, and permit him to have a little +home with Fiammetta at the end of the probation. There was not much +comfort in all this, but the simple fellow could not send anything +more cheerful; and I think it used to feed the little maiden's heart +to hear from him, even in this downcast mood, for his love for her +was a dear certainty, and his absence and wild life did not dim it. + +My informant does not know how long this painful life went on, nor +does it matter much. There came a day when the government was shamed +into new vigor against the brigands. Some English people of +consequence (the German of whom I have spoken was with them) had been +captured, and it had cost them a heavy ransom. The number of the +carbineers was quadrupled in the infested districts, soldiers +penetrated the fastnesses of the hills, there were daily fights with +the banditti; and, to show that this was no sham, some of them were +actually shot, and others were taken and thrown into prison. Among +those who were not afraid to stand and fight, and who would not be +captured, was our Giuseppe. One day the Italia newspaper of Naples +had an account of a fight with brigands; and in the list of those who +fell was the name of Giuseppe---, of Sorrento, shot through the head, +as he ought to have been, and buried without funeral among the rocks. + +This was all. But when the news was read in the little post office +in Sorrento, it seemed a great deal more than it does as I write it; +for, if Giuseppe had an enemy in the village, it was not among the +people; and not one who heard the news did not think at once of the +poor girl to whom it would be more than a bullet through the heart. +And so it was. The slender hope of her life then went out. I am +told that there was little change outwardly, and that she was as +lovely as before; but a great cloud of sadness came over her, in +which she was always enveloped, whether she sat at home, or walked +abroad in the places where she and Giuseppe used to wander. The +simple people respected her grief, and always made a tender-hearted +stillness when the bereft little maiden went through the streets,--a +stillness which she never noticed, for she never noticed anything +apparently. The bishop himself when he walked abroad could not be +treated with more respect. + +This was all the story of the sweet Fiammetta that was confided to +me. And afterwards, as I recalled her pensive face that evening as +she kneeled at vespers, I could not say whether, after all, she was +altogether to be pitied, in the holy isolation of her grief, which I +am sure sanctified her, and, in some sort, made her life complete. +For I take it that life, even in this sunny Sorrento, is not alone a +matter of time. + + + + +ST. MARIA A CASTELLO + +The Great St. Angelo and that region are supposed to be the haunts of +brigands. From those heights they spy out the land, and from thence +have, more than once, descended upon the sea-road between +Castellamare and Sorrento, and caught up English and German +travelers. This elevation commands, also, the Paestum way. We have +no faith in brigands in these days; for in all our remote and lonely +explorations of this promontory we have never met any but the most +simple-hearted and good-natured people, who were quite as much afraid +of us as we were of them. But there are not wanting stories, every +day, to keep alive the imagination of tourists. + +We are waiting in the garden this sunny, enticing morning-just the +day for a tramp among the purple hills--for our friend, the long +Englishman, who promised, over night, to go with us. This excellent, +good-natured giant, whose head rubs the ceiling of any room in the +house, has a wife who is fond of him, and in great dread of the +brigands. He comes down with a sheepish air, at length, and informs +us that his wife won't let him go. + +"Of course I can go, if I like," he adds. "But the fact is, I have +n't slept much all night: she kept asking me if I was going!" On the +whole, the giant don't care to go. There are things more to be +feared than brigands. + +The expedition is, therefore, reduced to two unarmed persons. In the +piazza we pick up a donkey and his driver for use in case of +accident; and, mounting the driver on the donkey,--an arrangement +that seems entirely satisfactory to him,--we set forward. If +anything can bring back youth, it is a day of certain sunshine and a +bit of unexplored country ahead, with a whole day in which to wander +in it without a care or a responsibility. We walk briskly up the +walled road of the piano, striking at the overhanging golden fruit +with our staves; greeting the orange-girls who come down the side +lanes; chaffing with the drivers, the beggars, the old women who sit +in the sun; looking into the open doors of houses and shops upon +women weaving, boys and girls slicing up heaps of oranges, upon the +makers of macaroni, the sellers of sour wine, the merry shoemakers, +whose little dens are centers of gossip here, as in all the East: the +whole life of these people is open and social; to be on the street is +to be at home. + +We wind up the steep hill behind Meta, every foot of which is +terraced for olive-trees, getting, at length, views over the wayside +wall of the plain and bay and rising into the purer air and the scent +of flowers and other signs of coming spring, to the little village of +Arola, with its church and bell, its beggars and idlers,--just a +little street of houses jammed in between the hills of Camaldoli and +Pergola, both of which we know well. + +Upon the cliff by Pergola is a stone house, in front of which I like +to lie, looking straight down a thousand or two feet upon the roofs +of Meta, the map of the plain, and the always fascinating bay. I +went down the backbone of the limestone ridge towards the sea the +other afternoon, before sunset, and unexpectedly came upon a group of +little stone cottages on a ledge, which are quite hidden from below. +The inhabitants were as much surprised to see a foreigner break +through their seclusion as I was to come upon them. However, they +soon recovered presence of mind to ask for a little money. Half a +dozen old hags with the parchment also sat upon the rocks in the sun, +spinning from distaffs, exactly as their ancestors did in Greece two +thousand years ago, I doubt not. I do not know that it is true, as +Tasso wrote, that this climate is so temperate and serene that one +almost becomes immortal in it. Since two thousand years all these +coasts have changed more or less, risen and sunk, and the temples and +palaces of two civilizations have tumbled into the sea. Yet I do not +know but these tranquil old women have been sitting here on the rocks +all the while, high above change and worry and decay, gossiping and +spinning, like Fates. Their yarn must be uncanny. + +But we wander. It is difficult to go to any particular place here; +impossible to write of it in a direct manner. Our mulepath continues +most delightful, by slopes of green orchards nestled in sheltered +places, winding round gorges, deep and ragged with loose stones, and +groups of rocks standing on the edge of precipices, like medieval +towers, and through village after village tucked away in the hills. +The abundance of population is a constant surprise. As we proceed, +the people are wilder and much more curious about us, having, it is +evident, seen few strangers lately. Women and children, half-dressed +in dirty rags which do not hide the form, come out from their low +stone huts upon the windy terraces, and stand, arms akimbo, staring +at us, and not seldom hailing us in harsh voices. Their sole dress +is often a single split and torn gown, not reaching to the bare +knees, evidently the original of those in the Naples ballet (it will, +no doubt, be different when those creatures exchange the ballet for +the ballot); and, with their tangled locks and dirty faces, they seem +rather beasts than women. Are their husbands brigands, and are they +in wait for us in the chestnut-grove yonder? + +The grove is charming; and the men we meet there gathering sticks are +not so surly as the women. They point the way; and when we emerge +from the wood, St. Maria a Castello is before us on a height, its +white and red church shining in the sun. We climb up to it. In +front is a broad, flagged terrace; and on the edge are deep wells in +the rock, from which we draw cool water. Plentifully victualed, one +could stand a siege here, and perhaps did in the gamey Middle Ages. +Monk or soldier need not wish a pleasanter place to lounge. +Adjoining the church, but lower, is a long, low building with three +rooms, at once house and stable, the stable in the center, though all +of them have hay in the lofts. The rooms do not communicate. That +is the whole of the town of St. Maria a Castello. + +In one of the apartments some rough-looking peasants are eating +dinner, a frugal meal: a dish of unclean polenta, a plate of grated +cheese, a basket of wormy figs, and some sour red wine; no bread, no +meat. They looked at us askance, and with no sign of hospitality. +We made friends, however, with the ragged children, one of whom took +great delight in exhibiting his litter of puppies; and we at length +so far worked into the good graces of the family that the mother was +prevailed upon to get us some milk and eggs. I followed the woman +into one of the apartments to superintend the cooking of the eggs. +It was a mere den, with an earth floor. A fire of twigs was kindled +against the farther wall, and a little girl, half-naked, carrying a +baby still more economically clad, was stooping down to blow the +smudge into a flame. The smoke, some of it, went over our heads out +at the door. We boiled the eggs. We desired salt; and the woman +brought us pepper in the berry. We insisted on salt, and at length +got the rock variety, which we pounded on the rocks. We ate our eggs +and drank our milk on the terrace, with the entire family interested +spectators. The men were the hardest-looking ruffians we had met +yet: they were making a bit of road near by, but they seemed capable +of turning their hands to easier money-getting; and there couldn't be +a more convenient place than this. + +When our repast was over, and I had drunk a glass of wine with the +proprietor, I offered to pay him, tendering what I knew was a fair +price in this region. With some indignation of gesture, he refused +it, intimating that it was too little. He seemed to be seeking an +excuse for a quarrel with us; so I pocketed the affront, money and +all, and turned away. He appeared to be surprised, and going indoors +presently came out with a bottle of wine and glasses, and followed us +down upon the rocks, pressing us to drink. Most singular conduct; no +doubt drugged wine; travelers put into deep sleep; robbed; thrown +over precipice; diplomatic correspondence, flattering, but no +compensation to them. Either this, or a case of hospitality. We +declined to drink, and the brigand went away. + +We sat down upon the jutting ledge of a precipice, the like of which +is not in the world: on our left, the rocky, bare side of St. Angelo, +against which the sunshine dashes in waves; below us, sheer down two +thousand feet) the city of Positano, a nest of brown houses, thickly +clustered on a conical spur, and lying along the shore, the home of +three thousand people,--with a running jump I think I could land in +the midst of it,--a pygmy city, inhabited by mites, as we look down +upon it; a little beach of white sand, a sailboat lying on it, and +some fishermen just embarking; a long hotel on the beach; beyond, by +the green shore, a country seat charmingly situated amid trees and +vines; higher up, the ravine-seamed hill, little stone huts, bits of +ruin, towers, arches. How still it is! All the stiller that I can, +now and then, catch the sound of an axe, and hear the shouts of some +children in a garden below. How still the sea is! How many ages has +it been so? Does the purple mist always hang there upon the waters +of Salerno Bay, forever hiding from the gaze Paestum and its temples, +and all that shore which is so much more Grecian than Roman? + +After all, it is a satisfaction to turn to the towering rock of St. +Angelo; not a tree, not a shrub, not a spire of grass, on its +perpendicular side. We try to analyze the satisfaction there is in +such a bald, treeless, verdureless mass. We can grasp it +intellectually, in its sharp solidity, which is undisturbed by any +ornament: it is, to the mind, like some complete intellectual +performance; the mind rests on it, like a demonstration in Euclid. +And yet what a color of beauty it takes on in the distance! + +When we return, the bandits have all gone to their road-making: the +suspicious landlord is nowhere to be seen. We call the woman from +the field, and give her money, which she seemed not to expect, and +for which she shows no gratitude. Life appears to be indifferent to +these people. But, if these be brigands, we prefer them to those of +Naples, and even to the innkeepers of England. As we saunter home in +the pleasant afternoon, the vesper-bells are calling to each other, +making the sweetest echoes of peace everywhere in the hills, and all +the piano is jubilant with them, as we come down the steeps at +sunset. + +"You see there was no danger," said the giant to his wife that +evening at the supper-table. + +"You would have found there was danger, if you had gone," returned +the wife of the giant significantly. + + + + +THE MYTH OF THE SIRENS + +I like to walk upon the encircling ridge behind Sorrento, which +commands both bays. From there I can look down upon the Isles of the +Sirens. The top is a broad, windy strip of pasture, which falls off +abruptly to the Bay of Salerno on the south: a regular embankment of +earth runs along the side of the precipitous steeps, towards +Sorrento. It appears to be a line of defence for musketry, such as +our armies used to throw up: whether the French, who conducted siege +operations from this promontory on Capri, under Murat, had anything +to do with it, does not appear. + +Walking there yesterday, we met a woman shepherdess, cowherd, or +siren--standing guard over three steers while they fed; a scantily- +clad, brown woman, who had a distaff in her hand, and spun the flax +as she watched the straying cattle, an example of double industry +which the men who tend herds never imitate. Very likely her +ancestors so spun and tended cattle on the plains of Thessaly. We +gave the rigid woman good-morning, but she did not heed or reply; we +made some inquiries as to paths, but she ignored us; we bade her +good-day, and she scowled at us: she only spun. She was so out of +tune with the people, and the gentle influences of this region, that +we could only regard her as an anomaly,--the representative of some +perversity and evil genius, which, no doubt, lurks here as it does +elsewhere in the world. She could not have descended from either of +the groups of the Sirens; for she was not fascinating enough to be +fatal. + +I like to look upon these islets or rocks of the Sirens, barren and +desolate, with a few ruins of the Roman time and remains of the +Middle-Age prisons of the doges of Amalfi; but I do not care to +dissipate any illusions by going to them. I remember how the Sirens +sat on flowery meads by the shore and sang, and are vulgarly supposed +to have allured passing mariners to a life of ignoble pleasure, and +then let them perish, hungry with all unsatisfied longings. The +bones of these unfortunates, whitening on the rocks, of which Virgil +speaks, I could not see. Indeed, I think any one who lingers long in +this region will doubt if they were ever there, and will come to +believe that the characters of the Sirens are popularly misconceived. +Allowing Ulysses to be only another name for the sun-god, who appears +in myths as Indra, Apollo, William Tell, the sure-hitter, the great +archer, whose arrows are sunbeams, it is a degrading conception of +him that he was obliged to lash himself to the mast when he went into +action with the Sirens, like Farragut at Mobile, though for a very +different reason. We should be forced to believe that Ulysses was +not free from the basest mortal longings, and that he had not +strength of mind to resist them, but must put himself in durance; as +our moderns who cannot control their desires go into inebriate +asylums. + +Mr. Ruskin says that "the Sirens are the great constant desires, the +infinite sicknesses of heart, which, rightly placed, give life, and, +wrongly placed, waste it away; so that there are two groups of +Sirens, one noble and saving, as the other is fatal." Unfortunately +we are all, as were the Greeks, ministered unto by both these groups, +but can fortunately, on the other hand, choose which group we will +listen to the singing of, though the strains are somewhat mingled; +as, for instance, in the modern opera, where the music quite as often +wastes life away, as gives to it the energy of pure desire. Yet, if +I were to locate the Sirens geographically, I should place the +beneficent desires on this coast, and the dangerous ones on that of +wicked Baiae; to which group the founder of Naples no doubt belonged. + +Nowhere, perhaps, can one come nearer to the beautiful myths of +Greece, the springlike freshness of the idyllic and heroic age, than +on this Sorrentine promontory. It was no chance that made these +coasts the home of the kind old monarch Eolus, inventor of sails and +storm-signals. On the Telegrafo di Mare Cuccola is a rude +signal-apparatus for communication with Capri,--to ascertain if wind +and wave are propitious for entrance to the Blue Grotto,--which +probably was not erected by Eolus, although he doubtless used this +sightly spot as one of his stations. That he dwelt here, in great +content, with his six sons and six daughters, the Months, is nearly +certain; and I feel as sure that the Sirens, whose islands were close +at hand, were elevators and not destroyers of the primitive races +living here. + +It seems to me this must be so; because the pilgrim who surrenders +himself to the influences of these peaceful and sun-inundated coasts, +under this sky which the bright Athena loved and loves, loses, by and +by, those longings and heart-sicknesses which waste away his life, +and comes under the dominion, more and more, of those constant +desires after that which is peaceful and enduring and has the saving +quality of purity. I know, indeed, that it is not always so; and +that, as Boreas is a better nurse of rugged virtue than Zephyr, so +the soft influences of this clime only minister to the fatal desires +of some: and such are likely to sail speedily back to Naples. + +The Sirens, indeed, are everywhere; and I do not know that we can go +anywhere that we shall escape the infinite longings, or satisfy them. +Here, in the purple twilight of history, they offered men the choice +of good and evil. I have a fancy, that, in stepping out of the whirl +of modern life upon a quiet headland, so blessed of two powers, the +air and the sea, we are able to come to a truer perception of the +drift of the eternal desires within us. But I cannot say whether it +is a subtle fascination, linked with these mythic and moral +influences, or only the physical loveliness of this promontory, that +lures travelers hither, and detains them on flowery meads. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of Saunterings, by Charles Dudley Warner + diff --git a/old/cwsnt10.zip b/old/cwsnt10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d598b0d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cwsnt10.zip diff --git a/old/cwsnt11.txt b/old/cwsnt11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a40b34 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cwsnt11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8531 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Saunterings by Charles Dudley Warner +#32 in our series by Charles Dudley Warner + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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The only compromise I can +suggest is, that we shall go somewhere, and not learn anything about +it. The instinct of the public against any thing like information in +a volume of this kind is perfectly justifiable; and the reader will +perhaps discover that this is illy adapted for a text-book in +schools, or for the use of competitive candidates in the +civil-service examinations. + +Years ago, people used to saunter over the Atlantic, and spend weeks +in filling journals with their monotonous emotions. That is all +changed now, and there is a misapprehension that the Atlantic has +been practically subdued; but no one ever gets beyond the "rolling +forties" without having this impression corrected. + +I confess to have been deceived about this Atlantic, the roughest and +windiest of oceans. If you look at it on the map, it does n't appear +to be much, and, indeed, it is spoken of as a ferry. What with the +eight and nine days' passages over it, and the laying of the cable, +which annihilates distance, I had the impression that its tedious +three thousand and odd miles had been, somehow, partly done away +with; but they are all there. When one has sailed a thousand miles +due east and finds that he is then nowhere in particular, but is +still out, pitching about on an uneasy sea, under an inconstant sky, +and that a thousand miles more will not make any perceptible change, +he begins to have some conception of the unconquerable ocean. +Columbus rises in my estimation. + +I was feeling uncomfortable that nothing had been done for the memory +of Christopher Columbus, when I heard some months ago that thirty- +seven guns had been fired off for him in Boston. It is to be hoped +that they were some satisfaction to him. They were discharged by +countrymen of his, who are justly proud that he should have been +able, after a search of only a few weeks, to find a land where the +hand-organ had never been heard. The Italians, as a people, have not +profited much by this discovery; not so much, indeed, as the +Spaniards, who got a reputation by it which even now gilds their +decay. That Columbus was born in Genoa entitles the Italians to +celebrate the great achievement of his life; though why they should +discharge exactly thirty-seven guns I do not know. Columbus did not +discover the United States: that we partly found ourselves, and +partly bought, and gouged the Mexicans out of. He did not even +appear to know that there was a continent here. He discovered the +West Indies, which he thought were the East; and ten guns would be +enough for them. It is probable that he did open the way to the +discovery of the New World. If he had waited, however, somebody else +would have discovered it,--perhaps some Englishman; and then we might +have been spared all the old French and Spanish wars. Columbus let +the Spaniards into the New World; and their civilization has +uniformly been a curse to it. If he had brought Italians, who +neither at that time showed, nor since have shown, much inclination +to come, we should have had the opera, and made it a paying +institution by this time. Columbus was evidently a person who liked +to sail about, and did n't care much for consequences. + +Perhaps it is not an open question whether Columbus did a good thing +in first coming over here, one that we ought to celebrate with +salutes and dinners. The Indians never thanked him, for one party. +The Africans had small ground to be gratified for the market he +opened for them. Here are two continents that had no use for him. +He led Spain into a dance of great expectations, which ended in her +gorgeous ruin. He introduced tobacco into Europe, and laid the +foundation for more tracts and nervous diseases than the Romans had +in a thousand years. He introduced the potato into Ireland +indirectly; and that caused such a rapid increase of population, that +the great famine was the result, and an enormous emigration to New +York--hence Tweed and the constituency of the Ring. Columbus is +really responsible for New York. He is responsible for our whole +tremendous experiment of democracy, open to all comers, the best +three in five to win. We cannot yet tell how it is coming out, what +with the foreigners and the communists and the women. On our great +stage we are playing a piece of mingled tragedy and comedy, with what +denouement we cannot yet say. If it comes out well, we ought to +erect a monument to Christopher as high as the one at Washington +expects to be; and we presume it is well to fire a salute +occasionally to keep the ancient mariner in mind while we are trying +our great experiment. And this reminds me that he ought to have had +a naval salute. + +There is something almost heroic in the idea of firing off guns for a +man who has been stone-dead for about four centuries. It must have +had a lively and festive sound in Boston, when the meaning of the +salute was explained. No one could hear those great guns without a +quicker beating of the heart in gratitude to the great discoverer who +had made Boston possible. We are trying to "realize" to ourselves +the importance of the 12th of October as an anniversary of our +potential existence. If any one wants to see how vivid is the +gratitude to Columbus, let him start out among our business-houses +with a subscription-paper to raise money for powder to be exploded in +his honor. And yet Columbus was a well-meaning man; and if he did +not discover a perfect continent, he found the only one that was +left. + +Columbus made voyaging on the Atlantic popular, and is responsible +for much of the delusion concerning it. Its great practical use in +this fast age is to give one an idea of distance and of monotony. + +I have listened in my time with more or less pleasure to very +rollicking songs about the sea, the flashing brine, the spray and the +tempest's roar, the wet sheet and the flowing sea, a life on the +ocean wave, and all the rest of it. To paraphrase a land proverb, +let me write the songs of the sea, and I care not who goes to sea and +sings 'em. A square yard of solid ground is worth miles of the +pitching, turbulent stuff. Its inability to stand still for one +second is the plague of it. To lie on deck when the sun shines, and +swing up and down, while the waves run hither and thither and toss +their white caps, is all well enough to lie in your narrow berth and +roll from side to side all night long; to walk uphill to your +state-room door, and, when you get there, find you have got to the +bottom of the hill, and opening the door is like lifting up a +trap-door in the floor; to deliberately start for some object, and, +before you know it, to be flung against it like a bag of sand; to +attempt to sit down on your sofa, and find you are sitting up; to +slip and slide and grasp at everything within reach, and to meet +everybody leaning and walking on a slant, as if a heavy wind were +blowing, and the laws of gravitation were reversed; to lie in your +berth, and hear all the dishes on the cabin-table go sousing off +against the wall in a general smash; to sit at table holding your +soup-plate with one hand, and watching for a chance to put your spoon +in when it comes high tide on your side of the dish; to vigilantly +watch, the lurch of the heavy dishes while holding your glass and +your plate and your knife and fork, and not to notice it when Brown, +who sits next you, gets the whole swash of the gravy from the +roast-beef dish on his light-colored pantaloons, and see the look of +dismay that only Brown can assume on such an occasion; to see Mrs. +Brown advance to the table, suddenly stop and hesitate, two waiters +rush at her, with whom she struggles wildly, only to go down in a +heap with them in the opposite corner; to see her partially recover, +but only to shoot back again through her state-room door, and be seen +no more;--all this is quite pleasant and refreshing if you are tired +of land, but you get quite enough of it in a couple of weeks. You +become, in time, even a little tired of the Jew who goes about +wishing "he vas a veek older;" and the eccentric man, who looks at no +one, and streaks about the cabin and on deck, without any purpose, +and plays shuffle-board alone, always beating himself, and goes on +the deck occasionally through the sky-light instead of by the cabin +door, washes himself at the salt-water pump, and won't sleep in his +state-room, saying he is n't used to sleeping in a bed,--as if the +hard narrow, uneasy shelf of a berth was anything like a bed!--and +you have heard at last pretty nearly all about the officers, and +their twenty and thirty years of sea-life, and every ocean and port +on the habitable globe where they have been. There comes a day when +you are quite ready for land, and the scream of the "gull" is a +welcome sound. + +Even the sailors lose the vivacity of the first of the voyage. The +first two or three days we had their quaint and half-doleful singing +in chorus as they pulled at the ropes: now they are satisfied with +short ha-ho's, and uncadenced grunts. It used to be that the leader +sang, in ever-varying lines of nonsense, and the chorus struck in +with fine effect, like this: + + +"I wish I was in Liverpool town. + Handy-pan, handy O! + +O captain! where 'd you ship your crew + Handy-pan, handy O! + +Oh! pull away, my bully crew, + Handy-pan, handy O!" + + +There are verses enough of this sort to reach across the Atlantic; +and they are not the worst thing about it either, or the most +tedious. One learns to respect this ocean, but not to love it; and +he leaves it with mingled feelings about Columbus. + +And now, having crossed it,--a fact that cannot be concealed,--let us +not be under the misapprehension that we are set to any task other +than that of sauntering where it pleases us. + + + + + +PARIS AND LONDON + + +SURFACE CONTRASTS OF PARIS AND LONDON + +I wonder if it is the Channel? Almost everything is laid to the +Channel: it has no friends. The sailors call it the nastiest bit of +water in the world. All travelers anathematize it. I have now +crossed it three times in different places, by long routes and short +ones, and have always found it as comfortable as any sailing +anywhere, sailing being one of the most tedious and disagreeable +inventions of a fallen race. But such is not the usual experience: +most people would make great sacrifices to avoid the hour and three +quarters in one of those loathsome little Channel boats,--they always +call them loathsome, though I did n't see but they are as good as any +boats. I have never found any boat that hasn't a detestable habit of +bobbing round. The Channel is hated: and no one who has much to do +with it is surprised at the projects for bridging it and for boring a +hole under it; though I have scarcely ever met an Englishman who +wants either done,--he does not desire any more facile communication +with the French than now exists. The traditional hatred may not be +so strong as it was, but it is hard to say on which side is the most +ignorance and contempt of the other. + +It must be the Channel: that is enough to produce a physical +disagreement even between the two coasts; and there cannot be a +greater contrast in the cultivated world than between the two lands +lying so close to each other; and the contrast of their capitals is +even more decided,--I was about to say rival capitals, but they have +not enough in common to make them rivals. I have lately been over to +London for a week, going by the Dieppe and New Haven route at night, +and returning by another; and the contrasts I speak of were impressed +upon me anew. Everything here in and about Paris was in the green +and bloom of spring, and seemed to me very lovely; but my first +glance at an English landscape made it all seem pale and flat. We +went up from New Haven to London in the morning, and feasted our eyes +all the way. The French foliage is thin, spindling, sparse; the +grass is thin and light in color--in contrast. The English trees are +massive, solid in substance and color; the grass is thick, and green +as emerald; the turf is like the heaviest Wilton carpet. The whole +effect is that of vegetable luxuriance and solidity, as it were a +tropical luxuriance, condensed and hardened by northern influences. +If my eyes remember well, the French landscapes are more like our +own, in spring tone, at least; but the English are a revelation to us +strangers of what green really is, and what grass and trees can be. +I had been told that we did well to see England before going to the +Continent, for it would seem small and only pretty afterwards. Well, +leaving out Switzerland, I have seen nothing in that beauty which +satisfies the eye and wins the heart to compare with England in +spring. When we annex it to our sprawling country which lies +out-doors in so many climates, it will make a charming little retreat +for us in May and June, a sort of garden of delight, whence we shall +draw our May butter and our June roses. It will only be necessary to +put it under glass to make it pleasant the year round. + +When we passed within the hanging smoke of London town, threading our +way amid numberless railway tracks, sometimes over a road and +sometimes under one, now burrowing into the ground, and now running +along among the chimney-pots,--when we came into the pale light and +the thickening industry of a London day, we could but at once +contrast Paris. Unpleasant weather usually reduces places to an +equality of disagreeableness. But Paris, with its wide streets, +light, handsome houses, gay windows and smiling little parks and +fountains, keeps up a tolerably pleasant aspect, let the weather do +its worst. But London, with its low, dark, smutty brick houses and +insignificant streets, settles down hopelessly into the dumps when +the weather is bad. Even with the sun doing its best on the eternal +cloud of smoke, it is dingy and gloomy enough, and so dirty, after +spick-span, shining Paris. And there is a contrast in the matter of +order and system; the lack of both in London is apparent. You detect +it in public places, in crowds, in the streets. The "social evil" is +bad enough in its demonstrations in Paris: it is twice as offensive +in London. I have never seen a drunken woman in Paris: I saw many of +them in the daytime in London. I saw men and women fight in the +streets,--a man kick and pound a woman; and nobody interfered. There +is a brutal streak in the Anglo-Saxon, I fear,--a downright animal +coarseness, that does not exhibit itself the other side of the +Channel. It is a proverb, that the London policemen are never at +hand. The stout fellows with their clubs look as if they might do +service; but what a contrast they are to the Paris sergents de ville! +The latter, with his dress-coat, cocked hat, long rapier, white +gloves, neat, polite, attentive, alert,--always with the manner of a +jesuit turned soldier,--you learn to trust very much, if not respect; +and you feel perfectly secure that he will protect you, and give you +your rights in any corner of Paris. It does look as if he might slip +that slender rapier through your body in a second, and pull it out +and wipe it, and not move a muscle; but I don't think he would do it +unless he were directly ordered to. He would not be likely to knock +you down and drag you out, in mistake for the rowdy who was +assaulting you. + +A great contrast between the habits of the people of London and Paris +is shown by their eating and drinking. Paris is brilliant with +cafes: all the world frequents them to sip coffee (and too often +absinthe), read the papers, and gossip over the news; take them away, +as all travelers know, and Paris would not know itself. There is not +a cafe in London: instead of cafes, there are gin-mills; instead of +light wine, there is heavy beer. The restaurants and restaurant life +are as different as can be. You can get anything you wish in Paris: +you can live very cheaply or very dearly, as you like. The range is +more limited in London. I do not fancy the usual run of Paris +restaurants. You get a great deal for your money, in variety and +quantity; but you don't exactly know what it is: and in time you tire +of odds and ends, which destroy your hunger without exactly +satisfying you. For myself, after a pretty good run of French +cookery (and it beats the world for making the most out of little), +when I sat down again to what the eminently respectable waiter in +white and black calls "a dinner off the Joint, sir," with what +belongs to it, and ended up with an attack on a section of a cheese +as big as a bass-drum, not to forget a pewter mug of amber liquid, I +felt as if I had touched bottom again,--got something substantial, +had what you call a square meal. The English give you the +substantials, and better, I believe, than any other people. +Thackeray used to come over to Paris to get a good dinner now and +then. I have tried his favorite restaurant here, the cuisine of +which is famous far beyond the banks of the Seine; but I think if he, +hearty trencher-man that he was, had lived in Paris, he would have +gone to London for a dinner oftener than he came here. + +And as for a lunch,--this eating is a fascinating theme,--commend me +to a quiet inn of England. We happened to be out at Kew Gardens the +other afternoon. You ought to go to Kew, even if the Duchess of +Cambridge is not at home. There is not such a park out of England, +considering how beautiful the Thames is there. What splendid trees +it has! the horse-chestnut, now a mass of pink-and-white blossoms, +from its broad base, which rests on the ground, to its high rounded +dome; the hawthorns, white and red, in full flower; the sweeps and +glades of living green,--turf on which you walk with a grateful sense +of drawing life directly from the yielding, bountiful earth,--a green +set out and heightened by flowers in masses of color (a great variety +of rhododendrons, for one thing), to say nothing of magnificent +greenhouses and outlying flower-gardens. Just beyond are Richmond +Hill and Hampton Court, and five or six centuries of tradition and +history and romance. Before you enter the garden, you pass the +green. On one side of it are cottages, and on the other the old +village church and its quiet churchyard. Some boys were playing +cricket on the sward, and children were getting as intimate with the +turf and the sweet earth as their nurses would let them. We turned +into a little cottage, which gave notice of hospitality for a +consideration; and were shown, by a pretty maid in calico, into an +upper room,--a neat, cheerful, common room, with bright flowers in +the open windows, and white muslin curtains for contrast. We looked +out on the green and over to the beautiful churchyard, where one of +England's greatest painters, Gainsborough, lies in rural repose. It +is nothing to you, who always dine off the best at home, and never +encounter dirty restaurants and snuffy inns, or run the gauntlet of +Continental hotels, every meal being an experiment of great interest, +if not of danger, to say that this brisk little waitress spread a +snowy cloth, and set thereon meat and bread and butter and a salad: +that conveys no idea to your mind. Because you cannot see that the +loaf of wheaten bread was white and delicate, and full of the +goodness of the grain; or that the butter, yellow as a guinea, tasted +of grass and cows, and all the rich juices of the verdant year, and +was not mere flavorless grease; or that the cuts of roast beef, fat +and lean, had qualities that indicate to me some moral elevation in +the cattle,--high-toned, rich meat; or that the salad was crisp and +delicious, and rather seemed to enjoy being eaten, at least, did n't +disconsolately wilt down at the prospect, as most salad does. I do +not wonder that Walter Scott dwells so much on eating, or lets his +heroes pull at the pewter mugs so often. Perhaps one might find a +better lunch in Paris, but he surely couldn't find this one. + + + + +PARIS IN MAY--FRENCH GIRLS--THE EMPEROR AT LONGCHAMPS + +It was the first of May when we came up from Italy. The spring grew +on us as we advanced north; vegetation seemed further along than it +was south of the Alps. Paris was bathed in sunshine, wrapped in +delicious weather, adorned with all the delicate colors of blushing +spring. Now the horse-chestnuts are all in bloom and so is the +hawthorn; and in parks and gardens there are rows and alleys of +trees, with blossoms of pink and of white; patches of flowers set in +the light green grass; solid masses of gorgeous color, which fill all +the air with perfume; fountains that dance in the sunlight as if just +released from prison; and everywhere the soft suffusion of May. +Young maidens who make their first communion go into the churches in +processions of hundreds, all in white, from the flowing veil to the +satin slipper; and I see them everywhere for a week after the +ceremony, in their robes of innocence, often with bouquets of +flowers, and attended by their friends; all concerned making it a +joyful holiday, as it ought to be. I hear, of course, with what +false ideas of life these girls are educated; how they are watched +before marriage; how the marriage is only one of arrangement, and +what liberty they eagerly seek afterwards. I met a charming Paris +lady last winter in Italy, recently married, who said she had never +been in the Louvre in her life; never had seen any of the magnificent +pictures or world-famous statuary there, because girls were not +allowed to go there, lest they should see something that they ought +not to see. I suppose they look with wonder at the young American +girls who march up to anything that ever was created, with undismayed +front. + +Another Frenchwoman, a lady of talent and the best breeding, recently +said to a friend, in entire unconsciousness that she was saying +anything remarkable, that, when she was seventeen, her great desire +was to marry one of her uncles (a thing not very unusual with the +papal dispensation), in order to keep all the money in the family! +That was the ambition of a girl of seventeen. + +I like, on these sunny days, to look into the Luxembourg Garden: +nowhere else is the eye more delighted with life and color. In the +afternoon, especially, it is a baby-show worth going far to see. The +avenues are full of children, whose animated play, light laughter, +and happy chatter, and pretty, picturesque dress, make a sort of +fairy grove of the garden; and all the nurses of that quarter bring +their charges there, and sit in the shade, sewing, gossiping, and +comparing the merits of the little dears. One baby differs from +another in glory, I suppose; but I think on such days that they are +all lovely, taken in the mass, and all in sweet harmony with the +delicious atmosphere, the tender green, and the other flowers of +spring. A baby can't do better than to spend its spring days in the +Luxembourg Garden. + +There are several ways of seeing Paris besides roaming up and down +before the blazing shop-windows, and lounging by daylight or gaslight +along the crowded and gay boulevards; and one of the best is to go to +the Bois de Boulogne on a fete-day, or when the races are in +progress. This famous wood is very disappointing at first to one who +has seen the English parks, or who remembers the noble trees and +glades and avenues of that at Munich. To be sure, there is a lovely +little lake and a pretty artificial cascade, and the roads and walks +are good; but the trees are all saplings, and nearly all the "wood" +is a thicket of small stuff. Yet there is green grass that one can +roll on, and there is a grove of small pines that one can sit under. +It is a pleasant place to drive toward evening; but its great +attraction is the crowd there. All the principal avenues are lined +with chairs, and there people sit to watch the streams of carriages. + +I went out to the Bois the other day, when there were races going on; +not that I went to the races, for I know nothing about them, per se, +and care less. All running races are pretty much alike. You see a +lean horse, neck and tail, flash by you, with a jockey in colors on +his back; and that is the whole of it. Unless you have some money on +it, in the pool or otherwise, it is impossible to raise any +excitement. The day I went out, the Champs Elysees, on both sides, +its whole length, was crowded with people, rows and ranks of them +sitting in chairs and on benches. The Avenue de l'Imperatrice, from +the Arc de l'Etoile to the entrance of the Bois, was full of +promenaders; and the main avenues of the Bois, from the chief +entrance to the race-course, were lined with people, who stood or +sat, simply to see the passing show. There could not have been less +than ten miles of spectators, in double or triple rows, who had taken +places that afternoon to watch the turnouts of fashion and rank. +These great avenues were at all times, from three till seven, filled +with vehicles; and at certain points, and late in the day, there was, +or would have been anywhere else except in Paris, a jam. I saw a +great many splendid horses, but not so many fine liveries as one will +see on a swell-day in London. There was one that I liked. A +handsome carriage, with one seat, was drawn by four large and elegant +black horses, the two near horses ridden by postilions in blue and +silver,--blue roundabouts, white breeches and topboots, a round- +topped silver cap, and the hair, or wig, powdered, and showing just a +little behind. A footman mounted behind, seated, wore the same +colors; and the whole establishment was exceedingly tonnish. + +The race-track (Longchamps, as it is called), broad and beautiful +springy turf, is not different from some others, except that the +inclosed oblong space is not flat, but undulating just enough for +beauty, and so framed in by graceful woods, and looked on by chateaux +and upland forests, that I thought I had never seen a sweeter bit of +greensward. St. Cloud overlooks it, and villas also regard it from +other heights. The day I saw it, the horse-chestnuts were in bloom; +and there was, on the edges, a cloud of pink and white blossoms, that +gave a soft and charming appearance to the entire landscape. The +crowd in the grounds, in front of the stands for judges, royalty, and +people who are privileged or will pay for places, was, I suppose, +much as usual,--an excited throng of young and jockey-looking men, +with a few women-gamblers in their midst, making up the pool; a pack +of carriages along the circuit of the track, with all sorts of +people, except the very good; and conspicuous the elegantly habited +daughters of sin and satin, with servants in livery, as if they had +been born to it; gentlemen and ladies strolling about, or reclining +on the sward, and a refreshment-stand in lively operation. + +When the bell rang, we all cleared out from the track, and I happened +to get a position by the railing. I was looking over to the +Pavilion, where I supposed the Emperor to be, when the man next to me +cried, "Voila!" and, looking up, two horses brushed right by my face, +of which I saw about two tails and one neck, and they were gone. +Pretty soon they came round again, and one was ahead, as is apt to be +the case; and somebody cried, "Bully for Therise!" or French to that +effect, and it was all over. Then we rushed across to the Emperor's +Pavilion, except that I walked with all the dignity consistent with +rapidity, and there, in the midst of his suite, sat the Man of +December, a stout, broad, and heavy-faced man as you know, but a man +who impresses one with a sense of force and purpose,--sat, as I say, +and looked at us through his narrow, half-shut eyes, till he was +satisfied that I had got his features through my glass, when he +deliberately arose and went in. + +All Paris was out that day,--it is always out, by the way, when the +sun shines, and in whatever part of the city you happen to be; and it +seemed to me there was a special throng clear down to the gate of the +Tuileries, to see the Emperor and the rest of us come home. He went +round by the Rue Rivoli, but I walked through the gardens. The +soldiers from Africa sat by the gilded portals, as usual,--aliens, +and yet always with the port of conquerors here in Paris. Their +nonchalant indifference and soldierly bearing always remind me of the +sort of force the Emperor has at hand to secure his throne. I think +the blouses must look askance at these satraps of the desert. The +single jet fountain in the basin was springing its highest,--a +quivering pillar of water to match the stone shaft of Egypt which +stands close by. The sun illuminated it, and threw a rainbow from it +a hundred feet long, upon the white and green dome of chestnut-trees +near. When I was farther down the avenue, I had the dancing column +of water, the obelisk, and the Arch of Triumph all in line, and the +rosy sunset beyond. + + + + +AN IMPERIAL REVIEW + +The Prince and Princess of Wales came up to Paris in the beginning of +May, from Italy, Egypt, and alongshore, stayed at a hotel on the +Place Vendome, where they can get beef that is not horse, and is +rare, and beer brewed in the royal dominions, and have been +entertained with cordiality by the Emperor. Among the spectacles +which he has shown them is one calculated to give them an idea of his +peaceful intentions,-a grand review of cavalry and artillery at the +Bois de Boulogne. It always seems to me a curious comment upon the +state of our modern civilization, when one prince visits another here +in Europe, the first thing that the visited does, by way of hospitality +is to get out his troops, and show his rival how easily he could "lick" +him, if it came to that. + +It is a little puerile. At any rate, it is an advance upon the old +fashion of getting up a joust at arms, and inviting the guest to come +out and have his head cracked in a friendly way. + +The review, which had been a good deal talked about, came off in the +afternoon; and all the world went to it. The avenues of the Bois +were crowded with carriages, and the walks with footpads. Such a +constellation of royal personages met on one field must be seen; for, +besides the imperial family and Albert Edward and his Danish beauty, +there was to be the Archduke of Austria and no end of titled +personages besides. At three o'clock the royal company, in the +Emperor's carriages, drove upon the training-ground of the Bois, +where the troops awaited them. All the party, except the Princess of +Wales, then mounted horses, and rode along the lines, and afterwards +retired to a wood-covered knoll at one end to witness the evolutions. +The training-ground is a noble, slightly undulating piece of +greensward, perhaps three quarters of a mile long and half that in +breadth, hedged about with graceful trees, and bounded on one side by +the Seine. Its borders were rimmed that day with thousands of people +on foot and in carriages,--a gay sight, in itself, of color and +fashion. A more brilliant spectacle than the field presented cannot +well be imagined. Attention was divided between the gentle eminence +where the imperial party stood,--a throng of noble persons backed by +the gay and glittering Guard of the Emperor, as brave a show as +chivalry ever made,--and the field of green, with its long lines in +martial array; every variety of splendid uniforms, the colors and +combinations that most dazzle and attract, with shining brass and +gleaming steel, and magnificent horses of war, regiments of black, +gray, and bay. + +The evolutions were such as to stir the blood of the most sluggish. +A regiment, full front, would charge down upon a dead run from the +far field, men shouting, sabers flashing, horses thundering along, so +that the ground shook, towards the imperial party, and, when near, +stop suddenly, wheel to right and left, and gallop back. Others +would succeed them rapidly, coming up the center while their +predecessors filed down the sides; so that the whole field was a +moving mass of splendid color and glancing steel. Now and then a +rider was unhorsed in the furious rush, and went scrambling out of +harm, while the steed galloped off with free rein. This display was +followed by that of the flying artillery, battalion after battalion, +which came clattering and roaring along, in double lines stretching +half across the field, stopped and rapidly discharged its pieces, +waking up all the region with echoes, filling the plain with the +smoke of gunpowder, and starting into rearing activity all the +carriage-horses in the Bois. How long this continued I do not know, +nor how many men participated in the review, but they seemed to pour +up from the far end in unending columns. I think the regiments must +have charged over and over again. It gave some people the impression +that there were a hundred thousand troops on the ground. I set it at +fifteen to twenty thousand. Gallignani next morning said there were +only six thousand! After the charging was over, the reviewing party +rode to the center of the field, and the troops galloped round them; +and the Emperor distributed decorations. We could recognize the +Emperor and Empress; Prince Albert in huzzar uniform, with a green +plume in his cap; and the Prince Imperial, in cap and the uniform of +a lieutenant, on horseback in front; while the Princess occupied a +carriage behind them. + +There was a crush of people at the entrance to see the royals make +their exit. Gendarmes were busy, and mounted guards went smashing +through the crowd to clear a space. Everybody was on the tiptoe of +expectation. There is a portion of the Emperor's guard; there is an +officer of the household; there is an emblazoned carriage; and, +quick, there! with a rush they come, driving as if there was no +crowd, with imperial haste, postilions and outriders and the imperial +carriage. There is a sensation, a cordial and not loud greeting, but +no Yankee-like cheers. That heavy gentleman in citizen's dress, who +looks neither to right nor left, is Napoleon III.; that handsome +woman, grown full in the face of late, but yet with the bloom of +beauty and the sweet grace of command, in hat and dark riding-habit, +bowing constantly to right and left, and smiling, is the Empress +Eugenie. And they are gone. As we look for something more, there is +a rout in the side avenue; something is coming, unexpected, from +another quarter: dragoons dash through the dense mass, shouting and +gesticulating, and a dozen horses go by, turning the corner like a +small whirlwind, urged on by whip and spur, a handsome boy riding in +the midst,--a boy in cap and simple uniform, riding gracefully and +easily and jauntily, and out of sight in a minute. It is the boy +Prince Imperial and his guard. It was like him to dash in +unexpectedly, as he has broken into the line of European princes. He +rides gallantly, and Fortune smiles on him to-day; but he rides into +a troubled future. There was one more show,--a carriage of the +Emperor, with officers, in English colors and side-whiskers, riding +in advance and behind: in it the future King of England, the heavy, +selfish-faced young man, and beside him his princess, popular +wherever she shows her winning face,--a fair, sweet woman, in light +and flowing silken stuffs of spring, a vision of lovely youth and +rank, also gone in a minute. + +These English visitors are enjoying the pleasures of the French +capital. On Sunday, as I passed the Hotel Bristol, a crowd, +principally English, was waiting in front of it to see the Prince and +Princess come out, and enter one of the Emperor's carriages in +waiting. I heard an Englishwoman, who was looking on with admiration +"sticking out" all over, remark to a friend in a very loud whisper, +"I tell you, the Prince lives every day of his life." The princely +pair came out at length, and drove away, going to visit Versailles. +I don't know what the Queen would think of this way of spending +Sunday; but if Albert Edward never does anything worse, he does n't +need half the praying for that he gets every Sunday in all the +English churches and chapels. + + + + +THE LOW COUNTRIES AND RHINELAND + + +AMIENS AND QUAINT OLD BRUGES + +They have not yet found out the secret in France of banishing dust +from railway-carriages. Paris, late in June, was hot, but not dusty: +the country was both. There is an uninteresting glare and hardness +in a French landscape on a sunny day. The soil is thin, the trees +are slender, and one sees not much luxury or comfort. Still, one +does not usually see much of either on a flying train. We spent a +night at Amiens, and had several hours for the old cathedral, the +sunset light on its noble front and towers and spire and flying +buttresses, and the morning rays bathing its rich stone. As one +stands near it in front, it seems to tower away into heaven, a mass +of carving and sculpture,--figures of saints and martyrs who have +stood in the sun and storm for ages, as they stood in their lifetime, +with a patient waiting. It was like a great company, a Christian +host, in attitudes of praise and worship. There they were, ranks on +ranks, silent in stone, when the last of the long twilight illumined +them; and there in the same impressive patience they waited the +golden day. It required little fancy to feel that they had lived, +and now in long procession came down the ages. The central portal is +lofty, wide, and crowded with figures. The side is only less rich +than the front. Here the old Gothic builders let their fancy riot in +grotesque gargoyles,--figures of animals, and imps of sin, which +stretch out their long necks for waterspouts above. From the ground +to the top of the unfinished towers is one mass of rich stone-work, +the creation of genius that hundreds of years ago knew no other way +to write its poems than with the chisel. The interior is very +magnificent also, and has some splendid stained glass. At eight +o'clock, the priests were chanting vespers to a larger congregation +than many churches have on Sunday: their voices were rich and +musical, and, joined with the organ notes, floated sweetly and +impressively through the dim and vast interior. We sat near the +great portal, and, looking down the long, arched nave and choir to +the cluster of candles burning on the high altar, before which the +priests chanted, one could not but remember how many centuries the +same act of worship had been almost uninterrupted within, while the +apostles and martyrs stood without, keeping watch of the unchanging +heavens. + +When I stepped in, early in the morning, the first mass was in +progress. The church was nearly empty. Looking within the choir, I +saw two stout young priests lustily singing the prayers in deep, rich +voices. One of them leaned back in his seat, and sang away, as if he +had taken a contract to do it, using, from time to time, an enormous +red handkerchief, with which and his nose he produced a trumpet +obligato. As I stood there, a poor dwarf bobbled in and knelt on the +bare stones, and was the only worshiper, until, at length, a +half-dozen priests swept in from the sacristy, and two processions of +young school-girls entered from either side. They have the skull of +John the Baptist in this cathedral. I did not see it, although I +suppose I could have done so for a franc to the beadle: but I saw a +very good stone imitation of it; and his image and story fill the +church. It is something to have seen the place that contains his +skull. + +The country becomes more interesting as one gets into Belgium. +Windmills are frequent: in and near Lille are some six hundred of +them; and they are a great help to a landscape that wants fine trees. +At Courtrai, we looked into Notre Dame, a thirteenth century +cathedral, which has a Vandyke ("The Raising of the Cross"), and the +chapel of the Counts of Flanders, where workmen were uncovering some +frescoes that were whitewashed over in the war-times. The town hall +has two fine old chimney-pieces carved in wood, with quaint figures,- +-work that one must go to the Netherlands to see. Toward evening we +came into the ancient town of Bruges. The country all day has been +mostly flat, but thoroughly cultivated. Windmills appear to do all +the labor of the people,--raising the water, grinding the grain, +sawing the lumber; and they everywhere lift their long arms up to the +sky. Things look more and more what we call "foreign." Harvest is +going on, of hay and grain; and men and women work together in the +fields. The gentle sex has its rights here. We saw several women +acting as switch-tenders. Perhaps the use of the switch comes +natural to them. Justice, however, is still in the hands of the men. +We saw a Dutch court in session in a little room in the town hall at +Courtrai. The justice wore a little red cap, and sat informally +behind a cheap table. I noticed that the witnesses were treated with +unusual consideration, being allowed to sit down at the table +opposite the little justice, who interrogated them in a loud voice. +At the stations to-day we see more friars in coarse, woolen dresses, +and sandals, and the peasants with wooden sabots. + +As the sun goes to the horizon, we have an effect sometimes produced +by the best Dutch artists,--a wonderful transparent light, in which +the landscape looks like a picture, with its church-spires of stone, +its windmills, its slender trees, and red-roofed houses. It is a +good light and a good hour in which to enter Bruges, that city of the +past. Once the city was greater than Antwerp; and up the Rege came +the commerce of the East, merchants from the Levant, traders in +jewels and silks. Now the tall houses wait for tenants, and the +streets have a deserted air. After nightfall, as we walked in the +middle of the roughly paved streets, meeting few people, and hearing +only the echoing clatter of the wooden sabots of the few who were +abroad, the old spirit of the place came over us. We sat on a bench +in the market-place, a treeless square, hemmed in by quaint, gabled +houses, late in the evening, to listen to the chimes from the belfry. +The tower is less than four hundred feet high, and not so high by +some seventy feet as the one on Notre Dame near by; but it is very +picturesque, in spite of the fact that it springs out of a rummagy- +looking edifice, one half of which is devoted to soldiers' barracks, +and the other to markets. The chimes are called the finest in +Europe. It is well to hear the finest at once, and so have done with +the tedious things. The Belgians are as fond of chimes as the Dutch +are of stagnant water. We heard them everywhere in Belgium; and in +some towns they are incessant, jangling every seven and a half +minutes. The chimes at Bruges ring every quarter hour for a minute, +and at the full hour attempt a tune. The revolving machinery grinds +out the tune, which is changed at least once a year; and on Sundays a +musician, chosen by the town, plays the chimes. In so many bells +(there are forty-eight), the least of which weighs twelve pounds, and +the largest over eleven thousand, there must be soft notes and +sonorous tones; so