Part 3 (1/2)
MAASTRICHT, 27th June.
This morning, after a promenade on the banks of the Meuse--for I am fond of rivers and woods (_flumina amo silvasque inglorius_)--we embarked on a _treckschuyt_ and arrived here after a pa.s.sage of four hours. The scenery on the banks of the Meuse all the way from Liege to Maastricht is highly diversified and extremely romantic; but here at Maastricht this ceases and the dull uniformity of the Dutch landscape begins. When on the ramparts of the city to the North and West an immense plain as far as the eye can reach presents itself to view; a few trees and sandhills form the only relief to the picture. The town itself is neat, clean and dull, like all Dutch towns.
The fortifications are strong and well worth inspection. The most remarkable thing in the neighbourhood of Maastricht is the Montagne de St Pierre, which from having been much excavated for the purpose of procuring stone, forms a labyrinth of a most intricate nature. I advise every traveller to visit it, and if he has a cla.s.sical imagination he may fancy himself in the labyrinth of Crete.
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, 29th June.
We started in the morning of the 28th from Maastricht in the diligence for Aix-la-Chapelle and arrived here at twelve o'clock, putting up at Van Gulpen's Hotel, _Zum Pfalzischen Hofe_ (a la Cour palatine), which I recommend as an excellent inn and the hosts as very good people. The price of our journey from Liege to Maastricht in the water-diligence was 2-1/2 franks, and from Maastricht to Aix-la-Chapelle by land was 7 franks the person. The road from Maastricht to this place is not very good, but the country at a short distance from Maastricht becomes picturesque, much diversified by hill and dale and well wooded. As the Meuse forms the boundary between the Belgic and Prussian territory, we enter the latter sooner after leaving Maastricht. I find my friend L. a most agreeable travelling companion; travelling seems to be his pa.s.sion, as it is mine; and fortune has so far favoured me in this particular, that my professional duties and private affairs have led me to visit the four quarters of the globe. After dinner, on the first day of our arrival here, we went to visit the _Hotel de Ville_, before which stands on a pedestal in a bason an ancient bronze statue of Charlemagne. It has nothing to recommend it but its antiquity. The _Hotel de Ville_ is similar to other Gothic buildings used for the same purpose. In the great hall thereof there is a large picture representing the amba.s.sadors of all the powers who a.s.sisted at the signing of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1742; and a full length portrait of the present King of Prussia, as master of the city, occupies the place where once stood that of Napoleon, its late lord. We next went to see the Cathedral and sat down on the throne on which the German Caesars used to be crowned. We viewed likewise the various costly articles of plate, the gifts of pious princes. The most remarkable things among them are several superb dresses of gold and silver embroidery, so thickly laid on that they are of exceeding weight. These dresses form part of the wardrobe of the Virgin Mary. Next to be seen is a case or chest of ma.s.sy silver, adorned with innumerable precious stones of great value; which case contains the bones or ashes of Charlemagne. His right arm bone is however preserved separate in a gla.s.s case. The sword of this prince too, and the Imperial crown is to be seen here. The sacristan next proceeded to show to us the other relics, but having begun with the exhibition of a rag dipped in the sweat of Jesus Christ and a nail of the Holy Cross, we began to think we had seen enough and went away perfectly satisfied. There is no other monument in honour of Charlemagne, but a plain stone on the floor of the Church with the simple inscription ”Carolo Magno.” On going out of the city thro' one of the gates, and at a short distance from it, we ascended the mountain or rather hill called the Louisberg on which are built a Ridotto and Cafe, as also a Column erected in honour of Napoleon with a suitable inscription; the inscription is effaced and is about to be replaced by another in the German language in commemoration of the downfall of the _Tyrant_, as the Coalition are pleased to call him. This Tyrant is however extremely regretted by the inhabitants of Aix-la-Chapelle and not without reason, for he was a great benefactor to them and continually embellished the city, confirming and increasing its privileges. The inhabitants are not at all pleased with their new masters; for the behaviour of the Prussian military has been so insulting and overbearing towards the burghers and students that it is, I am told, a common exclamation among the latter, alluding to the Prussians having stiled themselves their deliverers: _De nostris liberatoribus, Domine, libera nos_. Indeed, I can evidently discern that they are not particularly pleased at the result of the battle of Waterloo.
