IN Tl^f ^ORTK Of ^rr,^j-^.,.,...»»»^.,,*<\5 ■» ELIX MAR in i A JOURNEY OF AN ARCHITECT THE NORTHWEST OF EUROPE. The Architectural Works of Viollet-le-Duc, -•^ Discourses on ArGhitecture', By E. Viollet-le-Duc. Trans- lated, with an Introductory Essay, by Henry Van Brunt, Fellow Am. Inst. Arch. One Volume. Royal octavo. $8.00, " We are glad to see Part I. of ' Lectures on Architecture ' translated from the French of E. Viollet- le-Duc, and heartily join in the hope that those who cannot, or will not, read the original work, may find a fund of invaluable instruction in its pages. The work is famous on the Continent and England, and in its new dress should be welcomed by all, especially as the subject is treated so that the general reader may master the clearly laid down principles of the art, and by their means attain knowledge of the true standard of criticism. The te.xt exposes the fallacy of ' revival,' and shows that the repro- duction of mere forms must be devoid of vitahty. M. le Due rather amusingly states that when he set to work at the opening of his lectures he encountered the vigorous opposition of a learned pro- fessor of archxology. So it is in France ; how much more this is the case in England no one knows better than ourselves, for here archaeologists assume art-knowledge as their inherent right. The text is announced to contain nearly 200 woodcuts and 38 folio-sized steel plates by the author, and how admirably he has drawn them it is needless for us to say. " — London Athensom, Sept. 9, 1876. " Of all the great and good work which Viollet-le-Duc has done, the ' Lectures on Architecture ' must take rank among the greatest and best. So splendid are they in thought, as well as admirable in plan and perfect m execution, that they demand on the one hand as much attention as literary work as they command on the other as architectural classics. It is many years now since the great artist first gave these lectures to the world, but their fame is unshaken ; they still stand in the first rank of all great instructive books. .... Even those to whom every principle or term of that division of art universal which is called architecture is unknown, will find an incalculable amount of pleasure in the perusal of these lectures, so interesting is the style and so vast the information, and the power of conveying information of the author ; while to those to whom the laws of the art are not shut in a sealed book the work will be of inestimable value." — Examiner, Oct. 14, 1876. " As an architect, M. Viollet-le-Duc is among the first of living authorities ; as a thinker, he has breadth and originality of view ; as a writer, he has a subtle and almost poetical charm, which places the reader at once in a state of enjoyment, and makes necessary technicalities not only tolerable but agreeable." — Guardian. TbQ Story oi ^ Housq., Numerous Illustrations, Plans, etc. i vol. Medium 8vo. Red edges. Cloth, extra. Price, $5.00. " There are two classes of readers who will be disposed to welcome this book, — the few who are about to build, and the more fortunate man who likes to criticise what is built by other people. Using a pleasant tale as a framework for his more serious matter, M. \'iollet-le-Duc gives the nistor>' of a country-house, from the choice of a site and the selection of materials to the moment when the owners enter into possession." — Ooardian. ThQ Habitations of Man in All Ag-es. By E. Viollet-le- Dcc, Author of " The Story of a House," "Annals of a Fortress," etc. Trans- lated by B. BuCKN.\LL, Architect. With over 100 Illustrations by the Author. I vol. Medium Svo. Cloth extra. Red edges. Price, $5.00. " M. Viollet-le-Duc is one of the most captivating and informing of writers As we have already said, the value of this book lies in the fact that it unites a philosophy of human progress and culture with a history of the constructive faculty in man It is a book which may be read by the least thoughtful with delight ; by the most thoughtful it will be found supremely suggestive and stimulating." — Nonconformist. stimulatmg. ' By the s ,ot in the ' At once a valuable handbook and a very charming romance." — Pall Mall Gazette. " By the same means he has, in the present case, presented the history of domestic architecture, if not in the form, with all the attractiveness of a romance." — Standard. Asnals of a Fortress., Numerous Illustrations and Plans and Diagrams by the Author. Medium Svo. Cloth extra. Red edges. Price, $5.00. ^p^ In this work ihe author traces the history of a French fortress from the earliest times to the present day, giving a most graphic account of the many sieges it under\vent and of the fortunes and misfortunes of its garrisons in different ages, the whole forming a complete handbook of the art of fortification. "The author has happily combined practical information with the interest of a narrative." — Builder. " It is in all respects admirable." — Scotsman. " The interest and value of the work lio in these details of assault and defence Throughout one feels in the hands of a master." — British Quarterly Review. *** Far sale by all Booksellers. Sent, post-paid, on receipt of price by the Pub- lishers, JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO., Boston. NOTES AND SKETCHES OF AN ARCHITECT TAKEN DURING A JOURNEY IN THE NORTHWEST OF EUROPE TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF FELIX NARJOUX By JOHN PETO. Author's Edition, from Advance Sheets. WITH" 214 ILLUSTRATIONS. BOSTON: JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY, Late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co. 1877. University Press : Welch, Bigelow, & Co., Cambridge. PBEFACE. IT has long been thought necessary that a young man should visit foreign countries in order to complete his education, and it has also, from the earliest times, and with very great propriety, been asserted, that foreign travel is no less fitted to develop the faculties of a man in maturer life ; and from these maxims, the fruit of long experience, we may confidently de- duce the incontestable and undoubted utility of visiting other countries besides our own. And yet a taste for travelling has not been very common among us. The French have a strong objection to quit "la helle France'' — some from an unwillingness to leave their homes; others, because it is not in their power. But all are agreed on one point, that, if they do not themselves travel, they ought to profit by the descriptions given by the fortunate individuals who are able to do so. "VYe are therefore performing a task useful to our fellow-men, when we record the events of our wanderings. But all the readers of this class of books are unanimously agreed that those which excite the warmest interest and from which they can derive the greatest advantage and satisfaction are illus- trated works, in which a great number of plates render the narrative more intelligible. 6 PREFACE. Therefore we have travelled, pencil in hand, like an architect, making sketches wherever we have taken notes, so that the illustrations and descriptions should afford each other mutual aid. The sketches themselves, besides representing the larger pub- lic buildings erected in each country, which serve as the expo- nents of its greatness and of the degree of its civilization, give also, and more especially, an idea of the dwellings of private persons. They show the interiors, and the less conspicuous parts of houses which have been constructed with a view to meet the wants of the inhabitants, the local customs, and the requirements of the climate. With this intention we have sketched the internal parts, the decorations, and even the furniture of these houses. The text itself is nothing but the explanation of the plates ; it shows the relations which exist between the customs of a country, the climate, the materials employed, and the dwellings erected by the inhabitants, — dwellings adapted to the tastes and wishes of their proprietors, and in which they find comfort and delight. The strange and sometimes grotesque aspect of the manners of a people is thus brought under consideration; while it is shown that unusual forms of construction, and the manner in which they have been worked out, have been necessitated by these peculiarities. "We have endeavored to interest the reader by describing countries but little known. Tourists occasionally indeed make excursions into Holland, but most of them are satisfied with visiting the Hague or Amsterdam, the cottage of Peter the Great at Zaandam, or the village of Broeck; and not many travellers venture so far as Hanover or Hamburg. As to poor PREFACE Denmark, the names of but few Frenchmen have been entered in the visitors' book at Helsingoer during the space of eight years. It will therefore be a new and interesting journey which the reader may make with us, — a novel excursion among people and through countries of whose buildings he knows nothing, or which, having once seen, he may be glad to visit a second time. FELIX NARJOUX. Charly, September, 1875. CONTENTS HOLLAND. MoERDYK. — Dordrecht. Page The Country. — The Meuse. — The Town. — The Cathedral . . 