Volume I Part 2 (1/2)
* It was established on the model of that of Berlin so lately as 1818, and, except the University of Munich, is the most modern of Germany. As early as 1777 we find an Academy existed here, and in 1786 this became a chartered University, of which, however, at the conclusion of the French Revolutionary War no trace was left The number of students, about one thousand, and the names of the two Schlegels, Niebuhr, and Walther (one of the first anatomists of Europe), attest sufficiently its present popularity.
The Cabinet of Natural History at Popplesdorf is justly celebrated, and the collection of petrifactions is well known to the scientific world by the valuable work of Professor von Goldfuss ('Petrefacta Musei Univ. Bonnencrio,'
&c) The library contains about 60,000 volumes, and includes a most remarkable cabinet of diplomatic seals and records.
The Botanical Garden, which occupies upwards of nineteen acres, is considered one of the finest in Germany.
We spent the entire of the first three days visiting collections, museums, libraries, &c.; and although Professor Goldfuss, our cicerone, is a very worthy and well-informed gentleman, yet I have no mind to make you more intimately acquainted with him, so that I shall at once invite you to sip your coffee with us in the garden of the University. Here all is gaiety, life, and animation, the military are seen mixing with the townsfolk, and no longer is there any distance kept up between professor and student. The garden was in olden times the pleasure-ground of a palace, once the residence of the Churfurst of Cologne, and still preserves much of its ancient beauty. The trees are for the most part of foreign origin, and formed into long shady avenues or dark sunless bowers, in each of which might be seen some happy family party enjoying their coffee, the ladies a.s.siduously occupied in knitting and the men no less a.s.siduously occupied in smoking. Occasionally the loud chorus of a Freischt.i.tz air told that the Burschen were holding their revels not far off, while the professors themselves, the learned expounders of dark metaphysics and eke the diggers of Greek roots, did not scruple to join in the gaiety of the scene, and might now be observed whisking along in the rapid revolutions of a German waltz. By the bye, let me warn any of my male readers to beware how he approaches a German dancing party if he be not perfectly _au fait_ at waltzing. It is quite sufficient to be seen looking on to cause some dancer to offer you his partner for a _turn_: this is a piece of politeness constantly extended to foreigners, and is called _hospitiren_; but indeed every spectator seems to expect a similar attention, and at each moment some tall moustached figure is seen unbuckling his _schlager_, throwing his cap upon the ground, and in a moment he is lost among the dancers.
It was already far advanced in the night and the moon was s.h.i.+ning brightly upon the happy scene ere we turned our steps homewards, deeply regretting our incapacity either to speak German or to waltz.
The following day the Drachenfels was the scene of a rural _fete_, and thither we proceeded, and as the distance is only three English miles we went on foot. The road lay through a succession of vineyards sloping gently towards the Rhine, which is here extremely rapid. A sudden winding of the river brought us in sight of the mountain from base to summit. The Rhine here runs between the G.o.desberg on the one side and the Drachenfels on the other. The latter rises to the height of fifteen hundred feet above the stream, perpendicular as a wall, its summit crowned by a ruined tower. The sides are wooded with large white oak-trees through which the road winds to the top in a serpentine manner,--and thus as you ascend some new and altogether different prospect constantly meets the eye: at one moment you look out upon the dark forests and deep glens of the Sieben-gebirge, at another you see the river winding for miles beneath you through plenteous vineyards and valleys teeming with fertility; and far in the distance the tall spire of Cologne, rising amid its little forests of pinnacles, is still perceptible.
As we approached the picturesque effect was further heightened when through the intervals between the trees on the mountain-side some party might be observed slowly toiling their way upwards, the ladies mounted upon mules whose gay scarlet trappings gave all the appearance of some gorgeous pageant: and ever and anon the deep tones of the students joining in Schiller's Bobber song, or the still more beautiful Rhein-am-Rhein, completed the illusion, and made this one of the most delightful scenes I ever observed.
We spent the entire day upon the mountains; and as we descended we observed a small figure standing motionless upon a rock at some distance beneath us. On coming nearer we discovered this to be a little girl of eight or ten years old, who, seeing us coming, had waited there patiently to present us with a garland of vine-leaves and Rhine lilies ere we crossed the river, as a charm against every possible mishap.