sweet jangled sounds were showered down: but we +liked better than the confused chiming the solemn notes of the great +bell striking the hour. There is something very poetical about this +chime of bells high in the air, flinging down upon the hum and +traffic of the city its oft-repeated benediction of peace; but +anybody but a Lowlander would get very weary of it. These chimes, to +be sure, are better than those in London, which became a nuisance; +but there is in all of them a tinkling attempt at a tune, which +always fails, that is very annoying. + +Bruges has altogether an odd flavor. Piles of wooden sabots are for +sale in front of the shops; and this ugly shoe, which is mysteriously +kept on the foot, is worn by all the common sort. We see long, +slender carts in the street, with one horse hitched far ahead with +rope traces, and no thills or pole. + +The women-nearly every one we saw-wear long cloaks of black cloth +with a silk hood thrown back. Bruges is famous of old for its +beautiful women, who are enticingly described as always walking the +streets with covered faces, and peeping out from their mantles. They +are not so handsome now they show their faces, I can testify. +Indeed, if there is in Bruges another besides the beautiful girl who +showed us the old council-chamber in the Palace of justice, she must +have had her hood pulled over her face. + +Next morning was market-day. The square was lively with carts, +donkeys, and country people, and that and all the streets leading to +it were filled with the women in black cloaks, who flitted about as +numerous as the rooks at Oxford, and very much like them, moving in a +winged way, their cloaks outspread as they walked, and distended with +the market-basket underneath. Though the streets were full, the town +did not seem any less deserted; and the early marketers had only come +to life for a day, revisiting the places that once they thronged. In +the shade of the tall houses in the narrow streets sat red-cheeked +girls and women making lace, the bobbins jumping under their nimble +fingers. At the church doors hideous beggars crouched and whined,-- +specimens of the fifteen thousand paupers of Bruges. In the +fishmarket we saw odd old women, with Rembrandt colors in faces and +costume; and while we strayed about in the strange city, all the time +from the lofty tower the chimes fell down. What history crowds upon +us! Here in the old cathedral, with its monstrous tower of brick, a +portion of it as old as the tenth century, Philip the Good +established, in 1429, the Order of the Golden Fleece, the last +chapter of which was held by Philip the Bad in 1559, in the rich old +Cathedral of St. Bavon, at Ghent. Here, on the square, is the site +of the house where the Emperor Maximilian was imprisoned by his +rebellious Flemings; and next it, with a carved lion, that in which +Charles II. of England lived after the martyrdom of that patient and +virtuous ruler, whom the English Prayerbook calls that "blessed +martyr, Charles the First." In Notre Dame are the tombs of Charles +the Bold and Mary his daughter. + +We begin here to enter the portals of Dutch painting. Here died Jan +van Eyck, the father of oil painting; and here, in the hospital of +St. John, are the most celebrated pictures of Hans Memling. The most +exquisite in color and finish is the series painted on the casket +made to contain the arm of St. Ursula, and representing the story of +her martyrdom. You know she went on a pilgrimage to Rome, with her +lover, Conan, and eleven thousand virgins; and, on their return to +Cologne, they were all massacred by the Huns. One would scarcely +believe the story, if he did not see all their bones at Cologne. + + + + +GHENT AND ANTWERP + +What can one do in this Belgium but write down names, and let memory +recall the past? We came to Ghent, still a hand some city, though +one thinks of the days when it was the capital of Flanders, and its +merchants were princes. On the shabby old belfry-tower is the gilt +dragon which Philip van Artevelde captured, and brought in triumph +from Bruges. It was originally fetched from a Greek church in +Constantinople by some Bruges Crusader; and it is a link to recall to +us how, at that time, the merchants of Venice and the far East traded +up the Scheldt, and brought to its wharves the rich stuffs of India +and Persia. The old bell Roland, that was used to call the burghers +together on the approach of an enemy, hung in this tower. What +fierce broils and bloody fights did these streets witness centuries +ago! There in the Marche au Vendredi, a large square of +old-fashioned houses, with a statue of Jacques van Artevelde, fifteen +hundred corpses were strewn in a quarrel between the hostile guilds +of fullers and brewers; and here, later, Alva set blazing the fires +of the Inquisition. Near the square is the old cannon, Mad Margery, +used in 1382 at the siege of Oudenarde,--a hammered-iron hooped +affair, eighteen feet long. But why mention this, or the magnificent +town hall, or St. Bavon, rich in pictures and statuary; or try to put +you back three hundred years to the wild days when the iconoclasts +sacked this and every other church in the Low Countries? + +Up to Antwerp toward evening. All the country flat as the flattest +part of Jersey, rich in grass and grain, cut up by canals, +picturesque with windmills and red-tiled roofs, framed with trees in +rows. It has been all day hot and dusty. The country everywhere +seems to need rain; and dark clouds are gathering in the south for a +storm, as we drive up the broad Place de Meir to our hotel, and take +rooms that look out to the lace-like spire of the cathedral, which is +sharply defined against the red western sky. + +Antwerp takes hold of you, both by its present and its past, very +strongly. It is still the home of wealth. It has stately buildings, +splendid galleries of pictures, and a spire of stone which charms +more than a picture, and fascinates the eye as music does the ear. +It still keeps its strong fortifications drawn around it, to which +the broad and deep Scheldt is like a string to a bow, mindful of the +unstable state of Europe. While Berlin is only a vast camp of +soldiers, every less city must daily beat its drums, and call its +muster-roll. From the tower here one looks upon the cockpit of +Europe. And yet Antwerp ought to have rest: she has had tumult +enough in her time. Prosperity seems returning to her; but her old, +comparative splendor can never come back. In the sixteenth century +there was no richer city in Europe. + +We walked one evening past the cathedral spire, which begins in the +richest and most solid Gothic work, and grows up into the sky into an +exquisite lightness and grace, down a broad street to the Scheldt. +What traffic have not these high old houses looked on, when two +thousand and five hundred vessels lay in the river at one time, and +the commerce of Europe found here its best mart. Along the stream +now is a not very clean promenade for the populace; and it is lined +with beer-houses, shabby theaters, and places of the most childish +amusements. There is an odd liking for the simple among these +people. In front of the booths, drums were beaten and instruments +played in bewildering discord. Actors in paint and tights stood +without to attract the crowd within. On one low balcony, a +copper-colored man, with a huge feather cap and the traditional dress +of the American savage, was beating two drums; a burnt-cork black man +stood beside him; while on the steps was a woman, in hat and shawl, +making an earnest speech to the crowd. In another place, where a +crazy band made furious music, was an enormous "go-round" of wooden +ponies, like those in the Paris gardens, only here, instead of +children, grown men and women rode the hobby-horses, and seemed +delighted with the sport. In the general Babel, everybody was +good-natured and jolly. Little things suffice to amuse the lower +classes, who do not have to bother their heads with elections and +mass meetings. + +In front of the cathedral is the well, and the fine canopy of +iron-work, by Quentin Matsys, the blacksmith of Antwerp, some of +whose pictures we saw in the Museum, where one sees, also some of the +finest pictures of the Dutch school,--the "Crucifixion" of Rubens, +the "Christ on the Cross" of Vandyke; paintings also by Teniers, Otto +Vennius, Albert Cuyp, and others, and Rembrandt's portrait of his +wife,--a picture whose sweet strength and wealth of color draws one +to it with almost a passion of admiration. We had already seen "The +Descent from the Cross" and "The Raising of the Cross" by Rubens, in +the cathedral. With all his power and rioting luxuriance of color, I +cannot come to love him as I do Rembrandt. Doubtless he painted what +he saw; and we still find the types of his female figures in the +broad-hipped, ruddy-colored women of Antwerp. We walked down to his +house, which remains much as it was two hundred and twenty-five years +ago. From the interior court, an entrance in the Italian style leads +into a pleasant little garden full of old trees and flowers, with a +summer-house embellished with plaster casts, and having the very +stone table upon which Rubens painted. It is a quiet place, and fit +for an artist; but Rubens had other houses in the city, and lived the +life of a man who took a strong hold of the world. + + + + +AMSTERDAM + +The rail from Antwerp north was through a land flat and sterile. +After a little, it becomes a little richer; but a forlorner land to +live in I never saw. One wonders at the perseverance of the Flemings +and Dutchmen to keep all this vast tract above water when there is so +much good solid earth elsewhere unoccupied. At Moerdjik we changed +from the cars to a little steamer on the Maas, which flows between +high banks. The water is higher than the adjoining land, and from +the deck we look down upon houses and farms. At Dort, the Rhine +comes in with little promise of the noble stream it is in the +highlands. Everywhere canals and ditches dividing the small fields +instead of fences; trees planted in straight lines, and occasionally +trained on a trellis in front of the houses, with the trunk painted +white or green; so that every likeness of nature shall be taken away. +>From Rotterdam, by cars, it is still the same. The Dutchman spends +half his life, apparently, in fighting the water. He has to watch +the huge dikes which keep the ocean from overwhelming him, and the +river-banks, which may break, and let the floods of the Rhine swallow +him up. The danger from within is not less than from without. Yet +so fond is he of his one enemy, that, when he can afford it, he +builds him a fantastic summer-house over a stagnant pool or a slimy +canal, in one corner of his garden, and there sits to enjoy the +aquatic beauties of nature; that is, nature as he has made it. The +river-banks are woven with osiers to keep them from washing; and at +intervals on the banks are piles of the long withes to be used in +emergencies when the swollen streams threaten to break through. + +And so we come to Amsterdam, the oddest city of all,--a city wholly +built on piles, with as many canals as streets, and an architecture +so quaint as to even impress one who has come from Belgium. The +whole town has a wharf-y look; and it is difficult to say why the +tall brick houses, their gables running by steps to a peak, and each +one leaning forward or backward or sideways, and none perpendicular, +and no two on a line, are so interesting. But certainly it is a most +entertaining place to the stranger, whether he explores the crowded +Jews' quarter, with its swarms of dirty people, its narrow streets, +and high houses hung with clothes, as if every day were washing-day; +or strolls through the equally narrow streets of rich shops; or +lounges upon the bridges, and looks at the queer boats with clumsy +rounded bows, great helms' painted in gay colors, with flowers in the +cabin windows,--boats where families live; or walks down the +Plantage, with the zoological gardens on the one hand and rows of +beer-gardens on the other; or round the great docks; or saunters at +sunset by the banks of the Y, and looks upon flat North Holland and +the Zuyder Zee. + +The palace on the Dam (square) is a square, stately edifice, and the +only building that the stranger will care to see. Its interior is +richer and more fit to live in than any palace we have seen. There +is nothing usually so dreary as your fine Palace. There are some +good frescoes, rooms richly decorated in marble, and a magnificent +hall, or ball-room, one hundred feet in height, without pillars. +Back of it is, of course, a canal, which does not smell fragrantly in +the summer; and I do not wonder that William III. and his queen +prefer to stop away. From the top is a splendid view of Amsterdam +and all the flat region. I speak of it with entire impartiality, for +I did not go up to see it. But better than palaces are the +picture-galleries, three of which are open to the sightseer. Here +the ancient and modern Dutch painters are seen at their best, and I +know of no richer feast of this sort. Here Rembrandt is to be seen +in his glory; here Van der Helst, Jan Steen, Gerard Douw, Teniers the +younger, Hondekoeter, Weenix, Ostade, Cuyp, and other names as +familiar. These men also painted what they saw, the people, the +landscapes, with which they were familiar. It was a strange pleasure +to meet again and again in the streets of the town the faces, or +types of them, that we had just seen on canvas so old. + +In the Low Countries, the porters have the grand title of +commissionaires. They carry trunks and bundles, black boots, and act +as valets de place. As guides, they are quite as intolerable in +Amsterdam as their brethren in other cities. Many of them are Jews; +and they have a keen eye for a stranger. The moment he sallies from +his hotel, there is a guide. Let him hesitate for an instant in his +walk, either to look at something or to consult his map, or let him +ask the way, and he will have a half dozen of the persistent guild +upon him; and they cannot easily be shaken off. The afternoon we +arrived, we had barely got into our rooms at Brack's Oude Doelan, +when a gray-headed commissionaire knocked at our door, and offered +his services to show us the city. We deferred the pleasure of his +valuable society. Shortly, when we came down to the street, a +smartly dressed Israelite took off his hat to us, and offered to show +us the city. We declined with impressive politeness, and walked on. +The Jew accompanied us, and attempted conversation, in which we did +not join. He would show us everything for a guilder an hour,--for +half a guilder. Having plainly told the Jew that we did not desire +his attendance, he crossed to the other side of the street, and kept +us in sight, biding his opportunity. At the end of the street, we +hesitated a moment whether to cross the bridge or turn up by the +broad canal. The Jew was at our side in a moment, having divined +that we were on the way to the Dam and the palace. He obligingly +pointed the way, and began to walk with us, entering into +conversation. We told him pointedly, that we did not desire his +services, and requested him to leave us. He still walked in our +direction, with the air of one much injured, but forgiving, and was +more than once beside us with a piece of information. When we +finally turned upon him with great fierceness, and told him to +begone, he regarded us with a mournful and pitying expression; and as +the last act of one who returned good for evil, before he turned +away, pointed out to us the next turn we were to make. I saw him +several times afterward; and I once had occasion to say to him, that +I had already told him I would not employ him; and he always lifted +his hat, and looked at me with a forgiving smile. I felt that I had +deeply wronged him. As we stood by the statue, looking up at the +eastern pediment of the palace, another of the tribe (they all speak +a little English) asked me if I wished to see the palace. I told him +I was looking at it, and could see it quite distinctly. Half a dozen +more crowded round, and proffered their aid. Would I like to go into +the palace? They knew, and I knew, that they could do nothing more +than go to the open door, through which they would not be admitted, +and that I could walk across the open square to that, and enter +alone. I asked the first speaker if he wished to go into the palace. +Oh, yes! he would like to go. I told him he had better go at once, +--they had all better go in together and see the palace,--it was an +excellent opportunity. They seemed to see the point, and slunk away +to the other side to wait for another stranger. + +I find that this plan works very well with guides: when I see one +approaching, I at once offer to guide him. It is an idea from which +he does not rally in time to annoy us. The other day I offered to +show a persistent fellow through an old ruin for fifty kreuzers: as +his price for showing me was forty-eight, we did not come to terms. +One of the most remarkable guides, by the way, we encountered at +Stratford-on-Avon. As we walked down from the Red Horse Inn to the +church, a full-grown boy came bearing down upon us in the most +wonderful fashion. Early rickets, I think, had been succeeded by the +St. Vitus' dance. He came down upon us sideways, his legs all in a +tangle, and his right arm, bent and twisted, going round and round, +as if in vain efforts to get into his pocket, his fingers spread out +in impotent desire to clutch something. There was great danger that +he would run into us, as he was like a steamer with only one +side-wheel and no rudder. He came up puffing and blowing, and +offered to show us Shakespeare's tomb. Shade of the past, to be +accompanied to thy resting-place by such an object! But he fastened +himself on us, and jerked and hitched along in his side-wheel +fashion. We declined his help. He paddled on, twisting himself into +knots, and grinning in the most friendly manner. We told him to +begone. "I am," said he, wrenching himself into a new contortion, "I +am what showed Artemus Ward round Stratford." This information he +repeated again and again, as if we could not resist him after we had +comprehended that. We shook him off; but when we returned at sundown +across the fields, from a visit to Anne Hathaway's cottage, we met +the sidewheeler cheerfully towing along a large party, upon whom he +had fastened. + +The people of Amsterdam are only less queer than their houses. The +men dress in a solid, old-fashioned way. Every one wears the +straight, high-crowned silk hat that went out with us years ago, and +the cut of clothing of even the most buckish young fellows is behind +the times. I stepped into the Exchange, an immense interior, that +will hold five thousand people, where the stock-gamblers meet twice a +day. It was very different from the terrible excitement and noise of +the Paris Bourse. There were three or four thousand brokers there, +yet there was very little noise and no confusion. No stocks were +called, and there was no central ring for bidding, as at the Bourse +and the New York Gold Room; but they quietly bought and sold. Some +of the leading firms had desks or tables at the side, and there +awaited orders. Everything was phlegmatically and decorously done. + +In the streets one still sees peasant women in native costume. There +was a group to-day that I saw by the river, evidently just crossed +over from North Holland. They wore short dresses, with the upper +skirt looped up, and had broad hips and big waists. On the head was +a cap with a fall of lace behind; across the back of the head a broad +band of silver (or tin) three inches broad, which terminated in front +and just above the ears in bright pieces of metal about two inches +square, like a horse's blinders, Only flaring more from the head; +across the forehead and just above the eyes a gilt band, embossed; on +the temples two plaits of hair in circular coils; and on top of all a +straw hat, like an old-fashioned bonnet stuck on hindside before. +Spiral coils of brass wire, coming to a point in front, are also worn +on each side of the head by many. Whether they are for ornament or +defense, I could not determine. + +Water is brought into the city now from Haarlem, and introduced into +the best houses; but it is still sold in the streets by old men and +women, who sit at the faucets. I saw one dried-up old grandmother, +who sat in her little caboose, fighting away the crowd of dirty +children who tried to steal a drink when her back was turned, keeping +count of the pails of water carried away with a piece of chalk on the +iron pipe, and trying to darn her stocking at the same time. Odd +things strike you at every turn. There is a sledge drawn by one poor +horse, and on the front of it is a cask of water pierced with holes, +so that the water squirts out and wets the stones, making it easier +sliding for the runners. It is an ingenious people! + +After all, we drove out five miles to Broek, the clean village; +across the Y, up the canal, over flatness flattened. Broek is a +humbug, as almost all show places are. A wooden little village on a +stagnant canal, into which carriages do not drive, and where the +front doors of the houses are never open; a dead, uninteresting +place, neat but not specially pretty, where you are shown into one +house got up for the purpose, which looks inside like a crockery +shop, and has a stiff little garden with box trained in shapes of +animals and furniture. A roomy-breeched young Dutchman, whose +trousers went up to his neck, and his hat to a peak, walked before us +in slow and cow-like fashion, and showed us the place; especially +some horrid pleasure-grounds, with an image of an old man reading in +a summer-house, and an old couple in a cottage who sat at a table and +worked, or ate, I forget which, by clock-work; while a dog barked by +the same means. In a pond was a wooden swan sitting on a stick, the +water having receded, and left it high and dry. Yet the trip is +worth while for the view of the country and the people on the way: +men and women towing boats on the canals; the red-tiled houses +painted green, and in the distance the villages, with their spires +and pleasing mixture of brown, green, and red tints, are very +picturesque. The best thing that I saw, however, was a traditional +Dutchman walking on the high bank of a canal, with soft hat, short +pipe, and breeches that came to the armpits above, and a little below +the knees, and were broad enough about the seat and thighs to carry +his no doubt numerous family. He made a fine figure against the sky. + + + + +COLOGNE AND ST. URSULA + +It is a relief to get out of Holland and into a country nearer to +hills. The people also seem more obliging. In Cologne, a +brown-cheeked girl pointed us out the way without waiting for a +kreuzer. Perhaps the women have more to busy themselves about in the +cities, and are not so curious about passers-by. We rarely see a +reflector to exhibit us to the occupants of the second-story windows. +In all the cities of Belgium and Holland the ladies have small +mirrors, with reflectors, fastened to their windows; so that they can +see everybody who passes, without putting their heads out. I trust +we are not inverted or thrown out of shape when we are thus caught up +and cast into my lady's chamber. Cologne has a cheerful look, for +the Rhine here is wide and promising; and as for the "smells," they +are certainly not so many nor so vile as those at Mainz. + +Our windows at the hotel looked out on the finest front of the +cathedral. If the Devil really built it, he is to be credited with +one good thing, and it is now likely to be finished, in spite of him. +Large as it is, it is on the exterior not so impressive as that at +Amiens; but within it has a magnificence born of a vast design and +the most harmonious proportions, and the grand effect is not broken +by any subdivision but that of the choir. Behind the altar and in +front of the chapel, where lie the remains of the Wise Men of the +East who came to worship the Child, or, as thev are called, the Three +Kings of Cologne, we walked over a stone in the pavement under which +is the heart of Mary de Medicis: the remainder of her body is in St. +Denis near Paris. The beadle in red clothes, who stalks about the +cathedral like a converted flamingo, offered to open for us the +chapel; but we declined a sight of the very bones of the Wise Men. +It was difficult enough to believe they were there, without seeing +them. One ought not to subject his faith to too great a strain at +first in Europe. The bones of the Three Kings, by the way, made the +fortune of the cathedral. They were the greatest religious card of +the Middle Ages, and their fortunate possession brought a flood of +wealth to this old Domkirche. The old feudal lords would swear by +the Almighty Father, or the Son, or Holy Ghost, or by everything +sacred on earth, and break their oaths as they would break a wisp of +straw: but if you could get one of them to swear by the Three Kings +of Cologne, he was fast; for that oath he dare not disregard. + +The prosperity of the cathedral on these valuable bones set all the +other churches in the neighborhood on the same track; and one can +study right here in this city the growth of relic worship. But the +most successful achievement was the collection of the bones of St. +Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins, and their preservation in the +church on the very spot where they suffered martyrdom. There is +probably not so large a collection of the bones of virgins elsewhere +in the world; and I am sorry to read that Professor Owen has thought +proper to see and say that many of them are the bones of lower orders +of animals. They are built into the walls of the church, arranged +about the choir, interred in stone coffins, laid under the pavements; +and their skulls grin at you everywhere. In the chapel the bones are +tastefully built into the wall and overhead, like rustic wood-work; +and the skulls stand in rows, some with silver masks, like the jars +on the shelves of an apothecary's shop. It is a cheerful place. On +the little altar is the very skull of the saint herself, and that of +Conan, her lover, who made the holy pilgrimage to Rome with her and +her virgins, and also was slain by the Huns at Cologne. There is a +picture of the eleven thousand disembarking from one boat on the +Rhine, which is as wonderful as the trooping of hundreds of spirits +out of a conjurer's bottle. The right arm of St. Ursula is preserved +here: the left is at Bruges. I am gradually getting the hang of this +excellent but somewhat scattered woman, and bringing her together in +my mind. Her body, I believe, lies behind the altar in this same +church. She must have been a lovely character, if Hans Memling's +portrait of her is a faithful one. I was glad to see here one of the +jars from the marriage-supper in Cana. We can identify it by a piece +which is broken out; and the piece is in Notre Dame in Paris. It has +been in this church five hundred years. The sacristan, a very +intelligent person, with a shaven crown and his hair cut straight +across his forehead, who showed us the church, gave us much useful +information about bones, teeth, and the remains of the garments that +the virgins wore; and I could not tell from his face how much he +expected us to believe. I asked the little fussy old guide of an +English party who had joined us, how much he believed of the story. +He was a Protestant, and replied, still anxious to keep up the credit +of his city, "Tousands is too many; some hundreds maybe; tousands is +too many." + + + + +A GLIMPSE OF THE RHINE + +You have seen the Rhine in pictures; you have read its legends. You +know, in imagination at least, how it winds among craggy hills of +splendid form, turning so abruptly as to leave you often shut in with +no visible outlet from the wall of rock and forest; how the castles, +some in ruins so as to be as unsightly as any old pile of rubbish, +others with feudal towers and battlements, still perfect, hang on the +crags, or stand sharp against the sky, or nestle by the stream or on +some lonely island. You know that the Rhine has been to Germans what +the Nile was to the Egyptians,--a delight, and the theme of song and +story. Here the Roman eagles were planted; here were the camps of +Drusus; here Caesar bridged and crossed the Rhine; here, at every +turn, a feudal baron, from his high castle, levied toll on the +passers; and here the French found a momentary halt to their invasion +of Germany at different times. You can imagine how, in a misty +morning, as you leave Bonn, the Seven Mountains rise up in their +veiled might, and how the Drachenfels stands in new and changing +beauty as you pass it and sail away. You have been told that the +Hudson is like the Rhine. Believe me, there is no resemblance; nor +would there be if the Hudson were lined with castles, and Julius +Caesar had crossed it every half mile. The Rhine satisfies you, and +you do not recall any other river. It only disappoints you as to its +"vine-clad hills." You miss trees and a covering vegetation, and are +not enamoured of the patches of green vines on wall-supported +terraces, looking from the river like hills of beans or potatoes. +And, if you try the Rhine wine on the steamers, you will wholly lose +your faith in the vintage. We decided that the wine on our boat was +manufactured in the boiler. + +There is a mercenary atmosphere about hotels and steamers on the +Rhine, a watering-place, show sort of feeling, that detracts very +much from one's enjoyment. The old habit of the robber barons of +levying toll on all who sail up and down has not been lost. It is not +that one actually pays so much for sightseeing, but the charm of +anything vanishes when it is made merchandise. One is almost as +reluctant to buy his "views" as he is to sell his opinions. But one +ought to be weeks on the Rhine before attempting to say anything +about it. + +One morning, at Bingen,--I assure you it was not six o'clock,--we +took a big little rowboat, and dropped down the stream, past the +Mouse Tower, where the cruel Bishop Hatto was eaten up by rats, under +the shattered Castle of Ehrenfels, round the bend to the little +village of Assmannshausen, on the hills back of which is grown the +famous red wine of that name. On the bank walked in line a dozen +peasants, men and women, in picturesque dress, towing, by a line +passed from shoulder to shoulder, a boat filled with marketing for +Rudesheim. We were bound up the Niederwald, the mountain opposite +Bingen, whose noble crown of forest attracted us. At the landing, +donkeys awaited us; and we began the ascent, a stout, good-natured +German girl acting as guide and driver. Behind us, on the opposite +shore, set round about with a wealth of foliage, was the Castle of +Rheinstein, a fortress more pleasing in its proportions and situation +than any other. Our way was through the little town which is jammed +into the gorge; and as we clattered up the pavement, past the church, +its heavy bell began to ring loudly for matins, the sound +reverberating in the narrow way, and following us with its +benediction when we were far up the hill, breathing the fresh, +inspiring morning air. The top of the Niederwald is a splendid +forest of trees, which no impious Frenchman has been allowed to trim, +and cut into allees of arches, taking one in thought across the water +to the free Adirondacks. We walked for a long time under the welcome +shade, approaching the brow of the hill now and then, where some +tower or hermitage is erected, for a view of the Rhine and the Nahe, +the villages below, and the hills around; and then crossed the +mountain, down through cherry orchards, and vine yards, walled up, +with images of Christ on the cross on the angles of the walls, down +through a hot road where wild flowers grew in great variety, to the +quaint village of Rudesheim, with its queer streets and ancient +ruins. Is it +possible that we can have too many ruins? "Oh dear!" exclaimed the +jung-frau as we sailed along the last day, "if there is n't another +castle!" + + + + +HEIDELBERG + +If you come to Heidelberg, you will never want to go away. To arrive +here is to come into a peaceful state of rest and content. The great +hills out of which the Neckar flows, infold the town in a sweet +security; and yet there is no sense of imprisonment, for the view is +always wide open to the great plains where the Neckar goes to join +the Rhine, and where the Rhine runs for many a league through a rich +and smiling land. One could settle down here to study, without a +desire to go farther, nor any wish to change the dingy, shabby old +buildings of the university for anything newer and smarter. What the +students can find to fight their little duels about I cannot see; but +fight they do, as many a scarred cheek attests. The students give +life to the town. They go about in little caps of red, green, and +blue, many of them embroidered in gold, and stuck so far on the +forehead that they require an elastic, like that worn by ladies, +under the back hair, to keep them on; and they are also distinguished +by colored ribbons across the breast. The majority of them are +well-behaved young gentlemen, who carry switch-canes, and try to keep +near the fashions, like students at home. Some like to swagger about +in their little skull-caps, and now and then one is attended by a +bull-dog. + +I write in a room which opens out upon a balcony. Below it is a +garden, below that foliage, and farther down the town with its old +speckled roofs, spires, and queer little squares. Beyond is the +Neckar, with the bridge, and white statues on it, and an old city +gate at this end, with pointed towers. Beyond that is a white road +with a wall on one side, along which I see peasant women walking with +large baskets balanced on their heads. The road runs down the river +to Neuenheim. Above it on the steep hillside are vineyards; and a +winding path goes up to the Philosopher's Walk, which runs along for +a mile or more, giving delightful views of the castle and the +glorious woods and hills back of it. Above it is the mountain of +Heiligenberg, from the other side of which one looks off toward +Darmstadt and the famous road, the Bergstrasse. If I look down the +stream, I see the narrow town, and the Neckar flowing out of it into +the vast level plain, rich with grain and trees and grass, with many +spires and villages; Mannheim to the northward, shining when the sun +is low; the Rhine gleaming here and there near the horizon; and the +Vosges Mountains, purple in the last distance: on my right, and so +near that I could throw a stone into them, the ruined tower and +battlements of the northwest corner of the castle, half hidden in +foliage, with statues framed in ivy, and the garden terrace, built +for Elizabeth Stuart when she came here the bride of the Elector +Frederick, where giant trees grow. Under the walls a steep path goes +down into the town, along which little houses cling to the hillside. +High above the castle rises the noble Konigstuhl, whence the whole of +this part of Germany is visible, and, in a clear day, Strasburg +Minster, ninety miles away. + +I have only to go a few steps up a narrow, steep street, lined with +the queerest houses, where is an ever-running pipe of good water, to +which all the neighborhood resorts, and I am within the grounds of +the castle. I scarcely know where to take you; for I never know +where to go myself, and seldom do go where I intend when I set forth. +We have been here several days; and I have not yet seen the Great +Tun, nor the inside of the show-rooms, nor scarcely anything that is +set down as a "sight." I do not know whether to wander on through the +extensive grounds, with splendid trees, bits of old ruin, overgrown, +cozy nooks, and seats where, through the foliage, distant prospects +open into quiet retreats that lead to winding walks up the terraced +hill, round to the open terrace overlooking the Neckar, and giving +the best general view of the great mass of ruins. If we do, we shall +be likely to sit in some delicious place, listening to the band +playing in the "Restauration," and to the nightingales, till the moon +comes up. Or shall we turn into the garden through the lovely Arch +of the Princess Elizabeth, with its stone columns cut to resemble +tree-trunks twined with ivy? Or go rather through the great archway, +and under the teeth of the portcullis, into the irregular quadrangle, +whose buildings mark the changing style and fortune of successive +centuries, from 1300 down to the seventeenth century? There is +probably no richer quadrangle in Europe: there is certainly no other +ruin so vast, so impressive, so ornamented with carving, except the +Alhambra. And from here we pass out upon the broad terrace of +masonry, with a splendid flanking octagon tower, its base hidden in +trees, a rich facade for a background, and below the town the river, +and beyond the plain and floods of golden sunlight. What shall we +do? Sit and dream in the Rent Tower under the lindens that grow in +its top? The day passes while one is deciding how to spend it, and +the sun over Heiligenberg goes down on his purpose. + + + + +ALPINE NOTES + +ENTERING SWITZERLAND BERNE ITS BEAUTIES AND BEARS + +If you come to Bale, you should take rooms on the river, or stand on +the bridge at evening, and have a sunset of gold and crimson +streaming down upon the wide and strong Rhine, where it rushes +between the houses built plumb up to it, or you will not care much +for the city. And yet it is pleasant on the high ground, where are +some stately buildings, and where new gardens are laid out, and where +the American consul on the Fourth of July flies our flag over the +balcony of a little cottage smothered in vines and gay with flowers. +I had the honor of saluting it that day, though I did not know at the +time that gold had risen two or three per cent. under its blessed +folds at home. Not being a shipwrecked sailor, or a versatile and +accomplished but impoverished naturalized citizen, desirous of quick +transit to the land of the free, I did not call upon the consul, but +left him under the no doubt correct impression that he was doing a +good thing by unfolding the flag on the Fourth. + +You have not journeyed far from Bale before you are aware that you +are in Switzerland. It was showery the day we went down; but the +ride filled us with the most exciting expectations. The country +recalled New England, or what New England might be, if it were +cultivated and adorned, and had good roads and no fences. Here at +last, after the dusty German valleys, we entered among real hills, +round which and through which, by enormous tunnels, our train slowly +went: rocks looking out of foliage; sweet little valleys, green as in +early spring; the dark evergreens in contrast; snug cottages nestled +in the hillsides, showing little else than enormous brown roofs that +come nearly to the ground, giving the cottages the appearance of huge +toadstools; fine harvests of grain; thrifty apple-trees, and cherry- +trees purple with luscious fruit. And this shifting panorama +continues until, towards evening, behold, on a hill, Berne, shining +through showers, the old feudal round tower and buildings overhanging +the Aar, and the tower of the cathedral over all. From the balcony +of our rooms at the Bellevue, the long range of the Bernese Oberland +shows its white summits for a moment in the slant sunshine, and then +the clouds shut down, not to lift again for two days. Yet it looks +warmer on the snow-peaks than in Berne, for summer sets in in +Switzerland with a New England chill and rigor. + +The traveler finds no city with more flavor of the picturesque and +quaint than Berne; and I think it must have preserved the Swiss +characteristics better than any other of the large towns in Helvetia. +It stands upon a peninsula, round which the Aar, a hundred feet +below, rapidly flows; and one has on nearly every side very pretty +views of the green basin of hills which rise beyond the river. It is +a most comfortable town on a rainy day; for all the principal streets +have their houses built on arcades, and one walks under the low +arches, with the shops on one side and the huge stone pillars on the +other. These pillars so stand out toward the street as to give the +house-fronts a curved look. Above are balconies, in which, upon red +cushions, sit the daughters of Berne, reading and sewing, and +watching their neighbors; and in nearly every window are quantities +of flowers of the most brilliant colors. The gray stone of the +houses, which are piled up from the streets, harmonizes well with the +colors in the windows and balconies, and the scene is quite Oriental +as one looks down, especially if it be upon a market morning, when +the streets are as thronged as the Strand. Several terraces, with +great trees, overlook the river, and command prospects of the Alps. +These are public places; for the city government has a queer notion +that trees are not hideous, and that a part of the use of living is +the enjoyment of the beautiful. I saw an elegant bank building, with +carved figures on the front, and at each side of the entrance door a +large stand of flowers,--oleanders, geraniums, and fuchsias; while +the windows and balconies above bloomed with a like warmth of floral +color. Would you put an American bank president in the Retreat who +should so decorate his banking-house? We all admire the tasteful +display of flowers in foreign towns: we go home, and carry nothing +with us but a recollection. But Berne has also fountains everywhere; +some of them grotesque, like the ogre that devours his own children, +but all a refreshment and delight. And it has also its clock-tower, +with one of those ingenious pieces of mechanism, in which the sober +people of this region take pleasure. At the hour, a procession of +little bears goes round, a jolly figure strikes the time, a cock +flaps his wings and crows, and a solemn Turk opens his mouth to +announce the flight of the hours. It is more grotesque, but less +elaborate, than the equally childish toy in the cathedral at +Strasburg. + +We went Sunday morning to the cathedral; and the excellent woman who +guards the portal--where in ancient stone the Last Judgment is +enacted, and the cheerful and conceited wise virgins stand over +against the foolish virgins, one of whom has been in the penitential +attitude of having a stone finger in her eye now for over three +hundred years--refused at first to admit us to the German Lutheran +service, which was just beginning. It seems that doors are locked, +and no one is allowed to issue forth until after service. There +seems to be an impression that strangers go only to hear the organ, +which is a sort of rival of that at Freiburg, and do not care much +for the well-prepared and protracted discourse in Swiss-German. We +agreed to the terms of admission; but it did not speak well for +former travelers that the woman should think it necessary to say, +"You must sit still, and not talk." It is a barn-like interior. The +women all sit on hard, high-backed benches in the center of the +church, and the men on hard, higher-backed benches about the sides, +inclosing and facing the women, who are more directly under the +droppings of the little pulpit, hung on one of the pillars,--a very +solemn and devout congregation, who sang very well, and paid strict +attention to the sermon. + +I noticed that the names of the owners, and sometimes their coats-of- +arms, were carved or painted on the backs of the seats, as if the +pews were not put up at yearly auction. One would not call it a +dressy congregation, though the homely women looked neat in black +waists and white puffed sleeves and broadbrimmed hats. + +The only concession I have anywhere seen to women in Switzerland, as +the more delicate sex, was in this church: they sat during most of +the service, but the men stood all the time, except during the +delivery of the sermon. The service began at nine o'clock, as it +ought to with us in summer. The costume of the peasant women in and +about Berne comes nearer to being picturesque than in most other +parts of Switzerland, where it is simply ugly. You know the sort of +thing in pictures,--the broad hat, short skirt, black, pointed +stomacher, with white puffed sleeves, and from each breast a large +silver chain hanging, which passes under the arm and fastens on the +shoulder behind,--a very favorite ornament. This costume would not +be unbecoming to a pretty face and figure: whether there are any such +native to Switzerland, I trust I may not be put upon the witness- +stand to declare. Some of the peasant young men went without coats, +and with the shirt sleeves fluted; and others wore butternut-colored +suits, the coats of which I can recommend to those who like the +swallow-tailed variety. I suppose one would take a man into the +opera in London, where he cannot go in anything but that sort. The +buttons on the backs of these came high up between the shoulders, and +the tails did not reach below the waistband. There is a kind of +rooster of similar appearance. I saw some of these young men from +the country, with their sweethearts, leaning over the stone parapet, +and looking into the pit of the bear-garden, where the city bears +walk round, or sit on their hind legs for bits of bread thrown to +them, or douse themselves in the tanks, or climb the dead trees set +up for their gambols. Years ago they ate up a British officer who +fell in; and they walk round now ceaselessly, as if looking for +another. But one cannot expect good taste in a bear. + +If you would see how charming a farming country can be, drive out on +the highway towards Thun. For miles it is well shaded with giant +trees of enormous trunks, and a clean sidewalk runs by the fine road. +On either side, at little distances from the road, are picturesque +cottages and rambling old farmhouses peeping from the trees and vines +and flowers. Everywhere flowers, before the house, in the windows, +at the railway stations. But one cannot stay forever even in +delightful Berne, with its fountains and terraces, and girls on red +cushions in the windows, and noble trees and flowers, and its stately +federal Capitol, and its bears carved everywhere in stone and wood, +and its sunrises, when all the Bernese Alps lie like molten silver in +the early light, and the clouds drift over them, now hiding, now +disclosing, the enchanting heights. + + + + +HEARING THE FREIBURG ORGAN--FIRST SIGHT OF LAKE LEMAN + +Freiburg, with its aerial suspension-bridges, is also on a peninsula, +formed by the Sarine; with its old walls, old watch-towers, its +piled-up old houses, and streets that go upstairs, and its delicious +cherries, which you can eat while you sit in the square by the famous +linden-tree, and wait for the time when the organ will be played in +the cathedral. For all the world stops at Freiburg to hear and enjoy +the great organ,--all except the self-satisfied English clergyman, +who says he does n't care much for it, and would rather go about town +and see the old walls; and the young and boorish French couple, whose +refined amusement in the railway-carriage consisted in the young +man's catching his wife's foot in the window-strap, and hauling it up +to the level of the window, and who cross themselves and go out after +the first tune; and the two bread-and-butter English young ladies, +one of whom asks the other in the midst of the performance, if she +has thought yet to count the pipes,--a thoughtful verification of +Murray, which is very commendable in a young woman traveling for the +improvement of her little mind. + +One has heard so much of this organ, that he expects impossibilities, +and is at first almost disappointed, although it is not long in +discovering its vast compass, and its wonderful imitations, now of a +full orchestra, and again of a single instrument. One has not to +wait long before he is mastered by its spell. The vox humana stop +did not strike me as so perfect as that of the organ in the Rev. +Mr. Hale's church in Boston, though the imitation of choir-voices +responding to the organ was very effective. But it is not in tricks +of imitation that this organ is so wonderful: it is its power of +revealing, by all its compass, the inmost part of any musical +composition. + +The last piece we heard was something like this: the sound of a bell, +tolling at regular intervals, like the throbbing of a life begun; +about it an accompaniment of hopes, inducements, fears, the flute, +the violin, the violoncello, promising, urging, entreating, +inspiring; the life beset with trials, lured with pleasures, +hesitating, doubting, questioning; its purpose at length grows more +certain and fixed, the bell tolling becomes a prolonged undertone, +the flow of a definite life; the music goes on, twining round it, now +one sweet instrument and now many, in strife or accord, all the +influences of earth and heaven and the base underworld meeting and +warring over the aspiring soul; the struggle becomes more earnest, +the undertone is louder and clearer; the accompaniment indicates +striving, contesting passion, an agony of endeavor and resistance, +until at length the steep and rocky way is passed, the world and self +are conquered, and, in a burst of triumph from a full orchestra, the +soul attains the serene summit. But the rest is only for a moment. +Even in the highest places are temptations. The sunshine fails, +clouds roll up, growling of low, pedal thunder is heard, while sharp +lightning-flashes soon break in clashing peals about the peaks. This +is the last Alpine storm and trial. After it the sun bursts out +again, the wide, sunny valleys are disclosed, and a sweet evening +hymn floats through all the peaceful air. We go out from the cool +church into the busy streets of the white, gray town awed and +comforted. + +And such a ride afterwards! It was as if the organ music still +continued. All the world knows the exquisite views southward from +Freiburg; but such an atmosphere as we had does not overhang them +many times in a season. First the Moleross, and a range of mountains +bathed in misty blue light,--rugged peaks, scarred sides, white and +tawny at once, rising into the clouds which hung large and soft in +the blue; soon Mont Blanc, dim and aerial, in the south; the lovely +valley of the River Sense; peasants walking with burdens on the white +highway; the quiet and soft-tinted mountains beyond; towns perched on +hills, with old castles and towers; the land rich with grass, grain, +fruit, flowers; at Palezieux a magnificent view of the silver, +purple, and blue mountains, with their chalky seams and gashed sides, +near at hand; and at length, coming through a long tunnel, as if we +had been shot out into the air above a country more surprising than +any in dreams, the most wonderful sight burst upon us,--the +low-lying, deep-blue Lake Leman, and the gigantic mountains rising +from its shores, and a sort of mist, translucent, suffused with +sunlight, like the liquid of the golden wine the Steinberger poured +into the vast basin. We came upon it out of total darkness, without +warning; and we seemed, from our great height, to be about to leap +into the splendid gulf of tremulous light and color. + +This Lake of Geneva is said to combine the robust mountain grandeur +of Luzerne with all the softness of atmosphere of Lake Maggiore. +Surely, nothing could exceed the loveliness as we wound down the +hillside, through the vineyards, to Lausanne, and farther on, near +the foot of the lake, to Montreux, backed by precipitous but +tree-clad hills, fronted by the lovely water, and the great mountains +which run away south into Savoy, where Velan lifts up its snows. +Below us, round the curving bay, lies white Chillon; and at sunset we +row down to it over the bewitched water, and wait under its grim +walls till the failing light brings back the romance of castle and +prisoner. Our garcon had never heard of the prisoner; but he knew +about the gendarmes who now occupy the castle. + + + + +OUR ENGLISH FRIENDS + +Not the least of the traveler's pleasure in Switzerland is derived +from the English people who overrun it: they seem to regard it as a +kind of private park or preserve belonging to England; and they +establish themselves at hotels, or on steamboats and diligences, with +a certain air of ownership that is very pleasant. I am not very +fresh in my geology; but it is my impression that Switzerland was +created especially for the English, about the year of the Magna +Charta, or a little later. The Germans who come here, and who don't +care very much what they eat, or how they sleep, provided they do not +have any fresh air in diningroom or bedroom, and provided, also, that +the bread is a little sour, growl a good deal about the English, and +declare that they have spoiled Switzerland. The natives, too, who +live off the English, seem to thoroughly hate them; so that one is +often compelled, in self-defense, to proclaim his nationality, which +is like running from Scylla upon Charybdis; for, while the American +is more popular, it is believed that there is no bottom to his +pocket. + +There was a sprig of the Church of England on the steamboat on Lake +Leman, who spread himself upon a center bench, and discoursed very +instructively to his friends,--a stout, fat-faced young man in a +white cravat, whose voice was at once loud and melodious, and whom +our manly Oxford student set down as a man who had just rubbed +through the university, and got into a scanty living. + +"I met an American on the boat yesterday," the oracle was saying to +his friends, "who was really quite a pleasant fellow. He--ah really +was, you know, quite a sensible man. I asked him if they had +anything like this in America; and he was obliged to say that they +had n't anything like it in his country; they really had n't. He was +really quite a sensible fellow; said he was over here to do the +European tour, as he called it." + +Small, sympathetic laugh from the attentive, wiry, red-faced woman on +the oracle's left, and also a chuckle, at the expense of the +American, from the thin Englishman on his right, who wore a large +white waistcoat, a blue veil on his hat, and a face as red as a live +coal. + +"Quite an admission, was n't it, from an American? But I think they +have changed since the wah, you know." + +At the next landing, the smooth and beaming churchman was left by his +friends; and he soon retired to the cabin, where I saw him +self-sacrificingly denying himself the views on deck, and consoling +himself with a substantial lunch and a bottle of English ale. + +There is one thing to be said about the English abroad: the variety +is almost infinite. The best acquaintances one makes will be +English,--people with no nonsense and strong individuality; and one +gets no end of entertainment from the other sort. Very different +from the clergyman on the boat was the old lady at table-d'hote in +one of the hotels on the lake. One would not like to call her a +delightfully wicked old woman, like the Baroness Bernstein; but she +had her own witty and satirical way of regarding the world. She had +lived twenty-five years at Geneva, where people, years ago, coming +over the dusty and hot roads of France, used to faint away when they +first caught sight of the Alps. Believe they don't do it now. She +never did; was past the susceptible age when she first came; was +tired of the people. Honest? Why, yes, honest, but very fond of +money. Fine Swiss wood-carving? Yes. You'll get very sick of it. +It's very nice, but I 'm tired of it. Years ago, I sent some of it +home to the folks in England. They thought everything of it; and it +was not very nice, either,--a cheap sort. Moral ideas? I don't care +for moral ideas: people make such a fuss about them lately (this in +reply to her next neighbor, an eccentric, thin man, with bushy hair, +shaggy eyebrows, and a high, falsetto voice, who rallied the witty +old lady all dinner-time about her lack of moral ideas, and +accurately described the thin wine on the table as "water- +bewitched"). Why did n't the baroness go back to England, if she was +so tired of Switzerland? Well, she was too infirm now; and, besides, +she did n't like to trust herself on the railroads. And there were +so many new inventions nowadays, of which she read. What was this +nitroglycerine, that exploded so dreadfully? No: she thought she +should stay where she was. + +There is little risk of mistaking the Englishman, with or without his +family, who has set out to do Switzerland. He wears a brandy-flask, +a field-glass, and a haversack. Whether he has a silk or soft hat, +he is certain to wear a veil tied round it. This precaution is +adopted when he makes up his mind to come to Switzerland, I think, +because he has read that a veil is necessary to protect the eyes from +the snow-glare. There is probably not one traveler in a hundred who +gets among the ice and snow-fields where he needs a veil or green +glasses: but it is well to have it on the hat; it looks adventurous. +The veil and the spiked alpenstock are the signs of peril. +Everybody--almost everybody--has an alpenstock. It is usually a +round pine stick, with an iron spike in one end. That, also, is a +sign of peril. We saw a noble young Briton on the steamer the other +day, who was got up in the best Alpine manner. He wore a short +sack,--in fact, an entire suit of light gray flannel, which closely +fitted his lithe form. His shoes were of undressed leather, with +large spikes in the soles; and on his white hat he wore a large +quantity of gauze, which fell in folds down his neck. I am sorry to +say that he had a red face, a shaven chin, and long side-whiskers. +He carried a formidable alpenstock; and at the little landing where +we first saw him, and afterward on the boat, he leaned on it in a +series of the most graceful and daring attitudes that I ever saw the +human form assume. Our Oxford student knew the variety, and guessed +rightly that he was an army man. He had his face burned at Malta. +Had he been over the Gemmi? Or up this or that mountain? asked +another English officer. "No, I have not." And it turned out that +he had n't been anywhere, and did n't seem likely to do anything but +show himself at the frequented valley places. And yet I never saw +one whose gallant bearing I so much admired. We saw him afterward at +Interlaken, enduring all the hardships of that fashionable place. +There was also there another of the same country, got up for the most +dangerous Alpine climbing, conspicuous in red woolen stockings that +came above his knees. I could not learn that he ever went up +anything higher than the top of a diligence. + + + + +THE DILIGENCE TO CHAMOUNY + +The greatest diligence we have seen, one of the few of the +old-fashioned sort, is the one from Geneva to Chamouny. It leaves +early in the morning; and there is always a crowd about it to see the +mount and start. The great ark stands before the diligence-office, +and, for half an hour before the hour of starting, the porters are +busy stowing away the baggage, and getting the passengers on board. +On top, in the banquette, are seats for eight, besides the postilion +and guard; in the coupe, under the postilion's seat and looking upon +the horses, seats for three; in the interior, for three; and on top, +behind, for six or eight. The baggage is stowed in the capacious +bowels of the vehicle. At seven, the six horses are brought out and +hitched on, three abreast. We climb up a ladder to the banquette: +there is an irascible Frenchman, who gets into the wrong seat; and +before he gets right there is a terrible war of words between him and +the guard and the porters and the hostlers, everybody joining in with +great vivacity; in front of us are three quiet Americans, and a slim +Frenchman with a tall hat and one eye-glass. The postilion gets up +to his place. Crack, crack, crack, goes the whip; and, amid +"sensation" from the crowd, we are off at a rattling pace, the whip +cracking all the time like Chinese fireworks. The great passion of +the drivers is noise; and they keep the whip going all day. No +sooner does a fresh one mount the box than he gives a half-dozen +preliminary snaps; to which the horses pay no heed, as they know it +is only for the driver's amusement. We go at a good gait, changing +horses every six miles, till we reach the Baths of St. Gervais, where +we dine, from near which we get our first glimpse of Mont Blanc +through clouds,--a section of a dazzlingly white glacier, a very +exciting thing to the imagination. Thence we go on in small +carriages, over a still excellent but more hilly road, and begin to +enter the real mountain wonders; until, at length, real glaciers +pouring down out of the clouds nearly to the road meet us, and we +enter the narrow Valley of Chamouny, through which we drive to the +village in a rain. + +Everybody goes to Chamouny, and up the Flegere, and to Montanvert, +and over the Mer de Glace; and nearly everybody down the Mauvais Pas +to the Chapeau, and so back to the village. It is all easy to do; +and yet we saw some French people at the Chapeau who seemed to think +they had accomplished the most hazardous thing in the world in coming +down the rocks of the Mauvais Pas. There is, as might be expected, a +great deal of humbug about the difficulty of getting about in the +Alps, and the necessity of guides. Most of the dangers vanish on +near approach. The Mer de Glace is inferior to many other glaciers, +and is not nearly so fine as the Glacier des Bossons: but it has a +reputation, and is easy of access; so people are content to walk over +the dirty ice. One sees it to better effect from below, or he must +ascend it to the Jardin to know that it has deep crevasses, and is as +treacherous as it is grand. And yet no one will be disappointed at +the view from Montanvert, of the upper glacier, and the needles of +rock and snow which rise beyond. + +We met at the Chapeau two jolly young fellows from Charleston, S. C. +who had been in the war, on the wrong side. They knew no language +but American, and were unable to order a cutlet and an omelet for +breakfast. They said they believed they were going over the Tete +Noire. They supposed they had four mules waiting for them somewhere, +and a guide; but they couldn't understand a word he said, and he +couldn't understand them. The day before, they had nearly perished +of thirst, because they could n't make their guide comprehend that +they wanted water. One of them had slung over his shoulder an Alpine +horn, which he blew occasionally, and seemed much to enjoy. All this +while we sit on a rock at the foot of the Mauvais Pas, looking out +upon the green glacier, which here piles itself up finely, and above +to the Aiguilles de Charmoz and the innumerable ice-pinnacles that +run up to the clouds, while our muleteer is getting his breakfast. +This is his