21 Rotterdam. The Groote-Kerk.— The Hospital. — The Museum. —The Houses.— The Delft Gate 25 The Hague. The Binnenof. — The Town Hall. — The Market. — The Houses.— The Museums 43 Scheveningen. The Villas. — The Church ......... 61 Letden. The Koornbrog. — The Town Hall 70 Haarlem. The Groote-Kerk. — The Shambles. — Head-dresses . . . .74 Amsterdam. The Houses. — The Nieuwe-Kerk. — The Oude-Kerk. — The Wester- Kerk. — The Katolik-Kerk. — The Crystal Palace. — The Amstel- Hotel. — The Montalbans-Toren 87 North Holland 131 10 CONTENTS. Utrecht 1"^^ FI^•E Arts. — MA^-^-ERS. — Customs 15U GERMANY. HANOVER. — HAMBURG. — THE DUCHIES. From Utrecht to Hanover. The Country, the Journey, and the Travellers 161 Hanover. I. General Appearance. — New Streets. — The Old Town. — The Rat- haiis. — The Markt-Kirche. — The Residenz-Schloss. — The Opera- House. — The Gymnasium. — The Synagogue. — The Schools . 167 Hanover. II. The Houses, their Furniture, and their Inhabitants . . . 206 Hamburg. From Haarburg to Hamburg. — The Elbe. — Hamburg. — The Alster. — The Jungfernstieg. — The Old Town. — The Conflagration of 1842. — The New Town. — The Public Buildings. — The Houses and their Inhabitants 254 Altona. A Funeral. — The Kindergarten. — Altona. — Blankenesse . . .290 Heligoland 294 The War of the Duchies. Preliminary Remarks. — The Austro-Prussian Army. — The Danish Army. — The Lines of Danevirke. — Taking of Missunde. — Forti- fications of Duppel. — Taking of Duppel. — The Island of Alsen. — Conditions of Peace. < — The Prussians during the Campaign . 304 CONTENTS. 11 DENMAEK. Jutland. — The Little Belt. — A Ferry-Boat. — A Farm. — Funen. — The Great Belt. — The Island of Zealand 323 Copenhagen. I. General Aspect 346 Copenhagen. II. Kongens-Nytorv. — Amalienborg. — Ronde-Kirk. — Frue-Kirk. — Christianborg. — Rosenborg. — Exchange. — Crystal Palace. — Hospital. — Schools. — Frederiksborg. — The Old and New Forti- fications 354 Copenhagen. III. The Museums. — Thorwaldsen Museum. — The Museum of North- ern Antiquities. — The Ethnographical Museum .... 374 Copenhagen. IV. The Danes. — The Theatres. — Amusements 399 Copenhagen. V. The Dwellmg-Houses 409 Elsinore (Helsingcer). The Copenhagen Station. — The Country. — Elsinore. — The Town Hall. — The Kroonborg 425 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. FULL-PAGE ILLUSTEATI0:N'S. Fig. 65. Church of the Sacred Heart, Amsterdam 85. Cathedral Tower, Utrecht ^ 125. Country House, near Hanover .... 128. Chimney-piece 145. Ground-plan of the General Hospital, Hamburg . 157. Bathing Establishment, Heligoland (Section and View of Interior) 158. Bathing Establishment, Heligoland 175. The Chateau of Eosenborg, Copenhagen 181 to 185. Trumpet of the Age of Bronze 209. Town Hall, Elsinore 213. The Kroonborg, Elsinore tofc Page 108 144 230 236 270 300 302 362 378 428 436 WOODCUTS I^ TEXT. 1. General View of Dordrecht 23 2. Ground-plan of the Groote-Kerk at Eotterdam .... 26 3. Interior of the Groote-Kerk .28 4. The Groote-Kerk 29 5. Elevation of the Hospital at Eotterdam ...... 30 6. Ground-plan 31 7. Enlarged Plan of Sick-Ward 31 8. The Ground-plan of the Boymans Museum, Eotterdam . . 32 9. The Boymans Museum 33 1-i LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 10. Statue of Erasmus, at Rotterdam . . . . . . 34 IL House in one of the Streets of Rotterdam 37 12. Ground-plan of a House at Rotterdam. Basement ... 38 13. " « Ground-floor . . .38 14. " « First Floor ... 38 15. Houses on the Banks of a Canal, Rotterdam 40 16. The Delft Gate, Rotterdam 41 17. The Binnenof atthe Hague . . 44 18. The Lottery Hall at the Hague . 45 19. Ground-plan of the Senate Hall at the Hague . . . .46 20. Section " « - - « 46 21. The Town Hall at the Hague 50 22. Fish-market 51 23. Ground-plan 51 24. Vehicle used by Country People 52 25. Monument in jCommemoration of the Independence of Holland . 53 26. View of a House in an Avenue at the Hague . . . . 54 27. Ground-plan of Private House 55 28. Fii^t Floor 55 29. Elevation 56 30. Ground-floor of Villa at Scheveningen 63 31. First Floor 63 32. A Staircase 65 33. Ground-plan of Church at Scheveningen 66 34. View of Exterior 67 35. View of the Koornbrog at Ley den 71 36. The Town Hall at Leyden / 72 37. Ground-plan of the Church of St. Bavon, at Haarlem . . .77 38. Interior and Organ-ca?e, at the Church of St. Bavon, at Haarlem . 78 39. Stadthouse at Haarlem 79 40. The Old Shambles 80 41. The Amsterdam Gate at Haarlem 81 42. Head-dress of the Women of Zuid Hollande .... 84 43. Head-dress of the "Women of North Holland 85 44. Dutch Head-dress 85 45. Houses in one of the Streets of Amsterdam 88 46. Elevation of a House in the Nieuwe-Mark, Amsterdam . . 90 47. Plan of Ground-floor 91 48. Plan of First Floor 91 49. Elevation of a House in the Calver-Straat, Amsterdam . . .92 50. Ground-plan of the Frontage 92 51. Plan of Ground-floor . 94 LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS. 15 52. Plan of First Floor 94 53. Geometrical Elevation 95 54. Houses of Business at Amsterdam. Basement .... 96 55. " " Ground-floor .... 96 56. Geometrical Elevation . 97 57. External View of the Royal Palace at Amsterdam .... 100 58. Ground-plan of the Oude-Kerk at Amsterdam .... 102 59. View of the Interior of the Oude-Kerk 103 60. Ground-plan of the Nieuwe-Kerk at Amsterdam . . . 104 61. Section of Aisle 105 62. Ground-plan of the Wester-Kerk at Amsterdam .... 106 63. View of the Wester-Kerk at Amsterdam 107 64. Ground-plan of the Church of the Sacred Heart at Amsterdam . 108 66. Tranverse Section of Arches of the Aisles Ill 67. Details of the Timber-work of the Spire 113 68. Ground-plan of the Crystal Palace at Amsterdam . . . .116 69. View of Exterior of Crystal Palace 117 70. View of the Interior 118 71. Amstel Hotel. Ground-floor 119 72. First Floor 119 73. General View of the Amstel Hotel and Neighboring Buildings . 120 74. A Movable Bridge at Amsterdam 122 75. Offices of Inspector of Weights and Measures, Amsterdam . . 123 76. The Montalbans-Toren, Amsterdam 125 77. Reception-room in a Farm-house in North Holland . . . 133 78. View of the Exterior of a Farm-house in North Holland . . 134 79. Ground-plan of a Farm-house 134 80. View of a large Farm-house . .136 81. Ground-plan 136 82. Elevation of Artisans' Houses at Enkuisen 140 83. " " 140 84. Plan of the First and Second Stories of the Tower of the Cathedral at Utrecht 143 86. Canal at Utrecht 147 87. Windmill 148 88. Railway-station in Germany 164 89. A Corner-house in Hanover . . 171 90. House in Hanover . . . 172 91. View of a House in a Square 173 92. Corner-house. in Hanover 175 93. Ground-plan of angular Portion 176 94. House with ancient Gables in a Street in Hanover . . .178 16 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 95. The Ratbaiis, Hanover 179 96. Ground-plan of St. George's Church, Hanover .... 182 97. View of the Church of St. George and its Surroundings, at Hanover 183 98. The Opera-House, Hanover 186 99. Gromid-phHi of Opera-House, Hanover 189 100. The Gymnasium, Hanover 190 101. Ground-plan of Gymnasium 191 102. Plan of the First Floor 192 103. Section and View of Roof of Gymnasium 193 104. Interior of a Church in ^gidien-stadt, Hanover . . .196 105. Ground-plan of the same 196 106. Grovmd-plan of Synagogue, Hanover 198 107. Transverse Section 200 108. Exterior, with principal Entrance 201 109. Plan of Ground-floor of Private House 212 110. Plan of First Floor 212 111. Semi-detached Houses, Hanover 214 112. Ground-plan of Private House, Hanover 215 113. View of Interior 217 114. Decorative Pamtings 218 115. Ground-plan of a Mansion, Hanover ...... 219 116. Plan of First Floor 220 117. Hall, with Staircase 221 118. Geometrical Elevation of the Fagade of a Private j\Iansion, Hanover . 222 119. Country House, Hanover 223 120. Plan of First Floor of Public Hotel, Hanover .... 225 121. Ground-plan 225 122. Interior of large Dining-room 227 123. \iew of the Facade 229 124. Ground-plan of a Country House in the Environs of Hano\'er . 230 126. Surface and Section of a Panelled Ceiling, Hanover . . . 231 127. Surface and Section of Panelled Ceiling 236 129. Sofa Table 240 130. Table with Cupboard below 241 131. What-not 242 132. Phie-wood Bedstead 243 133. Walnut- wood Cupljoard 244 134. Walnut -wood Bureau 245 135. Bookcase 246 136. Arm-chair 247 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 17 137. Chair 248 138. Chair 249 139. Bracket. • 250 140. View of the Alster Quay, Hamburg ...... 257 141. An Old Street in Hamburg 261 142. Flower-girl . . 264 143. Ground-plan of the Museiun at Hamburg 267 144. Elevation of Museum, Hamburg 269 146. Ground-plan of Roman Catholic Church at Hamburg . . 276 147. View of the Interior 277 148. Exterior of New Roman Catholic Church at Hamburg . . . 