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diff --git a/3128-0.txt b/3128-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1819d4f --- /dev/null +++ b/3128-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8193 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Saunterings, by Charles Dudley Warner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Saunterings + +Author: Charles Dudley Warner + +Release Date: August 20, 2016 [EBook #3128] +Last Updated: February 24, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAUNTERINGS *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +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 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 they 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 +willow 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 1800, 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 are 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 the Project Gutenberg EBook of Saunterings, by Charles Dudley Warner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAUNTERINGS *** + +***** This file should be named 3128-0.txt or 3128-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/3128/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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