On our return we made the acquaintance of a professor whose name I no longer recollect--but he was a most agreeable and entertaining companion, and he gave us a clear insight into the policy of the University. When speaking of the custom of duelling, he surprised us by the admission that such practices were winked at by the heads of colleges, hoping, as he said, that the students being thus employed and having their minds occupied about their own domestic broils, would have less both of leisure and inclination to join in the quarrels and disagreements of their princes and rulers: in the same manner and with the same intention as ”the Powers that were” are said to have encouraged the disturbances and riots at fairs in Ireland, hoping that the more broken heads the fewer burnings of farms or insurrectionary plots. And now that I am on the subject of Irish ill.u.s.tration, let me give you a better one.
A friend of mine once on his way from Dublin to Dunleary* had the misfortune to find himself on a car drawn by an animal so wretched as to excite his deepest compa.s.sion, for in addition to a large surface of the back being perfectly denuded of skin and flesh, one end of a stick had been twisted on the creature's ear, the other end firmly fastened to the harness so as to keep the animal's head in the position of certain would-be dandies who deem it indispensable to walk _tete-a-l'air_. Not comprehending the aim of such apparently wanton cruelty, my friend asked the driver for an explanation of the ear torture. The fellow turned towards him with a look of half compa.s.sion for his ignorance struggling with the low waggery of his caste. ”Troth an' yer honour,” said he, ”that's to divart his attins.h.i.+on from the _raw_ on his back.”
* Dunleary changed its name to Kingstown in 1821 in honour of George the Fourth's visit.--E. D.
And I really doubt not but that by ”divarting their attins.h.i.+on” the rulers of German universities have the best chance of success in managing the rude and indomitable spirits.
After a week spent in rambling through the glens and mountains of their delightful country, we set out for Andernach on our way to Coblentz.
Here we arrived late in the evening, and went supperless to bed, as the Duke of Clarence, who had just arrived, had ordered everything eatable in the town for himself and his suite. On learning this, we had the good fortune to meet with an English family whom we had previously seen in Holland, and we journeyed together now like old acquaintances. I shall not attempt to delay you by any description of the scenery as we voyaged up the Rhine. The prospect continues to be beautiful until you approach Mayence; then the country becomes open, the mountains degenerate into sloping hills, and the course of the river is less winding.
At last we arrived in Frankfort, but there was little inducement to remain here, as we had no introduction to the Baron von Rothschild, the greatest entertainer and _bon vivant_ in Europe. We merely waited to hear the opera (in which we were much disappointed), and set off for Ca.s.sel. I pa.s.s over all account of Daneker's statue of Ariadne and the still greater lion, Professor Soemmering, for every one who has made the _pet.i.t_ tour has described both; and I'll wager my dukedom there is not a young lady's alb.u.m in Great Britain which does not contain some lines ”On seeing” the beautiful figure I allude to. Ere I depart, however, let me mention a short but striking inscription which I read on the sun-dial in the town--”Sol me--vos--umbra regit.” You may conceive that the German ”schnell wagen” is admirably translated by the English words ”snail waggon,” when I tell you that we were three days travelling from Frankfort to Ca.s.sel, a distance of about 150 English miles.
A German diligence reminds one wonderfully of some huge old family mansion to which various unseemly and incongruous additions have been made, according to the fancy or necessity of its successive proprietors for ages. Conceive a large, black, heavy-looking coach to the front of which is placed a chariot, a covered car to the back, and on the roof a cabriolet; and imagine this, in addition to twelve phlegmatic Germans (who deem it indispensable to drink ”schnaps” or ”gutes bier” whenever there is a house to sell either), loaded with as much luggage as an ordinary ca.n.a.l boat in the country could carry--the whole leviathan drawn by nine wretched-looking ponies scarcely able to drag along their preposterously long tails,--and you will readily believe that we did not fly.
When we reached Ca.s.sel it was night, and the streets were in perfect darkness--not a lamp shone out,--and we saw absolutely nothing till we drew up at the door of Der Konig von Preussen. On asking the following day the reason of the remarkable want of illumination, we were informed that when the almanac announced moonlight, it was not customary to light the lamps of the town,*--and the moon not being properly aware of this dependence upon her, was not a whit more punctual in Ca.s.sel than elsewhere.
* It is strange that Lever considered this a remarkable phenomenon. The economical custom he refers to was not uncommon in many provincial towns--in Ireland at any rate-- up to a very recent date.--E. D.
Ca.s.sel is the most beautifully built and most beautifully situated town that I know of. Besides having a very excellent Opera, it boasts of one of the best museums in Germany, and of a very respectable Gallery of Painting and Sculpture. These form two sides of a great open _platz_ or square; the Palace fills up the third side, and the fourth has merely a large iron railing, and affords a most magnificent view of a richly-wooded landscape, the background formed by the lofty mountains of Thuringia. In the middle of this railing a large gateway opens upon a broad flight of stone steps which lead down to a handsomely planted park. Following the windings of a silvery river which flows between banks adorned with blossoming shrubs and flowers, the scene brought to my mind the beautiful lines of Sh.e.l.ley:--
”And on that stream whose inconstant bosom Was plank't under boughs of embowering blossom, With golden and green light slanting through Their heaven of many a tangled hue, Broad water-lilies lay tremulously, And starry river-buds glimmered by, And around them the soft stream did glide and dance With a motion of sweet sound and radiance.”
At last we came in sight of Wilhelmshohe, the country palace of the Electors of Hesse; but here, alas! the old Dutch taste in gardening prevails,--
”Grove nods to grove, Each alley has its brother.”
Wherever you turn your eyes, some deity in lead or marble meets you, who, from its agile att.i.tude, seems in the act of taking flight at your approach. But the great wonder of the place is the famous _jet d'eau_, which is said to be 200 feet in height. To see this all Ca.s.sel a.s.sembles every Sunday on foot or in carriages; but though the effect of the water rus.h.i.+ng over the rocks and forming hundreds of small cataracts is undoubtedly fine, yet the illusion is destroyed by arriving before the commencement of the exhibition, and seeing Hessian c.o.c.kneys watching some dry ca.n.a.l with patient anxiety and filling the empty vase of some basking Amphion. However, the scene was a gay one; and the splendid carriage of the Elector, who sat, in all the glory of a rich uniform and with moustaches _a la Prusse_, smoking most cavalierly, beside a lady (_not_ his d.u.c.h.ess), was at once characteristic of the country and the individual.
After stopping in Ca.s.sel for three days, which pa.s.sed most agreeably, we took flight, and at the end of a forty miles' excursion--
”In our stage-coach waggon trotting in, We made our entrance to the U- Nivewity of Gottingen.”
It was a fine night in the month of June, and the moon was s.h.i.+ning brightly upon the towers and steeples of Gottingen, as the heavy diligence, thundering over the pavement of the main street, drew up within the _port-cocher_ of Der Hof von England. We alighted, and entered a long low room in which about forty young men, evidently students, were seated at supper. At the head of the table sat the host himself, doling out soup from a vessel the proportions of which had well-nigh led me to suspect that I had mistaken the University town, and was actually in company with the Heidelberg Tun.
We soon retired to our beds, but arose early in the morning and found, to our surprise, that even then--it was but six o'clock--the streets were crowded with students hastening to and from the various lecture-rooms, their long braided frock-coats and moustaches giving them a military air strangely at variance with their spectacled noses and lounging gait.
In three days I was enrolled a student of Gottingen, which, besides conferring on me the undoubted advantages of one of the finest libraries in Europe, with admission to various lectures, collections, botanical gardens, &c., also bestowed upon me the more equivocal honour of being eligible to fight a duel, and drink _bruderschaft_ in the beer-cellar of the University. I now thought it time to avail myself of some of the numerous introductory letters with which I had paved my trunk on leaving home; and accordingly, having accoutred myself in a suit of sables, and one hand armed with a large canister of Lundy-Foot (which I had brought with me as a propitiatory offering to the greatest nose in Europe) and my credentials in the other, I took my way through the town.