278 149. Ground-plan of Lodging-house 284 150. Plan of First Floor 284 151. Exterior and Section 285 152. Ground-plan of Private House, Hamburg 288 153. Plan of First Floor 288 154. View of Exterior and Section 289 155. View of Heligoland 297 156. Ground-plan of Bathing Establishment at Heligoland . . . 299 159. Blindage in the Lines of Danevirke 308 160. Improved Blindage 310 161. A Peasant-Girl, Jutland 324 162. Pier and Ferry on the Little Belt 325 163. Section of the Movable Pontoon 327 164. General Plan of a Farm in the Island of Funen . . . .333 165. General View of a Farm 334 166. Exterior of Farm-house 335 167. View of Interior 336 168. Ground-plan of the Cathedral at Roeskilde . . . . .342 169. Geometrical Elevation of the Fagade of the Transept . . 343 170. The Kongens-Nytorv, at Copenhagen 347 171. The Palace of Amalienborg 356 172. Plan of the Amalienborg-Slot 357 173. Runde-Kirk, Copenhagen .358 174. Ground-plan of the Rosenborg 361 176. The Exchange, Copenhagen 365 177. Ground-plan of the Exhibition Building 366 178. Transverse Section of the Exhibition Building, Copenhagen . 367 179. General View of the Industri-borg 368 180. Ground- plan of Communal Hospital 370 186. Handle of Drinking-vessel 382 187. Bronze Pin 383 IS LIST OF ILLUSTEATIOXS 188. Bronze Pin 189. Bronze Pin 190. Bronze Cup 191 and 192. Harness found in a Tumulus in Funen 193. Granite Tomb. Front View 194. Opposite Side of Tomb 195. Granite Font 196. Chancel Candlestick .... 197. Terra-cotta Taper-stand 198. Modern Gable, Copenhagen 199. Elevation of a Lodging-house 200. Plan of the Ground-floor . 201. Plan of First Floor .... 202. Ground-plan of Private Residence 203. Plan of First Floor .... 204. Interior of two Rooms 205. External View 206. Ground-plan of a Private Mansion . 207. Plan of First Floor .... 208. Interior of Drawing-room and Anteroom 210. Ground-plan of Town Hall, Elsinore . 211. Town Hall, Elsinore. First Floor . 212. Interior. First Floor .... 214. Life-boat Station, Elsinore 384 384 385 386 387 387 388 389 390 410 411 412 412 415 415 417 418 421 422 423 431 432 433 441 HOLLAND " Hollande ; canaux, canards, canailles." — Voltaire. "La Hollande est le pays le plus cliarmant, le plus lointain qu'on puisse par- courir sans sortir d'Europe." — Maxime Ducamp. MOEEDYK. — DORDRECHT. THE COUNTRY. — THE MEUSE. — THE TOWN. — THE CATHEDRAL. THE Belgian Eailway terminates at Moerdyk ; ^ at this point the traveller who is going to Holland ought to embark on the jMeuse, and ascend it as far as Eotterdam, if he desires to have vivid impressions of the country, and to grow accustomed to it by degrees as he proceeds. The river is as wide as a sea ; its gray, muddy, thick waters, glittering with reflections of yellow light, are covered with ves- sels from every port and bound to every destination. The mud- banks on each side rise above immense meadows intersected by canals, streaked with long lines of poplars, and enlivened by large herds of black or white cows, which feed there durimx the w^hole year, finding a plentiful supply of pasture, and yielding abundance of meat and milk. In the midst of these meadow^s boats or steamers appear to be passing over dry land, for the canals along which they go are enclosed between two artificial banks rising above the level of the surrounding soil. The sea-breeze gently stirs the leaves of the trees, brings flocks of herons or storks, and turns the o-iijantic sails of wind- mills, whose cheerful click resounds on all sides. A slight mist, a bluish haze, rises from the soil ; if a gust of wind dissipates it for a moment, it returns immediately after- wards more heavily and densely; it tones down the outlines, and rounds off the forms of objects, so that they appear soft, and ^ It is now continued as far as Rotterdam. 22 HOLLAND. as if tliey had been steeped in water. There is nothing to arrest or fix the eye as it glances around and passes from one object to another without resting on anything or feeling any desire to make a choice; all nature is seen through a thin veil. The herdsmen who tend the flocks, the peasants who till the gi'ound, the girls who milk the cows, move but seldom, and with a heavy step ; they utter no shouts or songs, and are not easily induced to do anything hastily; the animals, tied to painted stakes placed at regular intervals, seem more calm and peaceful than in any other country. Here and there, nearer the environs of towns and villages, are country-houses, built of wood or brick, more grotesque than original, souvenirs of Java or Japan. In front of each there is a little garden, planted with gaudy flowers, especially bright-colored tidips ; instead of being enclosed by a wall they are surrounded by a ditch full of water. The build- ings are neat, though low, contracted, and of small size, painted with vivid and monotonous colors, and always detached from each other, in order not to shock the unsociable tastes of their inhabitants. Behind is the inevitable windmill, which pumps out the water in case of an inundation, fills the ditch in dry weather, supplies the house, waters the garden, saws the wood, and makes a slight noise in the midst of this deep silence. The whole scene is strange ; the perfect calm astonishes and soothes us at first. It is an entirely new country which unfolds itself before the spectator. We give a representation of Dordrecht or Dor, as it is called in the neighborhood. The new-comer, as yet little accustomed to the solitude, the monotony, and the scrupulous cleanliness of the Dutch towns, finds here the first cause for astonishment. The eflect produced by this small town is unexpected and charming; almost lost in the river, and confounded with it, half hidden by a curtain of verdure, it shows only as much as it cannot conceal of its singular houses, so brightly colored, so neat and uniform, and grouped so regularly around the Dom- Kerk, which dwarfs them by its size and its height. MOERDYK. — DOKDRECHT. 23 In the harbor vessels of every form and size pass to and fro, either going up or down the river. This continual incessant movement on the water forms a striking contrast with the calm- ness which reigns on dry land. As we enter Dordrecht we are struck with the quiet which surrounds us. The sound of our footsteps awakes no echo; Fig. 1. — General View of Dordrecht. scarcely does it attract any curious fair-haired woman to the diagonal mirror of her ever-closed window. We pass through one street, a second, and a third, and we imagine that we have retraced our steps, so much does the third resemble the sec- ond, and this again the first. The houses are identically the same everywhere, the same not only in their general arrange- ments and their outlines, but in their details ; all are built of 24 HOLLAND. brick more or less unfaced ; they have the same appearance, the same form. The frames of the windows and doors are of wood, all of the same dimensions, and of a similar color, and, what is more, of the same tone of this same color. Thus Dordrecht prefers yellow, and all is yellow, and the same yellow. The public buildings of Dordrecht are soon seen ; indeed, we might dispense with the sight of them. The Dom-Kerk, an an- cient cathedral, which has been turned into a Protestant place of worship, was built in the fourteenth century ; before it stands an enormous brick steeple, which has been several times altered and mutilated, so that its original proportions cannot be ascer- tained. The Town Hall is common and unworthy of notice; the pier and the harbor are uninteresting, and — that is all. EOTTERDAM. 25 ROTTERDAM. THE GROOTE-KERK. — THE HOSPITAL. — THE MUSEUM. — THE HOUSES. — THE DELFT GATE. AFTEE leaving Dordrecht we soon come to Rotterdam. Landing at the quay of Bompjes, an architect may for a considerable time imagine himself still on board ship, for the houses appear to him to be dancing a saraband, which disturbs their equilibrium. The symmetrical gables advance, retire, lean to the right or the left, backwards or forwards; not one has maintained its perpendicularity. This may, however, be easily understood when we consider that the town was built on piles driven into the subjacent marshes that have been disturbed and shifted by frequent inundations ; still, if the equilibrium has been affected, the stability has not been impaired ; the fall of houses is not more frequent at Rotterdam than elsewhere, and one may venture to walk througli the city without any danger. The most important structure in Rotterdam is the Church of St. Laurence, better known by the name of the Groote-Kerk (the great church). Like all other ecclesiastical buildings in the Netherlands, the Groote-Kerk, originally intended for Roman Catholic worship, has been subsequently turned into a Protestant church. Holland is Protestant ; and when, after the excesses of John of Leyden and the Anabaptists in the sixteenth century, the Reformation was firmly established in the Netherlands. (1536), the Roman Catholic churches became places of worship con- nected with the new faith ; but, not having been constructed for that purpose, this transformation was not easily effected. We 26 HOLLAND. can clearly understand that, of all ecclesiastical edifices, Gothic churches are, less than any others, suited to the requirements of the Protestant religion. Nothing is needed for the reformed temple but a large hall ; Fig. 2. — Ground-plan of the Groote-Kerk at Rotterdam. (Scale, .039 inch to the yard.) it is unnecessary to have side aisles for Catholic processions, a vast choir to accommodate a great number of priests, spacious EOTTERDAM. 