In the evening I went to the theatre, which has the most inconvenient form imaginable, being a rectangle. As anti-Gallicanism is the order of the day, only German dramas are allowed to be performed and this night it was the tragedy of Faust, or Dr Faustus as we term him in England, not the Faust of Goethe, which is not meant for nor at all adapted to the stage, but a drama of that name written by Klingmann.[18] It is a strange wild piece, quite in the German style and full of horrors and diableries. In this piece the sublime and terrible border close on the ridiculous; for instance the Devil and Faust come to drink in a beer-schenk or ale-house. 'Tis true the Devil is incognito at the time and is called ”der Fremde” or ”the Stranger”; it is only towards the conclusion of the piece that he discovers himself to be Satan.... The actor who played the part of the Stranger had something in his physiognomy very terrific and awe-inspiring. In another scene, which to us would appear laughable and absurd, but which pleases a German audience, three women in masks come on the stage to meet Faust, in a churchyard, and on unmasking display three skeleton heads.
Poor Faust had stipulated to give his soul to the Devil for aiding him in the attainment of his desires; the Devil on his part agrees to allow him to commit four deadly sins before he shall call on him to fulfil his contract.
Faust, in the sequel, kills his wife and his father-in-law. Satan then claims him. Faust pleads in arrest of judgement, that he has only committed two crimes out of the four for which he had agreed; and that there consequently remained two others for him to commit before he could be claimed. The Devil in rejoinder informs him that his wife was with child at the time he killed her, which const.i.tuted the third crime, and that the very act of making a contract with the Devil for his soul forms the fourth.
Faust, overwhelmed with confusion, has not a word to say; and Satan seizing him by the hair of his head, carries him off in triumph. This piece is written in iambics of ten syllables and the versification appeared to me correct and harmonious, and the sentiments forcible and poetical; this fully compensated for the bizarrerie of the story itself, which, by the bye, with all the reproach thrown by the adherents of the cla.s.sic taste on those of the romantic, is scarcely more _outre_ than the introduction of Death ([Greek: _thanatos_]) as a dramatic personage in the _Alcestis_ of Euripides.
There is at Aix-la-Chapelle at one of the hotels a Faro Bank; it is open like the gates of h.e.l.l _noctes atque dies_ and gaming goes forward without intermission; this seems, indeed, to be the only occupation of the strangers who visit these baths. There is near this hotel a sort of Place or Quadrangle with arcades under which are shops and stalls. At one of these shops I met with the most beautiful girl I ever beheld, a Tyrolese by birth and the daughter of a print-seller. She was from the Italian Tyrol; Roveredo, I think she said, was her birthplace. She united much grace and manner with her beauty, on account of which I could not avoid complimenting her in her native tongue, which she seemed pleased to hear. Her eyes and eyebrows brought to my recollection the description of those of Alcina:
Sotto due negri e sottilissimi archi, Son due neri occhi, anzi, due chiari soli, Pietosi a riguardare, a mover parchi, Intorno a cui par che Amor scherzi e voli.[19]
Two black and slender arches rise above Two clear black eyes, say suns of radiant light; Which ever softly beam and slowly move; Round these appears to sport in frolic flight, Hence scattering all his shafts, the little Love.
--_Trans_. W.S. ROSE.
We then proceeded to look at the suburb of this city called Bortscheid, by far the finest part of the city and at some elevation above it. It commands an extensive view. We also visited the various bath establishments; the taste of the water had some resemblance to that of Harrogate, and is good in bilious, scrofulous and cutaneous complaints. On our return to the hotel we learned the news of the capitulation of Paris to the Allied powers. It is said to be purely a military convention by which the French army is to evacuate Paris and retire behind the Loire. There is no talk and no other intelligence about Napoleon, except that he had been compelled by the two Houses of Legislature to abdicate the throne. We are still in the dark as to the intentions of the Allies. I regret much that my friend and fellow traveller L. is obliged to return to Bruxelles and cannot accompany me to Cologne, to which place I am impatient to go and to pay my respects to old father Rhine, so renowned in history.
