32 chapters
7 hour read
Selected Chapters
32 chapters
A JULY HOLIDAY IN SAXONY, BOHEMIA, AND SILESIA.
A JULY HOLIDAY IN SAXONY, BOHEMIA, AND SILESIA.
A JULY HOLIDAY IN SAXONY, BOHEMIA, AND SILESIA. By WALTER WHITE, AUTHOR OF "A LONDONER'S WALK TO THE LAND'S END;" "ON FOOT THROUGH TYROL." "Ne wolde he call upon the Nine; 'I wote,' he sayde, 'they be but jyltes:' Ne covet when he wander'd forth Icarus' wings—ne traytor stiltes." Old Author. LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. MDCCCLVII. [ The right of Translation is reserved. ]...
27 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ERRATA.
ERRATA.
Page 87, last line, for visitors, read villagers. Page 153, 11 lines from bottom, for H raba's , read Hraba's. Page 153, 11 lines from bottom, for P strossischer , read Pstrossischer. Page 172, last line of text, for Heilen, read Heiles. A JULY HOLIDAY IN SAXONY, BOHEMIA, AND SILESIA....
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
What the Bookseller said—A Walk in Frankfort—What the Portress said—Glimpses of Landscapes—Forest and River—Würzburg—Stein Wine—View from the Citadel-hill—A Change of Bedrooms—Coming to an Understanding with the Reader—Good Night! "How happens it," I said to a bookseller in the Zeil , "that a map of Bohemia is not to be had in all Frankfort?" "How it happens?" he answered, with a knowing smile: "because no one ever goes to Bohemia." He searched and searched, as did a dozen of his fraternity whom
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
Würzburg—The University—Red, Green, and Orange Caps—The Marienkapelle—The Market—The Cathedral—The Palace—Spacious Cellars—A Professor's Hospitality—To Bamberg—Frost—Hof—A Shabby Peace—The Arch-Poisoner—Dear Bread—A Prime Minister Hanged—Altenburg—The Park—The Castle—Reminiscences and Antiquities—The Chapel—The Princes' Vault—Wends—Costumes in the Market-place—Female Cuirassiers—More about the Wends—Grossen Teich—The Plateau—The Cemetery—Werdau. Würzburg is now the chief town of the Circle of th
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
Origin of Altenburg—Prosperous Burghers—A Princely Crime—Hussite Plunderers—Luther's Visits—French Bonfire—Electress Margaret's Dream—Kunz von Kauffungen—"Don't burn the Fish"—A Conspiracy—Midnight Robbers—Two Young Princes Stolen—The Flight—The Alarm—The Köhler—The Rescue—Kunz Beheaded—The Triller's Reward, and what a famous Author said concerning it. Wends had long peopled the Pleissengau when King Henry I.—the Fowler, as his contemporaries named him—conquered it during one of his many inroads
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
Zwickau—Beer Bridge—Beer Mount—The Triller Estate—Triller Bierbrauerei—The Braumeister—The Beer—Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Prinzenraub—A Friendly Clerk—"You will have a Tsigger?"—Historical Portraits—A Good Name for a Brewery—A Case of Disinterestedness—Up the Church Tower—The Prospect—Princess Schwanhildis—The Fire-god Zwicz—Luther's Table—The Church—Geysers—Petrified Beds—Historical Houses—Walk to Oberhaselau—The Card-players—The Wagoners. The dark roofs of a few dull streets, a lofty o
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
Across the Mulde—Scenery—Feet versus Wheels—Villages—English Characteristics—Timbered Houses—Schneeberg—Stones for Lamps—The Way Sunday was Kept—The Church—A Wagon-load of Music—A Surly Host—Where the Pepper Grows—Eybenstock—Neustädl—Fir Forests—Wildenthal—Four Sorts of Beer—Potato Dumplings—Up the Auersberg—Advertisements—The School—The Instrument of Order—"Look at the Englishman"—The Erzgebirge—The Guard-house—Into Bohemia—Romish Symbols—Hirschenstand—Another Guard-house—Differences of Race—Cz
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
Dr. Fowler's Prescription—Carlsbad—"A Matlocky sort of a Place"—Springs and Swallows—Tasting the Water—The Cliffs and Terraces—Comical Signs—The Wiese and its Frequenters—Disease and Health—The Sprudel: its Discharge; its Deposit—The Stoppage—Volcanic Phenomena—Dr. Granville's Observations—Care's Rest—Dreikreuzberg—View from the Summit—König Otto's Höhe—"Are you here for the Cure?"—Lenten Diet—Hirschsprung—The Trumpeters—Two Florins for a Bed. "To lie abed till you are done enough," says Dr. Fow
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