27 chapels where divine service may be celebrated in many differ- ent functions, and ornaments of all kinds, which give such effectual aid to the pomp of ceremonies. The minister and the priest cannot officiate in the same sanctuary ; the building which is adapted to the one is unsuited and inconvenient for the other. The Groote-Kerk has passed through these various transfor- mations. Its naked walls, of a uniform tint of coloring, present a cold and sad appearance ; the choir and the chapels are closed ; the windows have been despoiled of their colored glass ; the tran- sept and nave are filled with seats placed as in an amphitheatre, which hide the arcades, the bases, the shafts, and even the capi- tals of the columns of the side aisles. The ancient edifice ean no longer be recognized ; it is degraded and mutilated, and the effect which it might otherwise produce is completely destroyed. Yet, even such as it is at the present day, it deserves exam- ination, and attracts attention ; its ground-plan (Fig. 2) shows a certain kind of grandeur and much unity in the arrangements of the nave, transept, and choir, but the apse -is poor, and the aisles surrounding the east end correspond badly with the rest of the building. The most curious part is the timber-vaulted roof which covers the nave, the weight of which rests on the ends of enormous bare tie-beams, wliich also serve to buttress the walls. The transverse ribs of the roof extend from aisle to aisle, and support the boards which 'form its framework ; each of these ribs springs from a slender column or pilaster, also of wood, which extends down to the chapiter of the column, and is supported by it, its bearing being sometimes strengthened by a brace placed below. This very homogeneous structure is entirely independent of the main masonry; the profiles of the arches resemble those of stone voussoirs ; they are composed of small pieces of wood indented together, thus forming a rigid system, but possessing sufficient elasticity to yield without breaking, and without los- ing their shape in consequence of the movements communicated to the whole building by an unstable soil. 2S HOLLAND. Cousti-uctions of this kind are very frequent in the ecclesias- tical buildings of the Netherlands. This is explained by the double advantage which they offer : first, in not imposing too ffreat a weiuht on walls erected on a bad soil, and also in allowing- Fig. 3. — Interior of the Groote-Kerk. architects to make use of those materials which, at the time when the churches w^ere erected, were found abundantly in the country, then covered with forests which have since disappeared. It is true that a fire — and they are frequent here — would soon have destroyed the whole. The timber roofs of the Groote- ROTTERDAM. 29 Kerk are in good preservation ; they are of no older date than 1513; they are not so well constructed, and are certainly less interesting, than those of other buildings of which we shall have occasion to sj)eak. The architect made his wood-work too jrnX Fig. 4. — The Groote-Kerk, massive for the purpose for which it was intended, and there- fore the whole looks heavy and almost clumsy. This exaggera- tion of necessary solidity is, indeed, a general fault in Holland, where, less than elsewhere, we meet with dehcacy and graceful- ness. 30 HOLLAND We see, at the entrance of the choir, an open screen in copper, of the Louis Treize style, of very remarkable workmanship, and Avith exceedingly rich decorations ; there is also in one of the chapels another communion screen in copper, the tracery and sharp ed<_ces of which are in a perfect state of preservation. The building is entirely of brick, except the points of support and some courses placed on the external facades, which are of stone (Fig. 4), the white color of which contrasts strongly witli the deep red of the bricks. The to^^'er above the entrance was not erected till the seventeenth century; a wooden spire was then placed upon it, which was afterwards destroyed, and re- placed by the tower of several stories which we see at present. AVe must remember, in order to explain the date assigned to the erection of the Church of St. Laurence, that in the Middle Ages the Xorth of Europe was far behind our French provinces, and that in the thirteenth century admirable cathedrals had already been erected in the Ile-de-France when the German races were only just beginning to construct equilateral arches. Fig. 5 — Elevation of the Hospital at Rotterdam. (Scale, .030 inch to the yard.) We must not, indeed, expect to find in Holland ecclesiastical edifices such as have been so much admired in France, Italy, Belgium, or Spain. Nothing is to be seen there in the least degree approaching those admirable churches in which a relig- ion which appeals to the eye and the imagination has collected artistic treasures M'hich even^ one can now see and admire. ROTTERDAM. On the right hand rises, high above this part of the city, a vast building, — the hospital, which was begun in 1844. In conse- quence of their not having taken the precautions which were pu. - - - - - f1 t*^ j^r t^ t4i'iki'MiJ:?'^> It Fig. 6. (Scale, .039 inch to the yard.) 1. Principal entrance. 2. Entrance-hall. 3. Board-room. 4. Director's apartments. 5. Physician's room. 6. Bath-room. 7. Vapor baths. 8. Drawing-room. 9. Staircase. 10. Lifts. 11. Sick- wards. 12. Corridors. 13. Library. 14. Theatre for operations. 15. Principal hall. 16. Wards for patients who pay for attendance. 17. Water-closets. 18. Nurses' apartments. 19. Store-rooms. 20. Dressing-rooms. 11 ^ W ^ ^ ^ P°^ Fig. 7. — Enlarged Plan of Sick- Ward. (Scale, .078 mch to the yard.) rendered necessary by the nature of the soil, the works were in- terrupted for four years, and completed in 1850 (Fig. 5). This hospital is therefore one of the modern benevolent establish- 32 HOLLAND ments constructed iu Europe. The praise which has been be- stowed upon it is doubtless somewhat exaggerated, for we shall see that the arrangement of the sick-wards, an essential part of such a building, is not free from blame. The hospital at Rotterdam is capable of containing from 260 to 280 beds. It is three stories high ; on the ground-floor are the surgery, the kitchen and its offices, the steam-engine, and other necessary appendages. The central part is reserved for the officers of the institution. The two wings are devoted to the patients, and are divided into small wards, each containing only twenty beds, which is an excellent arrangement. But the dimensions of these rooms, 6, 5 X 11 X 4, 6 metres = 328, 9 cubic metres (about 430 cubic yards), only allow each patient 33 cubic metres (about 43 cubic yards), which is very insuffi- cient.^ Fig. 8. — The Grotind-plan of the Boymans Museum, Rotterdam. (Scale, .039 inch to the yard.) In addition to this, the wards are lighted and ventilated merely by a window and a half-glass door opening on a common 1 The quantity of air to each bed, in the Hopital Lariboisiere at Paris, is from 50 to 60 cubic metres (65 to 78 cubic yards). ROTTERDAM corridor perfectly closed, and therefore a constant cause of insa- lubrity, especially during epidemics (Figs. 6 and 7). Each ward has a dressing-room and water-closet, the walls of which are covered with glazed tiles, and which are ventilated only by means of the corridor common to all the wards. The Fig. 9. — The Boymans Museum. floors of the latter are of deal, and are washed every day, so that they are perfectly clean, but at the same time constantly damp. The patients are raised to the upper floors by a lift, so as not to expose them to any inconvenience from jolting, and this also HOLLAND spares the attendants the fatigue of carrying up heavy and cum- brous packages. The Boymans Museum was one of the glories of Holland. It was burnt in 18G4. This building, which contained the master- pieces of the Dutch school, has been re-erected, but unfortu- nately it has not been so easy to replace the pictures that were destroyed. Fig. 10. — statue of Erasmtis, at Rotterdam. The new museum is not faultless. Detached on three sides, it is in the form of a rectangle, and contains two vast halls, lighted from the ceiling, for the reception of pictures of large size, and three smaller rooms for drawings, medals, etc. ; the ground- floor contains sculptures and more unimportant works. The facades, constructed of stone brought from Belgium, at great expense, are well proportioned and highly decorated, but have no ROTTERDAM. 