third breakfast this morning. + +The day after we reached Chamouny, Monseigneur the bishop arrived +there on one of his rare pilgrimages into these wild valleys. Nearly +all the way down from Geneva, we had seen signs of his coming, in +preparations as for the celebration of a great victory. I did not +know at first but the Atlantic cable had been laid; or rather that +the decorations were on account of the news of it reaching this +region. It was a holiday for all classes; and everybody lent a hand +to the preparations. First, the little church where the +confirmations were to take place was trimmed within and without; and +an arch of green spanned the gateway. At Les Pres, the women were +sweeping the road, and the men were setting small evergreen-trees on +each side. The peasants were in their best clothes; and in front of +their wretched hovels were tables set out with flowers. So cheerful +and eager were they about the bishop, that they forgot to beg as we +passed: the whole valley was in a fever of expectation. At one +hamlet on the mulepath over the Tete Noire, where the bishop was that +day expected, and the women were sweeping away all dust and litter +from the road, I removed my hat, and gravely thanked them for their +thoughtful preparation for our coming. But they only stared a +little, as if we were not worthy to be even forerunners of +Monseigneur. + +I do not care to write here how serious a drawback to the pleasures +of this region are its inhabitants. You get the impression that half +of them are beggars. The other half are watching for a chance to +prey upon you in other ways. I heard of a woman in the Zermatt +Valley who refused pay for a glass of milk; but I did not have time +to verify the report. Besides the beggars, who may or may not be +horrid-looking creatures, there are the grinning Cretins, the old +women with skins of parchment and the goitre, and even young children +with the loathsome appendage, the most wretched and filthy hovels, +and the dirtiest, ugliest people in them. The poor women are the +beasts of burden. They often lead, mowing in the hayfield; they +carry heavy baskets on their backs; they balance on their heads and +carry large washtubs full of water. The more appropriate load of one +was a cradle with a baby in it, which seemed not at all to fear +falling. When one sees how the women are treated, he does not wonder +that there are so many deformed, hideous children. I think the +pretty girl has yet to be born in Switzerland. + +This is not much about the Alps? Ah, well, the Alps are there. Go +read your guide-book, and find out what your emotions are. As I +said, everybody goes to Chamouny. Is it not enough to sit at your +window, and watch the clouds when they lift from the Mont Blanc +range, disclosing splendor after splendor, from the Aiguille de Goute +to the Aiguille Verte,--white needles which pierce the air for twelve +thousand feet, until, jubilate! the round summit of the monarch +himself is visible, and the vast expanse of white snow-fields, the +whiteness of which is rather of heaven than of earth, dazzles the +eyes, even at so great a distance? Everybody who is patient and +waits in the cold and inhospitable-looking valley of the Chamouny +long enough, sees Mont Blanc; but every one does not see a sunset of +the royal order. The clouds breaking up and clearing, after days of +bad weather, showed us height after height, and peak after peak, now +wreathing the summits, now settling below or hanging in patches on +the sides, and again soaring above, until we had the whole range +lying, far and brilliant, in the evening light. The clouds took on +gorgeous colors, at length, and soon the snow caught the hue, and +whole fields were rosy pink, while uplifted peaks glowed red, as with +internal fire. Only Mont Blanc, afar off, remained purely white, in +a kind of regal inaccessibility. And, afterward, one star came out +over it, and a bright light shone from the hut on the Grand Mulets, a +rock in the waste of snow, where a Frenchman was passing the night on +his way to the summit. + +Shall I describe the passage of the Tete Noire? My friend, it is +twenty-four miles, a road somewhat hilly, with splendid views of Mont +Blanc in the morning, and of the Bernese Oberland range in the +afternoon, when you descend into Martigny,--a hot place in the dusty +Rhone Valley, which has a comfortable hotel, with a pleasant garden, +in which you sit after dinner and let the mosquitoes eat you. + + + + +THE MAN WHO SPEAKS ENGLISH + +It was eleven o'clock at night when we reached Sion, a dirty little +town at the end of the Rhone Valley Railway, and got into the omnibus +for the hotel; and it was also dark and rainy. They speak German in +this part of Switzerland, or what is called German. There were two +very pleasant Americans, who spoke American, going on in the +diligence at half-past five in the morning, on their way over the +Simplex. One of them was accustomed to speak good, broad English +very distinctly to all races; and he seemed to expect that he must be +understood if he repeated his observations in a louder tone, as he +always did. I think he would force all this country to speak English +in two months. We all desired to secure places in the diligence, +which was likely to be full, as is usually the case when a railway +discharges itself into a postroad. + +We were scarcely in the omnibus, when the gentleman said to the +conductor: + +"I want two places in the coupe of the diligence in the morning. Can +I have them?" + +"Yah" replied the good-natured German, who did n't understand a word. + +"Two places, diligence, coupe, morning. Is it full?" + +"Yah," replied the accommodating fellow. "Hotel man spik English." + +I suggested the banquette as desirable, if it could be obtained, and +the German was equally willing to give it to us. Descending from the +omnibus at the hotel, in a drizzling rain, and amidst a crowd of +porters and postilions and runners, the "man who spoke English" +immediately presented himself; and upon him the American pounced with +a torrent of questions. He was a willing, lively little waiter, with +his moony face on the top of his head; and he jumped round in the +rain like a parching pea, rolling his head about in the funniest +manner. + +The American steadied the little man by the collar, and began, +"I want to secure two seats in the coupe of the diligence in the. +morning." + +"Yaas," jumping round, and looking from one to another. "Diligence, +coupe, morning." + +"I--want--two seats--in--coupe. If I can't get them, two--in-- +banquette." + +"Yaas banquette, coupe,--yaas, diligence." + +"Do you understand? Two seats, diligence, Simplon, morning. Will +you get them?" + +"Oh, yaas! morning, diligence. Yaas, sirr." + +"Hang the fellow! Where is the office? "And the gentleman left the +spry little waiter bobbing about in the middle of the street, +speaking English, but probably comprehending nothing that was said to +him. I inquired the way to the office of the conductor: it was +closed, but would soon be open, and I waited; and at length the +official, a stout Frenchman, appeared, and I secured places in the +interior, the only ones to be had to Visp. I had seen a diligence at +the door with three places in the coupe, and one perched behind; no +banquette. The office is brightly lighted; people are waiting to +secure places; there is the usual crowd of loafers, men and women, +and the Frenchman sits at his desk. Enter the American. + +"I want two places in coupe, in the morning. Or banquette. Two +places, diligence." The official waves him off, and says something. + +"What does he say?" + +"He tells you to sit down on that bench till he is ready." + +Soon the Frenchman has run over his big waybills, and turns to us. + +"I want two places in the diligence, coupe," etc, etc, says the +American. + +This remark being lost on the official, I explain to him as well as I +can what is wanted, at first,--two places in the coupe. + +"One is taken," is his reply. + +"The gentleman will take two," I said, having in mind the diligence +in the yard, with three places in the coupe. + +"One is taken," he repeats. + +"Then the gentleman will take the other two." + +"One is taken! "he cries, jumping up and smiting the table,--" one +is taken, I tell you!" + +"How many are there in the coupe?" + +"TWO." + +"Oh! then the gentleman will take the one remaining in the coupe and +the one on top." + +So it is arranged. When I come back to the hotel, the Americans are +explaining to the lively waiter "who speaks English" that they are to +go in the diligence at half-past five, and that they are to be called +at half-past four and have breakfast. He knows all about it,-- +"Diligence, half-past four breakfast, Oh, yaas!" While I have been +at the diligence-office, my companions have secured room and gone to +them; and I ask the waiter to show m to my room. First, however, I +tell him that we three two ladies and myself, who came together, are +going in the diligence at half-past five, and want to be called and +have breakfast. Did he comprehend? + +"Yaas," rolling his face about on the top of his head violently. +"You three gentleman want breakfast. What you have?" + +I had told him before what we would I have, an now I gave up all hope +of keeping our parties separate in his mind; so I said, +"Five persons want breakfast at five o'clock. Five persons, five +hours. Call all of them at half-past four." And I repeated it, and +made him repeat it in English and French. He then insisted on +putting me into the room of one of the American gentlemen +and then he knocked at the door of a lady, who cried out in +indignation at being disturbed; and, finally, I found my room. At +the door I reiterated the instructions for the morning; and he +cheerfully bade me good-night. But he almost immediately came back, +and poked in his head with,-- + +"Is you go by de diligence?" + +"Yes, you stupid." + +In the morning one of our party was called at halfpast three, and +saved the rest of us from a like fate; and we were not aroused at +all, but woke early enough to get down and find the diligence nearly +ready, and no breakfast, but "the man who spoke English" as lively +as ever. And we had a breakfast brought out, so filthy in all +respects that nobody could eat it. Fortunately, there was not time +to seriously try; but we paid for it, and departed. The two American +gentlemen sat in front of the house, waiting. The lively waiter had +called them at half-past three, for the railway train, instead of the +diligence; and they had their wretched breakfast early. They will +remember the funny adventure with "the man who speaks English," and, +no doubt, unite with us in warmly commending the Hotel Lion d'Or at +Sion as the nastiest inn in Switzerland. + + + + +A WALK TO THE GORNER GRAT + +When one leaves the dusty Rhone Valley, and turns southward from +Visp, he plunges into the wildest and most savage part of +Switzerland, and penetrates the heart of the Alps. The valley is +scarcely more than a narrow gorge, with high precipices on either +side, through which the turbid and rapid Visp tears along at a +furious rate, boiling and leaping in foam over its rocky bed, and +nearly as large as the Rhone at the junction. From Visp to St. +Nicolaus, twelve miles, there is only a mule-path, but a very good +one, winding along on the slope, sometimes high up, and again +descending to cross the stream, at first by vineyards and high stone +walls, and then on the edges of precipices, but always romantic and +wild. It is noon when we set out from Visp, in true pilgrim fashion, +and the sun is at first hot; but as we slowly rise up the easy +ascent, we get a breeze, and forget the heat in the varied charms of +the walk. + +Everything for the use of the upper valley and Zermatt, now a place +of considerable resort, must be carried by porters, or on horseback; +and we pass or meet men and women, sometimes a dozen of them +together, laboring along under the long, heavy baskets, broad at the +top and coming nearly to a point below, which are universally used +here for carrying everything. The tubs for transporting water are of +the same sort. There is no level ground, but every foot is +cultivated. High up on the sides of the precipices, where it seems +impossible for a goat to climb, are vineyards and houses, and even +villages, hung on slopes, nearly up to the clouds, and with no +visible way of communication with the rest of the world. + +In two hours' time we are at Stalden, a village perched upon a rocky +promontory, at the junction of the valleys of the Saas and the Visp, +with a church and white tower conspicuous from afar. We climb up to +the terrace in front of it, on our way into the town. A seedy- +looking priest is pacing up and down, taking the fresh breeze, his +broad-brimmed, shabby hat held down upon the wall by a big stone. +His clothes are worn threadbare; and he looks as thin and poor as a +Methodist minister in a stony town at home, on three hundred a year. +He politely returns our salutation, and we walk on. Nearly all the +priests in this region look wretchedly poor,--as poor as the people. +Through crooked, narrow streets, with houses overhanging and +thrusting out corners and gables, houses with stables below, and +quaint carvings and odd little windows above, the panes of glass +hexagons, so that the windows looked like sections of honey-comb,--we +found our way to the inn, a many-storied chalet, with stairs on the +outside, stone floors in the upper passages, and no end of queer +rooms; built right in the midst of other houses as odd, decorated +with German-text carving, from the windows of which the occupants +could look in upon us, if they had cared to do so; but they did not. +They seem little interested in anything; and no wonder, with their +hard fight with Nature. Below is a wine-shop, with a little side +booth, in which some German travelers sit drinking their wine, and +sputtering away in harsh gutturals. The inn is very neat inside, and +we are well served. Stalden is high; but away above it on the +opposite side is a village on the steep slope, with a slender white +spire that rivals some of the snowy needles. Stalden is high, but +the hill on which it stands is rich in grass. The secret of the +fertile meadows is the most thorough irrigation. Water is carried +along the banks from the river, and distributed by numerous +sluiceways below; and above, the little mountain streams are brought +where they are needed by artificial channels. Old men and women in +the fields were constantly changing the direction of the currents. +All the inhabitants appeared to be porters: women were transporting +on their backs baskets full of soil; hay was being backed to the +stables; burden-bearers were coming and going upon the road: we were +told that there are only three horses in the place. There is a +pleasant girl who brings us luncheon at the inn; but the inhabitants +for the most part are as hideous as those we see all day: some have +hardly the shape of human beings, and they all live in the most +filthy manner in the dirtiest habitations. A chalet is a sweet thing +when you buy a little model of it at home. + +After we leave Stalden, the walk becomes more picturesque, the +precipices are higher, the gorges deeper. It required some +engineering to carry the footpath round the mountain buttresses and +over the ravines. Soon the village of Emd appears on the right,--a +very considerable collection of brown houses, and a shining white +church-spire, above woods and precipices and apparently unscalable +heights, on a green spot which seems painted on the precipices; with +nothing visible to keep the whole from sliding down, down, into the +gorge of the Visp. Switzerland may not have so much population to +the square mile as some countries; but she has a population to some +of her square miles that would astonish some parts of the earth's +surface elsewhere. Farther on we saw a faint, zigzag footpath, that +we conjectured led to Emd; but it might lead up to heaven. All day +we had been solicited for charity by squalid little children, who +kiss their nasty little paws at us, and ask for centimes. The +children of Emd, however, did not trouble us. It must be a serious +affair if they ever roll out of bed. + +Late in the afternoon thunder began to tumble about the hills, and +clouds snatched away from our sight the snow-peaks at the end of the +valley; and at length the rain fell on those who had just arrived and +on the unjust. We took refuge from the hardest of it in a lonely +chalet high up on the hillside, where a roughly dressed, frowzy +Swiss, who spoke bad German, and said he was a schoolmaster, gave us +a bench in the shed of his schoolroom. He had only two pupils in +attendance, and I did not get a very favorable impression of this +high school. Its master quite overcame us with thanks when we gave +him a few centimes on leaving. It still rained, and we arrived in +St. Nicolaus quite damp. + +There is a decent road from St. Nicolaus to Zermatt, over which go +wagons without springs. The scenery is constantly grander as we +ascend. The day is not wholly clear; but high on our right are the +vast snow-fields of the Weishorn, and out of the very clouds near it +seems to pour the Bies Glacier. In front are the splendid Briethorn, +with its white, round summit; the black Riffelhorn; the sharp peak of +the little Matterhorn; and at last the giant Matterhorn itself rising +before us, the most finished and impressive single mountain in +Switzerland. Not so high as Mont Blanc by a thousand feet, it +appears immense in its isolated position and its slender aspiration. +It is a huge pillar of rock, with sharply cut edges, rising to a +defined point, dusted with snow, so that the rock is only here and +there revealed. To ascend it seems as impossible as to go up the +Column of Luxor; and one can believe that the gentlemen who first +attempted it in 1864, and lost their lives, did fall four thousand +feet before their bodies rested on the glacier below. + +We did not stay at Zermatt, but pushed on for the hotel on the top of +the Riffelberg,--a very stiff and tiresome climb of about three +hours, an unending pull up a stony footpath. Within an hour of the +top, and when the white hotel is in sight above the zigzag on the +breast of the precipice, we reach a green and widespread Alp where +hundreds of cows are feeding, watched by two forlorn women,--the +"milkmaids all forlorn" of poetry. At the rude chalets we stop, and +get draughts of rich, sweet cream. As we wind up the slope, the +tinkling of multitudinous bells from the herd comes to us, which is +also in the domain of poetry. All the way up we have found wild +flowers in the greatest profusion; and the higher we ascend, the more +exquisite is their color and the more perfect their form. There are +pansies; gentians of a deeper blue than flower ever was before; +forget-me-nots, a pink variety among them; violets, the Alpine rose +and the Alpine violet; delicate pink flowers of moss; harebells; and +quantities for which we know no names, more exquisite in shape and +color than the choicest products of the greenhouse. Large slopes are +covered with them,--a brilliant show to the eye, and most pleasantly +beguiling the way of its tediousness. As high as I ascended, I still +found some of these delicate flowers, the pink moss growing in +profusion amongst the rocks of the GornerGrat, and close to the +snowdrifts. + +The inn on the Riffelberg is nearly eight thousand feet high, almost +two thousand feet above the hut on Mount Washington; yet it is not so +cold and desolate as the latter. Grass grows and flowers bloom on +its smooth upland, and behind it and in front of it are the +snow-peaks. That evening we essayed the Gorner-Grat, a rocky ledge +nearly ten thousand feet above the level of the sea; but after a +climb of an hour and a half, and a good view of Monte Rosa and the +glaciers and peaks of that range, we were prevented from reaching the +summit, and driven back by a sharp storm of hail and rain. The next +morning I started for the GornerGrat again, at four o'clock. The +Matterhorn lifted its huge bulk sharply against the sky, except where +fleecy clouds lightly draped it and fantastically blew about it. As +I ascended, and turned to look at it, its beautifully cut peak had +caught the first ray of the sun, and burned with a rosy glow. Some +great clouds drifted high in the air: the summits of the Breithorn, +the Lyscamm, and their companions, lay cold and white; but the snow +down their sides had a tinge of pink. When I stood upon the summit +of the Gorner-Grat, the two prominent silver peaks of Monte Rosa were +just touched with the sun, and its great snow-fields were visible to +the glacier at its base. The Gorner-Grat is a rounded ridge of rock, +entirely encirled by glaciers and snow-peaks. The panorama from it +is unexcelled in Switzerland. + +Returning down the rocky steep, I descried, solitary in that great +waste of rock and snow, the form of a lady whom I supposed I had left +sleeping at the inn, overcome with the fatigue of yesterday's tramp. +Lured on by the apparently short distance to the backbone of the +ridge, she had climbed the rocks a mile or more above the hotel, and +come to meet me. She also had seen the great peaks lift themselves +out of the gray dawn, and Monte Rosa catch the first rays. We stood +awhile together to see how jocund day ran hither and thither along +the mountain-tops, until the light was all abroad, and then silently +turned downward, as one goes from a mount of devotion + + + + +THE BATHS OF LEUK + +In order to make the pass of the Gemmi, it is necessary to go through +the Baths of Leuk. The ascent from the Rhone bridge at Susten is +full of interest, affording fine views of the valley, which is better +to look at than to travel through, and bringing you almost +immediately to the old town of Leuk, a queer, old, towered place, +perched on a precipice, with the oddest inn, and a notice posted up +to the effect, that any one who drives through its steep streets +faster than a walk will be fined five francs. I paid nothing extra +for a fast walk. The road, which is one of the best in the country, +is a wonderful piece of engineering, spanning streams, cut in rock, +rounding precipices, following the wild valley of the Dala by many a +winding and zigzag. + +The Baths of Leuk, or Loeche-les-Bains, or Leukerbad, is a little +village at the very head of the valley, over four thousand feet above +the sea, and overhung by the perpendicular walls of the Gemmi, which +rise on all sides, except the south, on an average of two thousand +feet above it. There is a nest of brown houses, clustered together +like bee-hives, into which the few inhabitants creep to hibernate in +the long winters, and several shops, grand hotels, and bathing-houses +open for the season. Innumerable springs issue out of this green, +sloping meadow among the mountains, some of them icy cold, but over +twenty of them hot, and seasoned with a great many disagreeable +sulphates, carbonates, and oxides, and varying in temperature from +ninety-five to one hundred and twenty-three degrees Fahrenheit. +Italians, French, and Swiss resort here in great numbers to take the +baths, which are supposed to be very efficacious for rheumatism and +cutaneous affections. Doubtless many of them do up their bathing for +the year while here; and they may need no more after scalding and +soaking in this water for a couple of months. + +Before we reached the hotel, we turned aside into one of the +bath-houses. We stood inhaling a sickly steam in a large, close +hall, which was wholly occupied by a huge vat, across which low +partitions, with bridges, ran, dividing it into four compartments. +When we entered, we were assailed with yells in many languages, and +howls in the common tongue, as if all the fiends of the pit had +broken loose. We took off our hats in obedience to the demand; but +the clamor did not wholly subside, and was mingled with singing and +horrible laughter. Floating about in each vat, we at first saw +twenty or thirty human heads. The women could be distinguished from +the men by the manner of dressing the hair. Each wore a loose woolen +gown. Each had a little table floating before him or her, which he +or she pushed about at pleasure. One wore a hideous mask; another +kept diving in the opaque pool and coming up to blow, like the +hippopotamus in the Zoological Gardens; some were taking a lunch from +their tables, others playing chess; some sitting on the benches round +the edges, with only heads out of water, as doleful as owls, while +others roamed about, engaged in the game of spattering with their +comrades, and sang and shouted at the top of their voices. The +people in this bath were said to be second class; but they looked as +well and behaved better than those of the first class, whom we saw in +the establishment at our hotel afterward. + +It may be a valuable scientific fact, that the water in these vats, +in which people of all sexes, all diseases, and all nations spend so +many hours of the twenty-four, is changed once a day. The +temperature at which the bath is given is ninety-eight. The water is +let in at night, and allowed to cool. At five in the morning, the +bathers enter it, and remain until ten o'clock,--five hours, having +breakfast served to them on the floating tables, "as they sail, as +they sail." They then have a respite till two, and go in till five. +Eight hours in hot water! Nothing can be more disgusting than the +sight of these baths. Gustave Dore must have learned here how to +make those ghostly pictures of the lost floating about in the Stygian +pools, in his illustrations of the Inferno; and the rocks and +cavernous precipices may have enabled him to complete the picture. +On what principle cures are effected in these filthy vats, I could +not learn. I have a theory, that, where so many diseases meet and +mingle in one swashing fluid, they neutralize each other. It may be +that the action is that happily explained by one of the Hibernian +bathmen in an American water-cure establishment. "You see, sir," +said he, "that the shock of the water unites with the electricity of +the system, and explodes the disease." I should think that the shock +to one's feeling of decency and cleanliness, at these baths, would +explode any disease in Europe. But, whatever the result may be, I am +not sorry to see so many French and Italians soak themselves once a +year. + +Out of the bath these people seem to enjoy life. There is a long +promenade, shaded and picturesque, which they take at evening, +sometimes as far as the Ladders, eight of which are fastened, in a +shackling manner, to the perpendicular rocks,--a high and somewhat +dangerous ascent to the village of Albinen, but undertaken constantly +by peasants with baskets on their backs. It is in winter the only +mode Leukerbad has of communicating with the world; and in summer it +is the only way of reaching Albinen, except by a long journey down +the Dala and up another valley and height. The bathers were +certainly very lively and social at table-d'hote, where we had the +pleasure of meeting some hundred of them, dressed. It was presumed +that the baths were the subject of the entertaining conversation; for +I read in a charming little work which sets forth the delights of +Leuk, that La poussee forms the staple of most of the talk. La +poussee, or, as this book poetically calls it, "that daughter of the +waters of Loeche," "that eruption of which we have already spoken, +and which proves the action of the baths upon the skin,"--becomes the +object, and often the end, of all conversation. And it gives +specimens of this pleasant converse, as: + +"Comment va votre poussee?" + +"Avez-vous la poussee?" + +"Je suis en pleine poussee" + +"Ma poussee s'est fort bien passee!" + +Indeed says this entertaining tract, sans poussee, one would not be +able to hold, at table or in the salon, with a neighbor of either +sex, the least conversation. Further, it is by grace a la poussee +that one arrives at those intimacies which are the characteristics of +the baths. Blessed, then, be La poussee, which renders possible such +a high society and such select and entertaining conversation! Long +may the bathers of Leuk live to soak and converse! In the morning, +when we departed for the ascent of the Gemmi, we passed one of the +bathing-houses. I fancied that a hot steam issued out of the +crevices; from within came a discord of singing and caterwauling; +and, as a door swung open, I saw that the heads floating about on the +turbid tide were eating breakfast from the swimming tables. + + + + +OVER THE GEMMI + +I spent some time, the evening before, studying the face of the cliff +we were to ascend, to discover the path; but I could only trace its +zigzag beginning. When we came to the base of the rock, we found a +way cut, a narrow path, most of the distance hewn out of the rock, +winding upward along the face of the precipice. The view, as one +rises, is of the break-neck description. The way is really safe +enough, even on mule-back, ascending; but one would be foolhardy to +ride down. We met a lady on the summit who was about to be carried +down on a chair; and she seemed quite to like the mode of conveyance: +she had harnessed her husband in temporarily for one of the bearers, +which made it still more jolly for her. When we started, a cloud of +mist hung over the edge of the rocks. As we rose, it descended to +meet us, and sunk below, hiding the valley and its houses, which had +looked like Swiss toys from our height. When we reached the summit, +the mist came boiling up after us, rising like a thick wall to the +sky, and hiding all that great mountain range, the Vallais Alps, from +which we had come, and which we hoped to see from this point. +Fortunately, there were no clouds on the other side, and we looked +down into a magnificent rocky basin, encircled by broken and +overtopping crags and snow-fields, at the bottom of which was a green +lake. It is one of the wildest of scenes. + +An hour from the summit, we came to a green Alp, where a herd of cows +were feeding; and in the midst of it were three or four dirty +chalets, where pigs, chickens, cattle, and animals constructed very +much like human beings, lived; yet I have nothing to say against +these chalets, for we had excellent cream there. We had, on the way +down, fine views of the snowy Altels, the Rinderhorn, the Finster- +Aarhorn, a deep valley which enormous precipices guard, but which +avalanches nevertheless invade, and, farther on, of the Blumlisalp, +with its summit of crystalline whiteness. The descent to Kandersteg +is very rapid, and in a rain slippery. This village is a resort for +artists for its splendid views of the range we had crossed: it stands +at the gate of the mountains. From there to the Lake of Thun is a +delightful drive,--a rich country, with handsome cottages and a +charming landscape, even if the pyramidal Niesen did not lift up its +seven thousand feet on the edge of the lake. So, through a smiling +land, and in the sunshine after the rain, we come to Spiez, and find +ourselves at a little hotel on the slope, overlooking town and lake +and mountains. + +Spiez is not large: indeed, its few houses are nearly all +picturesquely grouped upon a narrow rib of land which is thrust into +the lake on purpose to make the loveliest picture in the world. +There is the old castle, with its many slim spires and its square- +peaked roofed tower; the slender-steepled church; a fringe of old +houses below on the lake, one overhanging towards the point; and the +promontory, finished by a willo drooping to the water. Beyond, in +hazy light, over the lucid green of the lake, are mountains whose +masses of rock seem soft and sculptured. To the right, at the foot +of the lake, tower the great snowy mountains, the cone of the +Schreckhorn, the square top of the Eiger, the Jungfrau, just showing +over the hills, and the Blumlisalp rising into heaven clear and +silvery. + +What can one do in such a spot, but swim in the lake, lie on the +shore, and watch the passing steamers and the changing light on the +mountains? Down at the wharf, when the small boats put off for the +steamer, one can well entertain himself. The small boat is an +enormous thing, after all, and propelled by two long, heavy sweeps, +one of which is pulled, and the other pushed. The laboring oar is, +of course, pulled by a woman; while her husband stands up in the +stern of the boat, and gently dips the other in a gallant fashion. +There is a boy there, whom I cannot make out,--a short, square boy, +with tasseled skull-cap, and a face that never changes its +expression, and never has any expression to change; he may be older +than these hills; he looks old enough to be his own father: and there +is a girl, his counterpart, who might be, judging her age by her +face, the mother of both of them. These solemn old-young people are +quite busy doing nothing about the wharf, and appear to be afflicted +with an undue sense of the responsibility of life. There is a +beer-garden here, where several sober couples sit seriously drinking +their beer. There are some horrid old women, with the parchment skin +and the disagreeable necks. Alone, in a window of the castle, sits a +lady at her work, who might be the countess; only, I am sorry, there +is no countess, nothing but a frau, in that old feudal dwelling. And +there is a foreigner, thinking how queer it all is. And while he +sits there, the melodious bell in the church-tower rings its evening +song. + + + + +BAVARIA. + + +AMERICAN IMPATIENCE + +We left Switzerland, as we entered it, in a rain,--a kind of double +baptism that may have been necessary, and was certainly not too heavy +a price to pay for the privileges of the wonderful country. The wind +blew freshly, and swept a shower over the deck of the little +steamboat, on board of which we stepped from the shabby little pier +and town of Romanshorn. After the other Swiss lakes, Constance is +tame, except at the southern end, beyond which rise the Appenzell +range and the wooded peaks of the Bavarian hills. Through the dash +of rain, and under the promise of a magnificent rainbow,--rainbows +don't mean anything in Switzerland, and have no office as +weather-prophets, except to assure you, that, as it rains to-day, so +it will rain tomorrow,--we skirted the lower bend of the lake,--and +at twilight sailed into the little harbor of Lindau, through the +narrow entrance between the piers, on one of which is a small +lighthouse, and on the other sits upright a gigantic stone lion,--a +fine enough figure of a Bavarian lion, but with a comical, +wide-awake, and expectant expression of countenance, as if he might +bark right out at any minute, and become a dog. Yet in the +moonlight, shortly afterward, the lion looked very grand and stately, +as he sat regarding the softly plashing waves, and the high, drifting +clouds, and the old Roman tower by the bridge which connects the +Island of Lindau with the mainland, and thinking perhaps, if stone +lions ever do think, of the time when Roman galleys sailed on Lake +Constance, and when Lindau was an imperial town with a thriving +trade. + +On board the little steamer was an American, accompanied by two +ladies, and traveling, I thought, for their gratification, who was +very anxious to get on faster than he was able to do,--though why any +one should desire to go fast in Europe I do not know. One easily +falls into the habit of the country, to take things easily, to go +when the slow German fates will, and not to worry one's self +beforehand about times and connections. But the American was in a +fever of impatience, desirous, if possible, to get on that night. I +knew he was from the Land of the Free by a phrase I heard him use in +the cars: he said, "I'll bet a dollar." Yet I must flatter myself +that Americans do not always thus betray themselves. I happened, on +the Isle of Wight, to hear a bland landlord "blow up" his glib- +tongued son because the latter had not driven a stiffer bargain with +us for the hire of a carriage round the island. + +"Didn't you know they were Americans?" asks the irate father. "I +knew it at once." + +"No," replies young hopeful: "they didn't say GUESS once." + +And straightway the fawning-innkeeper returns to us, professing, with +his butter-lips, the greatest admiration of all Americans, and the +intensest anxiety to serve them, and all for pure good-will. The +English are even more bloodthirsty at sight of a travelere than the +Swiss, and twice as obsequious. But to return to our American. He +had all the railway timetables that he could procure; and he was +busily studying them, with the design of "getting on." I heard him +say to his companions, as he ransacked his pockets, that he was a +mass of hotel-bills and timetables. He confided to me afterward, +that his wife and her friend had got it into their heads that they +must go both to Vienna and Berlin. Was Berlin much out of the way in +going from Vienna to Paris? He said they told him it was n't. At +any rate, he must get round at such a date: he had no time to spare. +Then, besides the slowness of getting on, there were the trunks. He +lost a trunk in Switzerland, and consumed a whole day in looking it +up. While the steamboat lay at the wharf at Rorschach, two stout +porters came on board, and shouldered his baggage to take it ashore. +To his remonstrances in English they paid no heed; and it was some +time before they could be made to understand that the trunks were to +go on to Lindau. "There," said he, "I should have lost my trunks. +Nobody understands what I tell them: I can't get any information." +Especially was he unable to get any information as to how to "get +on." I confess that the restless American almost put me into a +fidget, and revived the American desire to "get on," to take the fast +trains, make all the connections,--in short, in the handsome language +of the great West, to "put her through." When I last saw our +traveler, he was getting his luggage through the custom-house, still +undecided whether to push on that night at eleven o'clock. But I +forgot all about him and his hurry when, shortly after, we sat at the +table-d'hote at the hotel, and the sedate Germans lit their cigars, +some of them before they had finished eating, and sat smoking as if +there were plenty of leisure for everything in this world, + + + + +A CITY OF COLOR + +After a slow ride, of nearly eight hours, in what, in Germany, is +called an express train, through a rain and clouds that hid from our +view the Tyrol and the Swabian mountains, over a rolling, pleasant +country, past pretty little railway station-houses, covered with +vines, gay with flowers in the windows, and surrounded with beds of +flowers, past switchmen in flaming scarlet jackets, who stand at the +switches and raise the hand to the temple, and keep it there, in a +military salute, as we go by, we come into old Augsburg, whose +Confession is not so fresh in our minds as it ought to be. Portions +of the ancient wall remain, and many of the towers; and there are +archways, picturesquely opening from street to street, under several +of which we drive on our way to the Three Moors, a stately hostelry +and one of the oldest in Germany. + +It stood here in the year 1500; and the room is still shown, +unchanged since then, in which the rich Count Fugger entertained +Charles V. The chambers are nearly all immense. That in which we +are lodged is large enough for Queen Victoria; indeed, I am glad to +say that her sleeping-room at St. Cloud was not half so spacious. +One feels either like a count, or very lonesome, to sit down in a +lofty chamber, say thirty-five feet square, with little furniture, +and historical and tragical life-size figures staring at one from the +wall-paper. One fears that they may come down in the deep night, and +stand at the bedside,--those narrow, canopied beds there in the +distance, like the marble couches in the cathedral. It must be a +fearful thing to be a royal person, and dwell in a palace, with +resounding rooms and naked, waxed, inlaid floors. At the Three Moors +one sees a visitors' book, begun in 18oo, which contains the names of +many noble and great people, as well as poets and doctors and titled +ladies, and much sentimental writing in French. It is my impression, +from an inspection of the book, that we are the first untitled +visitors. + +The traveler cannot but like Augsburg at once, for its quaint houses, +colored so diversely and yet harmoniously. Remains of its former +brilliancy yet exist in the frescoes on the outside of the buildings, +some of which are still bright in color, though partially defaced. +Those on the House of Fugger have been restored, and are very brave +pictures. These frescoes give great animation and life to the +appearance of a street, and I am glad to see a taste for them +reviving. Augsburg must have been very gay with them two and three +hundred years ago, when, also, it was the home of beautiful women of +the middle class, who married princes. We went to see the house in +which lived the beautiful Agnes Bernauer, daughter of a barber, who +married Duke Albert III. of Bavaria. The house was nought, as old +Samuel Pepys would say, only a high stone building, in a block of +such; but it is enough to make a house attractive for centuries if a +pretty woman once looks out of its latticed windows, as I have no +doubt Agnes often did when the duke and his retinue rode by in +clanking armor. + +But there is no lack of reminders of old times. The cathedral, which +was begun before the Christian era could express its age with four +figures, has two fine portals, with quaint carving, and bronze doors +of very old work, whereon the story of Eve and the serpent is +literally given,--a representation of great theological, if of small +artistic value. And there is the old clock and watch tower, which +for eight hundred years has enabled the Augsburgers to keep the time +of day and to look out over the plain for the approach of an enemy. +The city is full of fine bronze fountains some of them of very +elaborate design, and adding a convenience and a beauty to the town +which American cities wholly want. In one quarter of the town is the +Fuggerei, a little city by itself, surrounded by its own wall, the +gates of which are shut at night, with narrow streets and neat little +houses. It was built by Hans Jacob Fugger the Rich, as long ago as +1519, and is still inhabited by indigent Roman-Catholic families, +according to the intention of its founder. In the windows were +lovely flowers. I saw in the street several of those mysterious, +short, old women,--so old and yet so little, all body and hardly any +legs, who appear to have grown down into the ground with advancing +years. + +It happened to be a rainy day, and cold, on the 30th of July, when we +left Augsburg; and the flat fields through which we passed were +uninviting under the gray light. Large flocks of geese were feeding +on the windy plains, tended by boys and women, who are the living +fences of this country. I no longer wonder at the number of +feather-beds at the inns, under which we are apparently expected to +sleep even in the warmest nights. Shepherds with the regulation +crooks also were watching herds of sheep. Here and there a cluster +of red-roofed houses were huddled together into a village, and in all +directions rose tapering spires. Especially we marked the steeple of +Blenheim, where Jack Churchill won the name for his magnificent +country-seat, early in the eighteenth century. All this plain where +the silly geese feed has been marched over and fought over by armies +time and again. We effect the passage of, the Danube without +difficulty, and on to Harburg, a little town of little red houses, +inhabited principally by Jews, huddled under a rocky ridge, upon the +summit of which is a picturesque medieval castle, with many towers +and turrets, in as perfect preservation as when feudal flags floated +over it. And so on, slowly, with long stops at many stations, to +give opportunity, I suppose, for the honest passengers to take in +supplies of beer and sausages, to Nuremberg. + + + + +A CITY LIVING ON THE PAST + +Nuremberg, or Nurnberg, was built, I believe, about the beginning of +time. At least, in an old black-letter history of the city which I +have seen, illustrated with powerful wood-cuts, the first +representation is that of the creation of the world, which is +immediately followed by another of Nuremberg. No one who visits it +is likely to dispute its antiquity. "Nobody ever goes to Nuremberg +but Americans," said a cynical British officer at Chamouny; "but they +always go there. I never saw an American who had n't been or was not +going to Nuremberg." Well, I suppose they wish to see the +oldest-looking, and, next to a true Briton on his travels, the oddest +thing on the Continent. The city lives in the past still, and on its +memories, keeping its old walls and moat entire, and nearly fourscore +wall-towers, in stern array. But grass grows in the moat, fruit +trees thrive there, and vines clamber on the walls. One wanders +about in the queer streets with the feeling of being transported back +to the Middle Ages; but it is difficult to reproduce the impression +on paper. Who can describe the narrow and intricate ways; the odd +houses with many little gables; great roofs breaking out from eaves +to ridgepole, with dozens of dormer-windows; hanging balconies of +stone, carved and figure-beset, ornamented and frescoed fronts; the +archways, leading into queer courts and alleys, and out again into +broad streets; the towers and fantastic steeples; and the many old +bridges, with obelisks and memorials of triumphal entries of +conquerors and princes? + +The city, as I said, lives upon the memory of what it has been, and +trades upon relics of its former fame. What it would have been +without Albrecht Durer, and Adam Kraft the stone-mason, and Peter +Vischer the bronze-worker, and Viet Stoss who carved in wood, and +Hans Sachs the shoemaker and poet-minstrel, it is difficult to say. +Their statues are set up in the streets; their works still live in +the churches and city buildings,--pictures, and groups in stone and +wood; and their statues, in all sorts of carving, are reproduced, big +and little, in all the shop-windows, for sale. So, literally, the +city is full of the memory of them; and the business of the city, +aside from its manufactory of endless, curious toys, seems to consist +in reproducing them and their immortal works to sell to strangers. + +Other cities project new things, and grow with a modern impetus: +Nuremberg lives in the past, and traffics on its ancient reputation. +Of course, we went to see the houses where these old worthies lived, +and the works of art they have left behind them,--things seen and +described by everybody. The stone carving about the church portals +and on side buttresses is inexpressibly quaint and naive. The +subjects are sacred; and with the sacred is mingled the comic, here +as at Augsburg, where over one portal of the cathedral, with saints +and angels, monkeys climb and gibber. A favorite subject is that of +our Lord praying in the Garden, while the apostles, who could not +watch one hour, are sleeping in various attitudes of stony +comicality. All the stone-cutters seem to have tried their chisels +on this group, and there are dozens of them. The wise and foolish +virgins also stand at the church doors in time-stained stone,--the +one with a perked-up air of conscious virtue, and the other with a +penitent dejection that seems to merit better treatment. Over the +great portal of St. Lawrence--a magnificent structure, with lofty +twin spires and glorious rosewindow is carved "The Last Judgment." +Underneath, the dead are climbing out of their stone coffins; above +sits the Judge, with the attending angels. On the right hand go away +the stiff, prim saints, in flowing robes, and with palms and harps, +up steps into heaven, through a narrow door which St. Peter opens for +them; while on the left depart the wicked, with wry faces and +distorted forms, down into the stone flames, towards which the Devil +is dragging them by their stony hair. + +The interior of the Church of St. Lawrence is richer than any other I +remember, with its magnificent pillars of dark red stone, rising and +foliating out to form the roof; its splendid windows of stained +glass, glowing with sacred story; a high gallery of stone entirely +round the choir, and beautiful statuary on every column. Here, too, +is the famous Sacrament House of honest old Adam Kraft, the most +exquisite thing I ever saw in stone. The color is light gray; and it +rises beside one of the dark, massive pillars, sixty-four feet, +growing to a point, which then strikes the arch of the roof, and +there curls up like a vine to avoid it. The base is supported by the +kneeling figures of Adam Kraft and two fellow-workmen, who labored on +it for four years. Above is the Last Supper, Christ blessing little +children, and other beautiful tableaux in stone. The Gothic spire +grows up and around these, now and then throwing out graceful +tendrils, like a vine, and seeming to be rather a living plant than +inanimate stone. The faithful artist evidently had this feeling for +it; for, as it grew under his hands, he found that it would strike +the roof, or he must sacrifice something of its graceful proportion. +So his loving and daring genius suggested the happy design of letting +it grow to its curving, graceful completeness. + +He who travels by a German railway needs patience and a full +haversack. Time is of no value. The rate of speed of the trains is +so slow, that one sometimes has a desire to get out and walk, and the +stoppages at the stations seem eternal; but then we must remember +that it is a long distance to the bottom of a great mug of beer. We +left Lindau on one of the usual trains at half-past five in the +morning, and reached Augsburg at one o'clock in the afternoon: the +distance cannot be more than a hundred miles. That is quicker than +by diligence, and one has leisure to see the country as he jogs +along. There is nothing more sedate than a German train in motion; +nothing can stand so dead still as a German train at a station. But +there are express trains. + +We were on one from Augsburg to Nuremberg, and I think must have run +twenty miles an hour. The fare on the express trains is one fifth +higher than on the others. The cars are all comfortable; and the +officials, who wear a good deal of uniform, are much more civil and +obliging than officials in a country where they do not wear uniforms. +So, not swiftly, but safely and in good-humor, we rode to the capital +of Bavaria. + + + + +OUTSIDE ASPECTS OF MUNICH + +I saw yesterday, on the 31st of August, in the English Garden, dead +leaves whirling down to the ground, a too evident sign that the +summer weather is going. Indeed, it has been sour, chilly weather +for a week now, raining a little every day, and with a very autumn +feeling in the air. The nightly concerts in the beer-gardens must +have shivering listeners, if the bands do not, as many of them do, +play within doors. The line of droschke drivers, in front of the +post-office colonnade, hide the red facings of their coats under long +overcoats, and stand in cold expectancy beside their blanketed +horses, which must need twice the quantity of black-bread in this +chilly air; for the horses here eat bread, like people. I see the +drivers every day slicing up the black loaves, and feeding them, +taking now and then a mouthful themselves, wetting it down with a +pull from the mug of beer that stands within reach. And lastly (I am +still speaking of the weather), the gay military officers come abroad +in long cloaks, to some extent concealing their manly forms and smart +uniforms, which I am sure they would not do, except under the +pressure of necessity. + +Yet I think this raw weather is not to continue. It is only a rough +visit from the Tyrol, which will give place to kinder influences. We +came up here from hot Switzerland at the end of July, expecting to +find Munich a furnace. It will be dreadful in Munich everybody said. +So we left Luzerne, where it was warm, not daring to stay till the +expected rival sun, Victoria of England, should make the heat +overpowering. But the first week of August in Munich it was +delicious weather,--clear, sparkling, bracing air, with no chill in +it and no languor in it, just as you would say it ought to be on a +high, gravelly plain, seventeen hundred feet above the sea. Then +came a week of what the Muncheners call hot weather, with the +thermometer up to eighty degrees Fahrenheit, and the white wide +streets and gray buildings in a glare of light; since then, weather +of the most uncertain sort. + +Munich needs the sunlight. Not that it cannot better spare it than +grimy London; for its prevailing color is light gray, and its +many-tinted and frescoed fronts go far to relieve the most cheerless +day. Yet Munich attempts to be an architectural reproduction of +classic times; and, in order to achieve any success in this +direction, it is necessary to have the blue heavens and golden +sunshine of Greece. The old portion of the city has some remains of +the Gothic, and abounds in archways and rambling alleys, that +suddenly become broad streets and then again contract to the width of +an alderman, and portions of the old wall and city gates; old feudal +towers stand in the market-place, and faded frescoes on old +clock-faces and over archways speak of other days of splendor. + +But the Munich of to-day is as if built to order,--raised in a day by +the command of one man. It was the old King Ludwig I., whose +flower-wreathed bust stands in these days in the vestibule of the +Glyptothek, in token of his recent death, who gave the impulse for +all this, though some of the best buildings and streets in the city +have been completed by his successors. The new city is laid out on a +magnificent scale of distances, with wide streets, fine, open +squares, plenty of room for gardens, both public and private; and the +art buildings and art monuments are well distributed; in fact, many a +stately building stands in such isolation that it seems to ask every +passer what it was put there for. Then, again, some of the new +adornments lack fitness of location or purpose. At the end of the +broad, monotonous Ludwig Strasse, and yet not at the end, for the +road runs straight on into the flat country between rows of slender +trees, stands the Siegesthor, or Gate of Victory, an imitation of the +Constantine arch at Rome. It is surmounted by a splendid group in +bronze, by Schwanthaler, Bavaria in her war-chariot, drawn by four +lions; and it is in itself, both in its proportions and its numerous +sculptural figures and bas-reliefs, a fine recognition of the valor +"of the Bavarian army," to whom it is erected. Yet it is so dwarfed +by its situation, that it seems to have been placed in the middle of +the street as an obstruction. A walk runs on each side of it. The +Propylaeum, another magnificent gateway, thrown across the handsome +Brienner Strasse, beyond the Glyptothek, is an imitation of that on +the Acropolis at Athens. It has fine Doric columns on the outside, +and Ionic within, and the pediment groups are bas-reliefs, by +Schwanthaler, representing scenes in modern Greek history. The +passageways for carriages are through the side arches; and thus the +"sidewalk" runs into the center of the street, and foot-passers must +twice cross the carriage-drive in going through the gate. Such +things as these give one the feeling that art has been forced beyond +use in Munich; and it is increased when one wanders through the new +churches, palaces, galleries, and finds frescoes so prodigally +crowded out of the way, and only occasionally opened rooms so +overloaded with them, and not always of the best, as to sacrifice all +effect, and leave one with the sense that some demon of unrest has +driven painters and sculptors and plasterers, night and day, to adorn +the city at a stroke; at least, to cover it with paint and bedeck it +with marbles, and to do it at once, leaving nothing for the sweet +growth and blossoming of time. + +You see, it is easy to grumble, and especially in a cheerful, open, +light, and smiling city, crammed with works Of art, ancient and +modern, its architecture a study of all styles, and its foaming beer, +said by antiquarians to be a good deal better than the mead drunk in +Odin's halls, only seven and a half kreuzers the quart. Munich has +so much, that it, of course, contains much that can be criticised. +The long, wide Ludwig Strasse is a street of palaces,--a street built +up by the old king, and regarded by him with great pride. But all +the buildings are in the Romanesque style,--a repetition of one +another to a monotonous degree: only at the lower end are there any +shops or shop-windows, and a more dreary promenade need not be +imagined. It has neither shade nor fountains; and on a hot day you +can see how the sun would pour into it, and blind the passers. But +few ever walk there at any time. A street that leads nowhere, and +has no gay windows, does not attract. Toward the lower end, in the +Odeon Platz, is the equestrian statue of Ludwig, a royally commanding +figure, with a page on either side. The street is closed (so that it +flows off on either side into streets of handsome shops) by the +Feldherrnhalle, Hall of the Generals, an imitation of the beautiful +Loggia dei Lanzi, at Florence, that as yet contains only two statues, +which seem lost in it. Here at noon, with parade of infantry, comes +a military band to play for half an hour; and there are always plenty +of idlers to listen to them. In the high arcade a colony of doves is +domesticated; and I like to watch them circling about and wheeling +round the spires of the over-decorated Theatine church opposite, and +perching on the heads of the statues on the facade. + +The royal palace, near by, is a huddle of buildings and courts, that +I think nobody can describe or understand, built at different times +and in imitation of many styles. The front, toward the Hof Garden, a +grassless square of small trees, with open arcades on two sides for +shops, and partially decorated with frescoes of landscapes and +historical subjects, is "a building of festive halls," a facade eight +hundred feet long, in the revived Italian style, and with a fine +Ionic porch. The color is the royal, dirty yellow. + +On the Max Joseph Platz, which has a bronze statue of King Max, a +seated figure, and some elaborate bas-reliefs, is another front of +the palace, the Konigsbau, an imitation, not fully carried out, of +the Pitti Palace, at Florence. Between these is the old Residenz, +adorned with fountain groups and statues in bronze. On another side +are the church and theater of the Residenz. The interior of this +court chapel is dazzling in appearance: the pillars are, I think, +imitation of variegated marble; the sides are imitation of the same; +the vaulting is covered with rich frescoes on gold ground. The whole +effect is rich, but it is not at all sacred. Indeed, there is no +church in Munich, except the old cathedral, the Frauenkirche, with +its high Gothic arches, stained windows, and dusty old carvings, that +gives one at all the sort of feeling that it is supposed a church +should give. The court chapel interior is boastingly said to +resemble St. Mark's, in Venice. + +You see how far imitation of the classic and Italian is carried here +in Munich; so, as I said, the buildings need the southern sunlight. +Fortunately, they get the right quality much of the time. The +Glyptothek, a Grecian structure of one story, erected to hold the +treasures of classic sculpture that King Ludwig collected, has a +beautiful Ionic porch and pediment. On the outside are niches filled +with statues. In the pure sunshine and under a deep blue sky, its +white marble glows with an almost ethereal beauty. Opposite stands +another successful imitation of the Grecian style of architecture,--a +building with a Corinthian porch, also of white marble. These, with +the Propylaeum, before mentioned, come out wonderfully against a blue +sky. A few squares distant is the Pinakothek, with its treasures of +old pictures, and beyond it the New Pinakothek, containing works of +modern artists. Its exterior is decorated with frescoes, from +designs by Kaulbach: these certainly appear best in a sparkling +light; though I am bound to say that no light can make very much of +them. + +Yet Munich is not all imitation. Its finest street, the Maximilian, +built by the late king of that name, is of a novel and wholly modern +style of architecture, not an imitation, though it may remind some of +the new portions of Paris. It runs for three quarters of a mile, +beginning with the postoffice and its colonnades, with frescoes on +one side, and the Hof Theater, with its pediment frescoes, the +largest opera-house in Germany, I believe; with stately buildings +adorned with statues, and elegant shops, down to the swift-flowing +Isar, which is spanned by a handsome bridge; or rather by two +bridges, for the Isar is partly turned from its bed above, and made +to turn wheels, and drive machinery. At the lower end the street +expands into a handsome platz, with young shade trees, plats of +grass, and gay beds of flowers. I look out on it as I write; and I +see across the Isar the college building begun by Maximilian for the +education of government officers; and I see that it is still +unfinished, indeed, a staring mass of brick, with unsightly +scaffolding and gaping windows. Money was left to complete it; but +the young king, who does not care for architecture, keeps only a +mason or two on the brick-work, and an artist on the exterior +frescoes. At this rate, the Cologne Cathedral will be finished and +decay before this is built. On either side of it, on the elevated +bank of the river, stretch beautiful grounds, with green lawns, fine +trees, and well-kept walks. + +Not to mention the English Garden, in speaking of the outside aspects +of the city, would be a great oversight. It was laid out originally +by the munificent American, Count Rumford, and is called English, I +suppose, because it is not in the artificial Continental style. +Paris has nothing to compare with it for natural beauty,--Paris, +which cannot let a tree grow, but must clip it down to suit French +taste. It is a noble park four miles in length, and perhaps a +quarter of that in width,--a park of splendid old trees, grand, +sweeping avenues, open glades of free-growing grass, with delicious, +shady walks, charming drives and rivers of water. For the Isar is +trained to flow through it in two rapid streams, under bridges and +over rapids, and by willow-hung banks. There is not wanting even a +lake; and there is, I am sorry to say, a temple on a mound, quite in +the classic style, from which one can see the sun set behind the many +spires of Munich. At the Chinese