Departure from Carlsbad—Dreifaltigkeits-Kirche—Engelhaus—The Castle—A Melancholy Village—Up to the Ruins—An Imperial Visit—Bohemian Scenery—On to Buchau—The Inn—A Crowd of Guests—Roast Goose—Inspiriting Music—Prompt Waiters—The Mysterious Passport—The Military Adviser—How he Solved the Mystery—A Baron in Spite of Himself—The Baron's Footbath—Lighting the Baron to Bed. Some years ago Carlsbad was scarcely accessible by vehicles coming from the interior, so abrupt was the declivity of its western
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
Dawn—The Noisy Gooseherd—Geese, for Home Consumption and Export—Still the Baron—The Ruins of Hartenstein—Glimpses of Scenery and Rural Life—Liebkowitz—Lubenz—Schloss Petersburg—Big Rooms—Tipplers and Drunkards—Wagoners and Peasants—A Thrifty Landlord—Inquisitorial Book—Awful Gendarme—Paternal Government—Fidgets—How it is in Hungary—Wet Blankets for Philosophers—An Unhappy Peasant. Neither nightmare nor anything else disturbed me till the wagoners, hooking on their teams amid noisy shouts, filed
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
The Village—The Peasant again—The Road-mender—Among the Czechs—Czechish Speech and Characteristics—Crosses—Horosedl—The Old Cook—More Praise of England—The Dinner—A Journey-Companion—Famous Files—A Mechaniker's Earnings—Kruschowitz—Rentsch—More Czechish Characteristics—Neu Straschitz—A Word in Season from Old Fuller—The Mechaniker departs. A hilly site, gardens, orchards, and green slopes, houses scattered at random among chestnuts and elders, and a general suspicion of Czechish carelessness, gi
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
A Talk with the Landlord—A Jew's Offer—A Ride in a Wagen—Talk with the Jew—The Stars—A Mysterious Gun-barrel—An Alarm—Stony Ammunition—The Man with the Gun—The Jew's opinion of him—Sunrise—A Walk—The White Hill—A Fatal Field—Waking up in the Suburbs—Early Breakfasts—Imperial and Royal Tobacco—Milk-folk—The Gate of Prague—A Snappish Sentry—The Soldiers—Into the City—Picturesque Features and crowding Associations—The Kleinseite—The Bridge—Palaces—The Altstadt—Remarkable Streets—The Teinkirche—The
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
The Hausknecht—A Place to Lose Yourself—Street-Phenomena—Book-shops—Glass-wares—Cavernous Beer-houses—Signs—Czechish Names—Ugly Women—Swarms of Soldiers—A Scene on the Bridge—A Drateñik—The Ugly Passport Clerk—The Suspension-bridge—The Islands—The Slopes of the Laurenzberg—View over Prague—Schools, Palaces, and Poverty—The Rookery—The Hradschin—The Courts—The Cathedral—The Great Tomb—The Silver Shrine—Relics—A Kissed Portrait—St. Wenzel's Chapel—Big Sigmund—The Loretto Platz—The Old Towers—The H
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
The Tandelmarkt—Old Men and Boys at Rag Fair—Jews in Prague—The Judenstadt—Schools and Synagogues—Remote Antiquity—Ducal Victims—Jewish Bravery—Removal of Boundary Wires. From the Hradschin, with its imperial associations, living and dead, to an Old Clothes Market, is a change over which you may laugh or lament, according to your mood. If you have seen Rag Fair in London, you can form a weak notion of what I saw in the Tandelmarkt at Prague on my return to the Altstadt from the palatial hill. Fo
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
The Jewish Sabbath—The Old Synagogue—Traditions concerning it—The Gloomy Interior—The Priests—The Worshippers and the Worship—The Talkers—The Book of the Law—The Rabbi—The Startling Gun—A Birth at Vienna—Departed Glory. My second day in Prague being a Saturday, I went to see the Jews at worship in their synagogue. The Josefstadt was comparatively quiet; but few persons in the streets, and those dressed in their best; the boys carrying prayer-books, and the men with what looked like an apron roll
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Alte Friedhof—A Stride into the Past—The Old Tombs—Vegetation and Death—Haunted Graves—Ancient Epitaph—Rabbi Löw—His Scholars—Symbols of the Tribes—The Infant's Coffin—The Playground—From Death to Life. The old synagogue and old Jewish burial-ground ( Alte Friedhof ) are but a few yards apart. On my way from one to the other I passed sundry groups, chiefly women, talking with animation about the interesting event signalized from the Hradschin. And more than one expressed a wish that a prince
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
The Kolowratstrasse—Picolomini's Palace—The Museum—Geological Affluence—Early Czechish Bibles—Rare Old Manuscripts—Letters of Huss and Ziska—Tabor Hill—Portraits—Hussite Weapons—Antiques—Doubtful Hussites in the Market-place—The Glückliche Entbindung—A Te Deum—Two Evening Visits—Bohemian Hospitality—The Gaslit Beer-house. The Kolowratstrasse is one of the finest streets in Prague. It is broad, straight, and well paved; contains the best hotels, the most elegant coffee-houses, the handsomest shop