35 originality. However, the building is fer superior to the mu- seums of the Hague and Amsterdam. The statue of the magistrate Gysbert Karel has been lately erected behind the Museum. This personage is seated in an arm-chair, and clothed in a robe, the folds of which conceal the details of the seat ; the sculptor has given to the figure the sim- plest position possible. The body is leaning backward, and the legs are crossed in a careless and natural manner, perhaps rather too realistic ; but this will be readily pardoned, as there is an entire absence of studied effect and pretension. The bronze statue of Erasmus stands on the Groote Mark (Fig. 10) ; it w\as cast in 1622, and is very celebrated in the North, and considered as the masterpiece of the sculptor Reiser. Eras- mus is represented as standing, draped in a long doctor's robe, the folds of which cover his feet ; he holds in his hand an open book, which he is reading. This figure has been alternately much praised and greatly decried ; it certainly deserves " neither this excess of honor nor this indignity." It is a mediocre work, but it has the merit of representing a person who really seems to live, to read, and to walk. The bases of these two statues are equally common and worth- less. The Dutch think a great deal of their primary schools ; but there was nothing^ in their contributions to the Universal Exhi- bition at Paris in 1867 which seemed to justify their preten- sions, and the schools which we visited did not induce us to change our opinion.. The buildings, both in their external ap- pearance and internal arrangements, are far inferior to ours. As to the boasted neutral schools, in which children of every sect receive necessary instruction without any interference with their religious tenets, it is easily understood that they are indispensable in a country whose inhabitants are unwilling to admit any variety or fancy except in their religious notions ; in a country where a city of 100,000 souls, like Rotterdam, has seventeen different sects of almost equal importance, — Eoman Catholics, Jansen- 36 HOLLAND. ists, Eemonstrauts, Mennonites, Eetbrmed, Lutherans, Angli- cans, English Presbyterians, Scotch, Jews, Greeks, etc. AVe readily acknowledge that neutral schools might be useful in France, especially in certain provinces ; but in most cases the uniformity of religion amongst us renders them superfluous, while, on account of the excessive division of religious sects, they are indispensable in Holland. The Exchange is an edifice of the eighteenth century, possess- ing no architectural interest. This large block of buildings surrounds a vast enclosure covered with glass, the metallic frame- work of which is supported by enormous cast-iron columns, painted to imitate stone. The whole is surmounted by a campanile, which was, at the time of our visit, surrounded by scaffoldings made of small pieces of rough wood with the bark on ; and this excessively lidit construction reminded us of those which we see in Eome o at the present time, — a circumstance which strikes one more forcibly, since the Dutch do not generally excel in the economi- cal use of materials. Holland extends her commerce over the whole world : she has factories at the North Cape, and others in Oceania; her numberless vessels bring into her ports the riches of the globe, to be conveyed over the Continent by railways and canals. Eotterdam is the second, and will, it is said, soon be the first of her ports. The productions of the farthest East are brought thither by the mercantile genius of its inhabitants. Eegular lines of sailing vessels and steamers constantly make the long voyage of six thousand leagues which separate Batavia from the North Sea. AVe see them, full and heavily laden, enter the deep canals of the interior, along which they pass to the very houses of their owners, to discharge their freight. This exceptional circumstance, resulting from local arrange- ments, converts the whole city into a port, instead of limiting it to that portion by the side of the river ; and this renders un- necessary at Eotterdam those immense warehouses which we see KOTTERDAM. 37 in London, Marseilles, Genoa, etc. But although each ship-owner has his private warehouses and depots of merchandise, there are some general establishments of this kind at the extremity of the Bompjes. But these dark and gloomy buildings are very badly placed ; the usual Dutch cleanliness is wanting, and the archi- tect can find nothing to admire in their construction. The private dwellings of Holland differ essentially from those Fig. 11. — House in one of the Streets of Rotterdam. of France, w^hich would suit neither such a climate nor habits so different from ours ; Ijut, on the other hand, they are perfectly adapted to the wants, the manners, and the tastes of their in- habitants ; and in this respect the practical disposition of this nation of merchants is especially manifested. The Hollander is not verv sociable ; it is difficult to form 38 HOLLAND any intimate acquaintance with him ; his house, closely shut up, is but rarely, and only under certain circumstances, open to the members of his family. As soon as his business is over at his warehouse or his otFice he goes to a club, where he passes many hours smoking and drinking beer ; he speaks but little, unless he has some direct motive for breaking the silence. His wife keeps the house, and brings up the children. The pleasures of the understanding and the mind, the love of art, are not so much Ground-plan of a House at Rotterdam. Fig. 12. —Basement. Fig. 13. — Ground-floor. Fig. 14. (Scale, .039 inch to the yard.) First-floor. A. Kitchen entrance. B. Area. C. Kitchen. D. Coal-hole. E. Wine-cellar. F. Bath-room. G. Hall. H. Drawing-room. Dining-room. Greenhouse. Bedrooms. Dressinff-room. cultivated in Holland as amono- ourselves. Thus Eotterdam, a town of 100,000 souls, has no theatre ; and at Amsterdam, which contains 300,000 inhabitants, there is no opera-house. Tlie love of flowers, carried to such an extent in some cities as to become a mania, may, however, be accounted for by the very natural desire which these people must feel to see here and there around them some brilliantly colored spots breaking their ROTTERDAM. 39 gray and misty horizon. This desire, perhaps, justifies their exaggerated taste for tuhps of the most gaudy colors, and for pink or bkie houses, and induces them to paint the trunks of trees white and the wooden shoes of the peasants red. In order to satisfy these tastes and habits — which, as we have seen, must leave the mind and the imagination perfectly calm — the Dutchman, who loves neither change nor variety, w^ho can comprehend nothing but symmetry and monotony, who seeks neither society nor intercourse with his neighbor, con- structs for himself dwellings arranged exactly on a uniform plan, with scarcely even a variation in size ; the only difference which exists in the front of their houses is in the shape of the gables, which, according to the period of their construction, and the taste of the day, are more or less strange ; and nothing can, in every case, justify their grotesque forms (Fig. 11). The ground-floor (Figs. 12, 13, 14) is composed of two rooms of equal dimensions, separated by a partition formed of panels, so as slide upon each other by means of rollers, which renders it easy to throw both into one. Opposite to the street-door is the staircase leading upwards to the first floor, and downwards to the basement, where are the kitchen, the room for coal or peat, the cellar, a bath-room, and closets. There is direct access to this underground portion from without, and, in order to give all the air and light possible, an area of from 3 ft. 3 in. to 5 ft. w4de separates the front wall from the public way, and keeps the passer-by at a distance. The upper story comprises two apartments similar to those on the ground-floor, a dressing-room over the hall, and a closet. If the house is of greater impor- tance, there is another story or even two or three above it, but the latter case is very rare. The attics are used for stores, and, in order to avoid anything being carried up or down the stair- case, a pole with a pulley attached is fixed on the outside, by which all packages can be raised or let down. When the fronts of the houses abut on a canal, they are some- times covered with enclosed or sheltered balconies, or large project- ing bay-windows, which produce a picturesque effect (Fig. 15). 40 HOLLAND. The rooms on the ground-floor are inteuded to be seen by the public ^vho pass along the street, but do not enter : the windows of these rooms have their sill very low, and are ornamented within by stands full of flowers. The furnitui-e can thus be seen from without, and is almost always composed of the produc- Fig. 15. — Houses on the Banks of a Canal, Rotterdam. tions of Java, China, or Japan, of objects of art or vcrtu, of strange forms, but of an inappreciable value and rarity; im- mense jars, hideous Bouddhas, jade vases, and unsightly bronzes are seen in abundance. Nothing interferes with the view of the KOTTERDAM. 