COLOGNE.
I left Aix-la-Chapelle on the morning of the 2nd of July and arrived at Cologne about six o'clock in the evening, putting up at the Inn _Zum heiligen Geist_ (Holy Ghost), which is situated on the banks of the river.
The price of the journey in the diligence is 18 franks. On the road hither lies Juliers, a large and strongly fortified town surrounded by a marsh. It must be very important as a military post. The road after quitting Juliers runs for the most part thro' a forest, and has been much improved and enlarged by the French; before they improved it, it was almost impa.s.sable in wet weather. We met on the road several Prussian waggons and reinforcements on their march to Bruxelles. Two of my fellow travellers in the diligence were very intelligent young men belonging to respectable families in Cologne and were returning thither; they likewise complained much of the overbearing demeanour of the Prussian military towards the burghers.
Cologne is a large, but very dull looking city, as dull as Liege; it would seem as if all towns and cities under ecclesiastical domination were dull or rendered so by the prohibition of the most innocent amus.e.m.e.nts. The fortifications are out of repair; but the Prussian Government intend to make Cologne a place of great strength. The name of the village on the opposite of the river is Deutz, and in the time of the French occupation there was a _tete-de-pont_. The next morning I was obliged to appear before the police, and afterwards before the _Commandant de la Place_, in order to have my pa.s.sport examined and _vise_. At the bureau of the police it was remarked to me that my pa.s.sport was not _en regle_, the features of the bearer not being therein specified. I replied that it was not my fault; that it was given to me in that shape by the English Consul at Bruxelles and that it was not my province to give to the Consul any directions as to its form and tenor. The Commissary of Police then asked me what business I was about in travelling, and the following conversation took place: ”Was haben Sie fur Geschafte?”--”Keine; ich reise nur um Vergnugen's Willen.”--”
Sonderbar!”--”Worin liegt das Sonderbare, da.s.s man reist um ein schones Land zu sehen?”[20]--He made no answer to this, but one of his coadjutors standing by him said in a loud whisper, ”Ein Herumreiser,” which means an adventurer or person who travels about for no good,--in a word, a suspicious character. I then said with the utmost calm and indifference: ”Gentlemen, as soon as you shall have finished all your commentaries on the subject of my pa.s.sport, pray be so good as to inform me what I am to do, whether I may go on to Mayence and Frankfort as is my intention, or return to Bruxelles.” The Commissary, after a slight hesitation, signed the _visa_ and I then carried it to the bureau of the Commandant, whose secretary signed it without hesitation, merely asking me if I were a military man.
In the afternoon I went to visit the Dome or Cathedral. It is a fine specimen of Gothic architecture, but singular enough the steeple is not yet finished. In this Cathedral the most remarkable thing is the Chapel of the Three Kings, wherein is deposited a ma.s.sy gold chest inlaid with precious stones of all sorts and of great value, containing the bones of the identical three Kings (it is said) who came from the East to wors.h.i.+p the infant Jesus at Bethlehem. The Scriptures say it was three wise men or Magi. The legend however calls them Kings and gives them Gothic names. Let schoolmen and theologians reconcile this difference: _ce n'est point notre affaire_. To me it appears that when the German tribes embraced Christianity and enrolled themselves under the banner of St Peter, it was thought but fair to allow them to give vent to a little nationality and to blend their old traditions with the new-fangled doctrine, and no doubt the Sovereign Pontiffs thought that the people could never be made to believe too much; the same policy is practised by the Jesuit missionaries in China, where in order to flatter the national vanity and bend it to their purposes they represent Jesus Christ as being a great personal friend and correspondent of Confucius.