Tower two military bands play every +Saturday evening in the summer; and thither the carriages drive, and +the promenaders assemble there, between five and six o'clock; and +while the bands play, the Germans drink beer, and smoke cigars, and +the fashionably attired young men walk round and round the, circle, +and the smart young soldiers exhibit their handsome uniforms, and +stride about with clanking swords. + +We felicitated ourselves that we should have no lack of music when we +came to Munich. I think we have not; though the opera has only just +begun, and it is the vacation of the Conservatoire. There are first +the military bands: there is continually a parade somewhere, and the +streets are full of military music, and finely executed too. Then of +beer-gardens there is literally no end, and there are nightly +concerts in them. There are two brothers Hunn, each with his band, +who, like the ancient Huns, have taken the city; and its gardens are +given over to their unending waltzes, polkas, and opera medleys. +Then there is the church music on Sundays and holidays, which is +largely of a military character; at least, has the aid of drums and +trumpets, and the whole band of brass. For the first few days of our +stay here we had rooms near the Maximilian Platz and the Karl's Thor. +I think there was some sort of a yearly fair in progress, for the +great platz was filled with temporary booths: a circus had set itself +up there, and there were innumerable side-shows and lottery-stands; +and I believe that each little shanty and puppet-show had its band or +fraction of a band, for there was never heard such a tooting and +blowing and scraping, such a pounding and dinning and slang-whanging, +since the day of stopping work on the Tower of Babel. The circus +band confined itself mostly to one tune; and as it went all day long, +and late into the night, we got to know it quite well; at least, the +bass notes of it, for the lighter tones came to us indistinctly. You +know that blurt, blurt, thump, thump, dissolute sort of caravan tune. +That was it. + +The English Cafe was not far off, and there the Hunns and others also +made night melodious. The whole air was one throb and thrump. The +only refuge from it was to go into one of the gardens, and give +yourself over to one band. And so it was possible to have delightful +music, and see the honest Germans drink beer, and gossip in friendly +fellowship and with occasional hilarity. But music we had, early and +late. We expected quiet in our present quarters. The first morning, +at six o'clock, we were startled by the resonant notes of a military +band, that set the echoes flying between the houses, and a regiment +of cavalry went clanking down the street. But that is a not +unwelcome morning serenade and reveille. Not so agreeable is the +young man next door, who gives hilarious concerts to his friends, and +sings and bangs his piano all day Sunday; nor the screaming young +woman opposite. Yet it is something to be in an atmosphere of music. + + + + +THE MILITARY LIFE OF MUNICH + +This morning I was awakened early by the strains of a military band. +It was a clear, sparkling morning, the air full of life, and yet the +sun showing its warm, southern side. As the mounted musicians went +by, the square was quite filled with the clang of drum and trumpet, +which became fainter and fainter, and at length was lost on the ear +beyond the Isar, but preserved the perfection of time and the +precision of execution for which the military bands of the city are +remarkable. After the band came a brave array of officers in bright +uniform, upon horses that pranced and curveted in the sunshine; and +the regiment of cavalry followed, rank on rank of splendidly mounted +men, who ride as if born to the saddle. The clatter of hoofs on the +pavement, the jangle of bit and saber, the occasional word of +command, the onward sweep of the well-trained cavalcade, continued +for a long time, as if the lovely morning had brought all the cavalry +in the city out of barracks. But this is an almost daily sight in +Munich. One regiment after another goes over the river to the +drill-ground. In the hot mornings I used quite to pity the troopers +who rode away in the glare in scorching brazen helmets and +breastplates. But only a portion of the regiments dress in that +absurd manner. The most wear a simple uniform, and look very +soldierly. The horses are almost invariably fine animals, and I have +not seen such riders in Europe. Indeed, everybody in Munich who +rides at all rides well. Either most of the horsemen have served in +the cavalry, or horsemanship, that noble art "to witch the world," is +in high repute here. + +Speaking of soldiers, Munich is full of them. There are huge caserns +in every part of the city, crowded with troops. This little kingdom +of Bavaria has a hundred and twenty thousand troops of the line. +Every man is obliged to serve in the army continuously three years; +and every man between the ages of twenty-one and forty-five must go +with his regiment into camp or barrack several weeks in each year, no +matter if the harvest rots in the field, or the customers desert the +uncared-for shop. The service takes three of the best years of a +young man's life. Most of the soldiers in Munich are young one meets +hundreds of mere boys in the uniform of officers. I think every +seventh man you meet is a soldier. There must be between fifteen and +twenty thousand troops quartered in the city now. The young officers +are everywhere, lounging in the cafes, smoking and sipping coffee, on +all the public promenades, in the gardens, the theaters, the +churches. And most of them are fine-looking fellows, good figures in +elegantly fitting and tasteful uniforms; but they do like to show +their handsome forms and hear their sword-scabbards rattle on the +pavement as they stride by. The beer-gardens are full of the common +soldiers, who empty no end of quart mugs in alternate pulls from the +same earthen jug, with the utmost jollity and good fellowship. On +the street, salutes between officers and men are perpetual, +punctiliously given and returned,--the hand raised to the temple, and +held there for a second. A young gallant, lounging down the +Theatiner or the Maximilian Strasse, in his shining and snug uniform, +white kids, and polished boots, with jangling spurs and the long +sword clanking on the walk, raising his hand ever and anon in +condescending salute to a lower in rank, or with affable grace to an +equal, is a sight worth beholding, and for which one cannot be too +grateful. We have not all been created with the natural shape for +soldiers, but we have eyes given us that we may behold them. + +Bavaria fought, you know, on the wrong side at Sadowa; but the result +of the war left her in confederation with Prussia. The company is +getting to be very distasteful, for Austria is at present more +liberal than Prussia. Under Prussia one must either be a soldier or +a slave, the democrats of Munich say. Bavaria has the most liberal +constitution in Germany, except that of Wurtemberg, and the people +are jealous of any curtailment of liberty. It seems odd that anybody +should look to the house of Hapsburg for liberality. The attitude of +Prussia compels all the little states to keep up armies, which eat up +their substance, and burden the people with taxes. This is the more +to be regretted now, when Bavaria is undergoing a peaceful +revolution, and throwing off the trammels of galling customs in other +respects. + + + + +THE EMANCIPATION OF MUNICH + +The 1st of September saw go into complete effect the laws enacted in +1867, which have inaugurated the greatest changes in business and +social life, and mark an era in the progress of the people worthy of +fetes and commemorative bronzes. We heard the other night at the +opera-house "William Tell" unmutilated. For many years this liberty- +breathing opera was not permitted to be given in Bavaria, except with +all the life of it cut out. It was first presented entire by order +of young King Ludwig, who, they say, was induced to command its +unmutilated reproduction at the solicitation of Richard Wagner, who +used to be, and very likely is now, a "Red," and was banished from +Saxony in 1848 for fighting on the people's side of a barricade in +Dresden. It is the fashion to say of the young king, that he pays no +heed to the business of the kingdom. You hear that the handsome boy +cares only for music and horseback exercise: he plays much on the +violin, and rides away into the forest attended by only one groom, +and is gone for days together. He has composed an opera, which has +not yet been put on the stage. People, when they speak of him, tap +their foreheads with one finger. But I don't believe it. The same +liberality that induced him, years ago, to restore "William Tell" to +the stage has characterized the government under him ever since. + +Formerly no one could engage in any trade or business in Bavaria +without previous examination before, and permission from, a +magistrate. If a boy wished to be a baker, for instance, he had +first to serve four years of apprenticeship. If then he wished to +set up business for himself, he must get permission, after passing an +examination. This permission could rarely be obtained; for the +magistrate usually decided that there were already as many bakers as +the town needed. His only other resource was to buy out an existing +business, and this usually costs a good deal. When he petitioned for +the privilege of starting a bakery, all the bakers protested. And he +could not even buy out a stand, and carry it on, without strict +examination as to qualifications. This was the case in every trade. +And to make matters worse, a master workman could not employ a +journeyman out of his shop; so that, if a journeyman could not get a +regular situation, he had no work. Then there were endless +restrictions upon the manufacture and sale of articles: one person +could make only one article, or one portion of an article; one might +manufacture shoes for women, but not for men; he might make an +article in the shop and sell it, but could not sell it if any one +else made it outside, or vice versa. + +Nearly all this mass of useless restriction on trades and business, +which palsied all effort in Bavaria, is removed. Persons are free to +enter into any business they like. The system of apprenticeship +continues, but so modified as not to be oppressive; and all trades +are left to regulate themselves by natural competition. Already +Munich has felt the benefit of the removal of these restrictions, +which for nearly a year has been anticipated, in a growth of +population and increased business. + +But the social change is still more important. The restrictions upon +marriage were a serious injury to the state. If Hans wished to +marry, and felt himself adequate to the burdens and responsibilities +of the double state, and the honest fraulein was quite willing to +undertake its trials and risks with him, it was not at all enough +that in the moonlighted beergarden, while the band played, and they +peeled the stinging radish, and ate the Switzer cheese, and drank +from one mug, she allowed his arm to steal around her stout waist. +All this love and fitness went for nothing in the eyes of the +magistrate, who referred the application for permission to marry to +his associate advisers, and they inquired into the applicant's +circumstances; and if, in their opinion, he was not worth enough +money to support a wife properly, permission was refused for him to +try. The consequence was late marriages, and fewer than there ought +to be, and other ill results. Now the matrimonial gates are lifted +high, and the young man has not to ask permission of any snuffy old +magistrate to marry. I do not hear that the consent of the maidens +is more difficult to obtain than formerly. + +No city of its size is more prolific of pictures than Munich. I do +not know how all its artists manage to live, but many of them count +upon the American public. I hear everywhere that the Americans like +this, and do not like that; and I am sorry to say that some artists, +who have done better things, paint professedly to suit Americans, and +not to express their own conceptions of beauty. There is one who is +now quite devoted to dashing off rather lamp-blacky moonlights, +because, he says, the Americans fancy that sort of thing. I see one +of his smirchy pictures hanging in a shop window, awaiting the advent +of the citizen of the United States. I trust that no word of mine +will injure the sale of the moonlights. There are some excellent +figure-painters here, and one can still buy good modern pictures for +reasonable prices. + + + + +FASHION IN THE STREETS + +Was there ever elsewhere such a blue, transparent sky as this here in +Munich? At noon, looking up to it from the street, above the gray +houses, the color and depth are marvelous. It makes a background for +the Grecian art buildings and gateways, that would cheat a risen +Athenian who should see it into the belief that he was restored to +his beautiful city. The color holds, too, toward sundown, and seems +to be poured, like something solid, into the streets of the city. + +You should see then the Maximilian Strasse, when the light floods the +platz where Maximilian in bronze sits in his chair, illuminates the +frescoes on the pediments of the Hof Theater, brightens the Pompeian +red under the colonnade of the post-office, and streams down the gay +thoroughfare to the trees and statues in front of the National +Museum, and into the gold-dusted atmosphere beyond the Isar. The +street is filled with promenaders: strangers who saunter along with +the red book in one hand,--a man and his wife, the woman dragged +reluctantly past the windows of fancy articles, which are "so cheap," +the man breaking his neck to look up at the buildings, especially at +the comical heads and figures in stone that stretch out from the +little oriel-windows in the highest story of the Four Seasons Hotel, +and look down upon the moving throng; Munich bucks in coats of +velvet, swinging light canes, and smoking cigars through long and +elaborately carved meerschaum holders; Munich ladies in dresses of +that inconvenient length that neither sweeps the pavement nor clears +it; peasants from the Tyrol, the men in black, tight breeches, that +button from the knee to the ankle, short jackets and vests set +thickly with round silver buttons, and conical hats with feathers, +and the women in short quilted and quilled petticoats, of barrel-like +roundness from the broad hips down, short waists ornamented with +chains and barbarous brooches of white metal, with the oddest +head-gear of gold and silver heirlooms; students with little red or +green embroidered brimless caps, with the ribbon across the breast, a +folded shawl thrown over one shoulder, and the inevitable +switch-cane; porters in red caps, with a coil of twine about the +waist; young fellows from Bohemia, with green coats, or coats trimmed +with green, and green felt hats with a stiff feather stuck in the +side; and soldiers by the hundreds, of all ranks and organizations; +common fellows in blue, staring in at the shop windows, officers in +resplendent uniforms, clanking their swords as they swagger past. Now +and then, an elegant equipage dashes by,--perhaps the four horses of +the handsome young king, with mounted postilions and outriders, or a +liveried carriage of somebody born with a von before his name. As +the twilight comes on, the shutters of the shop windows are put up. +It is time to go to the opera, for the curtain rises at half-past +six, or to the beer-gardens, where delicious music marks, but does +not interrupt, the flow of excellent beer. + +Or you may if you choose, and I advise you to do it, walk at the same +hour in the English Garden, which is but a step from the arcades of +the Hof Garden,--but a step to the entrance, whence you may wander +for miles and miles in the most enchanting scenery. Art has not been +allowed here to spoil nature. The trees, which are of magnificent +size, are left to grow naturally;--the Isar, which is turned into it, +flows in more than one stream with its mountain impetuosity; the lake +is gracefully indented and overhung with trees, and presents ever- +changing aspects of loveliness as you walk along its banks; there are +open, sunny meadows, in which single giant trees or splendid groups +of them stand, and walks without end winding under leafy Gothic +arches. You know already that Munich owes this fine park to the +foresight and liberality of an American Tory, Benjamin Thompson +(Count Rumford), born in Rumford, Vt., who also relieved Munich of +beggars. + +I have spoken of the number of soldiers in Munich. For six weeks the +Landwehr, or militia, has been in camp in various parts of Bavaria. +There was a grand review of them the other day on the Field of Mars, +by the king, and many of them have now gone home. They strike an +unmilitary man as a very efficient body of troops. So far as I could +see, they were armed with breech-loading rifles. There is a treaty +by which Bavaria agreed to assimilate her military organization to +that of Prussia. It is thus that Bismarck is continually getting +ready. But if the Landwehr is gone, there are yet remaining troops +enough of the line. Their chief use, so far as it concerns me, is to +make pageants in the streets, and to send their bands to play at noon +in the public squares. Every day, when the sun shines down upon the +mounted statue of Ludwig I., in front of the Odeon, a band plays in +an open Loggia, and there is always a crowd of idlers in the square +to hear it. Everybody has leisure for that sort of thing here in +Europe; and one can easily learn how to be idle and let the world +wag. They have found out here what is disbelieved in America,--that +the world will continue to turn over once in about twenty-four hours +(they are not accurate as to the time) without their aid. To return +to our soldiers. The cavalry most impresses me; the men are so +finely mounted, and they ride royally. In these sparkling mornings, +when the regiments clatter past, with swelling music and shining +armor, riding away to I know not what adventure and glory, I confess +that I long to follow them. I have long had this desire; and the +other morning, determining to satisfy it, I seized my hat and went +after the prancing procession. I am sorry I did. For, after +trudging after it through street after street, the fine horsemen all +rode through an arched gateway, and disappeared in barracks, to my +great disgust; and the troopers dismounted, and led their steeds into +stables. + +And yet one never loses a walk here in Munich. I found myself that +morning by the Isar Thor, a restored medieval city gate. The gate is +double, with flanking octagonal towers, inclosing a quadrangle. Upon +the inner wall is a fresco of "The Crucifixion." Over the outer front +is a representation, in fresco painting, of the triumphal entry into +the city of the Emperor Louis of Bavaria after the battle of Ampfing. +On one side of the gate is a portrait of the Virgin, on gold ground, +and on the other a very passable one of the late Dr. Hawes of +Hartford, with a Pope's hat on. Walking on, I came to another arched +gateway and clock-tower; near it an old church, with a high wall +adjoining, whereon is a fresco of cattle led to slaughter, showing +that I am in the vicinity of the Victual Market; and I enter it +through a narrow, crooked alley. There is nothing there but an +assemblage of shabby booths and fruit-stands, and an ancient stone +tower in ruins and overgrown with ivy. + +Leaving this, I came out to the Marian Platz, where stands the +column, with the statue of the Virgin and Child, set up by Maximilian +I. in 1638 to celebrate the victory in the battle which established +the Catholic supremacy in Bavaria. It is a favorite praying-place +for the lower classes. Yesterday was a fete day, and the base of the +column and half its height are lost in a mass of flowers and +evergreens. In front is erected an altar with a broad, carpeted +platform; and a strip of the platz before it is inclosed with a +railing, within which are praying-benches. The sun shines down hot; +but there are several poor women kneeling there, with their baskets +beside them. I happen along there at sundown; and there are a score +of women kneeling on the hard stones, outside the railing saying +their prayers in loud voices. The mass of flowers is still sweet and +gay and fresh; a fountain with fantastic figures is flashing near by; +the crowd, going home to supper and beer, gives no heed to the +praying; the stolid droschke-drivers stand listlessly by. At the +head of the square is an artillery station, and a row of cannon +frowns on it. On one side is a house with a tablet in the wall, +recording the fact that Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden once lived in it. + +When we came to Munich, the great annual fair was in progress; and +the large Maximilian Platz (not to be confounded with the street of +that name) was filled with booths of cheap merchandise, puppet-shows, +lottery shanties, and all sorts of popular amusements. It was a fine +time to study peasant costumes. The city was crowded with them on +Sunday; and let us not forget that the first visit of the peasants +was to the churches; they invariably attended early mass before they +set out upon the day's pleasure. Most of the churches have services +at all hours till noon, some of them with fine classical and military +music. One could not but be struck with the devotional manner of the +simple women, in their queer costumes, who walked into the gaudy +edifices, were absorbed in their prayers for an hour, and then went +away. I suppose they did not know how odd they looked in their high, +round fur hats, or their fantastic old ornaments, nor that there was +anything amiss in bringing their big baskets into church with them. +At least, their simple, unconscious manner was better than that of +many of the city people, some of whom stare about a good deal, while +going through the service, and stop in the midst of crossings and +genuflections to take snuff and pass it to their neighbors. But +there are always present simple and homelike sort of people, who +neither follow the fashions nor look round on them; respectable, neat +old ladies, in the faded and carefully preserved silk gowns, such as +the New England women wear to "meeting." + +No one can help admiring the simplicity, kindliness, and honesty of +the Germans. The universal courtesy and friendliness of manner have +a very different seeming from the politeness of the French. At the +hotels in the country, the landlord and his wife and the servant join +in hoping you will sleep well when you go to bed. The little maid at +Heidelberg who served our meals always went to the extent of wishing +us a good appetite when she had brought in the dinner. Here in +Munich the people we have occasion to address in the street are +uniformly courteous. The shop-keepers are obliging, and rarely +servile, like the English. You are thanked, and punctiliously wished +the good-day, whether you purchase anything or not. In shops tended +by women, gentlemen invariably remove their hats. If you buy only a +kreuzer's worth of fruit of an old woman, she says words that would +be, literally translated, "I thank you beautifully." With all this, +one looks kindly on the childish love the Germans have for titles. +It is, I believe, difficult for the German mind to comprehend that we +can be in good standing at home, unless we have some title prefixed +to our names, or some descriptive phrase added. Our good landlord, +who waits at the table and answers our bell, one of whose tenants is +a living baron, having no title to put on his doorplate under that of +the baron, must needs dub himself "privatier;" and he insists upon +prefixing the name of this unambitious writer with the ennobling von; +and at the least he insists, in common with the tradespeople, that I +am a "Herr Doctor." The bills of purchases by madame come made out +to "Frau----, well-born." At a hotel in Heidelberg, where I had +registered my name with that distinctness of penmanship for which +newspaper men are justly conspicuous, and had added to my own name "& +wife," I was not a little flattered to appear in the reckoning as +"Herr Doctor Mamesweise." + + + + +THE GOTTESACKER AND BAVARIAN FUNERALS + +To change the subject from gay to grave. The Gottesacker of Munich +is called the finest cemetery in Germany; at least, it surpasses them +in the artistic taste of its monuments. Natural beauty it has none: +it is simply a long, narrow strip of ground inclosed in walls, with +straight, parallel walks running the whole length, and narrow +cross-walks; and yet it is a lovely burial-ground. There are but few +trees; but the whole inclosure is a conservatory of beautiful +flowers. Every grave is covered with them, every monument is +surrounded with them. The monuments are unpretending in size, but +there are many fine designs, and many finely executed busts and +statues and allegorical figures, in both marble and bronze. The +place is full of sunlight and color. I noticed that it was much +frequented. In front of every place of sepulcher stands a small urn +for water, with a brush hanging by, with which to sprinkle the +flowers. I saw, also, many women and children coming and going with +watering-pots, so that the flowers never droop for want of care. At +the lower end of the old ground is an open arcade, wherein are some +effigies and busts, and many ancient tablets set into the wall. +Beyond this is the new cemetery, an inclosure surrounded by a high +wall of brick, and on the inside by an arcade. The space within is +planted with flowers, and laid out for the burial of the people; the +arcades are devoted to the occupation of those who can afford costly +tombs. Only a small number of them are yet occupied; there are some +good busts and monuments, and some frescoes on the panels rather more +striking for size and color than for beauty. + +Between the two cemeteries is the house for the dead. When I walked +down the long central alle of the old ground, I saw at the farther +end, beyond a fountain, twinkling lights. Coming nearer, I found +that they proceeded from the large windows of a building, which was a +part of the arcade. People were looking in at the windows, going and +coming to and from them continually; and I was prompted by curiosity +to look within. A most unexpected sight met my eye. In a long room, +upon elevated biers, lay people dead: they were so disposed that the +faces could be seen; and there they rested in a solemn repose. +Officers in uniform, citizens in plain dress, matrons and maids in +the habits that they wore when living, or in the white robes of the +grave. About most of them were lighted candles. About all of them +were flowers: some were almost covered with bouquets. There were +rows of children, little ones scarce a span long,--in the white caps +and garments of innocence, as if asleep in beds of flowers. How +naturally they all were lying, as if only waiting to be called! +Upon the thumb of every adult was a ring in which a string was tied +that went through a pulley above and communicated with a bell in the +attendant's room. How frightened he would be if the bell should ever +sound, and he should go into that hall of the dead to see who rang! +And yet it is a most wise and humane provision; and many years ago, +there is a tradition, an entombment alive was prevented by it. There +are three rooms in all; and all those who die in Munich must be +brought and laid in one of them, to be seen of all who care to look +therein. I suppose that wealth and rank have some privileges; but it +is the law that the person having been pronounced dead by the +physician shall be the same day brought to the dead-house, and lie +there three whole days before interment. + +There is something peculiar in the obsequies of Munich, especially in +the Catholic portion of the population. Shortly after the death, +there is a short service in the courtyard of the house, which, with +the entrance, is hung in costly mourning, if the deceased was rich. +The body is then carried in the car to the dead-house, attended by +the priests, the male members of the family, and a procession of +torch-bearers, if that can be afforded. Three days after, the burial +takes place from the dead-house, only males attending. The women +never go to the funeral; but some days after, of which public notice +is given by advertisement, a public service is held in church, at +which all the family are present, and to which the friends are +publicly invited. Funeral obsequies are as costly here as in +America; but everything is here regulated and fixed by custom. There +are as many as five or six classes of funerals recognized. Those of +the first class, as to rank and expense, cost about a thousand +guldens. The second class is divided into six subclasses. The third +is divided into two. The cost of the first of the third class is +about four hundred guldens. The lowest class of those able to have a +funeral costs twenty-five guldens. A gulden is about two francs. +There are no carriages used at the funerals of Catholics, only at +those of Protestants and Jews. + +I spoke of the custom of advertising the deaths. A considerable +portion of the daily newspapers is devoted to these announcements, +which are printed in display type, like the advertisements of +dry-goods sellers with you. I will roughly translate one which I +happen to see just now. It reads, "Death advertisement. It has +pleased God the Almighty, in his inscrutable providence, to take away +our innermost loved, best husband, father, grandfather, uncle, +brother-in-law, and cousin, Herr---, dyer of cloth and silk, +yesterday night, at eleven o'clock, after three weeks of severe +suffering, having partaken of the holy sacrament, in his sixty-sixth +year, out of this earthly abode of calamity into the better Beyond. +Those who knew his good heart, his great honesty, as well as his +patience in suffering, will know how justly to estimate our grief." +This is signed by the "deep-grieving survivors,"--the widow, son, +daughter, and daughter-in-law, in the name of the absent relatives. +After the name of the son is written, "Dyer in cloth and silk." The +notice closes with an announcement of the funeral at the cemetery, +and a service at the church the day after. The advertisement I have +given is not uncommon either for quaintness or simplicity. It is +common to engrave upon the monument the business as well as the title +of the departed. + + + + +THE OCTOBER FEST THE PEASANTS AND THE KING + +On the 11th of October the sun came out, after a retirement of nearly +two weeks. The cause of the appearance was the close of the October +Fest. This great popular carnival has the same effect upon the +weather in Bavaria that the Yearly Meeting of Friends is known to +produce in Philadelphia, and the Great National Horse Fair in New +England. It always rains during the October Fest. Having found this +out, I do not know why they do not change the time of it; but I +presume they are wise enough to feel that it would be useless. A +similar attempt on the part of the Pennsylvania Quakers merely +disturbed the operations of nature, but did not save the drab bonnets +from the annual wetting. There is a subtle connection between such +gatherings and the gathering of what are called the elements,--a +sympathetic connection, which we shall, no doubt, one day understand, +when we have collected facts enough on the subject to make a +comprehensive generalization, after Mr. Buckle's method. + +This fair, which is just concluded, is a true Folks-Fest, a season +especially for the Bavarian people, an agricultural fair and cattle +show, but a time of general jollity and amusement as well. Indeed, +the main object of a German fair seems to be to have a good time and +in this it is in marked contrast with American fairs. The October +Fest was instituted for the people by the old Ludwig I. on the +occasion of his marriage; and it has ever since retained its position +as the great festival of the Bavarian people, and particularly of the +peasants. It offers a rare opportunity to the stranger to study the +costumes of the peasants, and to see how they amuse themselves. One +can judge a good deal of the progress of a people by the sort of +amusements that satisfy them. I am not about to draw any +philosophical inferences,--I am a mere looker-on in Munich; but I +have never anywhere else seen puppet-shows afford so much delight, +nor have I ever seen anybody get more satisfaction out of a sausage +and a mug of beer, with the tum-tum of a band near, by, than a +Bavarian peasant. + +The Fest was held on the Theresien Wiese, a vast meadow on the +outskirts of the city. The ground rises on one side of this by an +abrupt step, some thirty or forty feet high, like the "bench" of a +Western river. This bank is terraced for seats the whole length, or +as far down as the statue of Bavaria; so that there are turf seats, I +should judge, for three quarters of a mile, for a great many +thousands of people, who can look down upon the race-course, the +tents, houses, and booths of the fair-ground, and upon the roof and +spires of the city beyond. The statue is, as you know, the famous +bronze Bavaria of Schwanthaler, a colossal female figure fifty feet +high, and with its pedestal a hundred feet high, which stands in +front of the Hall of Fame, a Doric edifice, in the open colonnades of +which are displayed the busts of the most celebrated Bavarians, +together with those of a few poets and scholars who were so +unfortunate as not to be born here. The Bavaria stands with the +right hand upon the sheathed sword, and the left raised in the act of +bestowing a wreath of victory; and the lion of the kingdom is beside +her. This representative being is, of course, hollow. There is room +for eight people in her head, which I can testify is a warm place on +a sunny day; and one can peep out through loopholes and get a good +view of the Alps of the Tyrol. To say that this statue is graceful +or altogether successful would be an error; but it is rather +impressive, from its size, if for no other reason. In the cast of +the hand exhibited at the bronze foundry, the forefinger measures +over three feet long. + +Although the Fest did not officially begin until Friday, October 12, +yet the essential part of it, the amusements, was well under way on +the Sunday before. The town began to be filled with country people, +and the holiday might be said to have commenced; for the city gives +itself up to the occasion. The new art galleries are closed for some +days; but the collections and museums of various sorts are daily +open, gratis; the theaters redouble their efforts; the concert-halls +are in full blast; there are dances nightly, and masked balls in the +Folks' Theater; country relatives are entertained; the peasants go +about the streets in droves, in a simple and happy frame of mind, +wholly unconscious that they are the oddest-looking guys that have +come down from the Middle Ages; there is music in all the gardens, +singing in the cafes, beer flowing in rivers, and a mighty smell of +cheese, that goes up to heaven. If the eating of cheese were a +religious act, and its odor an incense, I could not say enough of the +devoutness of the Bavarians. + +Of the picturesqueness and oddity of the Bavarian peasants' costumes, +nothing but a picture can give you any idea. You can imagine the men +in tight breeches, buttoned below the knee, jackets of the jockey +cut, and both jacket and waistcoat covered with big metal buttons, +sometimes coins, as thickly as can be sewed on: but the women defy +the pen; a Bavarian peasant woman, in holiday dress, is the most +fearfully and wonderfully made object in the universe. She displays +a good length of striped stockings, and wears thin slippers, or +sandals; her skirts are like a hogshead in size and shape, and reach +so near her shoulders as to make her appear hump-backed; the sleeves +are hugely swelled out at the shoulder, and taper to the wrist; the +bodice is a stiff and most elaborately ornamented piece of armor; and +there is a kind of breastplate, or center-piece, of gold, silver, and +precious stones, or what passes for them; and the head is adorned +with some monstrous heirloom, of finely worked gold or silver, or a +tower, gilded and shining with long streamers, or bound in a simple +black turban, with flowing ends. Little old girls, dressed like +their mothers, have the air of creations of the fancy, who have +walked out of a fairy-book. There is an endless variety in these old +costumes; and one sees, every moment, one more preposterous than the +preceding. The girls from the Tyrol, with their bright neckerchiefs +and pointed black felt hats, with gold cord and tassels, are some of +them very pretty: but one looks a long time for a bright face among +the other class; and, when it is discovered, the owner appears like a +maiden who was enchanted a hundred years ago, and has not been +released from the spell, but is still doomed to wear the garments and +the ornaments that should long ago have mouldered away with her +ancestors. + +The Theresien Wiese was a city of Vanity Fair for two weeks, every +day crowded with a motley throng. Booths, and even structures of +some solidity, rose on it as if by magic. The lottery-houses were +set up early, and, to the last, attracted crowds, who could not +resist the tempting display of goods and trinkets, which might be won +by investing six kreuzers in a bit of paper, which might, when +unrolled, contain a number. These lotteries are all authorized: some +of them were for the benefit of the agricultural society; some were +for the poor, and others on individual account: and they always +thrive; for the German, above all others, loves to try his luck. +There were streets of shanties, where various things were offered for +sale besides cheese and sausages. There was a long line of booths, +where images could be shot at with bird-guns; and when the shots were +successful, the images went through astonishing revolutions. There +was a circus, in front of which some of the spangled performers +always stood beating drums and posturing, in order to entice in +spectators. There were the puppet-booths, before which all day stood +gaping, delighted crowds, who roared with laughter whenever the +little frau beat her loutish husband about the head, and set him to +tend the baby, who continued to wail, notwithstanding the man knocked +its head against the doorpost. There were the great beer- +restaurants, with temporary benches and tables' planted about with +evergreens, always thronged with a noisy, jolly crowd. There were +the fires, over which fresh fish were broiling on sticks; and, if you +lingered, you saw the fish taken alive from tubs of water standing +by, dressed and spitted and broiling before the wiggle was out of +their tails. There were the old women, who mixed the flour and fried +the brown cakes before your eyes, or cooked the fragrant sausage, and +offered it piping hot. + +And every restaurant and show had its band, brass or string,--a full +array of red-faced fellows tooting through horns, or a sorry +quartette, the fat woman with the harp, the lean man blowing himself +out through the clarinet, the long-haired fellow with the flute, and +the robust and thick-necked fiddler. Everywhere there was music; the +air was full of the odor of cheese and cooking sausage; so that there +was nothing wanting to the most complete enjoyment. The crowd surged +round, jammed together, in the best possible humor. Those who could +not sit at tables sat on the ground, with a link of an eatable I have +already named in one hand, and a mug of beer beside them. Toward +evening, the ground was strewn with these gray quart mugs, which gave +as perfect evidence of the battle of the day as the cannon-balls on +the sand before Fort Fisher did of the contest there. Besides this, +for the amusement of the crowd, there is, every day, a wheelbarrow +race, a sack race, a blindfold contest, or something of the sort, +which turns out to be a very flat performance. But all the time the +eating and the drinking go on, and the clatter and clink of it fill +the air; so that the great object of the fair is not lost sight of. + +Meantime, where is the agricultural fair and cattle-show? You must +know that we do these things differently in Bavaria. On the +fair-ground, there is very little to be seen of the fair. There is +an inclosure where steam-engines are smoking and puffing, and +threshing-machines are making a clamor; where some big church-bells +hang, and where there are a few stalls for horses and cattle. But +the competing horses and cattle are led before the judges elsewhere; +the horses, for instance, by the royal stables in the city. I saw no +such general exhibition of do mestic animals as you have at your +fairs. The horses that took the prizes were of native stock, a very +serviceable breed, excellent for carriage-horses, and admirable in +the cavalry service. The bulls and cows seemed also native and to +the manor born, and were worthy of little remark. The mechanical, +vegetable, and fruit exhibition was in the great glass palace, in the +city, and was very creditable in the fruit department, in the show of +grapes and pears especially. The products of the dairy were less, +though I saw one that I do not recollect ever to have seen in +America, a landscape in butter. Inclosed in a case, it looked very +much like a wood-carving. There was a Swiss cottage, a milkmaid, +with cows in the foreground; there were trees, and in the rear rose +rocky precipices, with chamois in the act of skipping thereon. I +should think something might be done in our country in this line of +the fine arts; certainly, some of the butter that is always being +sold so cheap at St. Albans, when it is high everywhere else, must be +strong enough to warrant the attempt. As to the other departments of +the fine arts in the glass palace, I cannot give you a better idea of +them than by saying that they were as well filled as the like ones in +the American county fairs. There were machines for threshing, for +straw-cutting, for apple-paring, and generally such a display of +implements as would give one a favorable idea of Bavarian +agriculture. There was an interesting exhibition of live fish, great +and small, of nearly every sort, I should think, in Bavarian waters. +The show in the fire-department was so antiquated, that I was +convinced that the people of Munich never intend to have any fires. + +The great day of the fete was Sunday, October 5 for on that day the +king went out to the fair-ground, and distributed the prizes to the +owners of the best horses, and, as they appeared to me, of the most +ugly-colored bulls. The city was literally crowded with peasants and +country people; the churches were full all the morning with devout +masses, which poured into the waiting beer-houses afterward with +equal zeal. By twelve o'clock, the city began to empty itself upon +the Theresien meadow; and long before the time for the king to arrive +--two o'clock--there were acres of people waiting for the performance +to begin. The terraced bank, of which I have spoken, was taken +possession of early, and held by a solid mass of people; while the +fair-ground proper was packed with a swaying concourse, densest near +the royal pavilion, which was erected immediately on the race-course, +and opposite the bank. + +At one o'clock the grand stand opposite to the royal one is taken +possession of by a regiment band and by invited guests. All the +space, except the race-course, is, by this time, packed with people, +who watch the red and white gate at the head of the course with +growing impatience. It opens to let in a regiment of infantry, which +marches in and takes position. It swings, every now and then, for a +solitary horseman, who gallops down the line in all the pride of +mounted civic dignity, to the disgust of the crowd; or to let in a +carriage, with some overdressed officer or splendid minister, who is +entitled to a place in the royal pavilion. It is a people' fete, and +the civic officers enjoy one day of conspicuous glory. Now a +majestic person in gold lace is set down; and now one in a scarlet +coat, as beautiful as a flamingo. These driblets of splendor only +feed the popular impatience. Music is heard in the distance, and a +procession with colored banners is seen approaching from the city. +That, like everything else that is to come, stops beyond the closed +gate; and there it halts, ready to stream down before our eyes in a +variegated pageant. The time goes on; the crowd gets denser, for +there have been steady rivers of people pouring into the grounds for +more than an hour. + +The military bands play in the long interval; the peasants jabber in +unintelligible dialects; the high functionaries on the royal stand +are good enough to move around, and let us see how brave and majestic +they are. + +At last the firing of cannon announces the coming of royalty. There +is a commotion in the vast crowd yonder, the eagerly watched gates +swing wide, and a well-mounted company of cavalry dashes down the +turf, in uniforms of light blue and gold. It is a citizens' company +of butchers and bakers and candlestick-makers, which would do no +discredit to the regular army. Driving close after is a four-horse +carriage with two of the king's ministers; and then, at a rapid pace, +six coal-black horses in silver harness, with mounted postilions, +drawing a long, slender, open carriage with one seat, in which ride +the king and his brother, Prince Otto, come down the way, and are +pulled up in front of the pavilion; while the cannon roars, the big +bells ring, all the flags of Bavaria, Prussia, and Austria, on +innumerable poles, are blowing straight out, the band plays "God save +the King," the people break into enthusiastic shouting, and the young +king, throwing off his cloak, rises and stands in his carriage for a +moment, bowing right and left before he descends. He wears to-day +the simple uniform of the citizens' company which has escorted him, +and is consequently more plainly and neatly dressed than any one else +on the platform,--a tall (say six feet), slender, gallant-looking +young fellow of three and twenty, with an open face and a graceful +manner. + +But, when he has arrived, things again come to a stand; and we wait +for an hour, and watch the thickening of the clouds, while the king +goes from this to that delighted dignitary on the stand and +converses. At the end of this time, there is a movement. A white +dog has got into the course, and runs up and down between the walls +of people in terror, headed off by soldiers at either side of the +grand stand, and finally, becoming desperate, he makes a dive for the +royal pavilion. The consternation is extreme. The people cheer the +dog and laugh: a white-handed official, in gold lace, and without his +hat, rushes out to "shoo" the dog away, but is unsuccessful; for the +animal dashes between his legs, and approaches the royal and carpeted +steps. More men of rank run at him, and he is finally captured and +borne away; and we all breathe freer that the danger to royalty is +averted. At one o'clock six youths in white jackets, with clubs and +coils of rope, had stationed themselves by the pavilion, but they did +not go into action at this juncture; and I thought they rather +enjoyed the activity of the great men who kept off the dog. + +At length there was another stir; and the king descended from the +rear of his pavilion, attended by his ministers, and moved about +among the people, who made way for him, and uncovered at his +approach. He spoke with one and another, and strolled about as his +fancy took him. I suppose this is called mingling with the common +people. After he had mingled about fifteen minutes, he returned, and +took his place on the steps in front of the pavilion; and the +distribution of prizes began. First the horses were led out; and +their owners, approaching the king, received from his hands the +diplomas, and a flag from an attendant. Most of them were peasants; +and they exhibited no servility in receiving their marks of +distinction, but bowed to the king as they would to any other man, +and his majesty touched his cocked hat in return. Then came the +prize-cattle, many of them led by women, who are as interested as +their husbands in all farm matters. Everything goes off smoothly, +except there is a momentary panic over a fractious bull, who plunges +into the crowd; but the six white jackets are about him in an +instant, and entangle him with their ropes. + +This over, the gates again open, and the gay cavalcade that has been +so long in sight approaches. First a band of musicians in costumes +of the Middle Ages; and then a band of pages in the gayest apparel, +bearing pictured banners and flags of all colors, whose silken luster +would have been gorgeous in sunshine; these were followed by mounted +heralds with trumpets, and after them were led the running horses +entered for the race. The banners go up on the royal stand, and +group themselves picturesquely; the heralds disappear at the other +end of the list; and almost immediately the horses, ridden by young +jockeys in stunning colors, come flying past in a general scramble. +There are a dozen or more horses; but, after the first round, the +race lies between two. The course is considerably over an English +mile, and they make four circuits; so that the race is fully six- +miles,--a very hard one. It was a run in a rain, however, which +began when it did, and soon forced up the umbrellas. The vast crowd +disappeared under a shed of umbrellas, of all colors,--black, green, +red, blue; and the effect was very singular, especially when it moved +from the field: there was then a Niagara of umbrellas. The race was +soon over: it is only a peasants' race, after all; the aristocratic +races of the best horses take place in May. It was over. The king's +carriage was brought round, the people again shouted, the cannon +roared, the six black horses reared and plunged, and away he went. + +After all, says the artist, "the King of Bavaria has not much power." + +"You can see," returns a gentleman who speaks English, "just how much +he has: it is a six-horse power." + +On other days there was horse-trotting, music production, and for +several days prize-shooting. The latter was admirably conducted: the +targets were placed at the foot of the bank; and opposite, I should +think not more than two hundred yards off, were shooting-houses, each +with a room for the register of the shots, and on each side of him +closets where the shooters stand. Signal-wires run from these houses +to the targets, where there are attendants who telegraph the effect +of every shot. Each competitor has a little book; and he shoots at +any booth he pleases, or at all, and has his shots registered. There +was a continual fusillade for a couple of days; but what it all came +to, I cannot tell. I can only say, that, if they shoot as steadily +as they drink beer, there is no other corps of shooters that can +stand before them. + + + + +INDIAN SUMMER + +We are all quiet along the Isar since the October Fest; since the +young king has come back from his summer castle on the Starnberg See +to live in his dingy palace; since the opera has got into good +working order, and the regular indoor concerts at the cafes have +begun. There is no lack of amusements, with balls, theaters, and the +cheap concerts, vocal and instrumental. I stepped into the West Ende +Halle the other night, having first surrendered twelve kreuzers to +the money-changer at the entrance,--double the usual fee, by the way. +It was large and well lighted, with a gallery all round it and an +orchestral platform at one end. The floor and gallery were filled +with people of the most respectable class, who sat about little round +tables, and drank beer. Every man was smoking a cigar; and the +atmosphere was of that degree of haziness that we associate with +Indian summer at home; so that through it the people in the gallery +appeared like glorified objects in a heathen Pantheon, and the +orchestra like men playing in a dream. Yet nobody seemed to mind it; +and there was, indeed, a general air of social enjoyment and good +feeling. Whether this good feeling was in process of being produced +by the twelve or twenty glasses of beer which it is not unusual for a +German to drink of an evening, I do not know. "I do not drink much +beer now," said a German acquaintance,--"not more than four or five +glasses in an evening." This is indeed moderation, when we remember +that sixteen glasses of beer is only two gallons. The orchestra +playing that night was Gungl's; and it performed, among other things, +the whole of the celebrated Third (or Scotch) Symphony of Mendelssohn +in a manner that would be greatly to the credit of orchestras that +play without the aid of either smoke or beer. Concerts of this sort, +generally with more popular music and a considerable dash of Wagner, +in whom the Munichers believe, take place every night in several +cafes; while comic singing, some of it exceedingly well done, can be +heard in others. Such amusements--and nothing can be more harmless +--are very cheap. + +Speaking of Indian summer, the only approach to it I have seen was in +the hazy atmosphere at the West Ende Halle. October outdoors has +been an almost totally disagreeable month, with the exception of some +days, or rather parts of days, when we have seen the sun, and +experienced a mild atmosphere. At such times, I have liked to sit +down on one of the empty benches in the Hof Garden, where the leaves +already half cover the ground, and the dropping horse-chestnuts keep +up a pattering on them. Soon the fat woman who has a fruit-stand at +the gate is sure to come waddling along, her beaming face making a +sort of illumination in the autumn scenery, and sit down near me. As +soon as she comes, the little brown birds and the doves all fly that +way, and look up expectant at her. They all know her, and expect the +usual supply of bread-crumbs. Indeed, I have seen her on a still +Sunday morning, when I have been sitting there waiting for the +English ceremony of praying for Queen Victoria and Albert Edward to +begin in the Odeon, sit for an hour, and cut up bread for her little +brown flock. She sits now knitting a red stocking, the picture of +content; one after another her old gossips pass that way, and stop a +moment to exchange the chat of the day; or the policeman has his joke +with her, and when there is nobody else to converse with, she talks +to the birds. A benevolent old soul, I am sure, who in a New England +village would be universally called "Aunty," and would lay all the +rising generation under obligation to her for doughnuts and +sweet-cake. As she rises to go away, she scrapes together a +half-dozen shining chestnuts with her feet; and as she cannot +possibly stoop to pick them up, she motions to a boy playing near, +and smiles so happily as the urchin gathers them and runs away +without even a "thank ye." + + + + +A TASTE OF ULTRAMONTANISM + +If that of which every German dreams, and so few are ready to take +any practical steps to attain,--German unity,--ever comes, it must +ride roughshod over the Romish clergy, for one thing. Of course +there are other obstacles. So long as beer is cheap, and songs of +the Fatherland are set to lilting strains, will these excellent +people "Ho, ho, my brothers," and "Hi, hi, my brothers," and wait for +fate, in the shape of some compelling Bismarck, to drive them into +anything more than the brotherhood of brown mugs of beer and Wagner's +mysterious music of the future. I am not sure, by the way, that the +music of Richard Wagner is not highly typical of the present (1868) +state of German unity,--an undefined longing which nobody exactly +understands. There are those who think they can discern in his music +the same revolutionary tendency which placed the composer on the +right side of a Dresden barricade in 1848, and who go so far as to +believe that the liberalism of the young King of Bavaria is not a +little due to his passion for the disorganizing operas of this +transcendental writer. Indeed, I am not sure that any other people +than Germans would not find in the repetition of the five hours of +the "Meister-Singer von Nurnberg," which was given the other night at +the Hof Theater, sufficient reason for revolution. + +Well, what I set out to say was, that most Germans would like unity +if they could be the unit. Each State would like to be the center of +the consolidated system, and thus it happens that every practical +step toward political unity meets a host of opponents at once. When +Austria, or rather the house of Hapsburg, had a preponderance in the +Diet, and it seemed, under it, possible to revive the past reality, +or to realize the dream of a great German empire, it was clearly seen +that Austria was a tyranny that would crush out all liberties. And +now that Prussia, with its vital Protestantism and free schools, +proposes to undertake the reconstruction of Germany, and make a +nation where there are now only the fragmentary possibilities of a +great power, why, Prussia is a military despot, whose subjects must +be either soldiers or slaves, and the young emperor at Vienna is +indeed another Joseph, filled with the most tender solicitude for the +welfare of the chosen German people. + +But to return to the clergy. While the monasteries and nunneries are +going to the ground in superstition-saturated Spain; while eager +workmen are demolishing the last hiding-places of monkery, and +letting the daylight into places that have well kept the frightful +secrets of three hundred years, and turning the ancient cloister +demesne into public parks and pleasure-grounds,--the Romish +priesthood here, in free Bavaria, seem to imagine that they cannot +only resist the progress of events, but that they can actually bring +back the owlish twilight of the Middle Ages. The reactionary party +in Bavaria has, in some of the provinces, a strong majority; and its +supporters and newspapers are belligerent and aggressive. A few +words about the politics of Bavaria will give you a clew to the +general politics of the country. + +The reader of the little newspapers here in Munich finds evidence of +at least three parties. There is first the radical. Its members +sincerely desire a united Germany, and, of course, are friendly to +Prussia, hate Napoleon, have little confidence in the Hapsburgs, like +to read of uneasiness in Paris, and hail any movement that overthrows +tradition and the prescriptive right of classes. If its members are +Catholic, they are very mildly so; if they are Protestant, they are +not enough so to harm them; and, in short, if their religious +opinions are not as deep as a well, they are certainly broader than a +church door. They are the party of free inquiry, liberal thought, +and progress. Akin to them are what may be called the conservative +liberals, the majority of whom may be Catholics in profession, but +are most likely rationalists in fact; and with this party the king +naturally affiliates, taking his music devoutly every Sunday morning +in the Allerheiligenkirche, attached to the Residenz, and getting his +religion out of Wagner; for, progressive as the youthful king is, he +cannot be supposed to long for a unity which would wheel his throne +off into the limbo of phantoms. The conservative liberals, +therefore, while laboring for thorough internal reforms, look with +little delight on the increasing strength of Prussia, and sympathize +with the present liberal tendencies of Austria. Opposed to both +these parties is the ultramontane, the head of which is the Romish +hierarchy, and the body of which is the inert mass of ignorant +peasantry, over whom the influence of the clergy seems little shaken +by any of the modern moral earthquakes. Indeed I doubt if any new +ideas will ever penetrate a class of peasants who still adhere to +styles of costume that must have been ancient when the Turks +threatened Vienna, which would be highly picturesque if they were not +painfully ugly, and arrayed in which their possessors walk about in +the broad light of these latter days, with entire unconsciousness +that they do not belong to this age, and that their appearance is as +much of an anachronism as if the figures should step out of Holbein's +pictures (which Heaven forbid), or the stone images come down from +the portals of the cathedral and walk about. The ultramontane party, +which, so far as it is an intelligent force in modern affairs, is the +Romish clergy, and nothing more, hears with aversion any hint of +German unity, listens with dread to the needle-guns at Sadowa, hates +Prussia in proportion as it fears her, and just now does not draw +either with the Austrian Government, whose liberal tendencies are +exceedingly distasteful. It relies upon that great unenlightened +mass of Catholic people in Southern Germany and in Austria proper, +one of whose sins is certainly not skepticism. The practical fight +now in Bavaria is on the question of education; the priests being +resolved to keep the schools of the people in their own control, and +the liberal parties seeking to widen educational facilities and admit +laymen to a share in the management of institutions of learning. Now +the school visitors must all be ecclesiastics; and although their +power is not to be dreaded in the cities, where teachers, like other +citizens, are apt to be liberal, it gives them immense power in the +rural districts. The election of the Lower House of the Bavarian +parliament, whose members have a six years' tenure of office, which +takes place next spring, excites uncommon interest; for the leading +issue will be that of education. The little local newspapers--and +every city has a small swarm of them, which are remarkable for the +absence of news and an abundance of advertisements--have broken out +into a style of personal controversy, which, to put it mildly, makes +me, an American, feel quite at home. Both parties are very much in +earnest, and both speak with a freedom that is, in itself, a very +hopeful sign. + +The pretensions of the ultramontane clergy are, indeed, remarkable +enough to attract the attention of others besides the liberals of +Bavaria. They assume an influence and an importance in the +ecclesiastical profession, or rather an authority, equal to that ever +asserted by the Church in its strongest days. Perhaps you will get +an idea of the height of this pretension if I translate a passage +which the liberal journal here takes from a sermon preached in the +parish church of Ebersburg, in Ober-Dorfen, by a priest, Herr +Kooperator Anton Hiring, no longer ago than August 16, 1868. It +reads: "With the power of absolution, Christ has endued the +priesthood with a might which is terrible