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
Sunday Morning in Prague—Gay Dresses—Pleasure-seeking Citizens—Service in the Hradschin Cathedral—Prayers and Pranks—Fun in the Organ-loft—Glorious Music—A Spell broken—Priests and their Robes—Osculations—A Flaunting Procession—An Old Topographer's Raptures—The Schwarzes Ross—Flight from Prague—Lobositz—Lost in a Swamp—A Storm—Up the Milleschauer—After Dark—The Summit—Mossy Quarters—The Host's Story. The streets were alive before the lazy hours approached on Sunday morning. Here and there the wa
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
Morning on the Milleschauer—The Brightening Landscape—The Mossy Quarters by Daylight—Delightful Down-hill Walk—Lobositz again—The Steam-boat—Queer Passengers—Sprightly Music—Romantic Scenery—Hills and Cliffs—Schreckenstein—How the Musicians paid their Fare—Aussig—The Spürlingstein—Fairer Landscapes—Elbe versus Rhine—Tetschen—German Faces—Women-Waders—The Schoolmaster—Passport again—Pretty Country—Signs of Industry—Peasants' Diet—Markersdorf—Rustic Cottages—Gersdorf—Meistersdorf—School—Trying the
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
A Hospitable Reception—A Rustic Household—The Mother's Talk—Pressing Invitations—A Docile Visitor—The Family Room—Trophies of Industry—Overheating—A Walk in Ulrichsthal—A Glass Polisher and his Family—His Notions—A Glass Engraver—His Skill and Ingenuity—His Earnings—A Bohemian's Opinion on English Singing—Military Service—Beetle Pictures—Glass-making in Bohemia—An Englishman's Forget-me-Not—The Dinner—Dessert on the Hill—An Hour with the Haymakers—Magical Kreutzers—An Evening at the Wirthshaus—S
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
More Hospitality—Farewells—Cross Country Walk—Steinschönau—The Playbill—Hayda—All Glass-workers—Away for the Mountains—Zwickau—Gabel—Weisskirchen—A Peasant's Prayer—Reichenberg—Passport again—Jeschkenpeak—Reinowitz—Schlag—Neudorf—A Talk at Grünheid—Bad Sample of Lancashire—Tannwald—Curious Rocks—Spinneries—Populousness—Przichowitz—An Altercation—Heavy Odds—The Englishman Wins—A Word to the Company. Fresh Semmel for breakfast again the next morning, and renewed entreaties for my stay. I could onl
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
Stephanshöh—A Presumptuous Landlord—Czechs again—Stewed Weavers—Prompt Civilities—The Iser—A Quiet Vale—Barrande's Opinion of the Czechs—Rochlitz—An offshoot from Tyre—A Happy Landlord—A Rustic Guide—Hill Paths—The Grünstein—Rübezahl's Rose Garden—Dreary Fells—Source of the Elbe—Solitude and Visitors—The Elbfall—Stony Slopes—Strange Rocks—Rübezahl's Glove—Knieholz—Schneegruben—View into Silesia—Tremendous Cliffs—Basalt in Granite—The Landlord's Bazaar—The Wandering Stone—A Tragsessel—A Desolate
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
Comforts on the Koppe—Samples of Germany—Provincial Peculiarities—Hilarity—A Couplet worth remembering—Four-bedded Rooms—View from the Summit—Contrast of Scenery—The Summit itself—Guides in Costume—Moderate Charges—Unlucky Farmer—The Descent—Schwarzkoppe—Grenzbäuden—Hungarian Wine—The Way to Adersbach—Forty Years' Experience. Here, on the top of Schneekoppe , you find the appliances of luxury and elegance as well as of comfort. Many kinds of provisions, good wine, and beer of the best. A bazaar
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
The Frontier Guard-house—A Volunteer Guide—A Knave—Schatzlar—Bernsdorf—A Barefoot Philosopher—A Weaver's Happiness—Altendorf—Queer Beer—A Short Cut—Blunt Manners—Adersbach—Singular Rocks—Gasthaus zur Felsenstadt—The Rock City—The Grand Entrance—The Sugarloaf—The Pulpit—The Giant's Glove—The Gallows—The Burgomaster—Lord Brougham's Profile—The Breslau Wool-market—The Shameless Maiden—The Silver Spring—The Waterfall—A Waterspout—The Lightning Stroke. About a musket-shot below the Bäuden stands the
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Echo—Wonderful Orchestra—Magical Music—A Feu de joie —The Oration—The Voices—Echo and the Humourist—Satisfying the Guide—Exploring the Labyrinth—Curious Discoveries—Speculations of Geologists—Bohemia an Inland Sea—Marble Labyrinth in Spain—A Twilight View—After a'. "Will it please you to walk to the echo?" asks the guide, when we come back to the meadow. And if you assent—as every one does—he turns to the left and leads you up the open ground above-mentioned to a small temple—the Echo House.