41 back room, and the rare plants and choice tulips arranged on the floor of the conservatory. A very simple contrivance serves to bring the flowers nearer to or farther from the window. All the windows are hung with sashes, — an excellent plan for enabling them to be securely closed without any inconven- Fig. 16 —The Delft Gate, Rotterdam. ience, in a country where there is no necessity to renew the air of the apartments frequently, and where it is not only contrary to the usual custom to look out of the window, but even to open it. To atone for this imprisonment, the w^omen, wdio always live in the upper story, have adopted the Belgian or Swiss spy mir- ror} by means of which they can, while seated within the room, notice all that passes in the street. But in rigid families this mirror is prohibited, and the women live in the rooms which look into the back garden. 1 A diagonal mirror on the outside, so placed as to reflect all objects in the street below. — Tr. 42 HOLLAND The use of outer blinds is a rare exceptiou ; they are replaced by inner shutters or double windows. When they wish to pre- vent passers-by or neighbors seeing what takes place within, they put before the windows, on the inside, small fine wire- work screens, painted blue or rose-color, called Horren, which allow them to see without being seen. These houses are entirely constructed of brick : the floors and timbers are of deal, as well as the internal wood-work, and the doors and window-frames. The roofs are covered vvith curved tiles, slightly differing in form from ours ; the bricks, which are generally of a deep color, measure about 8i in. X 4 in. X 2 in. ; they are employed in the most primitive manner, without any attempt at combinations which might offer any advantages in the construction, or present forms pleasing to the eye. The highway regulations, which, with us, restrict in so many ways both architects and their buildings, do not appear to be very rigorous in Holland. Each person builds his house in a certain given line ; he constructs it solidly, because it is his interest to do so ; he renders it convenient and healthy, because otherwise he could neither let, sell, nor inhabit it ; but he attains this end without being subjected to our many regulations, which are diffi- cult in application, variable, and often doubtful in interpretation. When we leave Rotterdam we pass through the Delft gate (Fig. 16), built in the last century, which is considered an impor- tant structure in a city where there are so few. Then we arrive at a modern Gothic building — and such Gothic ! — which is the terminus of the Hague Railway. As soon as we lose sight of the last houses in Rotterdam, we find the country just as we left it on the other side before we entered the towns. The canals, the meadows, the flocks, the windmills, the roads paved with brick, return incessantly, and succeed each other in such a regular and uniform manner that one is afraid after a while of being the victim of an illusion, and is tempted to rub the window of the carriage in order to be as- sured that tliis invariable image is not engraved upon it. THE HAGUE. 43 THE HAGUE.i THE BINNENOF. — THE TOWN HALL. — THE MARKET. — THE HOUSES. — THE MUSEUMS. IF the terminus where we start for Rotterdam is Gothic, that, on the contrary, at which we stop at the Hague is Grecian. One is as good as the other ; indeed, it is almost impossible to choose between them. The Hague (St. Gravenhage) is more unlike a Dutch town than any other in Holland ; it has no decided character, no origi- nal personality ; it is the capital of the kingdom, the residence of the Court, a fashionable city, a favorite abode of that nomadic crowd, without fixed habitation, wdio look upon Europe as their dwelling-place. It has constantly offered an asylum to exiles of all nations ; you find there enlightened, learned society, beau- tiful fine-art collections, and all kinds of intellectual resources. The natural productions are rich, and the sea is close at hand. The appearance of the city corresponds very well with the idea which one would form of it. Tlie streets are straight, and there are w4de avenues and squares planted with trees ; and also — a noticeable thing in a Dutch town — no internal canals ; they have all been restricted to the harbor. A single piece of water has received the freedom of the city, the Vivyer, whose dimensions are those of a lake, and which, occupying the side of a vast square, bathes the walls of the Binnenof The Binnenof (Fig. 17) is a palace, or rather an assemblage of buildings fulfilling the same purposes as that clcgli Uffizi at 1 The Hague is the town where the Dutch nobility reside ; there is scarcely any place more agreeable in the world. — Regnard, 1681. 44 HOLLAND Florence. It is the ancient paLace of the Stadtholders, and tlje cradle of the Hague, and was formerly a fortress surrounded by trenches. Tliere is still no communication between it and the city, except by three bridges. Installed in this vast building there are a chapel, the Treasury offices, the Senate, the Museum (a little beyond the ancient Fig. 17. — The Binnenof at the Hague. buildings), two offices of the Ministry, and those of several other branches of public administration. In the midst of the court stands a building of the thirteenth century, intended originally as a chapel, but now used as a place where the public lottery is drawn, and for the exercises of the civic guard, who thus perform their manoeuvres sheltered from the sun and rain (Fig. 18). The whole of the Binnenof has been several times altered and modified. The original buildings, which are to be seen around the inner court, are composed of a ground-floor before which is a portico, and two upper stories of a square form. THE HAGUE. 45 The materials employed are stone and unfaced brick. It has been very carefully constructed, so that, in spite of time, and foun- dations resting on a movable and compressible soil, the- general mass of .the building has stood well, and no deterioration is per- ceptible to the eye; but the appearance of the edifice is not cheerful, and it gives one the idea of a barrack or a prison rather than of a palace. Fig. 18. — The Lottery Hall at the Hague. The Lottery Hall alone relieves the whole structure. This little Gothic building makes an agreeable break in the monotony of the cold and symmetrical lines which surround it. The two turrets, the object of which is not at once evident, were formerly watch-towers, commanding the flat and level country all around. Tlie campaniles which are above them are modern. The interior of this hall has a bare wooden roof, said to be of 4G HOLLAND cedar ; but we could only examine it through a broken pane of glass, all our attempts to penetrate farther having been inefiectuaL The discussions which lately took place m i^unce, when it was proposed to install the Municipal Council of Paris in the Luxembur^T and in the projected Hotel de Ville, give a certain Mi DHDIIaOMD Fig. 19. Fig. 20. Ground-plan and Section of the Senata Hall at tlio Hague. (Scale, .078 inch to the yard.) A. President's seat. D. Seats of senators. B. Secretaries. E. Gallery for the public and the C. Seats of ministers. press. amount of interest to the arrangements adopted at the Hague in order to seat the members of the Senate. The hall of assembly, of which we give a ground-plan (Fig. 19), and a section (Fig. 20), has nothing remarkable in itself, but its arrangement deserves to be noticed. On the right and left are the seats of the great dignitaries of the kingdom, the representa- tives of foreign Powers, and the public ; below, the senators, thirty- THE HAGUE. 47 nine in number, are seated three by three on benches with alter- nate desks ; these benches are placed in six rows opposite to each other. In the intermediate space are the president's arm-chair, and the seats of the ministers and secretaries. This is, in princi- ple, almost the same arrangement as that adopted at the House of Commons in London. There is no tribune ; the members speak from their places ; each one rises to ask a question or to reply, without making a formal speech. The senators engage in conversation or discussion, rather than in an oratorical tourna- ment, and the afiairs of the country do not suffer in conse- quence. Tlie Dutch do not seem to value the works of art which they possess, so much for the pleasure which they may afford, as for the profit which they may derive from them. The museums of the Hague and Amsterdam are badly placed in third-rate build- ings, and the public are not admitted, except on payment, — a custom which is observed in no part of Europe except in Bel- gium and the Netherlands. The Museum at the Hague contains on the ground-floor a collection of Chinese and Japanese curiosities of an exaggerated reputation ; and, on the first floor, a gallery of paintings contain- ing about three hundred pictures. The greater part of these be- long to the Dutch school, among w^hich are found Paul Potter's " Bull," and Piembrandt's " Lecture on Anatomy." Although the numerous copies of the masterpiece of Paul Potter have rendered it so well known, the impression which it gives us is new, because none of its reproductions have given the exact proportions and the scale of the original, which is of the natural size; to this striking peculiarity we nmst add the excessive study of detail, and a minute care to reproduce the slightest accessories. Thus the spectator feels more surprise than admiration ; he counts the flies scattered over the animal's back, and the roughened parts of the horns, and remains almost unmoved before such an exact and rigorous copy of nature. The " Lecture on Anatomy " is a work of a different character. 