to hell, and against which +Lucifer himself cannot stand,-a might which, indeed, reaches over +into eternity, where all other earthly powers find their limit and +end,--a might, I say, which is able to break the fetters which, for +an eternity, were forged through the commission of heavy sin. Yes, +further, this Power of the forgiveness of sins makes the priest, in a +certain measure, a second God; for God alone naturally can forgive +sins. And yet this is not the highest reach of the priestly might: +his power reaches still higher; he compels God himself to serve him. +How so? When the priest approaches the altar, in order to bring +there the holy mass-offering, there, at that moment, lifts himself up +Jesus Christ, who sits at the right hand of the Father, upon his +throne, in order to be ready for the beck of his priests upon earth. +And scarcely does the priest begin the words of consecration, than +there Christ already hovers, surrounded by the heavenly host, come +down from heaven to earth, and to the altar of sacrifice, and +changes, upon the words of the priest, the bread and wine into his +holy flesh and blood, and permits himself then to be taken up and to +lie in the hands of the priest, even though the priest is the most +sinful and the most unworthy. Further, his power surpasses that of +the highest archangels, and of the Queen of Heaven. Right did the +holy Franciscus say, 'If I should meet a priest and an angel at the +same time, I should salute the priest first, and then the angel; +because the priest is possessed of far higher might and holiness than +the angel.'" + +The radical journal calls this "ultramontane blasphemy," and, the day +after quoting it, adds a charge that must be still more annoying to +the Herr Kooperator Hiring than that of blasphemy: it accuses him of +plagiarism; and, to substantiate the charge, quotes almost the very +same language from a sermon preached in 1785--In this it is boldly +claimed that "in heaven, on earth, or under the earth, there is +nothing mightier than a priest, except God; and, to be exact, God +himself must obey the priest in the mass." And then, in words which +I do not care to translate, the priest is made greater than the +Virgin Mary, because Christ was only born of the Virgin once, while +the priest "with five words, as often and wherever he will," can +"bring forth the Saviour of the world." So to-day keeps firm hold of +the traditions of a hundred years ago, and ultramontanism wisely +defends the last citadel where the Middle Age superstition makes a +stand,--the popular veneration for the clergy. + +And the clergy take good care to keep up the pomps and shows even +here in skeptical Munich. It was my inestimable privilege the other +morning--it was All-Saints' Day--to see the archbishop in the old +Frauenkirche, the ancient cathedral, where hang tattered banners that +were captured from the Turks three centuries ago,--to see him seated +in the choir, overlooked by saints and apostles carved in wood by +some forgotten artist of the fifteenth century. I supposed he was at +least an archbishop, from the retinue of priests who attended and +served him, and also from his great size. When he sat down, it +required a dignitary of considerable rank to put on his hat; and when +he arose to speak a few precious words, the effect was visible a good +many yards from where he stood. At the close of the service he went +in great state down the center aisle, preceded by the gorgeous +beadle--a character that is always awe-inspiring to me in these +churches, being a cross between a magnificent drum-major and a verger +and two persons in livery, and followed by a train of splendidly +attired priests, six of whom bore up his long train of purple silk. +The whole cortege was resplendent in embroidery and ermine; and as +the great man swept out of my sight, and was carried on a priestly +wave into his shining carriage, and the noble footman jumped up +behind, and he rolled away to his dinner, I stood leaning against a +pillar, and reflected if it could be possible that that religion +could be anything but genuine which had so much genuine ermine. And +the organ-notes, rolling down the arches, seemed to me to have a very +ultramontane sound. + + + + +CHANGING QUARTERS + +Perhaps it may not interest you to know how we moved, that is, +changed our apartments. I did not see it mentioned in the cable +dispatches, and it may not be generally known, even in Germany; but +then, the cable is so occupied with relating how his Serenity this, +and his Highness that, and her Loftiness the other one, went outdoors +and came in again, owing to a slight superfluity of the liquid +element in the atmosphere, that it has no time to notice the real +movements of the people. And yet, so dry are some of these little +German newspapers of news, that it is refreshing to read, now and +then, that the king, on Sunday, walked out with the Duke of Hesse +after dinner (one would like to know if they also had sauerkraut and +sausage), and that his prospective mother-in-law, the Empress of +Russia, who was here the other day, on her way home from Como, where +she was nearly drowned out by the inundation, sat for an hour on +Sunday night, after the opera, in the winter garden of the palace, +enjoying the most easy family intercourse. + +But about moving. Let me tell you that to change quarters in the +face of a Munich winter, which arrives here the 1st of November, is +like changing front to the enemy just before a battle; and if we had +perished in the attempt, it might have been put upon our monuments, +as it is upon the out-of-cannon-cast obelisk in the Karolina Platz, +erected to the memory of the thirty thousand Bavarian soldiers who +fell in the disastrous Russian winter campaign of Napoleon, fighting +against all the interests of Germany,--"they, too, died for their +Fatherland." Bavaria happened also to fight on the wrong side at +Sadowa and I suppose that those who fell there also died for +Fatherland: it is a way the Germans have of doing, and they mean +nothing serious by it. But, as I was saying, to change quarters here +as late as November is a little difficult, for the wise ones seek to +get housed for the winter by October: they select the sunny +apartments, get on the double windows, and store up wood. The plants +are tied up in the gardens, the fountains are covered over, and the +inhabitants go about in furs and the heaviest winter clothing long +before we should think of doing so at home. And they are wise: the +snow comes early, and, besides, a cruel fog, cold as the grave and +penetrating as remorse, comes down out of the near Tyrol. One +morning early in November, I looked out of the window to find snow +falling, and the ground covered with it. There was dampness and +frost enough in the air to make it cling to all the tree-twigs, and +to take fantastic shapes on all the queer roofs and the slenderest +pinnacles and most delicate architectural ornamentations. The city +spires had a mysterious appearance in the gray haze; and above all, +the round-topped towers of the old Frauenkirche, frosted with a +little snow, loomed up more grandly than ever. When I went around to +the Hof Garden, where I late had sat in the sun, and heard the brown +horse-chestnuts drop on the leaves, the benches were now full of +snow, and the fat and friendly fruit-woman at the gate had retired +behind glass windows into a little shop, which she might well warm by +her own person, if she radiated heat as readily as she used to absorb +it on the warm autumn days, when I have marked her knitting in the +sunshine. + +But we are not moving. The first step we took was to advertise our +wants in the "Neueste Nachrichten" ("Latest News ") newspaper. We +desired, if possible, admission into some respectable German family, +where we should be forced to speak German, and in which our society, +if I may so express it, would be some compensation for our bad +grammar. We wished also to live in the central part of the city,--in +short, in the immediate neighborhood of all the objects of interest +(which are here very much scattered), and to have pleasant rooms. In +Dresden, where the people are not so rich as in Munich, and where +different customs prevail, it is customary for the best people, I +mean the families of university professors, for instance, to take in +foreigners, and give them tolerable food and a liberal education. +Here it is otherwise. Nearly all families occupy one floor of a +building, renting just rooms enough for the family, so that their +apartments are not elastic enough to take in strangers, even if they +desire to do so. And generally they do not. Munich society is +perhaps chargeable with being a little stiff and exclusive. Well, we +advertised in the "Neueste Nachrichten." This is the liberal paper +of Munich. It is a poorly printed, black-looking daily sheet, folded +in octavo size, and containing anywhere from sixteen to thirty-four +pages, more or less, as it happens to have advertisements. It +sometimes will not have more than two or three pages of reading +matter. There will be a scrap or two of local news, the brief +telegrams taken from the official paper of the day before, a bit or +two of other news, and perhaps a short and slashing editorial on the +ultramontane party. The advantage of printing and folding it in such +small leaves is, that the size can be varied according to the demands +of advertisements or news (if the German papers ever find out what +that is); so that the publisher is always giving, every day, just +what it pays to give that day; and the reader has his regular +quantity of reading matter, and does not have to pay for advertising +space, which in journals of unchangeable form cannot always be used +profitably. This little journal was started something like twenty +years ago. It probably spends little for news, has only one or, at +most, two editors, is crowded with advertisements, which are inserted +cheap, and costs, delivered, a little over six francs a year. It +circulates in the city some thirty-five thousand. There is another +little paper here of the same size, but not so many leaves, called +"The Daily Advertiser," with nothing but advertisements, principally +of theaters, concerts, and the daily sights, and one page devoted to +some prodigious yarn, generally concerning America, of which country +its readers must get the most extraordinary and frightful impression. +The "Nachrichten" made the fortune of its first owner, who built +himself a fine house out of it, and retired to enjoy his wealth. It +was recently sold for one hundred thousand guldens; and I can see +that it is piling up another fortune for its present owner. The +Germans, who herein show their good sense and the high state of +civilization to which they have reached, are very free advertisers, +going to the newspapers with all their wants, and finding in them +that aid which all interests and all sorts of people, from kaiser to +kerl, are compelled, in these days, to seek in the daily journal. +Every German town of any size has three or four of these little +journals of flying leaves, which are excellent papers in every +respect, except that they look like badly printed handbills, and have +very little news and no editorials worth speaking of. An exception +to these in Bavaria is the "Allgerneine Zeitung" of Augsburg, which +is old and immensely respectable, and is perhaps, for extent of +correspondence and splendidly written editorials on a great variety +of topics, excelled by no journal in Europe except the London +"Times." It gives out two editions daily, the evening one about the +size of the New York "Nation;" and it has all the telegraphic news. +It is absurdly old-grannyish, and is malevolent in its pretended +conservatism and impartiality. Yet it circulates over forty thousand +copies, and goes all over Germany. + +But were we not saying something about moving? The truth is, that +the best German families did not respond to our appeal with that +alacrity which we had no right to expect, and did not exhibit that +anxiety for our society which would have been such a pleasant +evidence of their appreciation of the honor done to the royal city of +Munich by the selection of it as a residence during the most +disagreeable months of the year by the advertising undersigned. Even +the young king, whose approaching marriage to the Russian princess, +one would think, might soften his heart, did nothing to win our +regard, or to show that he appreciated our residence "near" his +court, and, so far as I know, never read with any sort of attention +our advertisement, which was composed with as much care as Goethe's +"Faust," and probably with the use of more dictionaries. And this, +when he has an extraordinary large Residenz, to say nothing about +other outlying palaces and comfortable places to live in, in which I +know there are scores of elegantly furnished apartments, which stand +idle almost the year round, and might as well be let to appreciative +strangers, who would accustom the rather washy and fierce frescoes on +the walls to be stared at. I might have selected rooms, say on the +court which looks on the exquisite bronze fountain, Perseus with the +head of Medusa, a copy of the one in Florence by Benvenuto Cellini, +where we could have a southern exposure. Or we might, so it would +seem, have had rooms by the winter garden, where tropical plants +rejoice in perennial summer, and blossom and bear fruit, while a +northern winter rages without. Yet the king did not see it "by those +lamps;" and I looked in vain on the gates of the Residenz for the +notice so frequently seen on other houses, of apartments to let. And +yet we had responses. The day after the announcement appeared, our +bell ran perpetually; and we had as many letters as if we had +advertised for wives innumerable. The German notes poured in upon us +in a flood; each one of them containing an offer tempting enough to +beguile an angel out of paradise, at least, according to our +translation: they proffered us chambers that were positively +overheated by the flaming sun (which, I can take my oath, only +ventures a few feet above the horizon at this season), which were +friendly in appearance, splendidly furnished and near to every +desirable thing, and in which, usually, some American family had long +resided, and experienced a content and happiness not to be felt out +of Germany. + +I spent some days in calling upon the worthy frauen who made these +alluring offers. The visits were full of profit to the student of +human nature, but profitless otherwise. I was ushered into low, dark +chambers, small and dreary, looking towards the sunless north, which +I was assured were delightful and even elegant. I was taken up to +the top of tall houses, through a smell of cabbage that was +appalling, to find empty and dreary rooms, from which I fled in +fright. We were visited by so many people who had chambers to rent, +that we were impressed with the idea that all Munich was to let; and +yet, when we visited the places offered, we found they were only to +be let alone. One of the frauen who did us the honor to call, also +wrote a note, and inclosed a letter that she had just received from +an American gentleman (I make no secret of it that he came from +Hartford), in which were many kindly expressions for her welfare, and +thanks for the aid he had received in his study of German; and yet I +think her chambers are the most uninviting in the entire city. There +were people who were willing to teach us German, without rooms or +board; or to lodge us without giving us German or food; or to feed +us, and let us starve intellectually, and lodge where we could. + +But all things have an end, and so did our hunt for lodgings. I +chanced one day in my walk to find, with no help from the +advertisement, very nearly what we desired,--cheerful rooms in a +pleasant neighborhood, where the sun comes when it comes out at all, +and opposite the Glass Palace, through which the sun streams in the +afternoon with a certain splendor, and almost next door to the +residence and laboratory of the famous chemist, Professor Liebig; so +that we can have our feelings analyzed whenever it is desirable. +When we had set up our household gods, and a fire was kindled in the +tall white porcelain family monument, which is called here a stove,-- +and which, by the way, is much more agreeable than your hideous black +and air-scorching cast-iron stoves,--and seen that the feather-beds +under which we were expected to lie were thick enough to roast the +half of the body, and short enough to let the other half freeze, we +determined to try for a season the regular German cookery, our table +heretofore having been served with food cooked in the English style +with only a slight German flavor. A week of the experiment was quite +enough. I do not mean to say that the viands served us were not +good, only that we could not make up our minds to eat them. The +Germans eat a great deal of meat; and we were obliged to take meat +when we preferred vegetables. Now, when a deep dish is set before +you wherein are chunks of pork reposing on stewed potatoes, and +another wherein a fathomless depth of sauerkraut supports coils of +boiled sausage, which, considering that you are a mortal and +responsible being, and have a stomach, will you choose? Herein +Munich, nearly all the bread is filled with anise or caraway seed; it +is possible to get, however, the best wheat bread we have eaten in +Europe, and we usually have it; but one must maintain a constant +vigilance against the inroads of the fragrant seeds. Imagine, then, +our despair, when one day the potato, the one vegetable we had always +eaten with perfect confidence, appeared stewed with caraway seeds. +This was too much for American human nature, constituted as it is. +Yet the dish that finally sent us back to our ordinary and excellent +way of living is one for which I have no name. It may have been +compounded at different times, have been the result of many tastes or +distastes: but there was, after all, a unity in it that marked it as +the composition of one master artist; there was an unspeakable +harmony in all its flavors and apparently ununitable substances. It +looked like a terrapin soup, but it was not. Every dive of the spoon +into its dark liquid brought up a different object,--a junk of +unmistakable pork, meat of the color of roast hare, what seemed to be +the neck of a goose, something in strings that resembled the rags of +a silk dress, shreds of cabbage, and what I am quite willing to take +my oath was a bit of Astrachan fur. If Professor Liebig wishes to +add to his reputation, he could do so by analyzing this dish, and +publishing the result to the world. + +And, while we are speaking of eating, it may be inferred that the +Germans are good eaters; and although they do not begin early, seldom +taking much more than a cup of coffee before noon, they make it up by +very substantial dinners and suppers. To say nothing of the +extraordinary dishes of meats which the restaurants serve at night, +the black bread and odorous cheese and beer which the men take on +board in the course of an evening would soon wear out a cast-iron +stomach in America; and yet I ought to remember the deadly pie and +the corroding whisky of my native land. The restaurant life of the +people is, of course, different from their home life, and perhaps an +evening entertainment here is no more formidable than one in America, +but it is different. Let me give you the outlines of a supper to +which we were invited the other night: it certainly cannot hurt you +to read about it. We sat down at eight. There were first courses of +three sorts of cold meat, accompanied with two sorts of salad; the +one, a composite, with a potato basis, of all imaginable things that +are eaten. Beer and bread were unlimited. There was then roast +hare, with some supporting dish, followed by jellies of various +sorts, and ornamented plates of something that seemed unable to +decide whether it would be jelly or cream; and then came assorted +cake and the white wine of the Rhine and the red of Hungary. We were +then surprised with a dish of fried eels, with a sauce. Then came +cheese; and, to crown all, enormous, triumphal-looking loaves of +cake, works of art in appearance, and delicious to the taste. We sat +at the table till twelve o'clock; but you must not imagine that +everybody sat still all the time, or that, appearances to the +contrary notwithstanding, the principal object of the entertainment +was eating. The songs that were sung in Hungarian as well as German, +the poems that were recited, the burlesques of actors and acting, the +imitations that were inimitable, the take-off of table-tipping and of +prominent musicians, the wit and constant flow of fun, as constant as +the good-humor and free hospitality, the unconstrained ease of the +whole evening, these things made the real supper which one remembers +when the grosser meal has vanished, as all substantial things do +vanish. + + + + +CHRISTMAS TIME-MUSIC + +For a month Munich has been preparing for Christmas. The shop +windows have had a holiday look all December. I see one every day in +which are displayed all the varieties of fruits, vegetables, and +confectionery possible to be desired for a feast, done in wax,--a +most dismal exhibition, and calculated to make the adjoining window, +which has a little fountain and some green plants waving amidst +enormous pendent sausages and pigs' heads and various disagreeable +hashes of pressed meat, positively enticing. And yet there are some +vegetables here that I should prefer to have in wax,--for instance, +sauerkraut. The toy windows are worthy of study, and next to them +the bakers'. A favorite toy of the season is a little crib, with the +Holy Child, in sugar or wax, lying in it in the most uncomfortable +attitude. Babies here are strapped upon pillows, or between pillows, +and so tied up and wound up that they cannot move a muscle, except, +perhaps, the tongue; and so, exactly like little mummies, they are +carried about the street by the nurses,--poor little things, packed +away so, even in the heat of summer, their little faces looking out +of the down in a most pitiful fashion. The popular toy is a +representation, in sugar or wax, of this period of life. Generally +the toy represents twins, so swathed and bound; and, not +infrequently, the bold conception of the artist carries the point of +the humor so far as to introduce triplets, thus sporting with the +most dreadful possibilities of life. + +The German bakers are very ingenious; and if they could be convinced +of this great error, that because things are good separately, they +must be good in combination, the produce of their ovens would be much +more eatable. As it is, they make delicious cake, and of endless +variety; but they also offer us conglomerate formations that may have +a scientific value, but are utterly useless to a stomach not trained +in Germany. Of this sort, for the most part, is the famous +Lebkuchen, a sort of gingerbread manufactured in Nurnberg, and sent +all over Germany: "age does not [seem to] impair, nor custom stale +its infinite variety." It is very different from our simple cake of +that name, although it is usually baked in flat cards. It may +contain nuts or fruit, and is spoiled by a flavor of conflicting +spices. I should think it might be sold by the cord, it is piled up +in such quantities; and as it grows old and is much handled, it +acquires that brown, not to say dirty, familiar look, which may, for +aught I know, be one of its chief recommendations. The cake, +however, which prevails at this season of the year comes from the +Tyrol; and as the holidays approach, it is literally piled up on the +fruit-stands. It is called Klatzenbrod, and is not a bread at all, +but and amalgamation of fruits and spices. It is made up into small +round or oblong forms; and the top is ornamented in various patterns, +with split almond meats. The color is a faded black, as if it had +been left for some time in a country store; and the weight is just +about that of pig-iron. I had formed a strong desire, mingled with +dread, to taste it, which I was not likely to gratify,--one gets so +tired of such experiments after a time--when a friend sent us a ball +of it. There was no occasion to call in Professor Liebig to analyze +the substance: it is a plain case. The black mass contains, cut up +and pressed together, figs, citron, oranges, raisins, dates, various +kinds of nuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and I know not what other +spices, together with the inevitable anise and caraway seeds. It +would make an excellent cannon-ball, and would be specially fatal if +it hit an enemy in the stomach. These seeds invade all dishes. The +cooks seem possessed of one of the rules of whist,--in case of doubt, +play a trump: in case of doubt, they always put in anise seed. It is +sprinkled profusely in the blackest rye bread, it gets into all the +vegetables, and even into the holiday cakes. + +The extensive Maximilian Platz has suddenly grown up into booths and +shanties, and looks very much like a temporary Western village. +There are shops for the sale of Christmas articles, toys, cakes, and +gimcracks; and there are, besides, places of amusement, if one of the +sorry menageries of sick beasts with their hair half worn off can be +so classed. One portion of the platz is now a lively and picturesque +forest of evergreens, an extensive thicket of large and small trees, +many of them trimmed with colored and gilt strips of paper. I meet +in every street persons lugging home their little trees; for it must +be a very poor household that cannot have its Christmas tree, on +which are hung the scanty store of candy, nuts, and fruit, and the +simple toys that the needy people will pinch themselves otherwise to +obtain. + +At this season, usually, the churches get up some representations for +the children, the stable at Bethlehem, with the figures of the Virgin +and Child, the wise men, and the oxen standing by. At least, the +churches must be put in spick-and-span order. I confess that I like +to stray into these edifices, some of them gaudy enough when they +are, so to speak, off duty, when the choir is deserted, and there is +only here and there a solitary worshiper at his prayers; unless, +indeed, as it sometimes happens, when I fancy myself quite alone, I +come by chance upon a hundred people, in some remote corner before a +side chapel, where mass is going on, but so quietly that the sense of +solitude in the church is not disturbed. Sometimes, when the place +is left entirely to myself, and the servants who are putting it to +rights and, as it were, shifting the scenes, I get a glimpse of the +reality of all the pomp and parade of the services. At first I may +be a little shocked with the familiar manner in which the images and +statues and the gilded paraphernalia are treated, very different from +the stately ceremony of the morning, when the priests are at the +altar, the choir is in the organ-loft, and the people crowd nave and +aisles. Then everything is sanctified and inviolate. Now, as I +loiter here, the old woman sweeps and dusts about as if she were in +an ordinary crockery store: the sacred things are handled without +gloves. And, lo! an unclerical servant, in his shirt-sleeves, +climbs up to the altar, and, taking down the silver-gilded cherubs, +holds them, head down, by one fat foot, while he wipes them off with +a damp cloth. To think of submitting a holy cherub to the indignity +of a damp cloth! + +One could never say too much about the music here. I do not mean +that of the regimental bands, or the orchestras in every hall and +beer-garden, or that in the churches on Sundays, both orchestral and +vocal. Nearly every day, at half-past eleven, there is a parade by +the Residenz, and another on the Marian Platz; and at each the bands +play for half an hour. In the Loggie by the palace the music-stands +can always be set out, and they are used in the platz when it does +not storm; and the bands play choice overtures and selections from +the operas in fine style. The bands are always preceded and followed +by a great crowd as they march through the streets, people who seem +to live only for this half hour in the day, and whom no mud or snow +can deter from keeping up with the music. It is a little gleam of +comfort in the day for the most wearied portion of the community: I +mean those who have nothing to do. + +But the music of which I speak is that of the conservatoire and +opera. The Hof Theater, opera, and conservatoire are all under one +royal direction. The latter has been recently reorganized with a new +director, in accordance with the Wagner notions somewhat. The young +king is cracked about Wagner, and appears to care little for other +music: he brings out his operas at great expense, and it is the +fashion here to like Wagner whether he is understood or not. The +opera of the "Meister-Singer von Nurnberg," which was brought out +last summer, occupied over five hours in the representation, which is +unbearable to the Germans, who go to the opera at six o'clock or +half-past, and expect to be at home before ten. His latest opera, +which has not yet been produced, is founded on the Niebelungen Lied, +and will take three evenings in the representation, which is almost +as bad as a Chinese play. The present director of the conservatoire +and opera, a Prussian, Herr von Bulow, is a friend of Wagner. There +are formed here in town two parties: the Wagner and the conservative, +the new and the old, the modern and classical; only the Wagnerites do +not admit that their admiration of Beethoven and the older composers +is less than that of the others, and so for this reason Bulow has +given us more music of Beethoven than of any other composer. One +thing is certain, that the royal orchestra is trained to a high state +of perfection: its rendition of the grand operas and its weekly +concerts in the Odeon cannot easily be surpassed. The singers are +not equal to the orchestra, for Berlin and Vienna offer greater +inducements; but there are people here who regard this orchestra as +superlative. They say that the best orchestras in the world are in +Germany; that the best in Germany is in Munich; and, therefore, you +can see the inevitable deduction. We have another parallel +syllogism. The greatest pianist in the world is Liszt; but then Herr +Bulow is actually a better performer than Liszt; therefore you see +again to what you must come. At any rate, we are quite satisfied in +this provincial capital; and, if there is anywhere better music, we +don't know it. Bulow's orchestra is not very large,--there are less +than eighty pieces, but it is so handled and drilled, that when we +hear it give one of the symphonies of Beethoven or Mendelssohn, there +is little left to be desired. Bulow is a wonderful conductor, a +little man, all nerve and fire, and he seems to inspire every +instrument. It is worth something to see him lead an orchestra: his +baton is magical; head, arms, and the whole body are in motion; he +knows every note of the compositions; and the precision with which he +evokes a solitary note out of a distant instrument with a jerk of his +rod, or brings a wail from the concurring violins, like the moaning +of a pine forest in winter, with a sweep of his arm, is most +masterly. About the platform of the Odeon are the marble busts of +the great composers; and while the orchestra is giving some of +Beethoven's masterpieces, I like to fix my eyes on his serious and +genius-full face, which seems cognizant of all that is passing, and +believe that he has a posthumous satisfaction in the interpretation +of his great thoughts. + +The managers of the conservatoire also give vocal concerts, and there +are, besides, quartette soiries; so that there are few evenings +without some attraction. The opera alternates with the theater two +or three times a week. The singers are, perhaps, not known in Paris +and London, but some of them are not unworthy to be. There is the +baritone, Herr Kindermann, who now, at the age of sixty-five, has a +superb voice and manner, and has had few superiors in his time on the +German stage. There is Frau Dietz, at forty-five, the best of +actresses, and with a still fresh and lovely voice. There is Herr +Nachbar, a tenor, who has a future; Fraulein Stehle, a soprano, young +and with an uncommon voice, who enjoys a large salary, and was the +favorite until another soprano, the Malinger, came and turned the +heads of king and opera habitues. The resources of the Academy are, +however, tolerably large; and the practice of pensioning for life the +singers enables them to keep always a tolerable company. This habit +of pensioning officials, as well as musicians and poets, is very +agreeable to the Germans. A gentleman the other day, who expressed +great surprise at the smallness of the salary of our President, said, +that, of course, Andrew Johnson would receive a pension when he +retired from office. I could not explain to him how comical the idea +was to me; but when I think of the American people pensioning Andrew +Johnson,--well, like the fictitious Yankee in "Mugby Junction," +"I laff, I du." + +There is some fashion, in a fudgy, quaint way, here in Munich; but it +is not exhibited in dress for the opera. People go--and it is +presumed the music is the attraction in ordinary apparel. They save +all their dress parade for the concerts; and the hall of the Odeon is +as brilliant as provincial taste can make it in toilet. The ladies +also go to operas and concerts unattended by gentlemen, and are +brought, and fetched away, by their servants. There is a freedom and +simplicity about this which I quite like; and, besides, it leaves +their husbands and brothers at liberty to spend a congenial evening +in the cafes, beer-gardens, and clubs. But there is always a heavy +fringe of young officers and gallants both at opera and concert, +standing in the outside passages. It is cheaper to stand, and one +can hear quite as well, and see more. + + + + +LOOKING FOR WARM WEATHER + + +FROM MUNICH TO NAPLES + +At all events, saith the best authority, "pray that your flight be +not in winter;" and it might have added, don't go south if you desire +warm weather. In January, 1869, I had a little experience of hunting +after genial skies; and I will give you the benefit of it in some +free running notes on my journey from Munich to Naples. + +It was the middle of January, at eleven o'clock at night, that we +left Munich, on a mixed railway train, choosing that time, and the +slowest of slow trains, that we might make the famous Brenner Pass by +daylight. It was no easy matter, at last, to pull up from the dear +old city in which we had become so firmly planted, and to leave the +German friends who made the place like home to us. One gets to love +Germany and the Germans as he does no other country and people in +Europe. There has been something so simple, honest, genuine, in our +Munich life, that we look back to it with longing eyes from this land +of fancy, of hand-organ music, and squalid splendor. I presume the +streets are yet half the day hid in a mountain fog; but I know the +superb military bands are still playing at noon in the old Marian +Platz and in the Loggie by the Residenz; that at half-past six in the +evening our friends are quietly stepping in to hear the opera at the +Hof Theater, where everybody goes to hear the music, and nobody for +display, and that they will be at home before half-past nine, and +have dispatched the servant for the mugs of foaming beer; I know that +they still hear every week the choice conservatoire orchestral +concerts in the Odeon; and, alas that experience should force me to +think of it! I have no doubt that they sip, every morning, coffee +which is as much superior to that of Paris as that of Paris is to +that of London; and that they eat the delicious rolls, in comparison +with which those of Paris are tasteless. I wonder, in this land of +wine,--and yet it must be so,--if the beer-gardens are still filled +nightly; and if it could be that I should sit at a little table +there, a comely lass would, before I could ask for what everybody is +presumed to want, place before me a tall glass full of amber liquid, +crowned with creamy foam. Are the handsome officers still sipping +their coffee in the Cafe Maximilian; and, on sunny days, is the crowd +of fashion still streaming down to the Isar, and the high, sightly +walks and gardens beyond? + +As I said, it was eleven o'clock of a clear and not very severe +night; for Munich had had no snow on the ground since November. A +deputation of our friends were at the station to see us off, and the +farewells between the gentlemen were in the hearty fashion of the +country. I know there is a prejudice with us against kissing between +men; but it is only a question of taste: and the experience of +anybody will tell him that the theory that this sort of salutation +must necessarily be desirable between opposite sexes is a delusion. +But I suppose it cannot be denied that kissing between men was +invented in Germany before they wore full beards. Well, our goodbyes +said, we climbed into our bare cars. There is no way of heating the +German cars, except by tubes filled with hot water, which are placed +under the feet, and are called foot-warmers. As we slowly moved out +over the plain, we found it was cold; in an hour the foot-warmers, +not hot to start with, were stone cold. You are going to sunny +Italy, our friends had said: as soon as you pass the Brenner you will +have sunshine and delightful weather. This thought consoled us, but +did not warm our feet. The Germans, when they travel by rail, wrap +themselves in furs and carry foot-sacks. + +We creaked along, with many stoppings. At two o'clock we were at +Rosenheim. Rosenheim is a windy place, with clear starlight, with a +multitude of cars on a multiplicity of tracks, and a large, lighted +refreshment-room, which has a glowing, jolly stove. We stay there an +hour, toasting by the fire and drinking excellent coffee. Groups of +Germans are seated at tables playing cards, smoking, and taking +coffee. Other trains arrive; and huge men stalk in, from Vienna or +Russia, you would say, enveloped in enormous fur overcoats, reaching +to the heels, and with big fur boots coming above the knees, in which +they move like elephants. Another start, and a cold ride with +cooling foot-warmers, droning on to Kurfstein. It is five o'clock +when we reach Kurfstein, which is also a restaurant, with a hot +stove, and more Germans going on as if it were daytime; but by this +time in the morning the coffee had got to be wretched. + +After an hour's waiting, we dream on again, and, before we know it, +come out of our cold doze into the cold dawn. Through the thick +frost on the windows we see the faint outlines of mountains. +Scraping away the incrustation, we find that we are in the Tyrol, +high hills on all sides, no snow in the valley, a bright morning, and +the snow-peaks are soon rosy in the sunrise. It is just as we +expected,--little villages under the hills, and slender church spires +with brick-red tops. At nine o'clock we are in Innsbruck, at the +foot of the Brenner. No snow yet. It must be charming here in the +summer. + +During the night we have got out of Bavaria. The waiter at the +restaurant wants us to pay him ninety kreuzers for our coffee, which +is only six kreuzers a cup in Munich. Remembering that it takes one +hundred kreuzers to make a gulden in Austria, I launch out a Bavarian +gulden, and expect ten kreuzers in change. I have heard that sixty +Bavarian kreuzers are equal to one hundred Austrian; but this waiter +explains to me that my gulden is only good for ninety kreuzers. I, +in my turn, explain to the waiter that it is better than the coffee; +but we come to no understanding, and I give up, before I begin, +trying to understand the Austrian currency. During the day I get my +pockets full of coppers, which are very convenient to take in change, +but appear to have a very slight purchasing, power in Austria even, +and none at all elsewhere, and the only use for which I have found is +to give to Italian beggars. One of these pieces satisfies a beggar +when it drops into his hat; and then it detains him long enough in +the examination of it, so that your carriage has time to get so far +away that his renewed pursuit is usually unavailing. + +The Brenner Pass repaid us for the pains we had taken to see it, +especially as the sun shone and took the frost from our windows, and +we encountered no snow on the track; and, indeed, the fall was not +deep, except on the high peaks about us. Even if the engineering of +the road were not so interesting, it was something to be again amidst +mountains that can boast a height of ten thousand feet. After we +passed the summit, and began the zigzag descent, we were on a sharp +lookout for sunny Italy. I expected to lay aside my heavy overcoat, +and sun myself at the first station among the vineyards. Instead of +that, we bade good-by to bright sky, and plunged into a snowstorm, +and, so greeted, drove down into the narrow gorges, whose steep +slopes we could see were terraced to the top, and planted with vines. +We could distinguish enough to know that, with the old Roman ruins, +the churches and convent towers perched on the crags, and all, the +scenery in summer must be finer than that of the Rhine, especially as +the vineyards here are picturesque,--the vines being trained so as to +hide and clothe the ground with verdure. + +It was four o'clock when we reached Trent, and colder than on top of +the Brenner. As the Council, owing to the dead state of its members +for now three centuries, was not in session, we made no long tarry. +We went into the magnificent large refreshment-room to get warm; but +it was as cold as a New England barn. I asked the proprietor if we +could not get at a fire; but he insisted that the room was warm, that +it was heated with a furnace, and that he burned good stove-coal, and +pointed to a register high up in the wall. Seeing that I looked +incredulous, he insisted that I should test it. Accordingly, I +climbed upon a table, and reached up my hand. A faint warmth came +out; and I gave it up, and congratulated the landlord on his furnace. +But the register had no effect on the great hall. You might as well +try to heat the dome of St. Peter's with a lucifer-match. At dark, +Allah be praised! we reached Ala, where we went through the humbug +of an Italian custom-house, and had our first glimpse of Italy in the +picturesque-looking idlers in red-tasseled caps, and the jabber of a +strange tongue. The snow turned into a cold rain: the foot-warmers, +we having reached the sunny lands, could no longer be afforded; and +we shivered along till nine o'clock, dark and rainy, brought us to +Verona. We emerged from the station to find a crowd of omnibuses, +carriages, drivers, runners, and people anxious to help us, all +vociferating in the highest key. Amidst the usual Italian clamor +about nothing, we gained our hotel omnibus, and sat there for ten +minutes watching the dispute over our luggage, and serenely listening +to the angry vituperations of policemen and drivers. It sounded like +a revolution, but it was only the ordinary Italian way of doing +things; and we were at last rattling away over the broad pavements. + +Of course, we stopped at a palace turned hotel, drove into a court +with double flights of high stone and marble stairways, and were +hurried up to the marble-mosaic landing by an active boy, and, almost +before we could ask for rooms, were shown into a suite of magnificent +apartments. I had a glimpse of a garden in the rear,--flowers and +plants, and a balcony up which I suppose Romeo climbed to hold that +immortal love-prattle with the lovesick Juliet. Boy began to light +the candles. Asked in English the price of such fine rooms. Reply +in Italian. Asked in German. Reply in Italian. Asked in French, +with the same result. Other servants appeared, each with a piece of +baggage. Other candles were lighted. Everybody talked in chorus. +The landlady--a woman of elegant manners and great command of her +native tongue--appeared with a candle, and joined in the melodious +confusion. What is the price of these rooms? More jabber, more +servants bearing lights. We seemed suddenly to have come into an +illumination and a private lunatic asylum. The landlady and her +troop grew more and more voluble and excited. Ah, then, if these +rooms do not suit the signor and signoras, there are others; and we +were whisked off to apartments yet grander, great suites with high, +canopied beds, mirrors, and furniture that was luxurious a hundred +years ago. The price? Again a torrent of Italian; servants pouring +in, lights flashing, our baggage arriving, until, in the tumult, +hopeless of any response to our inquiry for a servant who could speak +anything but Italian, and when we had decided, in despair, to hire +the entire establishment, a waiter appeared who was accomplished in +all languages, the row subsided, and we were left alone in our glory, +and soon in welcome sleep forgot our desperate search for a warm +climate. + +The next day it was rainy and not warm; but the sun came out +occasionally, and we drove about to see some of the sights. The +first Italian town which the stranger sees he is sure to remember, +the outdoor life of the people is so different from that at the +North. It is the fiction in Italy that it is always summer; and the +people sit in the open market-place, shiver in the open doorways, +crowd into corners where the sun comes, and try to keep up the +beautiful pretense. The picturesque groups of idlers and traffickers +were more interesting to us than the palaces with sculptured fronts +and old Roman busts, or tombs of the Scaligers, and old gates. +Perhaps I ought to except the wonderful and perfect Roman +amphitheater, over every foot of which a handsome boy in rags +followed us, looking over every wall that we looked over, peering +into every hole that we peered into, thus showing his fellowship with +us, and at every pause planting himself before us, and throwing a +somerset, and then extending his greasy cap for coppers, as if he +knew that the modern mind ought not to dwell too exclusively on hoary +antiquity without some relief. + +Anxious, as I have said, to find the sunny South, we left Verona that +afternoon for Florence, by way of Padua and Bologna. The ride to +Padua was through a plain, at this season dreary enough, were it not, +here and there, for the abrupt little hills and the snowy Alps, which +were always in sight, and towards sundown and between showers +transcendently lovely in a purple and rosy light. But nothing now +could be more desolate than the rows of unending mulberry-trees, +pruned down to the stumps, through which we rode all the afternoon. +I suppose they look better when the branches grow out with the tender +leaves for the silk-worms, and when they are clothed with grapevines. +Padua was only to us a name. There we turned south, lost mountains +and the near hills, and had nothing but the mulberry flats and +ditches of water, and chilly rain and mist. It grew unpleasant as we +went south. At dark we were riding slowly, very slowly, for miles +through a country overflowed with water, out of which trees and +houses loomed up in a ghastly show. At all the stations soldiers +were getting on board, shouting and singing discordantly choruses +from the operas; for there was a rising at Padua, and one feared at +Bologna the populace getting up insurrections against the enforcement +of the grist-tax,--a tax which has made the government very +unpopular, as it falls principally upon the poor. + +Creeping along at such a slow rate, we reached Bologna too late for +the Florence train, It was eight o'clock, and still raining. The +next train went at two o'clock in the morning, and was the best one +for us to take. We had supper in an inn near by, and a fair attempt +at a fire in our parlor. I sat before it, and kept it as lively as +possible, as the hours wore away, and tried to make believe that I +was ruminating on the ancient greatness of Bologna and its famous +university, some of whose chairs had been occupied by women, and upon +the fact that it was on a little island in the Reno, just below here, +that Octavius and Lepidus and Mark Antony formed the second +Triumvirate, which put an end to what little liberty Rome had left; +but in reality I was thinking of the draught on my back, and the +comforts of a sunny clime. But the time came at length for starting; +and in luxurious cars we finished the night very comfortably, and +rode into Florence at eight in the morning to find, as we had hoped, +on the other side of the Apennines, a sunny sky and balmy air. + +As this is strictly a chapter of travel and weather, I may not stop +to say how impressive and beautiful Florence seemed to us; how +bewildering in art treasures, which one sees at a glance in the +streets; or scarcely to hint how lovely were the Boboli Gardens +behind the Pitti Palace, the roses, geraniums etc, in bloom, the +birds singing, and all in a soft, dreamy air. The next day was not +so genial; and we sped on, following our original intention of +seeking the summer in winter. In order to avoid trouble with baggage +and passports in Rome, we determined to book through for Naples, +making the trip in about twenty hours. We started at nine o'clock in +the evening, and I do not recall a more thoroughly uncomfortable +journey. It grew colder as the night wore on, and we went farther +south. Late in the morning we were landed at the station outside of +Rome. There was a general appearance of ruin and desolation. The +wind blew fiercely from the hills, and the snowflakes from the flying +clouds added to the general chilliness. There was no chance to get +even a cup of coffee, and we waited an hour in the cold car. If I +had not been so half frozen, the consciousness that I was actually on +the outskirts of the Eternal City, that I saw the Campagna and the +aqueducts, that yonder were the Alban Hills, and that every foot of +soil on which I looked was saturated with history, would have excited +me. The sun came out here and there as we went south, and we caught +some exquisite lights on the near and snowy hills; and there was +something almost homelike in the miles and miles of olive orchards, +that recalled the apple-trees, but for their shining silvered leaves. +And yet nothing could be more desolate than the brown marshy ground, +the brown hillocks, with now and then a shabby stone hut or a bit of +ruin, and the flocks of sheep shivering near their corrals, and their +shepherd, clad in sheepskin, as his ancestor was in the time of +Romulus, leaning on his staff, with his back to the wind. Now and +then a white town perched on a hillside, its houses piled above each +other, relieved the eye; and I could imagine that it might be all the +poets have sung of it, in the spring, though the Latin poets, I am +convinced, have wonderfully imposed upon us. + +To make my long story short, it happened to be colder next morning at +Naples than it was in Germany. The sun shone; but the northeast +wind, which the natives poetically call the Tramontane, was blowing, +and the white smoke of Vesuvius rolled towards the sea. It would +only last three days, it was very unusual, and all that. The next +day it was colder, and the next colder yet. Snow fell, and blew +about unmelted: I saw it in the streets of Pompeii. + +The fountains were frozen, icicles hung from the locks of the marble +statues in the Chiaia. And yet the oranges glowed like gold among +their green leaves; the roses, the heliotrope, the geraniums, bloomed +in all the gardens. It is the most contradictory climate. We +lunched one day, sitting in our open carriage in a lemon grove, and +near at hand the Lucrine Lake was half frozen over. We feasted our +eyes on the brilliant light and color on the sea, and the lovely +outlined mountains round the shore, and waited for a change of wind. +The Neapolitans declare that they have not had such weather in twenty +years. It is scarcely one's ideal of balmy Italy. + +Before the weather changed, I began to feel in this great Naples, +with its roaring population of over half a million, very much like +the sailor I saw at the American consul's, who applied for help to be +sent home, claiming to be an American. He was an oratorical bummer, +and told his story with all the dignity and elevated language of an +old Roman. He had been cast away in London. How cast away? Oh! it +was all along of a boarding-house. And then he found himself shipped +on an English vessel, and he had lost his discharge-papers; and +"Listen, your honor," said he, calmly extending his right hand, "here +I am cast away on this desolate island with nothing before me but +wind and weather." + + + + +RAVENNA + +A DEAD CITY + +Ravenna is so remote from the route of general travel in Italy, that +I am certain you can have no late news from there, nor can I bring +you anything much later than the sixth century. Yet, if you were to +see Ravenna, you would say that that is late enough. I am surprised +that a city which contains the most interesting early Christian +churches and mosaics, is the richest in undisturbed specimens of +early Christian art, and contains the only monuments of Roman +emperors still in their original positions, should be so seldom +visited. Ravenna has been dead for some centuries; and because +nobody has cared to bury it, its ancient monuments are yet above +ground. Grass grows in its wide streets, and its houses stand in a +sleepy, vacant contemplation of each other: the wind must like to +mourn about its silent squares. The waves of the Adriatic once +brought the commerce of the East to its wharves; but the deposits of +the Po and the tides have, in process of time, made it an inland +town, and the sea is four miles away. + +In the time of Augustus, Ravenna was a favorite Roman port and harbor +for fleets of war and merchandise. There Theodoric, the great king +of the Goths, set up his palace, and there is his enormous mausoleum. +As early as A. D. 44 it became an episcopal see, with St. +Apollinaris, a disciple of St. Peter, for its bishop. There some of +the later Roman emperors fixed their residences, and there they +repose. In and about it revolved the adventurous life of Galla +Placidia, a woman of considerable talent and no principle, the +daughter of Theodosius (the great Theodosius, who subdued the Arian +heresy, the first emperor baptized in the true faith of the Trinity, +the last who had a spark of genius), the sister of one emperor, and +the mother of another,--twice a slave, once a queen, and once an +empress; and she, too, rests there in the great mausoleum builded for +her. There, also, lies Dante, in his tomb "by the upbraiding shore;" +rejected once of ungrateful Florence, and forever after passionately +longed for. There, in one of the earliest Christian churches in +existence, are the fine mosaics of the Emperor Justinian and +Theodora, the handsome courtesan whom he raised to the dignity and +luxury of an empress on his throne in Constantinople. There is the +famous forest of pines, stretching--unbroken twenty miles down the +coast to Rimini, in whose cool and breezy glades Dante and Boccaccio +walked and meditated, which Dryden has commemorated, and Byron has +invested with the fascination of his genius; and under the whispering +boughs of which moved the glittering cavalcade which fetched the +bride to Rimini,--the fair Francesca, whose sinful confession Dante +heard in hell. + +We went down to Ravenna from Bologna one afternoon, through a country +level and rich, riding along toward hazy evening, the land getting +flatter as we proceeded (you know, there is a difference between +level and flat), through interminable mulberry-trees and vines, and +fields with the tender green of spring, with church spires in the +rosy horizon; on till the meadows became marshes, in which millions +of frogs sang the overture of the opening year. Our arrival, I have +reason to believe, was an event in the old town. We had a crowd of +moldy loafers to witness it at the station, not one of whom had +ambition enough to work to earn a sou by lifting our traveling-bags. +We had our hotel to ourselves, and wished that anybody else had it. +The rival house was quite aware of our advent, and watched us with +jealous eyes; and we, in turn, looked wistfully at it, for our own +food was so scarce that, as an old traveler says, we feared that we +shouldn't have enough, until we saw it on the table, when its quality +made it appear too much. The next morning, when I sallied out to hire +a conveyance, I was an object of interest to the entire population, +who seemed to think it very odd that any one should walk about and +explore the quiet streets. If I were to describe Ravenna, I should +say that it is as flat as Holland and as lively as New London. There +are broad streets, with high houses, that once were handsome, palaces +that were once the abode of luxury, gardens that still bloom, and +churches by the score. It is an open gate through which one walks +unchallenged into the past, with little to break the association with +the early Christian ages, their monuments undimmed by time, untouched +by restoration and innovation, the whole struck with ecclesiastical +death. With all that we saw that day,--churches, basilicas, mosaics, +statues, mausoleums,--I will not burden these pages; but I will set +down is enough to give you the local color, and to recall some +of the most interesting passages in Christian history in this out- +of-the-way city on the Adriatic. + +Our first pilgrimage was to the Church of St. Apollinare Nuova; but +why it is called new I do not know, as Theodoric built it for an +Arian cathedral in about the year 500. It is a noble interior, +having twenty-four marble columns of gray Cippolino, brought from +Constantinople, with composite capitals, on each of which is an +impost with Latin crosses sculptured on it. These columns support +round arches, which divide the nave from the aisles, and on the whole +length of the wall of the nave so supported are superb mosaics, +full-length figures, in colors as fresh as if done yesterday, though +they were executed thirteen hundred years ago. The mosaic on the +left side--which is, perhaps, the finest one of the period in +existence--is interesting on another account. It represents the city +of Classis, with sea and ships, and a long procession of twenty-two +virgins presenting offerings to the Virgin and Child, seated on a +throne. The Virgin is surrounded by angels, and has a glory round +her head, which shows that homage is being paid to her. It has been +supposed, from the early monuments of Christian art, that the worship +of the Virgin is of comparatively recent origin; but this mosaic +would go to show that Mariolatry was established before the end of +the sixth century. Near this church is part of the front of the +palace of Theodoric, in which the Exarchs and Lombard kings +subsequently resided. Its treasures and marbles Charlemagne carried +off to Germany. + + + + +DOWN TO THE PINETA + +We drove three miles beyond the city, to the Church of St. Apollinare +in Classe, a lonely edifice in a waste of marsh, a grand old +basilica, a purer specimen of Christian art than Rome or any other +Italian town can boast. Just outside the city gate stands a Greek +cross on a small fluted column, which marks the site of the once +magnificent Basilica of St. Laurentius, which was demolished in the +sixteenth century, its stone built into a new church in town, and its +rich marbles carried to all-absorbing Rome. It was the last relic of +the old port of Caesarea, famous since the time of Augustus. A +marble column on a green meadow is all that remains of a once +prosperous city. Our road lay through the marshy plain, across an +elevated bridge over the sluggish united stream of the Ronco and +Montone, from which there is a wide view, including the Pineta (or +Pine Forest), the Church of St. Apollinare in the midst of +rice-fields and marshes, and on a clear day the Alps and Apennines. + +I can imagine nothing more desolate than this solitary church, or the +approach to it. Laborers were busy spading up the heavy, wet ground, +or digging trenches, which instantly filled with water, for the whole +country was afloat. The frogs greeted us with clamorous chorus out +of their slimy pools, and the mosquitoes attacked us as we rode +along. I noticed about on the bogs, wherever they could find +standing-room, half-naked wretches, with long spears, having several +prongs like tridents, which they thrust into the grass and shallow +water. Calling one of them to us, we found that his business was +fishing, and that he forked out very fat and edible-looking fish with +his trident. Shaggy, undersized horses were wading in the water, +nipping off the thin spears of grass. Close to the church is a +rickety farmhouse. If I lived there, I would as lief be a fish as a +horse. + +The interior of this primitive old basilica is lofty and imposing, +with twenty-four handsome columns of the gray Cippolino marble, and +an elevated high altar and tribune, decorated with splendid mosaics +of the sixth century,--biblical subjects, in all the stiff +faithfulness of the holy old times. The marble floor is green and +damp and slippery. Under the tribune is the crypt, where the body of +St. Apollinaris used to lie (it is now under the high altar above); +and as I desired to see where he used to rest, I walked in. I also +walked into about six inches of water, in the dim, irreligious light; +and so made a cold-water Baptist devotee of myself. In the side +aisles are wonderful old sarcophagi, containing the ashes of +archbishops of Ravenna, so old that the owners' names are forgotten +of two of them, which shows that a man may build a tomb more enduring +than his memory. The sculptured bas-reliefs are very interesting, +being early Christian emblems and curious devices,--symbols of sheep, +palms, peacocks, crosses, and the four rivers of Paradise flowing +down in stony streams from stony sources, and monograms, and pious +rebuses. At the entrance of the crypt is an open stone book, called +the Breviary of Gregory the Great. Detached from the church is the +Bell Tower, a circular campanile of a sort peculiar to Ravenna, which +adds to the picturesqueness of the pile, and suggests the notion that +it is a mast unshipped from its vessel, the church, which +consequently stands there water-logged, with no power to catch any +wind, of doctrine or other, and move. I forgot to say that the +basilica was launched in the year 534. + +A little weary with the good but damp old Christians, we ordered our +driver to continue across the marsh to the Pineta, whose dark fringe +bounded all our horizon toward the Adriatic. It is the largest +unbroken forest in Italy, and by all odds the most poetic in itself +and its associations. It is twenty-five miles long, and from one to +three in breadth, a free growth of stately pines, whose boughs are +full of music and sweet odors,--a succession of lovely glades and +avenues, with miles and miles of drives over the springy turf. At +the point where we entered is a farmhouse. Laborers had been +gathering the cones, which were heaped up in immense windrows, +hundreds of feet in length. Boys and men were busy pounding out the +seeds from the cones. The latter are used for fuel, and the former +are pressed for their oil. They are also eaten: we have often had +them served at hotel tables, and found them rather tasteless, but not +unpleasant. The turf, as we drove into the recesses of the forest, +was thickly covered with wild flowers, of many colors and delicate +forms; but we liked best the violets, for they reminded us of home, +though the driver seemed to think them less valuable than the seeds +of the pine-cones. A lovely day and history and romance united to +fascinate us with the place. We were driving over the spot where, +eighteen centuries ago, the Roman fleet used to ride at anchor. +Here, it is certain, the gloomy spirit of Dante found congenial place +for meditation, and the gay Boccaccio material for fiction. Here for +hours, day after day, Byron used to gallop his horse, giving vent to +that restless impatience which could not all escape from his fiery +pen, hearing those voices of a past and dead Italy which he, more +truthfully and pathetically than any other poet, has put into living +verse. The driver pointed out what is called Byron's Path, where he +was wont to ride. Everybody here, indeed, knows of Byron; and I +think his memory is more secure than any saint of them all in their +stone boxes, partly because his poetry has celebrated the region, +perhaps rather from the perpetuated tradition of his generosity. No +foreigner was ever so popular as he while he lived at Ravenna. At +least, the people say so now, since they find it so profitable to +keep his memory alive and to point out his haunts. The Italians, to +be sure, know how to make capital out of poets and heroes, and are +quick to learn the curiosity of foreigners, and to gratify it for a +compensation. But the evident esteem in which Byron's memory is held +in the Armenian monastery of St. Lazzaro, at Venice, must be +otherwise accounted for. The monks keep his library-room and table +as they were when he wrote there, and like to show his portrait, and +tell of his quick mastery of the difficult Armenian tongue. We have +a notable example of a Person who became a monk when he was sick; but +Byron accomplished too much work during the few months he was on the +Island of St. Lazzaro, both in original composition and in +translating English into Armenian, for one physically ruined and +broken. + + + + +DANTE AND BYRON + +The pilgrim to Ravenna, who has any idea of what is due to the genius +of Dante, will be disappointed when he approaches his tomb. Its +situation is in a not very conspicuous corner, at the foot of a +narrow street, bearing the poet's name, and beside the Church of San +Francisco, which is interesting as containing the tombs of the +Polenta family, whose hospitality to the wandering exile has rescued +their names from oblivion. Opposite the tomb is the shabby old brick +house of the Polentas, where Dante passed many years of his life. It +is tenanted now by all sorts of people, and a dirty carriage-shop in +the courtyard kills the poetry of it. Dante died in 1321, and was at +first buried in the neighboring church; but this tomb, since twice +renewed, was erected, and his body removed here, in 1482. It is a +square stuccoed structure, stained light green, and covered by a +dome,--a tasteless monument, embellished with stucco medallions, +inside, of the poet, of Virgil, of Brunetto Latini, the poet's +master, and of his patron, Guido da Polenta. On the sarcophagus is +the epitaph, composed in Latin by Dante himself, who seems to have +thought, with Shakespeare, that for a poet to make his own epitaph +was the safest thing to do. Notwithstanding the mean appearance of +this sepulcher, there is none in all the soil of Italy that the +traveler from America will visit with deeper interest. Near by is +the house where Byron first resided in Ravenna, as a tablet records. + +The people here preserve all the memorials of Byron; and, I should +judge, hold his memory in something like affection. The Palace +Guiccioli, in which he subsequently resided, is in another part of +the town. He spent over two years in Ravenna, and said he preferred +it to any place in Italy. Why I cannot see, unless it was remote +from the route of travel, and the desolation of it was congenial to +him. Doubtless he loved these wide, marshy expanses on the Adriatic, +and especially the great forest of pines on its shore; but Byron was +apt to be governed in his choice of a residence by the woman with +whom he was intimate. The palace was certainly pleasanter than his +gloomy house in the Strada di Porta Sisi, and the society of the +Countess Guiccioli was rather a stimulus than otherwise to his +literary activity. At her suggestion he wrote the "Prophecy of +Dante;" and the translation of "Francesca da Rimini" was "executed at +Ravenna, where, five centuries before, and in the very house in which +the unfortunate lady was born, Dante's poem had been composed." Some +of his finest poems were also produced here, poems for which Venice +is as grateful as Ravenna. Here he wrote "Marino Faliero," "The Two +Foscari," "Morganti Maggiore," "Sardanapalus," "The Blues," "The +fifth canto of Don Juan," "Cain," "Heaven and Earth," and "The +Vision of Judgment." I looked in at the court of the palace,--a +pleasant, quiet place,--where he used to work, and tried to guess +which were the windows of his apartments. The sun was shining +brightly, and a bird was singing in the court; but there was no other +sign of life, nor anything to remind one of the profligate genius who +was so long a guest here. + + + + +RESTING-PLACE OF CAESARS--PICTURE OF A BEAUTIFUL HERETIC + +Very different from the tomb of Dante, and different in the +associations it awakes, is the Rotunda or Mausoleum of Theodoric the +Goth, outside the Porta Serrata, whose daughter, Amalasuntha, as it +is supposed, about the year 530, erected this imposing structure as a +certain place "to keep his memory whole and mummy hid" for ever. But +the Goth had not lain in it long before Arianism went out of fashion +quite, and the zealous Roman Catholics despoiled his costly +sleeping-place, and scattered his ashes abroad. I do not know that +any dead person has lived in it since. The tomb is still a very +solid affair,--a rotunda built of solid blocks of limestone, and +resting on a ten-sided base, each side having a recess surmounted by +an arch. The upper story is also decagonal, and is reached by a +flight of modern stone steps. The roof is composed of a single block +of Istrian limestone, scooped out like a shallow bowl inside; and, +being the biggest roof-stone I ever saw, I will give you the +dimensions. It is thirty-six feet in diameter, hollowed out to the +depth of ten feet, four feet thick at the center, and two feet nine +inches at the edges, and is estimated to weigh two hundred tons. +Amalasuntha must have had help in getting it up there. The lower +story is partly under water. The green grass of the inclosure in +which it stands is damp enough for frogs. An old woman opened the +iron gate to let us in. Whether she was any relation of the ancient +proprietor, I did not inquire; but she had so much trouble in, +turning the key in the rusty lock, and letting us in, that I presume +we were the only visitors she has had for some centuries. + +Old women abound in Ravenna; at least, she was not young who showed +us the mausoleum of Galla Placidia. Placidia was also prudent and +foreseeing, and built this once magnificent sepulcher for her own +occupation. It is in the form of a Latin cross, forty-six feet in +length by about forty in width. The floor is paved with rich +marbles; the cupola is covered with mosaics of the time of the +empress; and in the arch over the door is a fine representation of +the Good Shepherd. Behind the altar is the massive sarcophagus of +marble (its cover of silver plates was long ago torn off) in which +are literally the ashes of the empress. She was immured in it as a +mummy, in a sitting position, clothed in imperial robes; and there +the ghastly corpse sat in a cypress-wood chair, to be looked at by +anybody who chose to peep through the aperture, for more than eleven +hundred years, till one day, in 1577, some children introduced a +lighted candle, perhaps out of compassion for her who sat so long in +darkness, when her clothes caught fire, and she was burned up,--a +warning to all children not to play with a dead and dry empress. In +this resting-place are also the tombs of Honorius II., her brother, +of Constantius III., her second husband, and of Honoria, her +daughter. + +There are no other undisturbed tombs of the Caesars in existence. +Hers is almost the last, and the very small last, of a great +succession. What thoughts of a great empire in ruins do not force +themselves on one in the confined walls of this little chamber! +What a woman was she whose ashes lie there! She saw and aided the +ruin of the empire; but it may be said of her, that her vices were +greater than her misfortunes. And what a story is her life! Born to +the purple, educated in the palace at Constantinople, accomplished +but not handsome, at the age of twenty she was in Rome when Alaric +besieged it. Carried off captive by the Goths, she became the not +unwilling object of the passion of King Adolphus, who at length +married her at Narbonne. At the nuptials the king, in a Roman habit, +occupied a seat lower than hers, while she sat on a throne habited as +a Roman empress, and received homage. Fifty handsome youths bore to +her in each hand a dish of gold, one filled with coin, and the other +with precious stones,--a small part only, these hundred vessels of +treasure, of the spoils the Goths brought from her country. When +Adolphus, who never abated his fondness for his Roman bride, was +assassinated at Barcelona, she was treated like a slave by his +assassins, and driven twelve miles on foot before the horse of his +murderer. Ransomed at length for six hundred thousand measures of +wheat by her brother Honorius, who handed her over struggling to +Constantius, one of his generals. But, once married, her reluctance +ceased; and she set herself to advance the interests of herself and +husband, ruling him as she had done the first one. Her purpose was +accomplished when he was declared joint emperor with Honorius. He +died shortly after; and scandalous stories of her intimacy with her +brother caused her removal to Constantinople; but she came back +again, and reigned long as the regent of her son, Valentinian III.,-- +a feeble youth, who never grew to have either passions or talents, +and was very likely, as was said, enervated by his mother in +dissolute indulgence, so that she might be supreme. But she died at +Rome in 450, much praised for her orthodoxy and her devotion to the +Trinity. And there was her daughter, Honoria, who ran off with a +chamberlain, and afterward offered to throw herself into the arms of +Attila who wouldn't take her as a gift at first, but afterward +demanded her, and fought to win her and her supposed inheritance. +But they were a bad lot altogether; and it is no credit to a +Christian of the nineteenth century to stay in this tomb so long. + +Near this mausoleum is the magnificent Basilica of St. Vitale, built +in the reign of Justinian, and consecrated in 547, I was interested +to see it because it was erected in confessed imitation of St. Sophia +at Constantinople, is in the octagonal form, and has all the +accessories of Eastern splendor, according to the architectural +authorities. Its effect is really rich and splendid; and it rather +dazzled us with its maze of pillars, its upper and lower columns, its +galleries, complicated capitals, arches on arches, and Byzantine +intricacies. To the student of the very early ecclesiastical art, it +must be an object of more interest than even of wonder. But what I +cared most to see were the mosaics in the choir, executed in the time +of Justinian, and as fresh and beautiful as on the day they were +made. The mosaics and the exquisite arabesques on the roof of the +choir, taken together, are certainly unequaled by any other early +church decoration I have seen; and they are as interesting as they +are beautiful. Any description of them is impossible; but mention +may be made of two characteristic groups, remarkable for execution, +and having yet a deeper interest. + +In one compartment of the tribune is the figure of the Emperor +Justinian, holding a vase with consecrated offerings, and surrounded +by courtiers and soldiers. Opposite is the figure of the Empress +Theodora, holding a similar vase, and attended by ladies of her +court. There is a refinement and an elegance about the empress, a +grace and sweet dignity, that is fascinating. This is royalty,-- +stately and cold perhaps: even the mouth may be a little cruel, I +begin to perceive, as I think of her; but she wears the purple by +divine right. I have not seen on any walls any figure walking out of +history so captivating as this lady, who would seem to have been +worthy of apotheosis in a Christian edifice. Can there be any doubt +that this lovely woman was orthodox? She, also, has a story, which +you doubtless have been recalling as you read. Is it worth while to +repeat even its outlines? This charming regal woman was the daughter +of the keeper of the bears in the circus at Constantinople; and she +early went upon the stage as a pantomimist and buffoon. She was +beautiful, with regular features, a little pale, but with a tinge of +natural color, vivacious eyes, and an easy motion that displayed to +advantage the graces of her small but elegant figure. I can see all +that in the mosaic. But she sold her charms to whoever cared to buy +them in Constantinople; she led a life of dissipation that cannot be +even hinted at in these days; she went off to Egypt as the concubine +of a general; was deserted, and destitute even to misery in Cairo; +wandered about a vagabond in many Eastern cities, and won the +reputation everywhere of the most beautiful courtesan of her time; +reappeared in Constantinople; and, having, it is said, a vision of +her future, suddenly took to a pretension of virtue and plain sewing; +contrived to gain the notice of Justinian, to inflame his passions as +she did those of all the world besides, to captivate him into first +an alliance, and at length a marriage. The emperor raised her to an +equal seat with himself on his throne; and she was worshiped as +empress in that city where she had been admired as harlot. And on +the throne she was a wise woman, courageous and chaste; and had her +palaces on the Bosphorus; and took good care of her beauty, and +indulged in the pleasures of a good table; had ministers who kissed +her feet; a crowd of women and eunuchs in her secret chambers, whose +passions she indulged; was avaricious and sometimes cruel; and +founded a convent for the irreclaimably bad of her own sex, some of +whom liked it, and some of whom threw themselves into the sea in +despair; and when she died was an irreparable loss to her emperor. +So that it seems to me it is a pity that the historian should say +that she was devout, but a little heretic. + + + + +A HIGH DAY IN ROME + + + +PALM SUNDAY IN ST. PETER'S + +The splendid and tiresome ceremonies of Holy Week set in; also the +rain, which held up for two days. Rome without the sun, and with +rain and the bone-penetrating damp cold of the season, is a wretched +place. Squalor and ruins and cheap splendor need the sun; the +galleries need it; the black old masters in the dark corners of the +gaudy churches need it; I think scarcely anything of a cardinal's +big, blazing footman, unless the sun shines on him, and radiates from +his broad back and his splendid calves; the models, who get up in +theatrical costumes, and get put into pictures, and pass the world +over for Roman peasants (and beautiful many of them are), can't sit +on the Spanish Stairs in indolent pose when it rains; the streets are +slimy and horrible; the carriages try to run over you, and stand a +very good chance of succeeding, where there are no sidewalks, and you +are limping along on the slippery round cobble-stones; you can't get +into the country, which is the best part of Rome: but when the sun +shines all this is changed; the dear old dirty town exercises, its +fascinations on you then, and you speedily forget your recent misery. + +Holy Week is a vexation to most people. All the world crowds here to +see its exhibitions and theatrical shows, and works hard to catch a +glimpse of them, and is tired out, if not disgusted, at the end. The +things to see and hear are Palm Sunday in St. Peter's; singing of the +Miserere by the pope's choir on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in +the Sistine Chapel; washing of the pilgrims' feet in a chapel of St. +Peter's, and serving the apostles at table by the pope on Thursday, +with a papal benediction from the balcony afterwards; Easter Sunday, +with the illumination of St. Peter's in the evening; and fireworks +(this year in front of St. Peter's in Montorio) Monday evening. +Raised seats are built up about the high altar under the dome in St. +Peter's, which will accommodate a thousand, and perhaps more, ladies; +and for these tickets are issued without numbers, and for twice as +many as they will seat. Gentlemen who are in evening dress are +admitted to stand in the reserved places inside the lines of +soldiers. For the Miserere in the Sistine Chapel tickets are also +issued. As there is only room for about four hundred ladies, and a +thousand and more tickets are given out, you may imagine the +scramble. Ladies go for hours before the singing begins, and make a +grand rush when the doors are open. I do not know any sight so +unseemly and cruel as a crowd of women intent on getting in to such a +ceremony: they are perfectly rude and unmerciful to each other. They +push and trample one another under foot; veils and dresses are torn; +ladies faint away in the scrimmage, and only the strongest and most +unscrupulous get in. I have heard some say, who have been in the +pellmell, that, not content with elbowing and pushing and pounding, +some women even stick pins into those who are in the way. I hope +this latter is not true; but it is certain that the conduct of most +of the women is brutal. A weak or modest or timid woman stands no +more chance than she would in a herd of infuriated Campagna cattle. +The same scenes are enacted in the efforts to see the pope wash feet, +and serve at the table. For the possession of the seats under the +dome on Palm Sunday and Easter there is a like crush. The ceremonies +do not begin until half-past nine; but ladies go between five and six +o'clock in the morning, and when the passages are open they make a +grand rush. The seats, except those saved for the nobility, are soon +all taken, and the ladies who come after seven are lucky if they can +get within the charmed circle, and find a spot to sit down on a +campstool. They can then see only a part of the proceedings, and +have a weary, exhausting time of it for hours. This year Rome is +more crowded than ever before. There are American ladies enough to +fill all the reserved places; and I fear they are energetic enough to +get their share of them. + +It rained Sunday; but there was a steady stream of people and +carriages all the morning pouring over the Bridge of St. Angelo, and +discharging into the piazza of St. Peter's. It was after nine when I +arrived on the ground. There was a crowd of carriages under the +colonnades, and a heavy fringe in front of them; but the hundreds of +people moving over the piazza, and up the steps to the entrances, +made only the impression of dozens in the vast space. I do not know +if there are people enough in Rome to fill St. Peter's; certainly +there was no appearance of a crowd as we entered, although they had +been pouring in all the morning, and still thronged the doors. I +heard a traveler say that he followed ten thousand soldiers into the +church, and then lost them from sight: they disappeared in the side +chapels. He did not make his affidavit as to the number of soldiers. +The interior area of the building is not much greater than the square +of St. Mark in Venice. To go into the great edifice is almost like +going outdoors. Lines of soldiers kept a wide passage clear from the +front door away down to the high altar; and there was a good mass of +spectators on the outside. The tribunes for the ladies, built up +under the dome, were of course, filled with masses of ladies in +solemn black; and there was more or less of a press of people surging +about in that vicinity. Thousands of people were also roaming about +in the great spaces of the edifice; but there was nowhere else +anything like a crowd. It had very much the appearance of a large +fair-ground, with little crowds about favorite booths. Gentlemen in +dress-coats were admitted to the circle under the dome. The pope's +choir was stationed in a gallery there opposite the high altar. Back +of the altar was a wide space for the dignitaries; seats were there, +also, for ambassadors and those born to the purple; and the pope's +seat was on a raised dais at the end. Outsiders could see nothing of +what went on within there; and the ladies under the dome could only +partially see, in the seats they had fought so gallantly to obtain. + +St. Peter's is a good place for grand processions and ceremonies; but +it is a poor one for viewing them. A procession which moves down the +nave is hidden by the soldiers who stand on either side, or is +visible only by sections as it passes: there is no good place to get +the grand effect of the masses of color, and the total of the +gorgeous pageantry. I should like to see the display upon a grand +stage, and enjoy it in a coup d'oeil. It is a fine study of color +and effect, and the groupings are admirable; but the whole affair is +nearly lost to the mass of spectators. It must be a sublime feeling +to one in the procession to walk about in such monstrous fine +clothes; but what would his emotions be if more people could see him! +The grand altar stuck up under the dome not only breaks the effect of +what would be the fine sweep of the nave back to the apse, but it +cuts off all view of the celebration of the mass behind it, and, in +effect, reduces what should be the great point of display in the +church to a mere chapel. And when you add to that the temporary +tribunes erected under the dome for seating the ladies, the entire +nave is shut off from a view of the gorgeous ceremony of high mass. +The effect would be incomparable if one could stand in the door, or +anywhere in the nave, and, as in other churches, look down to the end +upon a great platform, with the high altar and all the sublime +spectacle in full view, with the blaze of candles and the clouds of +incense rising in the distance. + +At half-past nine the great doors opened, and the procession began, +in slow and stately moving fashion, to enter. One saw a throng of +ecclesiastics in robes and ermine; the white plumes of the Guard +Noble; the pages and chamberlains in scarlet; other pages, or what +not, in black short-clothes, short swords, gold chains, cloak hanging +from the shoulder, and stiff white ruffs; thirty-six cardinals in +violet robes, with high miter-shaped white silk hats, that looked not +unlike the pasteboard "trainer-caps" that boys wear when they play +soldier; crucifixes, and a blazoned banner here and there; and, at +last, the pope, in his red chair, borne on the shoulders of red +lackeys, heaving along in a sea-sicky motion, clad in scarlet and +gold, with a silver miter on his head, feebly making the papal +benediction with two upraised fingers, and moving his lips in +blessing. As the pope came in, a supplementary choir of men and +soprano hybrids, stationed near the door, set up a high, welcoming +song, or chant, which echoed rather finely through the building. All +the music of the day is vocal. + +The procession having reached its destination, and disappeared behind +the altar of the dome, the pope dismounted, and took his seat on his +throne. The blessing of the palms began, the cardinals first +approaching, and afterwards the members of the diplomatic corps, the +archbishops and bishops, the heads of the religious orders, and such +private persons as have had permission to do so. I had previously +seen the palms carried in by servants in great baskets. It is, +perhaps, not necessary to say that they are not the poetical green +waving palms, but stiff sort of wands, woven out of dry, yellow, +split palm-leaves, sometimes four or five feet in length, braided +into the semblance of a crown on top,--a kind of rough basket-work. +The palms having been blessed, a procession was again formed down the +nave and out the door, all in it "carrying palms in their hands," the +yellow color of which added a new element of picturesqueness to the +splendid pageant. The pope was carried as before, and bore in his +hand a short braided palm, with gold woven in, flowers added, and the +monogram "I. H. S." worked in the top. It is the pope's custom to +give this away when the ceremony is over. Last year he presented it +to an American lady, whose devotion attracted him; this year I saw it +go away in a gilded coach in the hands of an ecclesiastic. The +procession disappeared through the great portal into the vestibule, +and the door closed. In a moment somebody knocked three times on the +door: it opened, and the procession returned, and moved again to the +rear of the altar, the singers marching with it and chanting. The +cardinals then changed their violet for scarlet robes; and high mass, +for an hour, was celebrated by a cardinal priest: and I was told that +it was the pope's voice that we heard, high and clear, singing the +passion. The choir made the responses, and performed at intervals. +The singing was not without a certain power; indeed, it was marvelous +how some of the voices really filled the vast spaces of the edifice, +and the choruses rolled in solemn waves of sound through the arches. +The singing, with the male sopranos, is not to my taste; but it +cannot be denied that it had a wild and strange effect. + +While this was going on behind the altar, the people outside were +wandering about, looking at each other, and on the watch not to miss +any of the shows of the day. People were talking, chattering, and +greeting each other as they might do in the street. Here and there +somebody was kneeling on the pavement, unheeding the passing throng. +At several of the chapels, services were being conducted; and there +was a large congregation, an ordinary church full, about each of +them. But the most of those present seemed to regard it as a +spectacle only; and as a display of dress, costumes, and +nationalities it was almost unsurpassed. There are few more +wonderful sights in this world than an Englishwoman in what she +considers full dress. An English dandy is also a pleasing object. +For my part, as I have hinted, I like almost as well as anything the +big footmen,--those in scarlet breeches and blue gold-embroidered +coats. I stood in front of one of the fine creations for some time, +and contemplated him as one does the Farnese Hercules. One likes to +see to what a splendor his species can come, even if the brains have +all run down into the calves of the legs. There were also the pages, +the officers of the pope's household, in costumes of the Middle Ages; +the pope's Swiss guard in the showy harlequin uniform designed by +Michael Angelo; the foot-soldiers in white short-clothes, which +threatened to burst, and let them fly into pieces; there were fine +ladies and gentlemen, loafers and loungers, from every civilized +country, jabbering in all the languages; there were beggars in rags, +and boors in coats so patched that there was probably none of the +original material left; there were groups of peasants from the +Campagna, the men in short jackets and sheepskin breeches with the +wool side out, the women with gay-colored folded cloths on their +heads, and coarse woolen gowns; a squad of wild-looking Spanish +gypsies, burning-eyed, olive-skinned, hair long, black, crinkled, and +greasy, as wild in raiment as in face; priests and friars, Zouaves in +jaunty light gray and scarlet; rags and velvets, silks and serge +cloths,--a cosmopolitan gathering poured into the world's great place +of meeting,--a fine religious Vanity Fair on Sunday. + +There came an impressive moment in all this confusion, a point of +august solemnity. Up to that instant, what with chanting and singing +the many services, and the noise of talking and walking, there was a +wild babel. But at the stroke of the bell and the elevation of the +Host, down went the muskets of the guard with one clang on the +marble; the soldiers kneeled; the multitude in the nave, in the +aisles, at all the chapels, kneeled; and for a minute in that vast +edifice there was perfect stillness: if the whole great concourse had +been swept from the earth, the spot where it lately was could not +have been more silent. And then the military order went down the +line, the soldiers rose, the crowd rose, and the mass and the hum +went on. + +It was all over before one; and the pope was borne out again, and the +vast crowd began to discharge itself. But it was a long time before +the carriages were all filled and rolled off. I stood for a half +hour watching the stream go by,--the pompous soldiers, the peasants +and citizens, the dazzling equipages, and jaded, exhausted women in +black, who had sat or stood half a day under the dome, and could get +no carriage; and the great state coaches of the cardinals, swinging +high in the air, painted and gilded, with three noble footmen hanging +on behind each, and a cardinal's broad face in the window. + + + + +VESUVIUS + +CLIMBING A VOLCANO + +Everybody who comes to Naples,--that is, everybody except the lady +who fell from her horse the other day at Resina and injured her +shoulder, as she was mounting for the ascent,--everybody, I say, goes +up Vesuvius, and nearly every one writes impressions and descriptions +of the performance. If you believe the tales of travelers, it is an +undertaking of great hazard, an experience of frightful emotions. +How unsafe it is, especially for ladies, I heard twenty times in +Naples before I had been there a day. Why, there was a lady thrown +from her horse and nearly killed, only a week ago; and she still lay +ill at the next hotel, a witness of the truth of the story. I +imagined her plunged down a precipice of lava, or pitched over the +lip of the crater, and only rescued by the devotion of a gallant +guide, who threatened to let go of her if she didn't pay him twenty +francs instantly. This story, which will live and grow for years in +this region, a waxing and never-waning peril of the volcano, I found, +subsequently, had the foundation I have mentioned above. The lady +did go to Resina in order to make the ascent of Vesuvius, mounted a +horse there, fell off, being utterly unhorsewomanly, and hurt +herself; but her injury had no more to do with Vesuvius than it had +with the entrance of Victor Emanuel into Naples, which took place a +couple of weeks after. Well, as I was saying, it is the fashion to +write descriptions of Vesuvius; and you might as well have mine, +which I shall give to you in rough outline. + +There came a day when the Tramontane ceased to blow down on us the +cold air of the snowy Apennines, and the white cap of Vesuvius, which +is, by the way, worn generally like the caps of the Neapolitans, +drifted inland instead of toward the sea. Warmer weather had come to +make the bright sunshine no longer a mockery. For some days I had +been getting the gauge of the mountain. With its white plume it is a +constant quantity in the landscape: one sees it from every point of +view; and we had been scarcely anywhere that volcanic remains, or +signs of such action,--a thin crust shaking under our feet, as at +Solfatara, where blasts of sulphurous steam drove in our faces,--did +not remind us that the whole ground is uncertain, and undermined by +the subterranean fires that have Vesuvius for a chimney. All the +coast of the bay, within recent historic periods, in different spots +at different times, has risen and sunk and risen again, in simple +obedience to the pulsations of the great fiery monster below. It +puffs up or sinks, like the crust of a baking apple-pie. This region +is evidently not done; and I think it not unlikely it may have to be +turned over again before it is. We had seen where Herculaneum lies +under the lava and under the town of Resina; we had walked those +clean and narrow streets of Pompeii, and seen the workmen picking +away at the imbedded gravel, sand, and ashes which still cover nearly +two thirds of the nice little, tight little Roman city; we had looked +at the black gashes on the mountain-sides, where the lava streams had +gushed and rolled and twisted over vineyards and villas and villages; +and we decided to take a nearer look at the immediate cause of all +this abnormal state of things. + +In the morning when I awoke the sun was just rising behind Vesuvius; +and there was a mighty display of gold and crimson in that quarter, +as if the curtain was about to be lifted on a grand performance, say +a ballet at San Carlo, which is the only thing the Neapolitans think +worth looking at. Straight up in the air, out of the mountain, rose +a white pillar, spreading out at the top like a palm-tree, or, to +compare it to something I have seen, to the Italian pines, that come +so picturesquely into all these Naples pictures. If you will believe +me, that pillar of steam was like a column of fire, from the sun +shining on and through it, and perhaps from the reflection of the +background of crimson clouds and blue and gold sky, spread out there +and hung there in royal and extravagant profusion, to make a highway +and a regal gateway, through which I could just then see coming the +horses and the chariot of a southern perfect day. They said that the +tree-shaped cloud was the sign of an eruption; but the hotel-keepers +here are always predicting that. The eruption is usually about two +or three weeks distant; and the hotel proprietors get this +information from experienced guides, who observe the action of the +water in the wells; so that there can be no mistake about it. + +We took carriages at nine o'clock to Resina, a drive of four miles, +and one of exceeding interest, if you wish to see Naples life. The +way is round the curving bay by the sea; but so continuously built up +is it, and so inclosed with high walls of villas, through the open +gates of which the golden oranges gleam, that you seem never to leave +the city. The streets and quays swarm with the most vociferous, +dirty, multitudinous life. It is a drive through Rag Fair. The +tall, whitey-yellow houses fronting the water, six, seven, eight +stories high, are full as beehives; people are at all the open +windows; garments hang from the balconies and from poles thrust out; +up every narrow, gloomy, ascending street are crowds of struggling +human shapes; and you see how like herrings in a box are packed the +over half a million people of Naples. In front of the houses are the +markets in the open air,--fish, vegetables, carts of oranges; in the +sun sit women spinning from distaffs or weaving fishing-nets; and +rows of children who were never washed and never clothed but once, +and whose garments have nearly wasted away; beggars, fishermen in red +caps, sailors, priests, donkeys, fruit-venders, street-musicians, +carriages, carts, two-wheeled break-down vehicles,--the whole tangled +in one wild roar and rush and babel,--a shifting, varied panorama of +color, rags,--a pandemonium such as the world cannot show elsewhere, +that is what one sees on the road to Resina. The drivers all drive +in the streets here as if they held a commission from the devil, +cracking their whips, shouting to their horses, and dashing into the +thickest tangle with entire recklessness. They have one cry, used +alike for getting more speed out of their horses or for checking +them, or in warning to the endangered crowds on foot. It is an +exclamatory grunt, which may be partially expressed by the letters +"a-e-ugh." Everybody shouts it, mule-driver, "coachee," or +cattle-driver; and even I, a passenger, fancied I could do it to +disagreeable perfection after a time. Out of this throng in the +streets I like to select the meek, patient, diminutive little +donkeys, with enormous panniers that almost hide them. One would +have a woman seated on top, with a child in one pannier and cabbages +in the other; another, with an immense stock of market-greens on his +back, or big baskets of oranges, or with a row of wine-casks and a +man seated behind, adhering, by some unknown law of adhesion, to the +sloping tail. Then there was the cart drawn by one diminutive +donkey, or by an ox, or by an ox and a donkey, or by a donkey and +horse abreast, never by any possibility a matched team. And, +funniest of all, was the high, two-wheeled caleche, with one seat, +and top thrown back, with long thills and poor horse. Upon this +vehicle were piled, Heaven knows how, behind, before, on the thills, +and underneath the high seat, sometimes ten, and not seldom as many +as eighteen people, men, women, and children,--all in flaunting rags, +with a colored scarf here and there, or a gay petticoat, or a scarlet +cap,--perhaps a priest, with broad black hat, in the center,--driving +along like a comet, the poor horse in a gallop, the bells on his +ornamented saddle merrily jingling, and the whole load in a roar of +merriment. + +But we shall never get to Vesuvius at this rate. I will not even +stop to examine the macaroni manufactories on the road. The long +strips of it were hung out on poles to dry in the streets, and to get +a rich color from the dirt and dust, to say nothing of its contact +with the filthy people who were making it. I am very fond of +macaroni. At Resina we take horses for the ascent. We had sent +ahead for a guide and horses for our party of ten; but we found +besides, I should think, pretty nearly the entire population of the +locality awaiting us, not to count the importunate beggars, the hags, +male and female, and the ordinary loafers of the place. We were +besieged to take this and that horse or mule, to buy walking-sticks +for the climb, to purchase lava cut into charms, and veritable +ancient coins, and dug-up cameos, all manufactured for the demand. +One wanted to hold the horse, or to lead it, to carry a shawl, or to +show the way. In the midst of infinite clamor and noise, we at last +got mounted, and, turning into a narrow lane between high walls, +began the ascent, our cavalcade attended by a procession of rags and +wretchedness up through the village. Some of them fell off as we +rose among the vineyards, and they found us proof against begging; +but several accompanied us all day, hoping that, in some unguarded +moment, they could do us some slight service, and so establish a +claim on us. Among these I noticed some stout fellows with short +ropes, with which they intended to assist us up the steeps. If I +looked away an instant, some urchin would seize my horse's bridle; +and when I carelessly let my stick fall on his hand, in token for him +to let go, he would fall back with an injured look, and grasp the +tail, from which I could only loosen him by swinging my staff and +preparing to break his head. + +The ascent is easy at first between walls and the vineyards which +produce the celebrated Lachryma Christi. After a half hour we +reached and began to cross the lava of 1858, and the wild desolation +and gloom of the mountain began to strike us. One is here conscious +of the titanic forces at work. Sometimes it is as if a giant had +ploughed the ground, and left the furrows without harrowing them to +harden into black and brown stone. We could see again how the broad +stream, flowing down, squeezed and squashed like mud, had taken all +fantastic shapes,--now like gnarled tree roots; now like serpents in +a coil; here the human form, or a part of it,--a torso or a limb,--in +agony; now in other nameless convolutions and contortions, as if +heaved up and twisted in fiery pain and suffering,--for there was +almost a human feeling in it; and again not unlike stone billows. We +could see how the cooling crust had been lifted and split and turned +over by the hot stream underneath, which, continually oozing from the +rent of the eruption, bore it down and pressed it upward. Even so +low as the point where we crossed the lava of 1858 were fissures +whence came hot air. + +An hour brought us to the resting-place called the Hermitage, an +osteria and observatory established by the government. Standing upon +the end of a spur, it seems to be safe from the lava, whose course +has always been on either side; but it must be an uncomfortable place +in a shower of stones and ashes. We rode half an hour longer on +horseback, on a nearly level path, to the foot of the steep ascent, +the base of the great crater. This ride gave us completely the wide +and ghastly desolation of the mountain, the ruin that the lava has +wrought upon slopes that were once green with vine and olive, and +busy with the hum of life. This black, contorted desert waste is +more sterile and hopeless than any mountain of stone, because the +idea of relentless destruction is involved here. This great +hummocked, sloping plain, ridged and seamed, was all about us, +without cheer or relaxation of grim solitude. Before us rose, as +black and bare, what the guides call the mountain, and which used to +be the crater. Up one side is worked in the lava a zigzag path, +steep, but not very fatiguing, if you take it slowly. Two thirds of +the way up, I saw specks of people climbing. Beyond it rose the cone +of ashes, out of which the great cloud of sulphurous smoke rises and +rolls night and day now. On the very edge of that, on the lip of it, +where the smoke rose, I also saw human shapes; and it seemed as if +they stood on the brink of Tartarus and in momently imminent peril. + +We left our horses in a wild spot, where scorched boulders had fallen +upon the lava bed; and guides and boys gathered about us like +cormorants: but, declining their offers to pull us up, we began the +ascent, which took about three quarters of an hour. We were then on +the summit, which is, after all, not a summit at all, but an uneven +waste, sloping away from the Cone in the center. This sloping lava +waste was full of little cracks,--not fissures with hot lava in them, +or anything of the sort,--out of which white steam issued, not unlike +the smoke from a great patch of burned timber; and the wind blew it +along the ground towards us. It was cool, for the sun was hidden by +light clouds, but not cold. The ground under foot was slightly warm. +I had expected to feel some dread, or shrinking, or at least some +sense of insecurity, but I did not the slightest, then or afterwards; +and I think mine is the usual experience. I had no more sense of +danger on the edge of the crater than I had in the streets of Naples. + +We next addressed ourselves to the Cone, which is a loose hill of +ashes and sand,--a natural slope, I should say, of about one and a +half to one, offering no foothold. The climb is very fatiguing, +because you sink in to the ankles, and slide back at every step; but +it is short,--we were up in six to eight minutes,--though the ladies, +who had been helped a little by the guides, were nearly exhausted, +and sank down on the very edge of the crater, with their backs to the +smoke. What did we see? What would you see if you looked into a +steam boiler? We stood on the ashy edge of the crater, the sharp +edge sloping one way down the mountain, and the other into the +bowels, whence the thick, stifling smoke rose. We rolled stones +down, and heard them rumbling for half a minute. The diameter of the +crater on the brink of which we stood was said to be an eighth of a +mile; but the whole was completely filled with vapor. The edge where +we stood was quite warm. + +We ate some rolls we had brought in our pockets, and some of the +party tried a bottle of the wine that one of the cormorants had +brought up, but found it anything but the Lachryma Christi it was +named. We looked with longing eyes down into the vapor-boiling +caldron; we looked at the wide and lovely view of land and sea; we +tried to realize our awful situation, munched our dry bread, and +laughed at the monstrous demands of the vagabonds about us for money, +and then turned and went down quicker than we came up. + +We had chosen to ascend to the old crater rather than to the new one +of the recent eruption on the side of the mountain, where there is +nothing to be seen. When we reached the bottom of the Cone, our +guide led us to the north side, and into a region that did begin to +look like business. The wind drove all the smoke round there, and we +were half stifled with sulphur fumes to begin with. Then the whole +ground was discolored red and yellow, and with many more gay and +sulphur-suggesting colors. And it actually had deep fissures in it, +over which we stepped and among which we went, out of which came +blasts of hot, horrid vapor, with a roaring as if we were in the +midst of furnaces. And if we came near the cracks the heat was +powerful in our faces, and if we thrust our sticks down them they +were instantly burned; and the guides cooked eggs; and the crust was +thin, and very hot to our boots; and half the time we couldn't see +anything; and we would rush away where the vapor was not so thick, +and, with handkerchiefs to our mouths, rush in again to get the full +effect. After we came out again into better air, it was as if we had +been through the burning, fiery furnace, and had the smell of it on +our garments. And, indeed, the sulphur had changed to red certain of +our clothes, and noticeably my pantaloons and the black velvet cap of +one of the ladies; and it was some days before they recovered their +color. But, as I say, there was no sense of danger in the adventure. + +We descended by a different route, on the south side of the mountain, +to our horses, and made a lark of it. We went down an ash slope, +very steep, where we sank in a foot or little less at every step, and +there was nothing to do for it, but to run and jump. We took steps +as long as if we had worn seven-league boots. When the whole party +got in motion, the entire slope seemed to slide a little with us, and +there appeared some danger of an avalanche. But we did n't stop for +it. It was exactly like plunging down a steep hillside that is +covered thickly with light, soft snow. There was a gray-haired +gentleman with us, with a good deal of the boy in him, who thought it +great fun. + +I have said little about the view; but I might have written about +nothing else, both in the ascent and descent. Naples, and all the +villages which rim the bay with white, the gracefully curving arms +that go out to sea, and do not quite clasp rocky Capri, which lies at +the entrance, made the outline of a picture of surpassing loveliness. +But as we came down, there was a sight that I am sure was unique. As +one in a balloon sees the earth concave beneath, so now, from where +we stood, it seemed to rise, not fall, to the sea, and all the white +villages were raised to the clouds; and by the peculiar light, the +sea looked exactly like sky, and the little boats on it seemed to +float, like balloons in the air. The illusion was perfect. As the +day waned, a heavy cloud hid the sun, and so let down the light that +the waters were a dark purple. Then the sun went behind Posilipo in +a perfect blaze of scarlet, and all the sea was violet. Only it +still was not the sea at all; but the little chopping waves looked +like flecked clouds; and it was exactly as if one of the violet, +cloud-beautified skies that we see at home over some sunsets had +fallen to the ground. And the slant white sails and the black specks +of boats on it hung in the sky, and were as unsubstantial as the +whole pageant. Capri alone was dark and solid. And as we descended +and a high wall hid it, a little handsome rascal, who had attended me +for an hour, now at the head and now at the tail of my pony, recalled +me to the realities by the request that I should give him a franc. +For what? For carrying signor's coat up the mountain. I rewarded +the little liar with a German copper. I had carried my own overcoat +all day. + + + + +SORRENTO DAYS + +OUTLINES + +The day came when we tired of the brilliancy and din of Naples, most +noisy of cities. Neapolis, or Parthenope, as is well known, was +founded by Parthenope, a siren who was cast ashore there. Her +descendants still live here; and we have become a little weary of +their inherited musical ability: they have learned to play upon many +new instruments, with which they keep us awake late at night, and +arouse us early in the morning. One of them is always there under +the window, where the moonlight will strike him, or the early dawn +will light up his love-worn visage, strumming the guitar with his +horny thumb, and wailing through his nose as if his throat was full +of seaweed. He is as inexhaustible as Vesuvius. We shall have to +flee, or stop our ears with wax, like the sailors of Ulysses. + +The day came when we had checked off the Posilipo, and the Grotto, +Pozzuoli, Baiae, Cape Misenum, the Museum, Vesuvius, Pompeii, +Herculaneum, the moderns buried at the Campo Santo; and we said, Let +us go and lie in the sun at Sorrento. But first let us settle our +geography. + +The Bay of Naples, painted and sung forever, but never adequately, +must consent to be here described as essentially a parallelogram, +with an opening towards the southwest. The northeast side of this, +with Naples in the right-hand corner, looking seaward and +Castellamare in the left-hand corner, at a distance of some fourteen +miles, is a vast rich plain, fringed on the shore with towns, and +covered with white houses and gardens. Out of this rises the +isolated bulk of Vesuvius. This growing mountain is manufactured +exactly like an ant-hill. + +The northwest side of the bay, keeping a general westerly direction, +is very uneven, with headlands, deep bays, and outlying islands. +First comes the promontory of Posilipo, pierced by two tunnels, +partly natural and partly Greek and Roman work, above the entrance of +one of which is the tomb of Virgil, let us believe; then a beautiful +bay, the shore of which is incrusted with classic ruins. On this bay +stands Pozzuoli, the ancient Puteoli where St. Paul landed one May +day, and doubtless walked up this paved road, which leads direct to +Rome. At the entrance, near the head of Posilipo, is the volcanic +island of "shining Nisida," to which Brutus retired after the +assassination of Caesar, and where he bade Portia good-by before he +departed for Greece and Philippi: the favorite villa of Cicero, where +he wrote many of his letters to Atticus, looked on it. Baiae, +epitome of the luxury and profligacy, of the splendor and crime of +the most sensual years of the Roman empire, spread there its temples, +palaces, and pleasure-gardens, which crowded the low slopes, and +extended over the water; and yonder is Cape Misenum, which sheltered +the great fleets of Rome. + +This region, which is still shaky from fires bubbling under the thin +crust, through which here and there the sulphurous vapor breaks out, +is one of the most sacred in the ancient world. Here are the Lucrine +Lake, the Elysian Fields, the cave of the Cumean Sibyl, and the Lake +Avernus. This entrance to the infernal regions was frozen over the +day I saw it; so that the profane prophecy of skating on the +bottomless pit might have been realized. The islands of Procida and +Ischia continue and complete this side of the bay, which is about +twenty miles long as the boat sails. + +At Castellamare the shore makes a sharp bend, and runs southwest +along the side of the Sorrentine promontory. This promontory is a +high, rocky, diversified ridge, which extends out between the bays of +Naples and Salerno, with its short and precipitous slope towards the +latter. Below Castellamare, the mountain range of the Great St. +Angelo (an offshoot of the Apennines) runs across the peninsula, and +cuts off that portion of it which we have to consider. The most +conspicuous of the three parts of this short range is over four +thousand seven hundred feet above the Bay of Naples, and the highest +land on it. From Great St. Angelo to the point, the Punta di +Campanella, it is, perhaps, twelve miles by balloon, but twenty by +any other conveyance. Three miles off this point lies Capri. + +This promontory has a backbone of rocky ledges and hills; but it has +at intervals transverse ledges and ridges, and deep valleys and +chains cutting in from either side; so that it is not very passable +in any direction. These little valleys and bays are warm nooks for +the olive and the orange; and all the precipices and sunny slopes are +terraced nearly to the top. This promontory of rocks is far from +being barren. + +>From Castellamare, driving along a winding, rockcut road by the bay,- +-one of the most charming in southern Italy,--a distance of seven +miles, we reach the Punta di Scutolo. This point, and the opposite +headland, the Capo di Sorrento, inclose the Piano di Sorrento, an +irregular plain, three miles long, encircled by limestone hills, +which protect it from the east and south winds. In this amphitheater +it lies, a mass of green foliage and white villages, fronting Naples +and Vesuvius. + +If nature first scooped out this nook level with the sea, and then +filled it up to a depth of two hundred to three hundred feet with +volcanic tufa, forming a precipice of that height along the shore, I +can understand how the present state of things came about. + +This plain is not all level, however. Decided spurs push down into +it from the hills; and great chasms, deep, ragged, impassable, split +in the tufa, extend up into it from the sea. At intervals, at the +openings of these ravines, are little marinas, where the fishermen +have their huts' and where their boats land. Little villages, +separate from the world, abound on these marinas. The warm volcanic +soil of the sheltered plain makes it a paradise of fruits and +flowers. + +Sorrento, ancient and romantic city, lies at the southwest end of +this plain, built along the sheer sea precipice, and running back to +the hills,--a city of such narrow streets, high walls, and luxuriant +groves that it can be seen only from the heights adjacent. The +ancient boundary of the city proper was the famous ravine on the east +side, a similar ravine on the south, which met it at right angles, +and was supplemented by a high Roman wall, and the same wall +continued on the west to the sea. The growing town has pushed away +the wall on the west side; but that on the south yet stands as good +as when the Romans made it. There is a little attempt at a mall, +with double rows of trees, under that wall, where lovers walk, and +ragged, handsome urchins play the exciting game of fives, or sit in +the dirt, gambling with cards for the Sorrento currency. I do not +know what sin it may be to gamble for a bit of printed paper which +has the value of one sou. + +The great ravine, three quarters of a mile long, the ancient boundary +which now cuts the town in two, is bridged where the main street, the +Corso, crosses, the bridge resting on old Roman substructions, as +everything else about here does. This ravine, always invested with +mystery, is the theme of no end of poetry and legend. Demons inhabit +it. Here and there, in its perpendicular sides, steps have been cut +for descent. Vines and lichens grow on the walls: in one place, at +the bottom, an orange grove has taken root. There is even a mill +down there, where there is breadth enough for a building; and +altogether, the ravine is not so delivered over to the power of +darkness as it used to be. It is still damp and slimy, it is true; +but from above, it is always beautiful, with its luxuriant growth of +vines, and at twilight mysterious. I like as well, however, to look +into its entrance from the little marina, where the old fishwives arc +weaving nets. + +These little settlements under the cliff, called marinas, are worlds +in themselves, picturesque at a distance, but squalid seen close at +hand. They are not very different from the little fishing-stations +on the Isle of Wight; but they are more sheltered, and their +inhabitants sing at their work, wear bright colors, and bask in the +sun a good deal, feeling no sense of responsibility for the world +they did not create. To weave nets, to fish in the bay, to sell +their fish at the wharves, to eat unexciting vegetables and fish, to +drink moderately, to go to the chapel of St. Antonino on Sunday, not +to work on fast and feast days, nor more than compelled to any day, +this is life at the marinas. Their world is what they can see, and +Naples is distant and almost foreign. Generation after generation is +content with the same simple life. They have no more idea of the bad +way the world is in than bees in their cells. + + + + +THE VILLA NARDI + +The Villa Nardi hangs over the sea. It is built on a rock, and I +know not what Roman and Greek foundations, and the remains of yet +earlier peoples, traders, and traffickers, whose galleys used to rock +there at the base of the cliff, where the gentle waves beat even in +this winter-time with a summer swing and sound of peace. + +It was at the close of a day in January that I first knew the Villa +Nardi,--a warm, lovely day, at the hour when the sun was just going +behind the Capo di Sorrento, in order to disrobe a little, I fancy, +before plunging into the Mediterranean off the end of Capri, as is +his wont about this time of year. When we turned out of the little +piazza, our driver was obliged to take off one of our team of three +horses driven abreast, so that we could pass through the narrow and +crooked streets, or rather lanes of blank walls. With cracking whip, +rattling wheels, and shouting to clear the way, we drove into the +Strada di San Francisca, and to an arched gateway. This led down a +straight path, between olives and orange and lemon-trees, gleaming +with shining leaves and fruit of gold, with hedges of rose-trees in +full bloom, to another leafy arch, through which I saw tropical +trees, and a terrace with a low wall and battered busts guarding it, +and beyond, the blue sea, a white sail or two slanting across the +opening, and the whiteness of Naples some twenty miles away on the +shore. + +The noble family of the Villa did not descend into the garden to +welcome us, as we should have liked; in fact, they have been absent +now for a long time, so long that even their ghosts, if they ever +pace the terrace-walk towards the convent, would appear strange to +one who should meet them; and yet our hostess, the Tramontano, did +what the ancient occupants scarcely could have done, gave us the +choice of rooms in the entire house. The stranger who finds himself +in this secluded paradise, at this season, is always at a loss +whether to take a room on the sea, with all its changeable +loveliness, but no sun, or one overlooking the garden, where the sun +all day pours itself into the orange boughs, and where the birds are +just beginning to get up a spring twitteration. My friend, whose +capacity for taking in the luxurious repose of this region is +something extraordinary, has tried, I believe, nearly every room in +the house, and has at length gone up to a solitary room on the top, +where, like a bird on a tree he looks all ways, and, so to say, +swings in the entrancing air. But, wherever you are, you will grow +into content with your situation. + +At the Villa Nardi we have no sound of wheels, no noise of work or +traffic, no suggestion of conflict. I am under the impression that +everything that was to have been done has been done. I am, it is +true, a little afraid that the Saracens will come here again, and +carry off more of the nut-brown girls, who lean over the walls, and +look down on us from under the boughs. I am not quite sure that a +French Admiral of the Republic will not some morning anchor his +three-decker in front, and open fire on us; but nothing else can +happen. Naples is a thousand miles away. The boom of the saluting +guns of Castel Nuovo is to us scarcely an echo of modern life. Rome +does not exist. And as for London and New York, they send their +people and their newspapers here, but no pulse of unrest from them +disturbs our tranquillity. Hemmed in on the land side by high walls, +groves, and gardens, perched upon a rock two hundred feet above the +water, how much more secure from invasion is this than any fabled +island of the southern sea, or any remote stream where the boats of +the lotus-eaters float! + +There is a little terrace and flower-plat, where we sometimes sit, +and over the wall of which we like to lean, and look down the cliff +to the sea. This terrace is the common ground of many exotics as +well as native trees and shrubs. Here are the magnolia, the laurel, +the Japanese medlar, the oleander, the pepper, the bay, the +date-palm, a tree called the plumbago, another from the Cape of Good +Hope, the pomegranate, the elder in full leaf, the olive, salvia, +heliotrope; close by is a banana-tree. + +I find a good deal of companionship in the rows of plaster busts that +stand on the wall, in all attitudes of listlessness, and all stages +of decay. I thought at first they were penates of the premises; but +better acquaintance has convinced me that they never were gods, but +the clayey representations of great men and noble dames. The stains +of time are on them; some have lost a nose or an ear; and one has +parted with a still more important member--his head,--an accident +that might profitably have befallen his neighbor, whose curly locks +and villainously low forehead proclaim him a Roman emperor. Cut in +the face of the rock is a walled and winding way down to the water. +I see below the archway where it issues from the underground recesses +of our establishment; and there stands a bust, in serious expectation +that some one will walk out and saunter down among the rocks; but no +one ever does. Just at the right is a little beach, with a few old +houses, and a mimic stir of life, a little curve in the cliff, the +mouth of the gorge, where the waves come in with a lazy swash. Some +fishing-boats ride there; and the shallow water, as I look down this +sunny morning, is thickly strewn with floating peels