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Baked Chickens—A Discussion—Weckelsdorf—More Rocks—The Stone of Tears—Death's Alley—Diana's Bath—The Minster—Gang of Coiners—The Bohdanetskis—Going to Church—Another Silesian View—Good-bye to Bohemia—Schömberg—Silesian Faces and Costume—Picturesque Market-place—Ueberschar Hills—Ullersdorf—An amazed Weaver—Liebau—Cheap Cherries—The Prussian Simplon—Ornamented Houses—Buchwald—The Bober—Dittersbach—Schmiedeberg—Rübezahl's Trick upon Travellers—Tourists' Rendezvous—The Duellists' Successors—Erdmanns
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXV.
Schnaps and Sausage—Dresdener upon Berliners—The Prince's Castle at Fischbach—A Home for the Princess Royal—Is the Marriage Popular?—View from the Tower—Tradition of the Golden Donkey—Royal Palace at Erdmannsdorf—A Miniature Chatsworth—The Zillerthal—Käse and Brod—Stohnsdorf—Famous Beer—Rischmann's Cave—Prophecies—Warmbrunn. At Fischbach, in a pleasant valley, about an hour's walk from Erdmannsdorf, stands a castle belonging to Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, which is shown to curious tourists. A Dre
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Three Berliners—Strong Beer—Origin of Warmbrunn—St. John the Baptist's Day—Count Schaffgotsch—A Benefactor—A Library—Something about Warmbrunn—The Baths—Healing Waters—The Allée—Visitors—Russian Popes—The Museum—Trophies—View of the Mountains—The Kynast—Cunigunda and her Lovers—Served her right—The Two Breslauers—Oblatt—The Baths in the Mountains. I had gone a little way along the street when I heard voices crying, " Eng-lischmann! Eng-lischmann! Eng-lischmann! " and, looking about, I saw th
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Hirschberg—The Officers' Tomb—A Night Journey—Spiller—Greifenberg—Changing Horses—A Royal Reply—A Griffin's Nest—Lauban—The Potato Jubilee—Görlitz—Peter and Paul Church—View from the Tower—The Landskrone—Jacob Böhme—The Hidden Gold—A Theosophist's Writings—The Tombs—The Underground Chapel—A Church copied from Jerusalem—The Public Library—Loebau—Herrnhut. It was so dark when the omnibus from Warmbrunn arrived at Hirschberg—about five miles—that I lost the sight of its pretty environment, watered
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Head-Quarters of the Moravians—Good Buildings—Quiet, Cleanliness, and Order—A Gottesdienst—The Church—Simplicity—The Ribbons—A Requiem—The Service—God's-Field—The Tombs—Suggestive Inscriptions—Tombs of the Zinzendorfs—The Pavilion—The Panorama—The Herrnhuters' Work—An Informing Guide—No Merry Voices—The Heinrichsberg—Pretty Grounds—The First Tree—An Old Wife's Gossip—Evening Service—A Contrast—The Sisters' House—A Stroll at Sunset—The Night Watch. I had seen the Moravian colony at Zeist near Utr
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XXIX.
About Herrnhut—Persecutions in Moravia—A Wandering Carpenter—Good Tidings—Fugitives—Squatters on the Hutberg—Count Zinzendorf's Steward—The First Tree—The First House—Scoffers—Origin of the Name—More Fugitives—Foundation of the Union—Struggles and Encouragements—Buildings—Social Regulations—Growth of Trade—War and Visitors—Dürninger's Enterprise—Population—Schools—Settlements—Missions—Life at Herrnhut—Recreations—Festivals—Incidents of War—March of Troops—Praise and Thank-Feasts. While I sat by
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXX.
CHAPTER XXX.
A Word with the Reader—From Herrnhut to Dresden—A Gloomy City—The Summer Theatre—Trip to the Saxon Switzerland—Wehlen—Uttewalde Grund—The Bastei—Hochstein—The Devil's Kettle—The Wolfschlucht—The Polenzthal—Schandau—The Kuhstall—Great Winterberg—The Prebischthor—Herniskretschen—Return to Dresden—To Berlin—English and German Railways—The Royal Marriage Question—Speaking English—A Dreary City—Sunday in Berlin—Kroll's Garden—Magdeburg—Wittenberg—Hamburg—A-top of St. Michael's—A Walk to Altona—A Ride
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter