SKETCHES OF GERMANY AND THE GERMANS, In 1835 & 1836. CHAPTER I. Introductory Observations-Hamburg-Inhabitants of the VierländerKlopstock-Smoking-Marshal Davoust-Heligoland-Altona-KielGraves of the Huns-Lake of Ploen-Holstein-Lubeck-Hanseatic League-Dobberan-Monument to Prince Blucher-Rostock-Strahlsund-Rugen-Pomerania-Baltic. To delineate the features of such a country as Germany is an arduous undertaking: would that my ability to execute it were equal to my inclination; for I mingled with her children till acquaintance matured into friendship; I studied her language and literature, till their charms developed themselves to my admiration; I ascended her magnificent Alps, climbed her highest mountains, traversed her dark forests, and fertile vales, penetrated her deep ravines, and romantic glens, till my The attachment was won for a soil which contains every element of pictorial beauty. I made my home in her most important towns, and drank the cup of hospitality at the table of the prince, the noble, the merchant, and the peasant; yet I will not swell my pages with a bombastic catalogue of my patrician friends, nor allow party feelings to bias my representations; I shall also studiously refrain from invading the recesses of private life, by publishing the names of those individuals, to whom I may have been indebted for information. neglect of this courtesy, I need scarcely tell my readers, has been attended with serious consequences to many persons living under arbitrary governments, who in the fulness of unsuspecting confidence betrayed political sentiments which were never intended to meet the public eye. Owing to this most culpable practice, an English gentleman is now too frequently regarded, by foreigners, in the character of a domestic spy! And I would, in all sober seriousness, counsel such of my compatriots as intend to cross the channel, when they solicit letters of introduction, to request their friends to insert the words, Mr. has not the slightest intention to write a book! With these preliminary observations, I shall now proceed on my tour, and commence my narrative on board the Tourist, steam packet, bound for Hamburg, in which I left London in the spring of 1834, for the north of Germany. A description of my fellow-travellers would not afford either information or amusement; suffice it to say, they were a motley group of Russians, Danes, Swedes, and-of course-English. One family of my dear wandering countrymen, evidently better acquainted with pounds, shillings, and pence, than Germany, had hired a French servant in London, who persuaded them that through Hamburg was the most convenient route to the mineral baths of Nassau! A little inquiry convinced them it was somewhat circuitous, and a small portion of experience proved that even an English servant would have been more useful, as the Frenchman was entirely unacquainted with the German language. After an unusually quick passage of forty-eight hours, we arrived within sight of Heligoland, from whose summit Britannia's red cross banner was proudly waving, and shortly afterwards entered the magnificent Elbe, whose monotonous shores continued most unpicturesque, till we arrived at Blankenesse, from whence the approach to the king of the Hanseatic towns is most imposing. To the left is the noble river, sweeping in a fine curve of several miles, with its many islands and sloping shores, charmingly diversified with wood and cultivated fields, and dotted with windmills, cottages, and villas. Before us we have Hamburg and Altona, apparently forming one town, whose towers, mingled with masts, appear rising out of the bosom of the mighty stream, the whole sheltered by a range of wooded heights, among which we have an occasional glance of the upper town, the whitewashed houses appearing like so many castellated châteaux; while on the right bank, which is low and flat, there is an extensive prospect over the vast plains of Hanover, bounded in the far distance by a chain of hills. |