of oranges and +lemons, as if some one was brewing a gigantic bowl of punch. And +there is an uncommon stir of life; for a schooner is shipping a cargo +of oranges, and the entire population is in a clamor. Donkeys are +coming down the winding way, with a heavy basket on either flank; +stout girls are stepping lightly down with loads on their heads; the +drivers shout, the donkeys bray, the people jabber and order each +other about; and the oranges, in a continual stream, are poured into +the long, narrow vessel, rolling in with a thud, until there is a +yellow mass of them. Shouting, scolding, singing, and braying, all +come up to me a little mellowed. The disorder is not so great as on +the opera stage of San Carlo in Naples; and the effect is much more +pleasing. + +This settlement, the marina, under the cliff, used to extend along +the shore; and a good road ran down there close by the water. The +rock has split off, and covered it; and perhaps the shore has sunk. +They tell me that those who dig down in the edge of the shallow water +find sunken walls, and the remains of old foundations of Roman +workmanship. People who wander there pick up bits of marble, +serpentine, and malachite,--remains of the palaces that long ago fell +into the sea, and have not left even the names of their owners and +builders,-the ancient loafers who idled away their days as everybody +must in this seductive spot. Not far from here, they point out the +veritable caves of the Sirens, who have now shut up house, and gone +away, like the rest of the nobility. If I had been a mariner in +their day, I should have made no effort to sail by and away from +their soothing shore. + +I went, one day, through a long, sloping arch, near the sailors' +Chapel of St. Antonino, past a pretty shrine of the Virgin, down the +zigzag path to this little marina; but it is better to be content +with looking at it from above, and imagining how delightful it would +be to push off in one of the little tubs of boats. Sometimes, at +night, I hear the fishermen coming home, singing in their lusty +fashion; and I think it is a good haven to arrive at. I never go +down to search for stones on the beach: I like to believe that there +are great treasures there, which I might find; and I know that the +green and brown and spotty appearance of the water is caused by the +showing through of the pavements of courts, and marble floors of +palaces, which might vanish if I went nearer, such a place of +illusion is this. + +The Villa Nardi stands in pleasant relations to Vesuvius, which is +just across the bay, and is not so useless as it has been +represented; it is our weather-sign and prophet. When the white +plume on his top floats inland, that is one sort of weather; when it +streams out to sea, that is another. But I can never tell which is +which: nor in my experience does it much matter; for it seems +impossible for Sorrento to do anything but woo us with gentle +weather. But the use of Vesuvius, after all, is to furnish us a +background for the violet light at sundown, when the villages at its +foot gleam like a silver fringe. I have become convinced of one +thing: it is always best when you build a house to have it front +toward a volcano, if you can. There is just that lazy activity about +a volcano, ordinarily, that satisfies your demand for something that +is not exactly dead, and yet does not disturb you. + +Sometimes when I wake in the night,--though I don't know why one ever +wakes in the night, or the daytime either here,--I hear the bell of +the convent, which is in our demesne,--a convent which is suppressed, +and where I hear, when I pass in the morning, the humming of a +school. At first I tried to count the hour; but when the bell went +on to strike seventeen, and even twenty-one o'clock, the absurdity of +the thing came over me, and I wondered whether it was some frequent +call to prayer for a feeble band of sisters remaining, some reminder +of midnight penance and vigil, or whether it was not something more +ghostly than that, and was not responded to by shades of nuns, who +were wont to look out from their narrow latticed windows upon these +same gardens, as long ago as when the beautiful Queen Joanna used to +come down here to repent--if she ever did repent--of her wanton ways +in Naples. + +On one side of the garden is a suppressed monastery. The narrow +front towards the sea has a secluded little balcony, where I like to +fancy the poor orphaned souls used to steal out at night for a breath +of fresh air, and perhaps to see, as I did one dark evening, Naples +with its lights like a conflagration on the horizon. Upon the tiles +of the parapet are cheerful devices, the crossbones tied with a cord, +and the like. How many heavy-hearted recluses have stood in that +secluded nook, and been tempted by the sweet, lulling sound of the +waves below; how many have paced along this narrow terrace, and felt +like prisoners who wore paths in the stone floor where they trod; and +how many stupid louts have walked there, insensible to all the charm +of it! + +If I pass into the Tramontano garden, it is not to escape the +presence of history, or to get into the modern world, where travelers +are arriving, and where there is the bustle and proverbial discontent +of those who travel to enjoy themselves. In the pretty garden, which +is a constant surprise of odd nooks and sunny hiding-places, with +ruins, and most luxuriant ivy, is a little cottage where, I am told +in confidence, the young king of Bavaria slept three nights not very +long ago. I hope he slept well. But more important than the sleep, +or even death, of a king, is the birth of a poet, I take it; and +within this inclosure, on the eleventh day of March, 1541, Torquato +Tasso, most melancholy of men, first saw the light; and here was born +his noble sister Cornelia, the descendants of whose union with the +cavalier Spasiano still live here, and in a manner keep the memory of +the poet green with the present generation. I am indebted to a +gentleman who is of this lineage for many favors, and for precise +information as to the position in the house that stood here of the +very room in which Tasso was born. It is also minutely given in a +memoir of Tasso and his family, by Bartolommeo Capasso, whose careful +researches have disproved the slipshod statements of the guidebooks, +that the poet was born in a house which is still standing, farther to +the west, and that the room has fallen into the sea. The descendant +of the sister pointed out to me the spot on the terrace of the +Tramontano where the room itself was, when the house still stood; +and, of course, seeing is believing. The sun shone full upon it, as +we stood there; and the air was full of the scent of tropical fruit +and just-coming blossoms. One could not desire a more tranquil scene +of advent into life; and the wandering, broken-hearted author of +"Jerusalem Delivered" never found at court or palace any retreat so +soothing as that offered him here by his steadfast sister. + +If I were an antiquarian, I think I should have had Tasso born at the +Villa Nardi, where I like best to stay, and where I find traces of +many pilgrims from other countries. Here, in a little corner room on +the terrace, Mrs. Stowe dreamed and wrote; and I expect, every +morning, as I take my morning sun here by the gate, Agnes of Sorrento +will come down the sweet-scented path with a basket of oranges on her +head. + + + + +SEA AND SHORE + +It is not always easy, when one stands upon the highlands which +encircle the Piano di Sorrento, in some conditions of the atmosphere, +to tell where the sea ends and the sky begins. It seems. +practicable, at such times, for one to take ship and sail up into +heaven. I have often, indeed, seen white sails climbing up there, +and fishing-boats, at secure anchor I suppose, riding apparently like +balloons in the hazy air. Sea and air and land here are all kin, I +suspect, and have certain immaterial qualities in common. The +contours of the shores and the outlines of the hills are as graceful +as the mobile waves; and if there is anywhere ruggedness and +sharpness, the atmosphere throws a friendly veil over it, and tones +all that is inharmonious into the repose of beauty. + +The atmosphere is really something more than a medium: it is a +drapery, woven, one could affirm, with colors, or dipped in oriental +dyes. One might account thus for the prismatic colors I have often +seen on the horizon at noon, when the sun was pouring down floods of +clear golden light. The simple light here, if one could ever +represent it by pen, pencil, or brush, would draw the world hither to +bathe in it. It is not thin sunshine, but a royal profusion, a +golden substance, a transforming quality, a vesture of splendor for +all these Mediterranean shores. + +The most comprehensive idea of Sorrento and the great plain on which +it stands, imbedded almost out of sight in foliage, we obtained one +day from our boat, as we put out round the Capo di Sorrento, and +stood away for Capri. There was not wind enough for sails, but there +were chopping waves, and swell enough to toss us about, and to +produce bright flashes of light far out at sea. The red-shirted +rowers silently bent to their long sweeps; and I lay in the tossing +bow, and studied the high, receding shore. The picture is simple, a +precipice of rock or earth, faced with masonry in spots, almost of +uniform height from point to point of the little bay, except where a +deep gorge has split the rock, and comes to the sea, forming a cove, +where a cluster of rude buildings is likely to gather. Along the +precipice, which now juts and now recedes a little, are villas, +hotels, old convents, gardens, and groves. I can see steps and +galleries cut in the face of the cliff, and caves and caverns, +natural and artificial: for one can cut this tufa with a knife; and +it would hardly seem preposterous to attempt to dig out a cool, roomy +mansion in this rocky front with a spade. + +As we pull away, I begin to see the depth of the plain of Sorrento, +with its villages, walled roads, its groves of oranges, olives, +lemons, its figs, pomegranates, almonds, mulberries, and acacias; and +soon the terraces above, where the vineyards are planted, and the +olives also. These terraces must be a brave sight in the spring, +when the masses of olives are white as snow with blossoms, which fill +all the plain with their sweet perfume. Above the terraces, the eye +reaches the fine outline of the hill; and, to the east, the bare +precipice of rock, softened by the purple light; and turning still to +the left, as the boat lazily swings, I have Vesuvius, the graceful +dip into the plain, and the rise to the heights of Naples, Nisida, +the shining houses of Pozzuoli, Cape Misenum, Procida, and rough +Ischia. Rounding the headland, Capri is before us, so sharp and +clear that we seem close to it; but it is a weary pull before we get +under its rocky side. + +Returning from Capri late in the afternoon, we had one of those +effects which are the despair of artists. I had been told that +twilights are short here, and that, when the sun disappeared, color +vanished from the sky. There was a wonderful light on all the inner +bay, as we put off from shore. Ischia was one mass of violet color, +As we got from under the island, there was the sun, a red ball of +fire, just dipping into the sea. At once the whole horizon line of +water became a bright crimson, which deepened as evening advanced, +glowing with more intense fire, and holding a broad band of what +seemed solid color for more than three quarters of an hour. The +colors, meantime, on the level water, never were on painter's +palette, and never were counterfeited by the changeable silks of +eastern looms; and this gorgeous spectacle continued till the stars +came out, crowding the sky with silver points. + +Our boatmen, who had been reinforced at Capri, and were inspired +either by the wine of the island or the beauty of the night, pulled +with new vigor, and broke out again and again into the wild songs of +this coast. A favorite was the Garibaldi song, which invariably ended +in a cheer and a tiger, and threw the singers into such a spurt of +excitement that the oars forgot to keep time, and there was more +splash than speed. The singers all sang one part in minor: there was +no harmony, the voices were not rich, and the melody was not +remarkable; but there was, after all, a wild pathos in it. Music is +very much here what it is in Naples. I have to keep saying to myself +that Italy is a land of song; else I should think that people mistake +noise for music. + +The boatmen are an honest set of fellows, as Italians go; and, let us +hope, not unworthy followers of their patron, St. Antonino, whose +chapel is on the edge of the gorge near the Villa Nardi. A silver +image of the saint, half life-size, stands upon the rich marble +altar. This valuable statue has been, if tradition is correct, five +times captured and carried away by marauders, who have at different +times sacked Sorrento of its marbles, bronzes, and precious things, +and each time, by some mysterious providence, has found its way back +again,--an instance of constancy in a solid silver image which is +worthy of commendation. The little chapel is hung all about with +votive offerings in wax of arms, legs, heads, hands, effigies, and +with coarse lithographs, in frames, of storms at sea and perils of +ships, hung up by sailors who, having escaped the dangers of the +deep, offer these tributes to their dear saint. The skirts of the +image are worn quite smooth with kissing. Underneath it, at the back +of the altar, an oil light is always burning; and below repose the +bones of the holy man. + + +The whole shore is fascinating to one in an idle mood, and is good +mousing-ground for the antiquarian. For myself, I am content with +one generalization, which I find saves a world of bother and +perplexity: it is quite safe to style every excavation, cavern, +circular wall, or arch by the sea, a Roman bath. It is the final +resort of the antiquarians. This theory has kept me from entering +the discussion, whether the substructions in the cliff under the +Poggio Syracuse, a royal villa, are temples of the Sirens, or caves +of Ulysses. I only know that I descend to the sea there by broad +interior flights of steps, which lead through galleries and +corridors, and high, vaulted passages, whence extend apartments and +caves far reaching into the solid rock. At intervals are landings, +where arched windows are cut out to the sea, with stone seats and +protecting walls. At the base of the cliff I find a hewn passage, as +if there had once been here a way of embarkation; and enormous +fragments of rocks, with steps cut in them, which have fallen from +above. + +Were these anything more than royal pleasure galleries, where one +could sit in coolness in the heat of summer and look on the bay and +its shipping, in the days when the great Roman fleet used to lie +opposite, above the point of Misenum? How many brave and gay +retinues have swept down these broad interior stairways, let us say +in the picturesque Middle Ages, to embark on voyages of pleasure or +warlike forays! The steps are well worn, and must have been trodden +for ages, by nobles and robbers, peasants and sailors, priests of +more than one religion, and traders of many seas, who have gone, and +left no record. The sun was slanting his last rays into the +corridors as I musingly looked down from one of the arched openings, +quite spellbound by the strangeness and dead silence of the place, +broken only by the plash of waves on the sandy beach below. I had +found my way down through a wooden door half ajar; and I thought of +the possibility of some one's shutting it for the night, and leaving +me a prisoner to await the spectres which I have no doubt throng here +when it grows dark. Hastening up out of these chambers of the past, +I escaped into the upper air, and walked rapidly home through the +narrow orange lanes. + + + + +ON TOP OF THE HOUSE + +The tiptop of the Villa Nardi is a flat roof, with a wall about it +three feet high, and some little turreted affairs, that look very +much like chimneys. Joseph, the gray-haired servitor, has brought my +chair and table up here to-day, and here I am, established to write. + +I am here above most earthly annoyances, and on a level with the +heavenly influences. It has always seemed to me that the higher one +gets, the easier it must be to write; and that, especially at a great +elevation, one could strike into lofty themes, and launch out, +without fear of shipwreck on any of the earthly headlands, in his +aerial voyages. Yet, after all, he would be likely to arrive +nowhere, I suspect; or, to change the figure, to find that, in +parting with the taste of the earth, he had produced a flavorless +composition. If it were not for the haze in the horizon to-day, I +could distinguish the very house in Naples--that of Manso, Marquis of +Villa,--where Tasso found a home, and where John Milton was +entertained at a later day by that hospitable nobleman. I wonder, if +he had come to the Villa Nardi and written on the roof, if the +theological features of his epic would have been softened, and if he +would not have received new suggestions for the adornment of the +garden. Of course, it is well that his immortal production was not +composed on this roof, and in sight of these seductive shores, or it +would have been more strongly flavored with classic mythology than it +is. But, letting Milton go, it may be necessary to say that my +writing to-day has nothing to do with my theory of composition in an +elevated position; for this is the laziest place that I have yet +found. + +I am above the highest olive-trees, and, if I turned that way, should +look over the tops of what seems a vast grove of them, out of which a +white roof, and an old time-eaten tower here and there, appears; and +the sun is flooding them with waves of light, which I think a person +delicately enough organized could hear beat. Beyond the brown roofs +of the town, the terraced hills arise, in semicircular embrace of the +plain; and the fine veil over them is partly the natural shimmer of +the heat, and partly the silver duskiness of the olive-leaves. I sit +with my back to all this, taking the entire force of this winter sun, +which is full of life and genial heat, and does not scorch one, as I +remember such a full flood of it would at home. It is putting +sweetness, too, into the oranges, which, I observe, are getting +redder and softer day by day. We have here, by the way, such a habit +of taking up an orange, weighing it in the hand, and guessing if it +is ripe, that the test is extending to other things. I saw a +gentleman this morning, at breakfast, weighing an egg in the same +manner; and some one asked him if it was ripe. + +It seems to me that the Mediterranean was never bluer than it is +to-day. It has a shade or two the advantage of the sky: though I +like the sky best, after all; for it is less opaque, and offers an +illimitable opportunity of exploration. Perhaps this is because I am +nearer to it. There are some little ruffles of air on the sea, which +I do not feel here, making broad spots of shadow, and here and there +flecks and sparkles. But the schooners sail idly, and the +fishing-boats that have put out from the marina float in the most +dreamy manner. I fear that the fishermen who have made a show of +industry, and got away from their wives, who are busily weaving nets +on shore, are yielding to the seductions of the occasion, and making +a day of it. And, as I look at them, I find myself debating which I +would rather be, a fisherman there in the boat, rocked by the swell, +and warmed by the sun, or a friar, on the terrace of the garden on +the summit of Deserto, lying perfectly tranquil, and also soaked in +the sun. There is one other person, now that I think of it, who may +be having a good time to-day, though I do not know that I envy him. +His business is a new one to me, and is an occupation that one would +not care to recommend to a friend until he had tried it: it is being +carried about in a basket. As I went up the new Massa road the other +day, I met a ragged, stout, and rather dirty woman, with a large +shallow basket on her head. In it lay her husband, a large man, +though I think a little abbreviated as to his legs. The woman asked +alms. Talk of Diogenes in his tub! How must the world look to a man +in a basket, riding about on his wife's head? When I returned, she +had put him down beside the road in the sun, and almost in danger of +the passing vehicles. I suppose that the affectionate creature +thought that, if he got a new injury in this way, his value in the +beggar market would be increased. I do not mean to do this exemplary +wife any injustice; and I only suggest the idea in this land, where +every beggar who is born with a deformity has something to thank the +Virgin for. This custom of carrying your husband on your head in a +basket has something to recommend it, and is an exhibition of faith +on the one hand, and of devotion on the other, that is seldom met +with. Its consideration is commended to my countrywomen at home. It +is, at least, a new commentary on the apostolic remark, that the man +is the head of the woman. It is, in some respects, a happy division +of labor in the walk of life: she furnishes the locomotive power, and +he the directing brains, as he lies in the sun and looks abroad; +which reminds me that the sun is getting hot on my back. The little +bunch of bells in the convent tower is jangling out a suggestion of +worship, or of the departure of the hours. It is time to eat an +orange. + +Vesuvius appears to be about on a level with my eyes and I never knew +him to do himself more credit than to-day. The whole coast of the +bay is in a sort of obscuration, thicker than an Indian summer haze; +and the veil extends almost to the top of Vesuvius. But his summit +is still distinct, and out of it rises a gigantic billowy column of +white smoke, greater in quantity than on any previous day of our +sojourn; and the sun turns it to silver. Above a long line of +ordinary looking clouds, float great white masses, formed of the +sulphurous vapor. This manufacture of clouds in a clear, sunny day +has an odd appearance; but it is easy enough, if one has such a +laboratory as Vesuvius. How it tumbles up the white smoke! It is +piled up now, I should say, a thousand feet above the crater, +straight into the blue sky,--a pillar of cloud by day. One might sit +here all day watching it, listening the while to the melodious spring +singing of the hundreds of birds which have come to take possession +of the garden, receiving southern reinforcements from Sicily and +Tunis every morning, and think he was happy. But the morning has +gone; and I have written nothing. + + + + +THE PRICE OF ORANGES + +If ever a northern wanderer could be suddenly transported to look +down upon the Piano di Sorrento, he would not doubt that he saw the +Garden of the Hesperides. The orange-trees cannot well be fuller: +their branches bend with the weight of fruit. With the almond-trees +in full flower, and with the silver sheen of the olive leaves, the +oranges are apples of gold in pictures of silver. As I walk in these +sunken roads, and between these high walls, the orange boughs +everywhere hang over; and through the open gates of villas I look +down alleys of golden glimmer, roses and geraniums by the walk, and +the fruit above,--gardens of enchantment, with never a dragon, that I +can see, to guard them. + +All the highways and the byways, the streets and lanes, wherever I +go, from the sea to the tops of the hills, are strewn with +orange-peel; so that one, looking above and below, comes back from a +walk with a golden dazzle in his eyes,--a sense that yellow is the +prevailing color. Perhaps the kerchiefs of the dark-skinned girls +and women, which take that tone, help the impression. The +inhabitants are all orange-eaters. The high walls show that the +gardens are protected with great care; yet the fruit seems to be as +free as apples are in a remote New England town about cider-time. + +I have been trying, ever since I have been here, to ascertain the +price of oranges; not for purposes of exportation, nor yet for the +personal importation that I daily practice, but in order to give an +American basis of fact to these idle chapters. In all the paths I +meet, daily, girls and boys bearing on their heads large baskets of +the fruit, and little children with bags and bundles of the same, as +large as they can stagger under; and I understand they are carrying +them to the packers, who ship them to New York, or to the depots, +where I see them lying in yellow heaps, and where men and women are +cutting them up, and removing the peel, which goes to England for +preserves. I am told that these oranges are sold for a couple of +francs a hundred. That seems to me so dear that I am not tempted +into any speculation, but stroll back to the Tramontano, in the +gardens of which I find better terms. + +The only trouble is to find a sweet tree; for the Sorrento oranges +are usually sour in February; and one needs to be a good judge of the +fruit, and know the male orange from the female, though which it is +that is the sweeter I can never remember (and should not dare to say, +if I did, in the present state of feeling on the woman question),--or +he might as well eat a lemon. The mercenary aspect of my query does +not enter in here. I climb into a tree, and reach out to the end of +the branch for an orange that has got reddish in the sun, that comes +off easily and is heavy; or I tickle a large one on the top bough +with a cane pole; and if it drops readily, and has a fine grain, I +call it a cheap one. I can usually tell whether they are good by +splitting them open and eating a quarter. The Italians pare their +oranges as we do apples; but I like best to open them first, and see +the yellow meat in the white casket. After you have eaten a few from +one tree, you can usually tell whether it is a good tree; but there +is nothing certain about it,--one bough that gets the sun will be +better than another that does not, and one half of an orange will +fill your mouth with more delicious juices than the other half. + +The oranges that you knock off with your stick, as you walk along the +lanes, don't cost anything; but they are always sour, as I think the +girls know who lean over the wall, and look on with a smile: and, in +that, they are more sensible than the lively dogs which bark at you +from the top, and wake all the neighborhood with their clamor. I +have no doubt the oranges have a market price; but I have been +seeking the value the gardeners set on them themselves. As I walked +towards the heights, the other morning, and passed an orchard, the +gardener, who saw my ineffectual efforts, with a very long cane, to +reach the boughs of a tree, came down to me with a basketful he had +been picking. As an experiment on the price, I offered him a +two-centime piece, which is a sort of satire on the very name of +money,--when he desired me to help myself to as many oranges as I +liked. He was a fine-looking fellow, with a spick-span new red +Phrygian cap; and I had n't the heart to take advantage of his +generosity, especially as his oranges were not of the sweetest. One +ought never to abuse generosity. + +Another experience was of a different sort, and illustrates the +Italian love of bargaining, and their notion of a sliding scale of +prices. One of our expeditions to the hills was one day making its +long, straggling way through the narrow street of a little village of +the Piano, when I lingered behind my companions, attracted by a +handcart with several large baskets of oranges. The cart stood +untended in the street; and selecting a large orange, which would +measure twelve inches in circumference, I turned to look for the +owner. After some time a fellow got from the open front of the +neighboring cobbler's shop, where he sat with his lazy cronies, +listening to the honest gossip of the follower of St. Crispin, and +sauntered towards me. + +"How much for this?" I ask. + +"One franc, signor," says the proprietor, with a polite bow, holding +up one finger. + +I shake my head, and intimate that that is altogether too much, in +fact, preposterous. + +The proprietor is very indifferent, and shrugs his shoulders in an +amiable manner. He picks up a fair, handsome orange, weighs it in +his hand, and holds it up temptingly. That also is one, franc. + +I suggest one sou as a fair price, a suggestion which he only +receives with a smile of slight pity, and, I fancy, a little disdain. +A woman joins him, and also holds up this and that gold-skinned one +for my admiration. + +As I stand, sorting over the fruit, trying to please myself with +size, color, and texture, a little crowd has gathered round; and I +see, by a glance, that all the occupations in that neighborhood, +including loafing, are temporarily suspended to witness the trade. +The interest of the circle visibly increases; and others take such a +part in the transaction that I begin to doubt if the first man is, +after all, the proprietor. + +At length I select two oranges, and again demand the price. There is +a little consultation and jabber, when I am told that I can have both +for a franc. I, in turn, sigh, shrug my shoulders, and put down the +oranges, amid a chorus of exclamations over my graspingness. My +offer of two sous is met with ridicule, but not with indifference. I +can see that it has made a sensation. These simple, idle children of +the sun begin to show a little excitement. I at length determine +upon a bold stroke, and resolve to show myself the Napoleon of +oranges, or to meet my Waterloo. I pick out four of the largest +oranges in the basket, while all eyes are fixed on me intently, and, +for the first time, pull out a piece of money. It is a two-sous +piece. I offer it for the four oranges. + +"No, no, no, no, signor! Ah, signor! ah, signor!" in a chorus from +the whole crowd. + +I have struck bottom at last, and perhaps got somewhere near the +value; and all calmness is gone. Such protestations, such +indignation, such sorrow, I have never seen before from so small a +cause. It cannot be thought of; it is mere ruin! I am, in turn, as +firm, and nearly as excited in seeming. I hold up the fruit, and +tender the money. + +"No, never, never! The signor cannot be in earnest." + +Looking round me for a moment, and assuming a theatrical manner, +befitting the gestures of those about me, I fling the fruit down, +and, with a sublime renunciation, stalk away. + +There is instantly a buzz and a hum that rises almost to a clamor. I +have not proceeded far, when a skinny old woman runs after me, and +begs me to return. I go back, and the crowd parts to receive me. + +The proprietor has a new proposition, the effect of which upon me is +intently watched. He proposes to give me five big oranges for four +sous. I receive it with utter scorn, and a laugh of derision. I +will give two sous for the original four, and not a centesimo more. +That I solemnly say, and am ready to depart. Hesitation and renewed +conference; but at last the proprietor relents; and, with the look of +one who is ruined for life, and who yet is willing to sacrifice +himself, he hands me the oranges. Instantly the excitement is dead, +the crowd disperses, and the street is as quiet as ever; when I walk +away, bearing my hard-won treasures. + +A little while after, as I sat upon the outer wall of the terrace of +the Camaldoli, with my feet hanging over, these same oranges were +taken from my pockets by Americans; so that I am prevented from +making any moral reflections upon the honesty of the Italians. + +There is an immense garden of oranges and lemons at the village of +Massa, through which travelers are shown by a surly fellow, who keeps +watch of his trees, and has a bulldog lurking about for the unwary. +I hate to see a bulldog in a fruit orchard. I have eaten a good many +oranges there, and been astonished at the boughs of immense lemons +which bend the trees to the ground. I took occasion to measure one +of the lemons, called a citron-lemon, and found its circumference to +be twenty-one inches one way by fifteen inches the other,--about as +big as a railway conductor's lantern. These lemons are not so sour +as the fellow who shows them: he is a mercenary dog, and his prices +afford me no clew to the just value of oranges. + +I like better to go to a little garden in the village of Meta, under +a sunny precipice of rocks overhung by the ruined convent of +Camaldoli. I turn up a narrow lane, and push open the wooden door in +the garden of a little villa. It is a pretty garden; and, besides +the orange and lemon-trees on the terrace, it has other fruit-trees, +and a scent of many flowers. My friend, the gardener, is sorting +oranges from one basket to another, on a green bank, and evidently +selling the fruit to some women, who are putting it into bags to +carry away. + +When he sees me approach, there is always the same pantomime. I +propose to take some of the fruit he is sorting. With a knowing air, +and an appearance of great mystery, he raises his left hand, the palm +toward me, as one says hush. Having dispatched his business, he +takes an empty basket, and with another mysterious flourish, desiring +me to remain quiet, he goes to a storehouse in one corner of the +garden, and returns with a load of immense oranges, all soaked with +the sun, ripe and fragrant, and more tempting than lumps of gold. I +take one, and ask him if it is sweet. He shrugs his shoulders, +raises his hands, and, with a sidewise shake of the head, and a look +which says, How can you be so faithless? makes me ashamed of my +doubts. + +I cut the thick skin, which easily falls apart and discloses the +luscious quarters, plump, juicy, and waiting to melt in the mouth. I +look for a moment at the rich pulp in its soft incasement, and then +try a delicious morsel. I nod. My gardener again shrugs his +shoulders, with a slight smile, as much as to say, It could not be +otherwise, and is evidently delighted to have me enjoy his fruit. I +fill capacious pockets with the choicest; and, if I have friends with +me, they do the same. I give our silent but most expressive +entertainer half a franc, never more; and he always seems surprised +at the size of the largesse. We exhaust his basket, and he proposes +to get more. + +When I am alone, I stroll about under the heavily-laden trees, and +pick up the largest, where they lie thickly on the ground, liking to +hold them in my hand and feel the agreeable weight, even when I can +carry away no more. The gardener neither follows nor watches me; and +I think perhaps knows, and is not stingy about it, that more valuable +to me than the oranges I eat or take away are those on the trees +among the shining leaves. And perhaps he opines that I am from a +country of snow and ice, where the year has six hostile months, and +that I have not money enough to pay for the rich possession of the +eye, the picture of beauty, which I take with me. + + + + +FASCINATION + +There are three places where I should like to live; naming them in +the inverse order of preference,--the Isle of Wight, Sorrento, and +Heaven. The first two have something in common, the almost mystic +union of sky and sea and shore, a soft atmospheric suffusion that +works an enchantment, and puts one into a dreamy mood. And yet there +are decided contrasts. The superabundant, soaking sunshine of +Sorrento is of very different quality from that of the Isle of Wight. +On the island there is a sense of home, which one misses on this +promontory, the fascination of which, no less strong, is that of a +southern beauty, whose charms conquer rather than win. I remember +with what feeling I one day unexpectedly read on a white slab, in the +little inclosure of Bonchurch, where the sea whispered as gently as +the rustle of the ivy-leaves, the name of John Sterling. Could there +be any fitter resting-place for that most, weary, and gentle spirit? +There I seemed to know he had the rest that he could not have +anywhere on these brilliant historic shores. Yet so impressible was +his sensitive nature, that I doubt not, if he had given himself up to +the enchantment of these coasts in his lifetime, it would have led +him by a spell he could not break. + +I am sometimes in doubt what is the spell of Sorrento, and half +believe that it is independent of anything visible. There is said to +be a fatal enchantment about Capri. The influences of Sorrento are +not so dangerous, but are almost as marked. I do not wonder that the +Greeks peopled every cove and sea-cave with divinities, and built +temples on every headland and rocky islet here; that the Romans built +upon the Grecian ruins; that the ecclesiastics in succeeding +centuries gained possession of all the heights, and built convents +and monasteries, and set out vineyards, and orchards of olives and +oranges, and took root as the creeping plants do, spreading +themselves abroad in the sunshine and charming air. The Italian of +to-day does not willingly emigrate, is tempted by no seduction of +better fortune in any foreign clime. And so in all ages the swarming +populations have clung to these shores, filling all the coasts and +every nook in these almost inaccessible hills with life. Perhaps the +delicious climate, which avoids all extremes, sufficiently accounts +for this; and yet I have sometimes thought there is a more subtle +reason why travelers from far lands are spellbound here, often +against will and judgment, week after week, month after month. + +However this may be, it is certain that strangers who come here, and +remain long enough to get entangled in the meshes which some +influence, I know not what, throws around them, are in danger of +never departing. I know there are scores of travelers, who whisk +down from Naples, guidebook in hand, goaded by the fell purpose of +seeing every place in Europe, ascend some height, buy a load of the +beautiful inlaid woodwork, perhaps row over to Capri and stay five +minutes in the azure grotto, and then whisk away again, untouched by +the glamour of the place. Enough that they write "delightful spot" +in their diaries, and hurry off to new scenes, and more noisy life. +But the visitor who yields himself to the place will soon find his +power of will departing. Some satirical people say, that, as one +grows strong in body here, he becomes weak in mind. The theory I do +not accept: one simply folds his sails, unships his rudder, and waits +the will of Providence, or the arrival of some compelling fate. The +longer one remains, the more difficult it is to go. We have a +fashion--indeed, I may call it a habit--of deciding to go, and of +never going. It is a subject of infinite jest among the habitues of +the villa, who meet at table, and who are always bidding each other +good-by. We often go so far as to write to Naples at night, and +bespeak rooms in the hotels; but we always countermand the order +before we sit down to breakfast. The good-natured mistress of +affairs, the head of the bureau of domestic relations, is at her +wits' end, with guests who always promise to go and never depart. +There are here a gentleman and his wife, English people of decision +enough, I presume, in Cornwall, who packed their luggage before +Christmas to depart, but who have not gone towards the end of +February,--who daily talk of going, and little by little unpack their +wardrobe, as their determination oozes out. It is easy enough to +decide at night to go next day; but in the morning, when the soft +sunshine comes in at the window, and when we descend and walk in the +garden, all our good intentions vanish. It is not simply that we do +not go away, but we have lost the motive for those long excursions +which we made at first, and which more adventurous travelers indulge +in. There are those here who have intended for weeks to spend a day +on Capri. Perfect day for the expedition succeeds perfect day, +boatload after boatload sails away from the little marina at the base +of the cliff, which we follow with eves of desire, but--to-morrow +will do as well. We are powerless to break the enchantment. + +I confess to the fancy that there is some subtle influence working +this sea-change in us, which the guidebooks, in their enumeration of +the delights of the region, do not touch, and which maybe reaches +back beyond the Christian era. I have always supposed that the story +of Ulysses and the Sirens was only a fiction of the poets, intended +to illustrate the allurements of a soul given over to pleasure, and +deaf to the call of duty and the excitement of a grapple with the +world. But a lady here, herself one of the entranced, tells me that +whoever climbs the hills behind Sorrento, and looks upon the Isle of +the Sirens, is struck with an inability to form a desire to depart +from these coasts. I have gazed at those islands more than once, as +they lie there in the Bay of Salerno; and it has always happened that +they have been in a half-misty and not uncolored sunlight, but not so +draped that I could not see they were only three irregular rocks, not +far from shore, one of them with some ruins on it. There are neither +sirens there now, nor any other creatures; but I should be sorry to +think I should never see them again. When I look down on them, I can +also turn and behold on the other side, across the Bay of Naples, the +Posilipo, where one of the enchanters who threw magic over them is +said to lie in his high tomb at the opening of the grotto. Whether +he does sleep in his urn in that exact spot is of no moment. Modern +life has disillusioned this region to a great extent; but the romance +that the old poets have woven about these bays and rocky promontories +comes very easily back upon one who submits himself long to the +eternal influences of sky and sea which made them sing. It is all +one,--to be a Roman poet in his villa, a lazy friar of the Middle +Ages toasting in the sun, or a modern idler, who has drifted here out +of the active currents of life, and cannot make up his mind to +depart. + + + + +MONKISH PERCHES + +On heights at either end of the Piano di Sorrento, and commanding it, +stood two religious houses: the Convent of the Carnaldoli to the +northeast, on the crest of the hill above Meta; the Carthusian +Monastery of the Deserto, to the southwest, three miles above +Sorrento. The longer I stay here, the more respect I have for the +taste of the monks of the Middle Ages. They invariably secured the +best places for themselves. They seized all the strategic points; +they appropriated all the commanding heights; they knew where the sun +would best strike the grapevines; they perched themselves wherever +there was a royal view. When I see how unerringly they did select +and occupy the eligible places, I think they were moved by a sort of +inspiration. In those days, when the Church took the first choice in +everything, the temptation to a Christian life must have been strong. + +The monastery at the Deserto was suppressed by the French of the +first republic, and has long been in a ruinous condition. Its +buildings crown the apex of the highest elevation in this part of the +promontory: from its roof the fathers paternally looked down upon the +churches and chapels and nunneries which thickly studded all this +region; so that I fancy the air must have been full of the sound of +bells, and of incense perpetually ascending. They looked also upon +St. Agata under the hill, with a church bigger than itself; upon more +distinct Massa, with its chapels and cathedral and overlooking feudal +tower; upon Torca, the Greek Theorica, with its Temple of Apollo, the +scene yet of an annual religious festival, to which the peasants of +Sorrento go as their ancestors did to the shrine of the heathen god; +upon olive and orange orchards, and winding paths and wayside shrines +innumerable. A sweet and peaceful scene in the foreground, it must +have been, and a whole horizon of enchantment beyond the sunny +peninsula over which it lorded: the Mediterranean, with poetic Capri, +and Ischia, and all the classic shore from Cape Misenum, Baiae, and +Naples, round to Vesuvius; all the sparkling Bay of Naples; and on +the other side the Bay of Salerno, covered with the fleets of the +commerce of Amalfi, then a republican city of fifty thousand people; +and Grecian Paestum on the marshy shore, even then a ruin, its +deserted porches and columns monuments of an architecture never +equaled elsewhere in Italy. Upon this charming perch, the old +Carthusian monks took the summer breezes and the winter sun, pruned +their olives, and trimmed their grapevines, and said prayers for the +poor sinners toiling in the valleys below. + +The monastery is a desolate old shed now. We left our donkeys to eat +thistles in front, while we climbed up some dilapidated steps, and +entered the crumbling hall. The present occupants are half a dozen +monks, and fine fellows too, who have an orphan school of some twenty +lads. We were invited to witness their noonday prayers. The +flat-roofed rear buildings extend round an oblong, quadrangular +space, which is a rich garden, watered from capacious tanks, and +coaxed into easy fertility by the impregnating sun. Upon these roofs +the brothers were wont to walk, and here they sat at peaceful +evening. Here, too, we strolled; and here I could not resist the +temptation to lie an unheeded hour or two, soaking in the benignant +February sun, above every human concern and care, looking upon a land +and sea steeped in romance. The sky was blue above; but in the south +horizon, in the direction of Tunis, were the prismatic colors. Why +not be a monk, and lie in the sun? + +One of the handsome brothers invited us into the refectory, a place +as bare and cheerless as the feeding-room of a reform school, and set +before us bread and cheese, and red wine, made by the monks. I +notice that the monks do not water their wine so much as the osteria +keepers do; which speaks equally well for their religion and their +taste. The floor of the room was brick, the table plain boards, and +the seats were benches; not much luxury. The monk who served us was +an accomplished man, traveled, and master of several languages. He +spoke English a little. He had been several years in America, and +was much interested when we told him our nationality. + +"Does the signor live near Mexico?" + +"Not in dangerous proximity," we replied; but we did not forfeit his +good opinion by saying that we visited it but seldom. + +Well, he had seen all quarters of the globe: he had been for years a +traveler, but he had come back here with a stronger love for it than +ever; it was to him the most delightful spot on earth, he said. And +we could not tell him where its equal is. If I had nothing else to +do, I think I should cast in my lot with him,--at least for a week. + +But the monks never got into a cozier nook than the Convent of the +Camaldoli. That also is suppressed: its gardens, avenues, colonnaded +walks, terraces, buildings, half in ruins. It is the level surface +of a hill, sheltered on the east by higher peaks, and on the north by +the more distant range of Great St. Angelo, across the valley, and is +one of the most extraordinarily fertile plots of ground I ever saw. +The rich ground responds generously to the sun. I should like to +have seen the abbot who grew on this fat spot. The workmen were busy +in the garden, spading and pruning. + +A group of wild, half-naked children came about us begging, as we sat +upon the walls of the terrace,--the terrace which overhangs the busy +plain below, and which commands the entire, varied, nooky promontory, +and the two bays. And these children, insensible to beauty, want +centesimi! + +In the rear of the church are some splendid specimens of the +umbrella-like Italian pine. Here we found, also, a pretty little +ruin,--it might be Greek and--it might be Druid for anything that +appeared, ivy-clad, and suggesting a religion older than that of the +convent. To the east we look into a fertile, terraced ravine; and +beyond to a precipitous brown mountain, which shows a sharp outline +against the sky; halfway up are nests of towns, white houses, +churches, and above, creeping along the slope, the thread of an +ancient road, with stone arches at intervals, as old as Caesar. + +We descend, skirting for some distance the monastery walls, over +which patches of ivy hang like green shawls. There are flowers in +profusion, scented violets, daisies, dandelions, and crocuses, large +and of the richest variety, with orange pistils, and stamens purple +and violet, the back of every alternate leaf exquisitely penciled. + +We descend into a continuous settlement, past shrines, past brown, +sturdy men and handsome girls working in the vineyards; we descend-- +but words express nothing--into a wonderful ravine, a sort of refined +Swiss scene,--high, bare steps of rock butting over a chasm, ruins, +old walls, vines, flowers. The very spirit of peace is here, and it +is not disturbed by the sweet sound of bells echoed in the passes. +On narrow ledges of precipices, aloft in the air where it would seem +that a bird could scarcely light, we distinguish the forms of men and +women; and their voices come down to us. They are peasants cutting +grass, every spire of which is too precious to waste. + +We descend, and pass by a house on a knoll, and a terrace of olives +extending along the road in front. Half a dozen children come to the +road to look at us as we approach, and then scamper back to the house +in fear, tumbling over each other and shouting, the eldest girl +making good her escape with the baby. My companion swings his hat, +and cries, "Hullo, baby!" And when we have passed the gate, and are +under the wall, the whole ragged, brown-skinned troop scurry out upon +the terrace, and run along, calling after us, in perfect English, as +long as we keep in sight, "Hullo, baby!" "Hullo, baby!" The next +traveler who goes that way will no doubt be hailed by the +quick-witted natives with this salutation; and, if he is of a +philological turn, he will probably benefit his mind by running the +phrase back to its ultimate Greek roots. + + + + +A DRY TIME + +For three years, once upon a time, it did not rain in Sorrento. Not +a drop out of the clouds for three years, an Italian lady here, born +in Ireland, assures me. If there was an occasional shower on the +Piano during all that drought, I have the confidence in her to think +that she would not spoil the story by noticing it. + +The conformation of the hills encircling the plain would be likely to +lead any shower astray, and discharge it into the sea, with whatever +good intentions it may have started down the promontory for Sorrento. +I can see how these sharp hills would tear the clouds asunder, and +let out all their water, while the people in the plain below watched +them with longing eyes. But it can rain in Sorrento. Occasionally +the northeast wind comes down with whirling, howling fury, as if it +would scoop villages and orchards out of the little nook; and the +rain, riding on the whirlwind, pours in drenching floods. At such +times I hear the beat of the waves at the foot of the rock, and feel +like a prisoner on an island. Eden would not be Eden in a rainstorm. + +The drought occurred just after the expulsion of the Bourbons from +Naples, and many think on account of it. There is this to be said in +favor of the Bourbons: that a dry time never had occurred while they +reigned,--a statement in which all good Catholics in Sorrento will +concur. As the drought went on, almost all the wells in the place +dried up, except that of the Tramontano and the one in the suppressed +convent of the Sacred Heart,--I think that is its name. + +It is a rambling pile of old buildings, in the center of the town, +with a courtyard in the middle, and in it a deep well, boring down I +know not how far into the rock, and always full of cold sweet water. +The nuns have all gone now; and I look in vain up at the narrow slits +in the masonry, which served them for windows, for the glance of a +worldly or a pious eye. The poor people of Sorrento, when the public +wells and fountains had gone dry, used to come and draw at the +Tramontano; but they were not allowed to go to the well of the +convent, the gates were closed. Why the government shut them I +cannot see: perhaps it knew nothing of it, and some stupid official +took the pompous responsibility. The people grumbled, and cursed the +government; and, in their simplicity, probably never took any steps +to revoke the prohibitory law. No doubt, as the government had +caused the drought, it was all of a piece, the good rustics thought. + +For the government did indirectly occasion the dry spell. I have the +information from the Italian lady of whom I have spoken. Among the +first steps of the new government of Italy was the suppression of the +useless convents and nunneries. This one at Sorrento early came +under the ban. It always seemed to me almost a pity to rout out this +asylum of praying and charitable women, whose occupation was the +encouragement of beggary and idleness in others, but whose prayers +were constant, and whose charities to the sick of the little city +were many. If they never were of much good to the community, it was +a pleasure to have such a sweet little hive in the center of it; and +I doubt not that the simple people felt a genuine satisfaction, as +they walked around the high walls, in believing that pure prayers +within were put up for them night and day; and especially when they +waked at night, and heard the bell of the convent, and knew that at +that moment some faithful soul kept her vigils, and chanted prayers +for them and all the world besides; and they slept the sounder for it +thereafter. I confess that, if one is helped by vicarious prayer, I +would rather trust a convent of devoted women (though many of them +are ignorant, and some of them are worldly, and none are fair to see) +to pray for me, than some of the houses of coarse monks which I have +seen. + +But the order came down from Naples to pack off all the nuns of the +Sacred Heart on a day named, to close up the gates of the nunnery, +and hang a flaming sword outside. The nuns were to be pulled up by +the roots, so to say, on the day specified, and without postponement, +and to be transferred to a house prepared for them at Massa, a few +miles down the promontory, and several hundred feet nearer heaven. +Sorrento was really in mourning: it went about in grief. It seemed +as if something sacrilegious were about to be done. It was the +intention of the whole town to show its sense of it in some way. + +The day of removal came, and it rained! It poured: the water came +down in sheets, in torrents, in deluges; it came down with the +wildest tempest of many a year. I think, from accurate reports of +those who witnessed it, that the beginning of the great Deluge was +only a moisture compared to this. To turn the poor women out of +doors such a day as this was unchristian, barbarous, impossible. +Everybody who had a shelter was shivering indoors. But the officials +were inexorable. In the order for removal, nothing was said about +postponement on account of weather; and go the nuns must. + +And go they did; the whole town shuddering at the impiety of it, but +kept from any demonstration by the tempest. Carriages went round to +the convent; and the women were loaded into them, packed into them, +carried and put in, if they were too infirm to go themselves. They +were driven away, cross and wet and bedraggled. They found their +dwelling on the hill not half prepared for them, leaking and cold and +cheerless. They experienced very rough treatment, if I can credit my +informant, who says she hates the government, and would not even look +out of her lattice that day to see the carriages drive past. + +And when the Lady Superior was driven away from the gate, she said to +the officials, and the few faithful attendants, prophesying in the +midst of the rain that poured about her, "The day will come shortly, +when you will want rain, and shall not have it; and you will pray for +my return." + +And it did not rain, from that day for three years. + +And the simple people thought of the good Superior, whose departure +had been in such a deluge, and who had taken away with her all the +moisture of the land; and they did pray for her return, and believed +that the gates of heaven would be again opened if only the nunnery +were repeopled. But the government could not see the connection +between convents and the theory of storms, and the remnant of pious +women was permitted to remain in their lodgings at Massa. Perhaps +the government thought they could, if they bore no malice, pray as +effectually for rain there as anywhere. + +I do not know, said my informant, that the curse of the Lady Superior +had anything to do with the drought, but many think it had; and those +are the facts. + + + + +CHILDREN OF THE SUN + +The common people of this region are nothing but children; and +ragged, dirty, and poor as they are, apparently as happy, to speak +idiomatically, as the day is long. It takes very little to please +them; and their easily-excited mirth is contagious. It is very rare +that one gets a surly return to a salutation; and, if one shows the +least good-nature, his greeting is met with the most jolly return. +The boatman hauling in his net sings; the brown girl, whom we meet +descending a steep path in the hills, with an enormous bag or basket +of oranges on her head, or a building-stone under which she stands as +erect as a pillar, sings; and, if she asks for something, there is a +merry twinkle in her eye, that says she hardly expects money, but +only puts in a "beg" at a venture because it is the fashion; the +workmen clipping the olive-trees sing; the urchins, who dance about +the foreigner in the street, vocalize their petitions for un po' di +moneta in a tuneful manner, and beg more in a spirit of deviltry than +with any expectation of gain. When I see how hard the peasants +labor, what scraps and vegetable odds and ends they eat, and in what +wretched, dark, and smoke-dried apartments they live, I wonder they +are happy; but I suppose it is the all-nourishing sun and the equable +climate that do the business for them. They have few artificial +wants, and no uneasy expectation--bred by the reading of books and +newspapers--that anything is going to happen in the world, or that +any change is possible. Their fruit-trees yield abundantly year +after year; their little patches of rich earth, on the built-up +terraces and in the crevices of the rocks, produce fourfold. The sun +does it all. + +Every walk that we take here with open mind and cheerful heart is +sure to be an adventure. Only yesterday, we were coming down a +branch of the great gorge which splits the plain in two. On one side +the path is a high wall, with garden trees overhanging. On the +other, a stone parapet; and below, in the bed of the ravine, an +orange orchard. Beyond rises a precipice; and, at its foot, men and +boys were quarrying stone, which workmen raised a couple of hundred +feet to the platform above with a windlass. As we came along, a +handsome girl on the height had just taken on her head a large block +of stone, which I should not care to lift, to carry to a pile in the +rear; and she stopped to look at us. We stopped, and looked at her. +This attracted the attention of the men and boys in the quarry below, +who stopped work, and set up a cry for a little money. We laughed, +and responded in English. The windlass ceased to turn. The workmen +on the height joined in the conversation. A grizzly beggar hobbled +up, and held out his greasy cap. We nonplussed him by extending our +hats, and beseeching him for just a little something. Some passers +on the road paused, and looked on, amused at the transaction. A boy +appeared on the high wall, and began to beg. I threatened to shoot +him with my walkingstick, whereat he ran nimbly along the wall in +terror The workmen shouted; and this started up a couple of yellow +dogs, which came to the edge of the wall and barked violently. The +girl, alone calm in the confusion, stood stock still under her +enormous load looking at us. We swung out hats, and hurrahed. The +crowd replied from above, below, and around us, shouting, laughing, +singing, until the whole little valley was vocal with a gale of +merriment, and all about nothing. The beggar whined; the spectators +around us laughed; and the whole population was aroused into a jolly +mood. Fancy such a merry hullaballoo in America. For ten minutes, +while the funny row was going on, the girl never moved, having +forgotten to go a few steps and deposit her load; and when we +disappeared round a bend of the path, she was still watching us, +smiling and statuesque. + +As we descend, we come upon a group of little children seated about a +doorstep, black-eyed, chubby little urchins, who are cutting oranges +into little bits, and playing "party," as children do on the other +side of the Atlantic. The instant we stop to speak to them, the +skinny hand of an old woman is stretched out of a window just above +our heads, the wrinkled palm itching for money. The mother comes +forward out of the house, evidently pleased with our notice of the +children, and shows us the baby in her arms. At once we are on good +terms with the whole family. The woman sees that there is nothing +impertinent in our cursory inquiry into her domestic concerns, but, I +fancy, knows that we are genial travelers, with human sympathies. So +the people universally are not quick to suspect any imposition, and +meet frankness with frankness, and good-nature with good-nature, in a +simple-hearted, primeval manner. If they stare at us from doorway +and balcony, or come and stand near us when we sit reading or writing +by the shore, it is only a childlike curiosity, and they are quite +unconscious of any breach of good manners. In fact, I think +travelers have not much to say in the matter of staring. I only pray +that we Americans abroad may remember that we are in the presence of +older races, and conduct ourselves with becoming modesty, remembering +always that we were not born in Britain. + +Very likely I am in error; but it has seemed to me that even the +funerals here are not so gloomy as in other places. I have looked in +at the churches when they are in progress, now and then, and been +struck with the general good feeling of the occasion. The real +mourners I could not always distinguish; but the seats would be +filled with a motley gathering of the idle and the ragged, who seemed +to enjoy the show and the ceremony. On one occasion, it was the +obsequies of an officer in the army. Guarding the gilded casket, +which stood upon a raised platform before the altar, were four +soldiers in uniform. Mass was being said and sung; and a priest was +playing the organ. The church was light and cheerful, and pervaded. +by