48 HOLLAND, The spectator cannot avoid feeling a certain emotion when studying the scene which the painter places before him. A dead body is lying extended, the students surround it, listening to the lecture dtdivered by Professor Tulp, in coiyore vili. This is the suliject, which is not in itself very attractive ; but the body is unmistakably a dead body ; the head of the professor and those of the physicians are portraits ; each is represented with his natural characteristics, his usual gestures, his peculiar temperament, expressed in such lively though apparently insig- nificant detail, thanks to the genius of Eembrandt, as clearly to show the impression made on each person present at this dis- mal scene, the points in which they differ, and those in which they resemble each other. Many otlier works at the Hague Museum are as remarkable as the preceding, without being so well known. They all have the same character peculiar to the genius of this people and this school of artists, the last whicli has appeared in the history of art. In the " Woman at tlie Window," and the " Woman with the Lamp," by Gerard Dow, the " Herb-Market at Amster- dam," the " Musicians," and the " Huntsman," by Metzu, in the '' Painter and his Wife," and .the " Soap-Bul)bles " of ]\Iieris — in all of them, in fact — we constantly find the same representa- tion of the actions of ordinary life, and of facts patent to every one , there is nothing ideal or elevated, nothing which strikes us as great. Contemporary history, the remarkable deeds of heroes, love, religion, or the glory of one's native country, have only inspired these masters with citizen scenes, treated in a citizen-like manner. They have felt only the material side of life and nature ; dreams and imagination have evaded their genius, which only shows itself in conscientious studies of sub- jects, at times the most vulgar and grotesque, in copies of com- mon models, without grandeur or elevation, in which tliere is nothing to awaken the vibration of those noble sentiments which Art is destined to arouse in the heart of man. We shall have again to return to this subject when visiting THE HAGUE. 49 the museum at Amsterdam, and shall then desciibe more fully the characteristics of the Dutch school of painting. Prince William proposed, about the year 1840, to have a pal- ace built for him by an English architect, — the most absurd palace that ever excited the mirth of an architect. It is said to be Gothic ; but we cannot tell why. It is in every respect a work of folly, and beyond the bounds of reason : its turrets, machicolations, and half-hidden apertures cannot be described. The strangest thing of all is, that this grotesque assemblage is only an outward show, a mere decoration. Behind it is the veritable palace, with real walls, real windows ; a palace in which it is possible to live and to endure life. In front of William's palace is a Neo-Grecian edifice, which is the royal residence. One who was fond of finding fault with the arcliitecture of the Middle Ages said one day, as he showed us a stonemason's shop near one of the cemeteries of Paris : " See how easy it is to make Gothic architecture ; it is within the reach of every mind and every workman." This simpleton considered funeral monu- ments as types of Gothic architecture. He might have repeated his tirade before Prince William's palace. Instead of entering into a long discussion we should then have asked him to " face- about " towards the royal palace, and should have cried in our turn : " See, then, how easy it is to construct Grecian archi- tecture." This simple story shows that neitlier good Gothic nor good Grecian architecture is easy, and that we ought not to employ either one or the other indifferently ; that, on the contrary, each has its raison cVetre and its conditions of existence ; that, indeed, at the present day, a supposed Grecian palace ought not to have been built at the Hague opposite to one pretending to be Gothic. The churches of the Hague possess little interest. The Groote-Kerk dates from the fourteenth century ; it has lost its first character, and there remains no trace of the original plan except the large tower at the entrance. 50 HOLLAND The Nieuwe-Kerk is built entirely of bricks of different forms and dimensions ; all the plain mouldings, fillets, small columns, and mullions are constructed of bricks of the requisite shapes ; these bricks are not faced, and are simply jointed together, — a logical and reasonable process, far preferable to that which consists in covering brick walls with a sufficiently thick coat to Fig. 21. —The Town Hall at the Hague. obtain in plaster the desired forms. "We see, also, in Germany the former process prevalent and in constant use. The Town Hall (Stadhuis) is of the sixteenth century, and underwent important modifications about 1730. It is placed at the corner of two streets, and shows the traditional belfry still THE HAGUE. 51 intact, and the flight of steps, from the top of vvhicli orators used to address the people. The architectural details are excessive and somewhat exag- gerated ; this defect, however, does not entirely destroy all in- terest in this little edifice (Fig. 21). Fig. 22. —Fish-market. Fig. 23. — Ground-plan. (Scale, .039 inch to the yard.) Near the Town Hall stands the fish-market, sheltered above, but open to all the winds, an arrangement not conducive to comfort, but evidently favorable to cleanliness and the avoidance i)'J. HOLLAND. of unpleasant odors. This market is covered with a sloping platform roof; the tish-woman stands at the lower side, behind a trough in which are the lish ; the customer, protected from the rain and the drip from the roof, walks round under the project- ing part. This market, represented in perspective in Fig. 22, and in ground-plan in Fig. 23, is very economical, but inadequate for a large city, and yet far superior to those we find in many of our provincial towns. y^/^ ^^'2!>*-^Jl*i4^^^^s,2WU — ,vV»*^' ^^^ Fig. 24. — Country Vehicle. The country people who come to the city use curious vehicles of varnished deal, ornamented with carvino'. ^Mien the weatlier requires it, these carriages are covered with a linen tilt. The driver sits on the single seat in front, the rest of the vehicle being intended to receive packages (Fig. 24). The Hague has erected a statue to King William II. and two to William tlie Silent. With the exception of the rider in the equestrian statue of the latter king, which is well executed, the THE HAGUE 53 three works are but mediocre. The monument erected to per- petuate the remembrance of the day when the independence of Holland was proclaimed possesses no very great interest ; but it is the most important of its kind, and on this account we give a sketch of it (Fig. 25), Fig. 25. — Monument in Conuneinoration of the Independence of Holland. Another building also awakens political recollections, but such as are written in characters of blood in the history of the Hague. This is the prison which served as the last abode of Barneveld Olden, the chief of the republican party, who was assassinated in 1617; and of the two brothers De Witt, the grand pension- 54 HOLLAND. ahes or prime ministers of Holland, at first the idols and then the victims of the people. Places that have witnessed gloomy tragedies of this kind have usually changed their character and appearance, and the traveller cannot find in them the traces of the past. The hall in the Chateau de Blois, where the Duke of Guise was assassinated, now richly painted and restored, certainly inspires us with no melancholy ideas ; the old prison of Cardinal la Balue, where he Fig. 28. — View of a House in an Avenue at the Hague. was shut up in his celebrated iron cage, serves at present as a bedroom for a pretty Touraine peasant-girl; the Castle of St. Angelo, at Rome, is covered with the joyous inscriptions of our French soldiers ; in the Tower of London delicate fair young English ladies gayly lay their heads on Anne Boleyn's block, while the attendant touches their white necks with the ed^re of a tin sabre. The prison of the Hague, on the contrary, yet re- mains a gloomy and desolate place ; it is still the prison in all THE HAGUE, 55 its horrors ; a staircase of worn stones, fortress walls, cells insuf- ficiently lighted by narrow windows so high that the hands can- not reach them, and defended by iron bars and gratings ; heavy thick doors, studded with large-headed nails, and closing with enormous bolts which slip into their sockets with a dismal sound ; and on the walls words of hatred and vengeance, and traces of the bloody hands of the wretched men who sought to defend themselves in the last convulsions of terror and despair. Fig. 27. — Ground-plan. Fig. 28. — First-Floor. (Scale, .078 inch to the yard.) 1. Hall. 6. Winter garden, 2. Porch. 