To return to these monarchs, wise men or Magi: their _sculls_ are kept separate to the rest of the bones and each _scull_ bears a crown of gold.
But if you are fond of miracles, legends, and details of relics, come with me to the Church of St Ursula in this city, and see the proof positive of the miraculous legend of the eleven thousand Virgins who suffered martyrdom in this city, in the time of Attila; the bones of all of whom are carefully preserved here and adorn the interior walls of the Church in the guise of arms arranged in an armoury. Eleven thousand sculls, each bearing a golden or gilt crown, grin horribly on the spectator from the upper part of the interior walls of the church, where they are placed in a row. What a fine subject this would make for a ballad in the style of Burger to suppose that on a particular night in the year, at the midnight hour when mortals in slumbers are bound, the bones all descending from the walls where they are arranged, forming themselves into bodies, clapping on their heads and dancing a skeleton dance round the Ghost of Attila! The people of Cologne, in the time of the ecclesiastical Electorate, had the reputation of being extremely superst.i.tious, and no doubt there were many who implicitly believe this pious tale; indeed, who could refuse their a.s.sent to its authenticity, on beholding the proof positive in the sculls and bones?
I recollect that in the History of the Compere Mathiew[21] the Pere Jean rates mightily the natives of Cologne for their bigotry and superst.i.tion and for the bad reception they gave to him and to his philosophy. That people are happier from a blind belief, as some pretend, appears to me extremely problematical. For my part, under no circ.u.mstances can I think bliss to consist in ignorance; nor have I felt any particular discomfort in having learned at a very early age to put under my feet, as Lucretius expresses it, the _strepitum Acherontis avari_. On the contrary, it has made me a perfect cosmopolitan, extinguished all absurd national and religious prejudices, and rendered me at home wherever I travel; and I meet the Catholic, the Lutheran, the Moslem, the Jew, the Hindou and the Guebre as a brother. _Quo me cunque ferat tempestas, deferor hospes_.[22] Let me add one word more to obviate any misrepresentation of my sentiments from some malignant Pharisee, that tho' I am no friend to King-craft and Priest-craft, and cannot endure that religion should ever be blended with politics, yet I am a great admirer of the beautiful and consoling philosophy or theosophy of Jesus Christ which inculcates the equality of Mankind, and represents the Creator of the universe, the Author of all being, as the universal Father of the human race.
Cologne derives its name from _Colonia_, as it was a Roman Colony planted here to protect the left bank of the Rhine from the incursions of the German hordes. It is here that the grand and original manufactory of the far-famed _Eau de Cologne_ is to be seen. The _Eau de Cologne_ is a sovereign remedy for all kinds of disorders, and if the _affiches_ of the proprietor, Jean-Marie Farina, be worthy of credit, he is as formidable a check to old Pluto as ever Aesculapius was. The sale of this water is immense.
On my return to the inn, I met with a Dutch clergyman who was travelling with his pupils, three very fine boys, the sons of a Dutch lady of rank. He was to conduct them to the University of Neuwied, on the right bank of the Rhine, in order to place them there for their education. The young men seem to have profited much from their studies. Their tutor seemed to be a well-informed man and of liberal ideas; he preferred speaking German to French, as he said he had not much facility in expressing himself in the latter language. He said if I were going his way he would be happy to have the pleasure of my company, to which I very willingly acceded, and we agreed to start the next morning early so as to arrive at Bonn to breakfast, and then to go on to G.o.desberg, where he proposed to remain a few days.
From the windows of our inn we have a fine view of the river, and I have not omitted doing hommage to old Father Rhine by taking up some of his water in the hollow of my hand to drink. The Rhine of later years has been considered the guardian of Germany against the hostile incursions of the French, and Schiller represents this river as a Swiss vigilant on his post, yet in spite of his vigilance and fidelity unable to prevent his restless neighbour from forcing his safeguard. The following are the lines of Schiller where the river speaks in a distich:
Treu wie dem Schwfeizer gebuhrt bewach'ich Germaniens Grenze, Aber der Gallier hupft uber den duldenden Strom.