a pleasant bustle. Ragged boys and beggars, and dirty children +and dogs, went and came wherever they chose--about the unoccupied +spaces of the church. The hired mourners, who are numerous in +proportion to the rank of the deceased, were clad in white cotton,--a +sort of nightgown put on over the ordinary clothes, with a hood of +the same drawn tightly over the face, in which slits were cut for the +eyes and mouth. Some of them were seated on benches near the front; +others were wandering about among the pillars, disappearing in the +sacristy, and reappearing with an aimless aspect, altogether +conducting themselves as if it were a holiday, and if there was +anything they did enjoy, it was mourning at other people's expense. +They laughed and talked with each other in excellent spirits; and one +varlet near the coffin, who had slipped off his mask, winked at me +repeatedly, as if to inform me that it was not his funeral. A +masquerade might have been more gloomy and depressing. + + + + +SAINT ANTONINO + +The most serviceable saint whom I know is St. Antonino. He is the +patron saint of the good town of Sorrento; he is the good genius of +all sailors and fishermen; and he has a humbler office,--that of +protector of the pigs. On his day the pigs are brought into the +public square to be blessed; and this is one reason why the pork of +Sorrento is reputed so sweet and wholesome. The saint is the friend, +and, so to say, companion of the common people. They seem to be all +fond of him, and there is little of fear in their confiding relation. +His humble origin and plebeian appearance have something to do with +his popularity, no doubt. There is nothing awe-inspiring in the +brown stone figure, battered and cracked, that stands at one corner +of the bridge, over the chasm at the entrance of the city. He holds +a crosier in one hand, and raises the other, with fingers uplifted, +in act of benediction. If his face is an indication of his +character, he had in him a mixture of robust good-nature with a touch +of vulgarity, and could rough it in a jolly manner with fishermen and +peasants. He may have appeared to better advantage when he stood on +top of the massive old city gate, which the present government, with +the impulse of a vandal, took down a few years ago. The demolition +had to be accomplished in the night, under a guard of soldiers, so +indignant were the populace. At that time the homely saint was +deposed; and he wears now, I think, a snubbed and cast-aside aspect. +Perhaps he is dearer to the people than ever; and I confess that I +like him much better than many grander saints, in stone, I have seen +in more conspicuous places. If ever I am in rough water and foul +weather, I hope he will not take amiss anything I have here written +about him. + +Sunday, and it happened to be St. Valentine's also, was the great +fete-day of St. Antonino. Early in the morning there was a great +clanging of bells; and the ceremony of the blessing of the pigs took +place,--I heard, but I was not abroad early enough to see it,--a +laziness for which I fancy I need not apologize, as the Catholic is +known to be an earlier religion than the Protestant. When I did go +out, the streets were thronged with people, the countryfolk having +come in for miles around. The church of the patron saint was the +great center of attraction. The blank walls of the little square in +front, and of the narrow streets near, were hung with cheap and +highly-colored lithographs of sacred subjects, for sale; tables and +booths were set up in every available space for the traffic in +pre-Raphaelite gingerbread, molasses candy, strings of dried nuts, +pinecone and pumpkin seeds, scarfs, boots and shoes, and all sorts of +trumpery. One dealer had preempted a large space on the pavement, +where he had spread out an assortment of bits of old iron, nails, +pieces of steel traps, and various fragments which might be useful to +the peasants. The press was so great, that it was difficult to get +through it; but the crowd was a picturesque one, and in the highest +good humor. The occasion was a sort of Fourth of July, but without +its worry and powder and flowing bars. + +The spectacle of the day was the procession bearing the silver image +of the saint through the streets. I think there could never be +anything finer or more impressive; at least, I like these little +fussy provincial displays,--these tag-rags and ends of grandeur, in +which all the populace devoutly believe, and at which they are lost +in wonder,--better than those imposing ceremonies at the capital, in +which nobody believes. There was first a band of musicians, walking +in more or less disorder, but blowing away with great zeal, so that +they could be heard amid the clangor of bells the peals of which +reverberate so deafeningly between the high houses of these narrow +streets. Then follow boys in white, and citizens in black and white +robes, carrying huge silken banners, triangular like sea-pennants, +and splendid silver crucifixes which flash in the sun. Then come +ecclesiastics, walking with stately step, and chanting in loud and +pleasant unison. These are followed by nobles, among whom I +recognize, with a certain satisfaction, two descendants of Tasso, +whose glowing and bigoted soul may rejoice in the devotion of his +posterity, who help to bear today the gilded platform upon which is +the solid silver image of the saint. The good old bishop walks +humbly in the rear, in full canonical rig, with crosier and miter, +his rich robes upborne by priestly attendants, his splendid footman +at a respectful distance, and his roomy carriage not far behind. + +The procession is well spread out and long; all its members carry +lighted tapers, a good many of which are not lighted, having gone out +in the wind. As I squeeze into a shallow doorway to let the cortege +pass, I am sorry to say that several of the young fellows in white +gowns tip me the wink, and even smile in a knowing fashion, as if it +were a mere lark, after all, and that the saint must know it. But +not so thinks the paternal bishop, who waves a blessing, which I +catch in the flash of the enormous emerald on his right hand. The +procession ends, where it started, in the patron's church; and there +his image is set up under a gorgeous canopy of crimson and gold, to +hear high mass, and some of the choicest solos, choruses, and +bravuras from the operas. + +In the public square I find a gaping and wondering crowd of rustics +collected about one of the mountebanks whose trade is not peculiar to +any country. This one might be a clock-peddler from Connecticut. He +is mounted in a one-seat vettura, and his horse is quietly eating +his dinner out of a bag tied to his nose. There is nothing unusual +in the fellow's dress; he wears a shiny silk hat, and has one of +those grave faces which would be merry if their owner were not +conscious of serious business on hand. On the driver's perch before +him are arranged his attractions,--a box of notions, a grinning +skull, with full teeth and jaws that work on hinges, some vials of +red liquid, and a closed jar containing a most disagreeable +anatomical preparation. This latter he holds up and displays, +turning it about occasionally in an admiring manner. He is +discoursing, all the time, in the most voluble Italian. He has an +ointment, wonderfully efficacious for rheumatism and every sort of +bruise: he pulls up his sleeve, and anoints his arm with it, binding +it up with a strip of paper; for the simplest operation must be +explained to these grown children. He also pulls teeth, with an ease +and expedition hitherto unknown, and is in no want of patients among +this open-mouthed crowd. One sufferer after another climbs up into +the wagon, and goes through the operation in the public gaze. A +stolid, good-natured hind mounts the seat. The dentist examines his +mouth, and finds the offending tooth. He then turns to the crowd and +explains the case. He takes a little instrument that is neither +forceps nor turnkey, stands upon the seat, seizes the man's nose, and +jerks his head round between his knees, pulling his mouth open (there +is nothing that opens the mouth quicker than a sharp upward jerk of +the nose) with a rude jollity that sets the spectators in a roar. +Down he goes into the cavern, and digs away for a quarter of a +minute, the man the while as immovable as a stone image, when he +holds up the bloody tooth. The patient still persists in sitting +with his mouth stretched open to its widest limit, waiting for the +operation to begin, and will only close the orifice when he is well +shaken and shown the tooth. The dentist gives him some yellow liquid +to hold in his mouth, which the man insists on swallowing, wets a +handkerchief and washes his face, roughly rubbing his nose the wrong +way, and lets him go. Every step of the process is eagerly watched +by the delighted spectators. + +He is succeeded by a woman, who is put through the same heroic +treatment, and exhibits like fortitude. And so they come; and the +dentist after every operation waves the extracted trophy high in air, +and jubilates as if he had won another victory, pointing to the stone +statue yonder, and reminding them that this is the glorious day of +St. Antonino. But this is not all that this man of science does. He +has the genuine elixir d'amour, love-philters and powders which never +fail in their effects. I see the bashful girls and the sheepish +swains come slyly up to the side of the wagon, and exchange their +hard-earned francs for the hopeful preparation. O my brown beauty, +with those soft eyes and cheeks of smothered fire, you have no need +of that red philter! What a simple, childlike folk! The shrewd +fellow in the wagon is one of a race as old as Thebes and as new as +Porkopolis; his brazen face is older than the invention of bronze, +but I think he never had to do with a more credulous crowd than this. +The very cunning in the face of the peasants is that of the fox; it +is a sort of instinct, and not an intelligent suspicion. + +This is Sunday in Sorrento, under the blue sky. These peasants, who +are fooled by the mountebank and attracted by the piles of adamantine +gingerbread, do not forget to crowd the church of the saint at +vespers, and kneel there in humble faith, while the choir sings the +Agnus Dei, and the priests drone the service. Are they so different, +then, from other people? They have an idea on Capri that England is +such another island, only not so pleasant; that all Englishmen are +rich and constantly travel to escape the dreariness at home; and +that, if they are not absolutely mad, they are all a little queer. +It was a fancy prevalent in Hamlet's day. We had the English service +in the Villa Nardi in the evening. There are some Englishmen staying +here, of the class one finds in all the sunny spots of Europe, ennuye +and growling, in search of some elixir that shall bring back youth +and enjoyment. They seem divided in mind between the attractions of +the equable climate of this region and the fear of the gout which +lurks in the unfermented wine. One cannot be too grateful to the +sturdy islanders for carrying their prayers, like their drumbeat, all +round the globe; and I was much edified that night, as the reading +went on, by a row of rather battered men of the world, who stood in +line on one side of the room, and took their prayers with a certain +British fortitude, as if they were conscious of performing a +constitutional duty, and helping by the act to uphold the majesty of +English institutions. + + + + +PUNTA DELLA CAMPANELLA + +There is always a mild excitement about mounting donkeys in the +morning here for an excursion among the hills. The warm sun pouring +into the garden, the smell of oranges, the stimulating air, the +general openness and freshness, promise a day of enjoyment. There is +always a doubt as to who will go; generally a donkey wanting; +somebody wishes to join the party at the last moment; there is no end +of running up and downstairs, calling from balconies and terraces; +some never ready, and some waiting below in the sun; the whole house +in a tumult, drivers in a worry, and the sleepy animals now and then +joining in the clatter with a vocal performance that is neither a +trumpet-call nor a steam-whistle, but an indescribable noise, that +begins in agony and abruptly breaks down in despair. It is difficult +to get the train in motion. The lady who ordered Succarina has got a +strange donkey, and Macaroni has on the wrong saddle. Succarina is a +favorite, the kindest, easiest, and surest-footed of beasts,--a +diminutive animal, not bigger than a Friesland sheep; old, in fact +grizzly with years, and not unlike the aged, wizened little women who +are so common here: for beauty in this region dries up; and these +handsome Sorrento girls, if they live, and almost everybody does +live, have the prospect, in their old age, of becoming mummies, with +parchment skins. I have heard of climates that preserve female +beauty; this embalms it, only the beauty escapes in the process. As +I was saying, Succarina is little, old, and grizzly; but her head is +large, and one might be contented to be as wise as she looks. + +The party is at length mounted, and clatters away through the narrow +streets. Donkey-riding is very good for people who think they cannot +walk. It looks very much like riding, to a spectator; and it +deceives the person undertaking it into an amount of exercise equal +to walking. I have a great admiration for the donkey character. +There never was such patience under wrong treatment, such return of +devotion for injury. Their obstinacy, which is so much talked about, +is only an exercise of the right of private judgment, and an +intelligent exercise of it, no doubt, if we could take the donkey +point of view, as so many of us are accused of doing in other things. +I am certain of one thing: in any large excursion party there will be +more obstinate people than obstinate donkeys; and yet the poor brutes +get all the thwacks and thumps. We are bound to-day for the Punta +della Campanella, the extreme point of the promontory, and ten miles +away. The path lies up the steps from the new Massa carriage-road, +now on the backbone of the ridge, and now in the recesses of the +broken country. What an animated picture is the donkeycade, as it +mounts the steeps, winding along the zigzags! Hear the little +bridlebells jingling, the drivers groaning their "a-e-ugh, a-e-ugh," +the riders making a merry din of laughter, and firing off a fusillade +of ejaculations of delight and wonder. + +The road is between high walls; round the sweep of curved terraces +which rise above and below us, bearing the glistening olive; through +glens and gullies; over and under arches, vine-grown,--how little we +make use of the arch at home!--round sunny dells where orange +orchards gleam; past shrines, little chapels perched on rocks, rude +villas commanding most extensive sweeps of sea and shore. The almond +trees are in full bloom, every twig a thickly-set spike of the pink +and white blossoms; daisies and dandelions are out; the purple +crocuses sprinkle the ground, the petals exquisitely varied on the +reverse side, and the stamens of bright salmon color; the large +double anemones have come forth, certain that it is spring; on the +higher crags by the wayside the Mediterranean heather has shaken out +its delicate flowers, which fill the air with a mild fragrance; while +blue violets, sweet of scent like the English, make our path a +perfumed one. And this is winter. + +We have made a late start, owing to the fact that everybody is +captain of the expedition, and to the Sorrento infirmity that no one +is able to make up his mind about anything. It is one o'clock when +we reach a high transverse ridge, and find the headlands of the +peninsula rising before us, grim hills of limestone, one of them with +the ruins of a convent on top, and no road apparent thither, and +Capri ahead of us in the sea, the only bit of land that catches any +light; for as we have journeyed the sky has thickened, the clouds of +the sirocco have come up from the south; there has been first a mist, +and then a fine rain; the ruins on the peak of Santa Costanza are now +hid in mist. We halt for consultation. Shall we go on and brave a +wetting, or ignominiously retreat? There are many opinions, but few +decided ones. The drivers declare that it will be a bad time. One +gentleman, with an air of decision, suggests that it is best to go +on, or go back, if we do not stand here and wait. The deaf lady, +from near Dublin, being appealed to, says that, perhaps, if it is +more prudent, we had better go back if it is going to rain. It does +rain. Waterproofs are put on, umbrellas spread, backs turned to the +wind; and we look like a group of explorers under adverse +circumstances, "silent on a peak in Darien," the donkeys especially +downcast and dejected. Finally, as is usual in life, a, compromise +prevails. We decide to continue for half an hour longer and see what +the weather is. No sooner have we set forward over the brow of a +hill than it grows lighter on the sea horizon in the southwest, the +ruins on the peak become visible, Capri is in full sunlight. The +clouds lift more and more, and still hanging overhead, but with no +more rain, are like curtains gradually drawn up, opening to us a +glorious vista of sunshine and promise, an illumined, sparkling, +illimitable sea, and a bright foreground of slopes and picturesque +rocks. Before the half hour is up, there is not one of the party who +does not claim to have been the person who insisted upon going +forward. + +We halt for a moment to look at Capri, that enormous, irregular rock, +raising its huge back out of the sea, its back broken in the middle, +with the little village for a saddle. On the farther summit, above +Anacapri, a precipice of two thousand feet sheer down to the water on +the other side, hangs a light cloud. The east elevation, whence the +playful Tiberius used to amuse his green old age by casting his +prisoners eight hundred feet down into the sea, has the strong +sunlight on it; and below, the row of tooth-like rocks, which are the +extreme eastern point, shine in a warm glow. We descend through a +village, twisting about in its crooked streets. The inhabitants, who +do not see strangers every day, make free to stare at and comment on +us, and even laugh at something that seems very comical in our +appearance; which shows how ridiculous are the costumes of Paris and +New York in some places. Stalwart girls, with only an apology for +clothes, with bare legs, brown faces, and beautiful eyes, stop in +their spinning, holding the distaff suspended, while they examine us +at leisure. At our left, as we turn from the church and its sunny +piazza, where old women sit and gabble, down the ravine, is a snug +village under the mountain by the shore, with a great square medieval +tower. On the right, upon rocky points, are remains of round towers, +and temples perhaps. + +We sweep away to the left round the base of the hill, over a +difficult and stony path. Soon the last dilapidated villa is passed, +the last terrace and olive-tree are left behind; and we emerge upon a +wild, rocky slope, barren of vegetation, except little tufts of grass +and a sort of lentil; a wide sweep of limestone strata set on edge, +and crumbling in the beat of centuries, rising to a considerable +height on the left. Our path descends toward the sea, still creeping +round the end of the promontory. Scattered here and there over the +rocks, like conies, are peasants, tending a few lean cattle, and +digging grasses from the crevices. The women and children are wild +in attire and manner, and set up a clamor of begging as we pass. A +group of old hags begin beating a poor child as we approach, to +excite our compassion for the abused little object, and draw out +centimes. + +Walking ahead of the procession, which gets slowly down the rugged +path, I lose sight of my companions, and have the solitude, the sun +on the rocks, the glistening sea, all to myself. Soon I espy a man +below me sauntering down among the rocks. He sees me and moves away, +a solitary figure. I say solitary; and so it is in effect, although +he is leading a little boy, and calling to his dog, which runs back +to bark at me. Is this the brigand of whom I have read, and is he +luring me to his haunt? Probably. I follow. He throws his cloak +about his shoulders, exactly as brigands do in the opera, and loiters +on. At last there is the point in sight, a gray wall with blind +arches. The man disappears through a narrow archway, and I follow. +Within is an enormous square tower. I think it was built in Spanish +days, as an outlook for Barbary pirates. A bell hung in it, which +was set clanging when the white sails of the robbers appeared to the +southward; and the alarm was repeated up the coast, the towers were +manned, and the brown-cheeked girls flew away to the hills, I doubt +not, for the touch of the sirocco was not half so much to be dreaded +as the rough importunity of a Saracen lover. The bell is gone now, +and no Moslem rovers are in sight. The maidens we had just passed +would be safe if there were. My brigand disappears round the tower; +and I follow down steps, by a white wall, and lo! a house,--a red +stucco, Egyptian-looking building,--on the very edge of the rocks. +The man unlocks a door and goes in. I consider this an invitation, +and enter. On one side of the passage a sleeping-room, on the other +a kitchen,--not sumptuous quarters; and we come then upon a pretty +circular terrace; and there, in its glass case, is the lantern of the +point. My brigand is a lighthouse-keeper, and welcomes me in a quiet +way, glad, evidently, to see the face of a civilized being. It is +very solitary, he says. I should think so. It is the end of +everything. The Mediterranean waves beat with a dull thud on the +worn crags below. The rocks rise up to the sky behind. There is +nothing there but the sun, an occasional sail, and quiet, petrified +Capri, three miles distant across the strait. It is an excellent +place for a misanthrope to spend a week, and get cured. There must +be a very dispiriting influence prevailing here; the keeper refused +to take any money, the solitary Italian we have seen so affected. + +We returned late. The young moon, lying in the lap of the old one, +was superintending the brilliant sunset over Capri, as we passed the +last point commanding it; and the light, fading away, left us +stumbling over the rough path among the hills, darkened by the high +walls. We were not sorry to emerge upon the crest above the Massa +road. For there lay the sea, and the plain of Sorrento, with its +darkening groves and hundreds of twinkling lights. As we went down +the last descent, the bells of the town were all ringing, for it was +the eve of the fete of St. Antonino. + + + + +CAPRI + +"CAP, signor? Good day for Grott." Thus spoke a mariner, touching +his Phrygian cap. The people here abbreviate all names. With them +Massa is Mas, Meta is Met, Capri becomes Cap, the Grotta Azzurra is +reduced familiarly to Grott, and they even curtail musical Sorrento +into Serent. + +Shall we go to Capri? Should we dare return to the great Republic, +and own that we had not been into the Blue Grotto? We like to climb +the steeps here, especially towards Massa, and look at Capri. I have +read in some book that it used to be always visible from Sorrento. +But now the promontory has risen, the Capo di Sorrento has thrust out +its rocky spur with its ancient Roman masonry, and the island itself +has moved so far round to the south that Sorrento, which fronts +north, has lost sight of it. + +We never tire of watching it, thinking that it could not be spared +from the landscape. It lies only three miles from the curving end of +the promontory, and is about twenty miles due south of Naples. In +this atmosphere distances dwindle. The nearest land, to the +northwest, is the larger island of Ischia, distant nearly as far as +Naples; yet Capri has the effect of being anchored off the bay to +guard the entrance. It is really a rock, three miles and a half +long, rising straight out of the water, eight hundred feet high at +one end, and eighteen hundred feet at the other, with a depression +between. If it had been chiseled by hand and set there, it could not +be more sharply defined. So precipitous are its sides of rock, that +there are only two fit boat-landings, the marina on the north side, +and a smaller place opposite. One of those light-haired and freckled +Englishmen, whose pluck exceeds their discretion, rowed round the +island alone in rough water, last summer, against the advice of the +boatman, and unable to make a landing, and weary with the strife of +the waves, was in considerable peril. + +Sharp and clear as Capri is in outline, its contour is still most +graceful and poetic. This wonderful atmosphere softens even its +ruggedness, and drapes it with hues of enchanting beauty. Sometimes +the haze plays fantastic tricks with it,--a cloud-cap hangs on Monte +Solaro, or a mist obscures the base, and the massive summits of rock +seem to float in the air, baseless fabrics of a vision that the +rising wind will carry away perhaps. I know now what Homer means by +"wandering islands." Shall we take a boat and sail over there, and so +destroy forever another island of the imagination? The bane of +travel is the destruction of illusions. + +We like to talk about Capri, and to talk of going there. The +Sorrento people have no end of gossip about the wild island; and, +simple and primitive as they are, Capri is still more out of the +world. I do not know what enchantment there is on the island; but-- +whoever sets foot there, they say, goes insane or dies a drunkard. I +fancy the reason of this is found in the fact that the Capri girls +are raving beauties. I am not sure but the monotony of being +anchored off there in the bay, the monotony of rocks and precipices +that goats alone can climb, the monotony of a temperature that +scarcely ever, winter and summer, is below 55 or above 75 Fahrenheit +indoors, might drive one into lunacy. But I incline to think it is +due to the handsome Capri girls. + +There are beautiful girls in Sorrento, with a beauty more than skin +deep, a glowing, hidden fire, a ripeness like that of the grape and +the peach which grows in the soft air and the sun. And they wither, +like grapes that hang upon the stem. I have never seen a handsome, +scarcely a decent-looking, old woman here. They are lank and dry, +and their bones are covered with parchment. One of these brown- +cheeked girls, with large, longing eyes, gives the stranger a start, +now and then, when he meets her in a narrow way with a basket of +oranges on her head. I hope he has the grace to go right by. Let +him meditate what this vision of beauty will be like in twenty ears. + +The Capri girls are famed as magnificent beauties, but they fade like +their mainland sisters. The Saracens used to descend on their +island, and carry them off to their harems. The English, a very +adventurous people, who have no harems, have followed the Saracens. +The young lords and gentlemen have a great fondness for Capri. I +hear gossip enough about elopements, and not seldom marriages, with +the island girls,--bright girls, with the Greek mother-wit, and +surpassingly handsome; but they do not bear transportation to +civilized life (any more than some of the native wines do): they +accept no intellectual culture; and they lose their beauty as they +grow old. What then? The young English blade, who was intoxicated +by beauty into an injudicious match and might, as the proverb says, +have gone insane if he could not have made it, takes to drink now, +and so fulfills the other alternative. Alas! the fatal gift of +beauty. + +But I do not think Capri is so dangerous as it is represented. For +(of course we went to Capri) neither at the marina, where a crowd of +bare-legged, vociferous maidens with donkeys assailed us, nor in the +village above, did I see many girls for whom and one little isle a +person would forswear the world. But I can believe that they grow +here. One of our donkey girls was a handsome, dark-skinned, black- +eyed girl; but her little sister, a mite of a being of six years, who +could scarcely step over the small stones in the road, and was forced +to lead the donkey by her sister in order to establish another lien +on us for buona mano, was a dirty little angel in rags, and her great +soft black eyes will look somebody into the asylum or the drunkard's +grave in time, I have no doubt. There was a stout, manly, handsome +little fellow of five years, who established himself as the guide and +friend of the tallest of our party. His hat was nearly gone; he was +sadly out of repair in the rear; his short legs made the act of +walking absurd; but he trudged up the hill with a certain dignity. +And there was nothing mercenary about his attachment: he and his +friend got upon very cordial terms: they exchanged gifts of shells +and copper coin, but nothing was said about pay. + +Nearly all the inhabitants, young and old, joined us in lively +procession, up the winding road of three quarters of a mile, to the +town. At the deep gate, entering between thick walls, we stopped to +look at the sea. The crowd and clamor at our landing had been so +great that we enjoyed the sight of the quiet old woman sitting here +in the sun, and the few beggars almost too lazy to stretch out their +hands. Within the gate is a large paved square, with the government +offices and the tobacco-shop on one side, and the church opposite; +between them, up a flight of broad stone steps, is the Hotel Tiberio. +Our donkeys walk up them and into the hotel. The church and hotel +are six hundred years old; the hotel was a villa belonging to Joanna +II. of Naples. We climb to the roof of the quaint old building, and +sit there to drink in the strange oriental scene. The landlord says +it is like Jaffa or Jerusalem. The landlady, an Irish woman from +Devonshire, says it is six francs a day. In what friendly +intercourse the neighbors can sit on these flat roofs! How sightly +this is, and yet how sheltered! To the east is the height where +Augustus, and after him Tiberius, built palaces. To the west, up +that vertical wall, by means of five hundred steps cut in the face of +the rock, we go to reach the tableland of Anacapri, the primitive +village of that name, hidden from view here; the medieval castle of +Barbarossa, which hangs over a frightful precipice; and the height of +Monte Solaro. The island is everywhere strewn with Roman ruins, and +with faint traces of the Greeks. + +Capri turns out not to be a barren rock. Broken and picturesque as +it is, it is yet covered with vegetation. There is not a foot, one +might say a point, of soil that does not bear something; and there is +not a niche in the rock, where a scrap of dirt will stay, that is not +made useful. The whole island is terraced. The most wonderful thing +about it, after all, is its masonry. You come to think, after a +time, that the island is not natural rock, but a mass of masonry. If +the labor that has been expended here, only to erect platforms for +the soil to rest on, had been given to our country, it would have +built half a dozen Pacific railways, and cut a canal through the +Isthmus. + +But the Blue Grotto? Oh, yes! Is it so blue? That depends upon the +time of day, the sun, the clouds, and something upon the person who +enters it. It is frightfully blue to some. We bend down in our +rowboat, slide into the narrow opening which is three feet high, and +passing into the spacious cavern, remain there for half an hour. It +is, to be sure, forty feet high, and a hundred by a hundred and fifty +in extent, with an arched roof, and clear water for a floor. The +water appears to be as deep as the roof is high, and is of a light, +beautiful blue, in contrast with the deep blue of the bay. At the +entrance the water is illuminated, and there is a pleasant, mild +light within: one has there a novel subterranean sensation; but it +did not remind me of anything I have seen in the "Arabian Nights." I +have seen pictures of it that were much finer. + +As we rowed close to the precipice in returning, I saw many similar +openings, not so deep, and perhaps only sham openings; and the +water-line was fretted to honeycomb by the eating waves. Beneath the +water-line, and revealed here and there when the waves receded, was a +line of bright red coral. + + + + +THE STORY OF FIAMMETTA + +At vespers on the fete of St. Antonino, and in his church, I saw the +Signorina Fiammetta. I stood leaning against a marble pillar near +the altar-steps, during the service, when I saw the young girl +kneeling on the pavement in act of prayer. Her black lace veil had +fallen a little back from her head; and there was something in her +modest attitude and graceful figure that made her conspicuous among +all her kneeling companions, with their gay kerchiefs and bright +gowns. When she rose and sat down, with folded hands and eyes +downcast, there was something so pensive in her subdued mien that I +could not take my eyes from her. To say that she had the rich olive +complexion, with the gold struggling through, large, lustrous black +eyes, and harmonious features, is only to make a weak photograph, +when I should paint a picture in colors and infuse it with the sweet +loveliness of a maiden on the way to sainthood. I was sure that I +had seen her before, looking down from the balcony of a villa just +beyond the Roman wall, for the face was not one that even the most +unimpressible idler would forget. I was sure that, young as she was, +she had already a history; had lived her life, and now walked amid +these groves and old streets in a dream. The story which I heard is +not long. + +In the drawing-room of the Villa Nardi was shown, and offered for +sale, an enormous counterpane, crocheted in white cotton. Loop by +loop, it must have been an immense labor to knit it; for it was +fashioned in pretty devices, and when spread out was rich and showy +enough for the royal bed of a princess. It had been crocheted by +Fiammetta for her marriage, the only portion the poor child could +bring to that sacrament. Alas! the wedding was never to be; and the +rich work, into which her delicate fingers had knit so many maiden +dreams and hopes and fears, was offered for sale in the resort of +strangers. It could not have been want only that induced her to put +this piece of work in the market, but the feeling, also, that the +time never again could return when she would have need of it. I had +no desire to purchase such a melancholy coverlet, but I could well +enough fancy why she would wish to part with what must be rather a +pall than a decoration in her little chamber. + +Fiammetta lived with her mother in a little villa, the roof of which +is in sight from my sunny terrace in the Villa Nardi, just to the +left of the square old convent tower, rising there out of the silver +olive-boughs,--a tumble-down sort of villa, with a flat roof and odd +angles and parapets, in the midst of a thrifty but small grove of +lemons and oranges. They were poor enough, or would be in any +country where physical wants are greater than here, and yet did not +belong to that lowest class, the young girls of which are little more +than beasts of burden, accustomed to act as porters, bearing about on +their heads great loads of stone, wood, water, and baskets of oranges +in the shipping season. She could not have been forced to such +labor, or she never would have had the time to work that wonderful +coverlet. + +Giuseppe was an honest and rather handsome young fellow of Sorrento, +industrious and good-natured, who did not bother his head much about +learning. He was, however, a skillful workman in the celebrated +inlaid and mosaic woodwork of the place, and, it is said, had even +invented some new figures for the inlaid pictures in colored woods. +He had a little fancy for the sea as well, and liked to pull an oar +over to Capri on occasion, by which he could earn a few francs easier +than he could saw them out of the orangewood. For the stupid fellow, +who could not read a word in his prayer-book, had an idea of thrift +in his head, and already, I suspect, was laying up liras with an +object. There are one or two dandies in Sorrento who attempt to +dress as they do in Naples. Giuseppe was not one of these; but there +was not a gayer or handsomer gallant than he on Sunday, or one more +looked at by the Sorrento girls, when he had on his clean suit and +his fresh red Phrygian cap. At least the good Fiammetta thought so, +when she met him at church, though I feel sure she did not allow even +his handsome figure to come between her and the Virgin. At any rate, +there can be no doubt of her sentiments after church, when she and +her mother used to walk with him along the winding Massa road above +the sea, and stroll down to the shore to sit on the greensward over +the Temple of Hercules, or the Roman Baths, or the remains of the +villa of C. Fulvius Cunctatus Cocles, or whatever those ruins +subterranean are, there on the Capo di Sorrento. Of course, this is +mere conjecture of mine. They may have gone on the hills behind the +town instead, or they may have stood leaning over the garden-wall of +her mother's little villa, looking at the passers-by in the deep +lane, thinking about nothing in the world, and talking about it all +the sunny afternoon, until Ischia was purple with the last light, and +the olive terraces behind them began to lose their gray bloom. All I +do know is, that they were in love, blossoming out in it as the +almond-trees do here in February; and that all the town knew it, and +saw a wedding in the future, just as plain as you can see Capri from +the heights above the town. + +It was at this time that the wonderful counterpane began to grow, to +the continual astonishment of Giuseppe, to whom it seemed a marvel of +skill and patience, and who saw what love and sweet hope Fiammetta +was knitting into it with her deft fingers. I declare, as I think of +it, the white cotton spread out on her knees, in such contrast to the +rich olive of her complexion and her black shiny hair, while she +knits away so merrily, glancing up occasionally with those liquid, +laughing eyes to Giuseppe, who is watching her as if she were an +angel right out of the blue sky, I am tempted not to tell this story +further, but to leave the happy two there at the open gate of life, +and to believe that they entered in. + +This was about the time of the change of government, after this +region had come to be a part of the Kingdom of Italy. After the +first excitement was over, and the simple people found they were not +all made rich, nor raised to a condition in which they could live +without work, there began to be some dissatisfaction. Why the +convents need have been suppressed, and especially the poor nuns +packed off, they couldn't see; and then the taxes were heavier than +ever before; instead of being supported by the government, they had +to support it; and, worst of all, the able young fellows must still +go for soldiers. Just as one was learning his trade, or perhaps had +acquired it, and was ready to earn his living and begin to make a +home for his wife, he must pass the three best years of his life in +the army. The conscription was relentless. + +The time came to Giuseppe, as it did to the others. I never heard +but he was brave enough; there was no storm on the Mediterranean that +he dare not face in his little boat; and he would not have objected +to a campaign with the red shirts of Garibaldi. But to be torn away +from his occupations by which he was daily laying aside a little for +himself and Fiammetta, and to leave her for three years,--that seemed +dreadful to him. Three years is a longtime; and though he had no +doubt of the pretty Fiammetta, yet women are women, said the shrewd +fellow to himself, and who knows what might happen, if a gallant came +along who could read and write, as Fiammetta could, and, besides, +could play the guitar? + +The result was, that Giuseppe did not appear at the mustering-office +on the day set; and, when the file of soldiers came for him, he was +nowhere to be found. He had fled to the mountains. I scarcely know +what his plan was, but he probably trusted to some good luck to +escape the conscription altogether, if he could shun it now; and, at +least, I know that he had many comrades who did the same, so that at +times the mountains were full of young fellows who were lurking in +them to escape the soldiers. And they fared very roughly usually, +and sometimes nearly perished from hunger; for though the sympathies +of the peasants were undoubtedly with the quasi-outlaws rather than +with the carbineers, yet the latter were at every hamlet in the +hills, and liable to visit every hut, so that any relief extended to +the fugitives was attended with great danger; and, besides, the +hunted men did not dare to venture from their retreats. Thus +outlawed and driven to desperation by hunger, these fugitives, whom +nobody can defend for running away from their duties as citizens, +became brigands. A cynical German, who was taken by them some years +ago on the road to Castellamare, a few miles above here, and held for +ransom, declared that they were the most honest fellows he had seen +in Italy; but I never could see that he intended the remark as any +compliment to them. It is certain that the inhabitants of all these +towns held very loose ideas on the subject of brigandage: the poor +fellows, they used to say, only robbed because they were hungry, and +they must live somehow. + +What Fiammetta thought, down in her heart, is not told: but I presume +she shared the feelings of those about her concerning the brigands, +and, when she heard that Giuseppe had joined them, was more anxious +for the safety of his body than of his soul; though I warrant she did +not forget either, in her prayers to the Virgin and St. Antonino. +And yet those must have been days, weeks, months, of terrible anxiety +to the poor child; and if she worked away at the counterpane, netting +in that elaborate border, as I have no doubt she did, it must have +been with a sad heart and doubtful fingers. I think that one of the +psychological sensitives could distinguish the parts of the bedspread +that were knit in the sunny days from those knit in the long hours of +care and deepening anxiety. + +It was rarely that she received any message from him and it was then +only verbal and of the briefest; he was in the mountains above +Amalfi; one day he had come so far round as the top of the Great St. +Angelo, from which he could look down upon the piano of Sorrento, +where the little Fiammetta was; or he had been on the hills near +Salerno, hunted and hungry; or his company had descended upon some +travelers going to Paestum, made a successful haul, and escaped into +the steep mountains beyond. He didn't intend to become a regular +bandit, not at all. He hoped that something might happen so that he +could steal back into Sorrento, unmarked by the government; or, at +least, that he could escape away to some other country or island, +where Fiammetta could join him. Did she love him yet, as in the old +happy days? As for him, she was now everything to him; and he would +willingly serve three or thirty years in the army, if the government +could forget he had been a brigand, and permit him to have a little +home with Fiammetta at the end of the probation. There was not much +comfort in all this, but the simple fellow could not send anything +more cheerful; and I think it used to feed the little maiden's heart +to hear from him, even in this downcast mood, for his love for her +was a dear certainty, and his absence and wild life did not dim it. + +My informant does not know how long this painful life went on, nor +does it matter much. There came a day when the government was shamed +into new vigor against the brigands. Some English people of +consequence (the German of whom I have spoken was with them) had been +captured, and it had cost them a heavy ransom. The number of the +carbineers was quadrupled in the infested districts, soldiers +penetrated the fastnesses of the hills, there were daily fights with +the banditti; and, to show that this was no sham, some of them were +actually shot, and others were taken and thrown into prison. Among +those who were not afraid to stand and fight, and who would not be +captured, was our Giuseppe. One day the Italia newspaper of Naples +had an account of a fight with brigands; and in the list of those who +fell was the name of Giuseppe---, of Sorrento, shot through the head, +as he ought to have been, and buried without funeral among the rocks. + +This was all. But when the news was read in the little post office +in Sorrento, it seemed a great deal more than it does as I write it; +for, if Giuseppe had an enemy in the village, it was not among the +people; and not one who heard the news did not think at once of the +poor girl to whom it would be more than a bullet through the heart. +And so it was. The slender hope of her life then went out. I am +told that there was little change outwardly, and that she was as +lovely as before; but a great cloud of sadness came over her, in +which she was always enveloped, whether she sat at home, or walked +abroad in the places where she and Giuseppe used to wander. The +simple people respected her grief, and always made a tender-hearted +stillness when the bereft little maiden went through the streets,--a +stillness which she never noticed, for she never noticed anything +apparently. The bishop himself when he walked abroad could not be +treated with more respect. + +This was all the story of the sweet Fiammetta that was confided to +me. And afterwards, as I recalled her pensive face that evening as +she kneeled at vespers, I could not say whether, after all, she was +altogether to be pitied, in the holy isolation of her grief, which I +am sure sanctified her, and, in some sort, made her life complete. +For I take it that life, even in this sunny Sorrento, is not alone a +matter of time. + + + + +ST. MARIA A CASTELLO + +The Great St. Angelo and that region are supposed to be the haunts of +brigands. From those heights they spy out the land, and from thence +have, more than once, descended upon the sea-road between +Castellamare and Sorrento, and caught up English and German +travelers. This elevation commands, also, the Paestum way. We have +no faith in brigands in these days; for in all our remote and lonely +explorations of this promontory we have never met any but the most +simple-hearted and good-natured people, who were quite as much afraid +of us as we were of them. But there are not wanting stories, every +day, to keep alive the imagination of tourists. + +We are waiting in the garden this sunny, enticing morning-just the +day for a tramp among the purple hills--for our friend, the long +Englishman, who promised, over night, to go with us. This excellent, +good-natured giant, whose head rubs the ceiling of any room in the +house, has a wife who is fond of him, and in great dread of the +brigands. He comes down with a sheepish air, at length, and informs +us that his wife won't let him go. + +"Of course I can go, if I like," he adds. "But the fact is, I have +n't slept much all night: she kept asking me if I was going!" On the +whole, the giant don't care to go. There are things more to be +feared than brigands. + +The expedition is, therefore, reduced to two unarmed persons. In the +piazza we pick up a donkey and his driver for use in case of +accident; and, mounting the driver on the donkey,--an arrangement +that seems entirely satisfactory to him,--we set forward. If +anything can bring back youth, it is a day of certain sunshine and a +bit of unexplored country ahead, with a whole day in which to wander +in it without a care or a responsibility. We walk briskly up the +walled road of the piano, striking at the overhanging golden fruit +with our staves; greeting the orange-girls who come down the side +lanes; chaffing with the drivers, the beggars, the old women who sit +in the sun; looking into the open doors of houses and shops upon +women weaving, boys and girls slicing up heaps of oranges, upon the +makers of macaroni, the sellers of sour wine, the merry shoemakers, +whose little dens are centers of gossip here, as in all the East: the +whole life of these people is open and social; to be on the street is +to be at home. + +We wind up the steep hill behind Meta, every foot of which is +terraced for olive-trees, getting, at length, views over the wayside +wall of the plain and bay and rising into the purer air and the scent +of flowers and other signs of coming spring, to the little village of +Arola, with its church and bell, its beggars and idlers,--just a +little street of houses jammed in between the hills of Camaldoli and +Pergola, both of which we know well. + +Upon the cliff by Pergola is a stone house, in front of which I like +to lie, looking straight down a thousand or two feet upon the roofs +of Meta, the map of the plain, and the always fascinating bay. I +went down the backbone of the limestone ridge towards the sea the +other afternoon, before sunset, and unexpectedly came upon a group of +little stone cottages on a ledge, which are quite hidden from below. +The inhabitants were as much surprised to see a foreigner break +through their seclusion as I was to come upon them. However, they +soon recovered presence of mind to ask for a little money. Half a +dozen old hags with the parchment also sat upon the rocks in the sun, +spinning from distaffs, exactly as their ancestors did in Greece two +thousand years ago, I doubt not. I do not know that it is true, as +Tasso wrote, that this climate is so temperate and serene that one +almost becomes immortal in it. Since two thousand years all these +coasts have changed more or less, risen and sunk, and the temples and +palaces of two civilizations have tumbled into the sea. Yet I do not +know but these tranquil old women have been sitting here on the rocks +all the while, high above change and worry and decay, gossiping and +spinning, like Fates. Their yarn must be uncanny. + +But we wander. It is difficult to go to any particular place here; +impossible to write of it in a direct manner. Our mulepath continues +most delightful, by slopes of green orchards nestled in sheltered +places, winding round gorges, deep and ragged with loose stones, and +groups of rocks standing on the edge of precipices, like medieval +towers, and through village after village tucked away in the hills. +The abundance of population is a constant surprise. As we proceed, +the people are wilder and much more curious about us, having, it is +evident, seen few strangers lately. Women and children, half-dressed +in dirty rags which do not hide the form, come out from their low +stone huts upon the windy terraces, and stand, arms akimbo, staring +at us, and not seldom hailing us in harsh voices. Their sole dress +is often a single split and torn gown, not reaching to the bare +knees, evidently the original of those in the Naples ballet (it will, +no doubt, be different when those creatures exchange the ballet for +the ballot); and, with their tangled locks and dirty faces, they seem +rather beasts than women. Are their husbands brigands, and are they +in wait for us in the chestnut-grove yonder? + +The grove is charming; and the men we meet there gathering sticks are +not so surly as the women. They point the way; and when we emerge +from the wood, St. Maria a Castello is before us on a height, its +white and red church shining in the sun. We climb up to it. In +front is a broad, flagged terrace; and on the edge are deep wells in +the rock, from which we draw cool water. Plentifully victualed, one +could stand a siege here, and perhaps did in the gamey Middle Ages. +Monk or soldier need not wish a pleasanter place to lounge. +Adjoining the church, but lower, is a long, low building with three +rooms, at once house and stable, the stable in the center, though all +of them have hay in the lofts. The rooms do not communicate. That +is the whole of the town of St. Maria a Castello. + +In one of the apartments some rough-looking peasants are eating +dinner, a frugal meal: a dish of unclean polenta, a plate of grated +cheese, a basket of wormy figs, and some sour red wine; no bread, no +meat. They looked at us askance, and with no sign of hospitality. +We made friends, however, with the ragged children, one of whom took +great delight in exhibiting his litter of puppies; and we at length +so far worked into the good graces of the family that the mother was +prevailed upon to get us some milk and eggs. I followed the woman +into one of the apartments to superintend the cooking of the eggs. +It was a mere den, with an earth floor. A fire of twigs was kindled +against the farther wall, and a little girl, half-naked, carrying a +baby still more economically clad, was stooping down to blow the +smudge into a flame. The smoke, some of it, went over our heads out +at the door. We boiled the eggs. We desired salt; and the woman +brought us pepper in the berry. We insisted on salt, and at length +got the rock variety, which we pounded on the rocks. We ate our eggs +and drank our milk on the terrace, with the entire family interested +spectators. The men were the hardest-looking ruffians we had met +yet: they were making a bit of road near by, but they seemed capable +of turning their hands to easier money-getting; and there couldn't be +a more convenient place than this. + +When our repast was over, and I had drunk a glass of wine with the +proprietor, I offered to pay him, tendering what I knew was a fair +price in this region. With some indignation of gesture, he refused +it, intimating that it was too little. He seemed to be seeking an +excuse for a quarrel with us; so I pocketed the affront, money and +all, and turned away. He appeared to be surprised, and going indoors +presently came out with a bottle of wine and glasses, and followed us +down upon the rocks, pressing us to drink. Most singular conduct; no +doubt drugged wine; travelers put into deep sleep; robbed; thrown +over precipice; diplomatic correspondence, flattering, but no +compensation to them. Either this, or a case of hospitality. We +declined to drink, and the brigand went away. + +We sat down upon the jutting ledge of a precipice, the like of which +is not in the world: on our left, the rocky, bare side of St. Angelo, +against which the sunshine dashes in waves; below us, sheer down two +thousand feet, the city of Positano, a nest of brown houses, thickly +clustered on a conical spur, and lying along the shore, the home of +three thousand people,--with a running jump I think I could land in +the midst of it,--a pygmy city, inhabited by mites, as we look down +upon it; a little beach of white sand, a sailboat lying on it, and +some fishermen just embarking; a long hotel on the beach; beyond, by +the green shore, a country seat charmingly situated amid trees and +vines; higher up, the ravine-seamed hill, little stone huts, bits of +ruin, towers, arches. How still it is! All the stiller that I can, +now and then, catch the sound of an axe, and hear the shouts of some +children in a garden below. How still the sea is! How many ages has +it been so? Does the purple mist always hang there upon the waters +of Salerno Bay, forever hiding from the gaze Paestum and its temples, +and all that shore which is so much more Grecian than Roman? + +After all, it is a satisfaction to turn to the towering rock of St. +Angelo; not a tree, not a shrub, not a spire of grass, on its +perpendicular side. We try to analyze the satisfaction there is in +such a bald, treeless, verdureless mass. We can grasp it +intellectually, in its sharp solidity, which is undisturbed by any +ornament: it is, to the mind, like some complete intellectual +performance; the mind rests on it, like a demonstration in Euclid. +And yet what a color of beauty it takes on in the distance! + +When we return, the bandits have all gone to their road-making: the +suspicious landlord is nowhere to be seen. We call the woman from +the field, and give her money, which she seemed not to expect, and +for which she shows no gratitude. Life appears to be indifferent to +these people. But, if these be brigands, we prefer them to those of +Naples, and even to the innkeepers of England. As we saunter home in +the pleasant afternoon, the vesper-bells are calling to each other, +making the sweetest echoes of peace everywhere in the hills, and all +the piano is jubilant with them, as we come down the steeps at +sunset. + +"You see there was no danger," said the giant to his wife that +evening at the supper-table. + +"You would have found there was danger, if you had gone," returned +the wife of the giant significantly. + + + + +THE MYTH OF THE SIRENS + +I like to walk upon the encircling ridge behind Sorrento, which +commands both bays. From there I can look down upon the Isles of the +Sirens. The top is a broad, windy strip of pasture, which falls off +abruptly to the Bay of Salerno on the south: a regular embankment of +earth runs along the side of the precipitous steeps, towards +Sorrento. It appears to be a line of defence for musketry, such as +our armies used to throw up: whether the French, who conducted siege +operations from this promontory on Capri, under Murat, had anything +to do with it, does not appear. + +Walking there yesterday, we met a woman shepherdess, cowherd, or +siren--standing guard over three steers while they fed; a scantily- +clad, brown woman, who had a distaff in her hand, and spun the flax +as she watched the straying cattle, an example of double industry +which the men who tend herds never imitate. Very likely her +ancestors so spun and tended cattle on the plains of Thessaly. We +gave the rigid woman good-morning, but she did not heed or reply; we +made some inquiries as to paths, but she ignored us; we bade her +good-day, and she scowled at us: she only spun. She was so out of +tune with the people, and the gentle influences of this region, that +we could only regard her as an anomaly,--the representative of some +perversity and evil genius, which, no doubt, lurks here as it does +elsewhere in the world. She could not have descended from either of +the groups of the Sirens; for she was not fascinating enough to be +fatal. + +I like to look upon these islets or rocks of the Sirens, barren and +desolate, with a few ruins of the Roman time and remains of the +Middle-Age prisons of the doges of Amalfi; but I do not care to +dissipate any illusions by going to them. I remember how the Sirens +sat on flowery meads by the shore and sang, and are vulgarly supposed +to have allured passing mariners to a life of ignoble pleasure, and +then let them perish, hungry with all unsatisfied longings. The +bones of these unfortunates, whitening on the rocks, of which Virgil +speaks, I could not see. Indeed, I think any one who lingers long in +this region will doubt if they were ever there, and will come to +believe that the characters of the Sirens are popularly misconceived. +Allowing Ulysses to be only another name for the sun-god, who appears +in myths as Indra, Apollo, William Tell, the sure-hitter, the great +archer, whose arrows are sunbeams, it is a degrading conception of +him that he was obliged to lash himself to the mast when he went into +action with the Sirens, like Farragut at Mobile, though for a very +different reason. We should be forced to believe that Ulysses was +not free from the basest mortal longings, and that he had not +strength of mind to resist them, but must put himself in durance; as +our moderns who cannot control their desires go into inebriate +asylums. + +Mr. Ruskin says that "the Sirens are the great constant desires, the +infinite sicknesses of heart, which, rightly placed, give life, and, +wrongly placed, waste it away; so that there are two groups of +Sirens, one noble and saving, as the other is fatal." Unfortunately +we are all, as were the Greeks, ministered unto by both these groups, +but can fortunately, on the other hand, choose which group we will +listen to the singing of, though the strains are somewhat mingled; +as, for instance, in the modern opera, where the music quite as often +wastes life away, as gives to it the energy of pure desire. Yet, if +I were to locate the Sirens geographically, I should place the +beneficent desires on this coast, and the dangerous ones on that of +wicked Baiae; to which group the founder of Naples no doubt belonged. + +Nowhere, perhaps, can one come nearer to the beautiful myths of +Greece, the springlike freshness of the idyllic and heroic age, than +on this Sorrentine promontory. It was no chance that made these +coasts the home of the kind old monarch Eolus, inventor of sails and +storm-signals. On the Telegrafo di Mare Cuccola is a rude +signal-apparatus for communication with Capri,--to ascertain if wind +and wave are propitious for entrance to the Blue Grotto,--which +probably was not erected by Eolus, although he doubtless used this +sightly spot as one of his stations. That he dwelt here, in great +content, with his six sons and six daughters, the Months, is nearly +certain; and I feel as sure that the Sirens, whose islands were close +at hand, were elevators and not destroyers of the primitive races +living here. + +It seems to me this must be so; because the pilgrim who surrenders +himself to the influences of these peaceful and sun-inundated coasts, +under this sky which the bright Athena loved and loves, loses, by and +by, those longings and heart-sicknesses which waste away his life, +and comes under the dominion, more and more, of those constant +desires after that which is peaceful and enduring and has the saving +quality of purity. I know, indeed, that it is not always so; and +that, as Boreas is a better nurse of rugged virtue than Zephyr, so +the soft influences of this clime only minister to the fatal desires +of some: and such are likely to sail speedily back to Naples. + +The Sirens, indeed, are everywhere; and I do not know that we can go +anywhere that we shall escape the infinite longings, or satisfy them. +Here, in the purple twilight of history, they offered men the choice +of good and evil. I have a fancy, that, in stepping out of the whirl +of modern life upon a quiet headland, so blessed of two powers, the +air and the sea, we are able to come to a truer perception of the +drift of the eternal desires within us. But I cannot say whether it +is a subtle fascination, linked with these mythic and moral +influences, or only the physical loveliness of this promontory, that +lures travelers hither, and detains them on flowery meads. + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Saunterings +by Charles Dudley Warner. + diff --git a/old/cwsnt11.zip b/old/cwsnt11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..96d3ea6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cwsnt11.zip |