7. Morning-room. 3. Area. 8. Enclosed balcony (Loggia). 4. Drawing-room. 9. Bedroom. 5. Dining-room. 10. Dressing-room. The dwelling-houses of the Has^ue differ from those which w^e have seen at Eotterdam, and those which we shall see at Amsterdam. The Hague, as we have said, is a city of pleasure. The stranger who pitches his tent there thinks only of the means of passing his time agreeably. The Dutchman, who retires there after having made his fortune by selling for seventy-five francs in Europe the 'picol of sugar or of coffee which he bought in Java for seven francs, has no other care than to enjoy the riches which he gained so rapidly by such a lucrative trade. It is interesting 56 HOLLAND. to observe how, without renouncing entirely the habits inherent in his race and the usages which belong to his nature, he passes from the sombre houses of the Hoog-straat or the Kalver-straat^ from the fetid canals of the Eokin or the Amstel, to the cheerful Fig. 29. — Elevation. (Scale, 1 3 iucli to the yard.) dwellings of Langevoorhout or of Princessgratch, to the gay villas of the Wood or of Scheveninge.n. The houses in the luxurious quarters of the Hague are large THE HAGUE. 57 and conveniently situated, always surrounded by gardens filled with brilliant flowers, and, in proportion to the means of the proprietor, adorned with external conservatories and glazed por- ticos, forming an outer saloon (Fig. 26). We no longer meet with fa(^ades of such monotonous and frightful uniformity as are seen in all other Dutch towns : the height, the dimensions, and even the color of almost all of these vary. Still the true Dutchman, even at the Hague, cannot renounce the traditions of his whole life ; and here we give, as an example of this transformation, a house in which he has endeavored to reconcile his old recollections with his new aspirations (Figs. 27, 28). He always separates it from the public road by an area, which gives access to the kitchen and oftices ; a covered entry above leads to a hall, wliich opens, on the right, to the dining- room, and on the left to the drawing-room. Behind these rooms is a conservatory or winter garden ; on the first floor are the dw^elling-rooms of the family; the princij^al bedroom is, as a concession to modern ideas, ornamented with a balcony, but tliis balcony is enclosed on all sides, and is always kept shut, so that one can, without being seen, notice all that passes without (Fig. 29). Environs of the Hague. — Close by the gates of the city is the celebrated promenade called the Wood, for which the whole of Holland professes the warmest admiration, and which Gerard de Nerval once asserted to have been raised on piles and subse- quently planted. When the sky is clear, and the sun shines, which seldom occurs in Holland, this park is on fete days the rendezvous of the whole population of the city. Eich citizens, workmen in their Sunday clothes, and paupers in the livery of their asylum, come here to listen to concerts in the open air, given gratuitously by the military bands, which are stationed on a small island, around which the promenaders pass, always going methodically in the same direction, without interfering ^vith each other, and especially without any haste. Carriages are rarely to be seen ; we remember that one day we met but two. In one were the 58 HOLLAND. Queen-Dowager aud the King; in the other, an odd coincidence, was a Frenchman who acquired a sad notoriety at the time of our last civil discords. As the royal jDersonages passed, there was no cry, no noisy demonstration ; every one uncovered at their approach, whilst they themselves saluted the crowd with that automatic move- ment peculiar to crowned heads. The presence of their king awakened neither transports nor enthusiasm in those who were present, but only simple marks of regard, the testimony of the respect which is due to the representative of a government freely accepted by the nation. This attitude, however, was very noble, aud presented a striking contrast to the silly manifestations which are seen elsewhere under similar circumstances. It would be wrong to compare the Wood at the Hague with our Bois de Boulogne, since there could be no points of resem- blance between them. They present two entirely distinct as- pects, each having its own merit, but different. The soil in the Wood is perfectly flat and level ; water is abundant ; a hole made with a walking-stick in the ground would become a small well. The walks are bordered with superb trees ; the roots of the beeches passing down into a damp soil give to the bark and foliage a whitish tint, to which the rays of the sun communicate a quasi-metallic glistening, which is represented in the landscape of the national painters. In the midst of this park stands the royal palace called the "House in the Wood,". a rich, citizen-like habitation, dating from the seventeenth century ; it contains a certain number of pictures and works of art of secondary interest. Different avenues extend from the park, and are for a consid- erable distance bordered with villas and country houses, in wliich tlie rich Dutchmen of Holland or Java come to retire and enjoy themselves after their fashion. For the love of tlieir native land is so great in these natures otherwise so calm and cold, that whatever may be the position wliich they have acquired, the distance they may have to traverse, the hopes which have been THE HAGUE. 59 realized or disappointed, they have always a tendency to return to the home of their childhood. They resemble in this respect the Chinese coolie, who is content to remain for live years among the guano heaps of Peru, in order to gain enough for a burial- place in the soil of the Celestial Empire. We had an introduction to the proprietor of one of these houses, and we went with him to inspect it. The richness of the furniture and the objects of Oriental art which filled it astonished us, and our admiration made him smile. He then showed us some large colored photographic views representiug his habitation at Samarang, — a veritable palace entirely of mar- ble, surrounded by a veranda of teak-wood. Three distinct buildings, protected from the sun by a double roof, are connected together by long galleries suj^ported by pillars of carved wood ; these pavilions contain a dining-room, an immense vivarium, and a drawing-room. In each apartment there was a ventilating apparatus of a somewhat primitive kind, — gigantic fans, which a Malay, dressed in a blue robe, worked by means of a string passed round a roller, and which were sufficient to keep these vast rooms cool, whether they were open or closed on two or more sides, according to the hour of the day. Then there were immense gardens filled with the productions of the exuberant vegetation of the tropics, — fruits whose juices are deadly, plants whose perfume is j)oison. And, to complete this establishment, stables for four-and-twenty horses, and rooms for eighty servants, whom you might see dressed in the richest costumes, and per- forming their various functions. The dwelling at the Hague must have appeared poor and mean to this man, habituated to the luxury and splendor of the East ; and yet this nabob feels occasionally that it is necessary for him to abandon for a while the j)rincely life that he leads there. He quits his palace, the dazzling sunshine, and the natural luxuri- ance of Java, and returns with delight to revisit his little villa, and the fogs and tulips of his beloved Holland. He forgets his riches and his power, and becomes again a simple citizen, the 60 HOLLAND. modest proprietor of a little house at the Hague, in which he re- sumes the habits of his race and the recollections of his childhood. " Have you any architects at Java ? " Ave asked our host, as we took our leave of him. " Yes, certainly. We have, first, the European architects who, imbued with the traditions of the West, come to construct there houses on the models which are seen everywhere in Holland or elsewhere ; they endeavor to recall in Java the remembrance of Grecian, Eoman, or Gothic buildings which they have more or less understood.^ The result attained is what you may suppose. Besides these, we have the Chinese, who do not strive to give the predominance to their personal tastes and their own manner of looking at things, but who have, on the contrary, a remarkable talent for assimilation ; they are, at the same time, to a great extent architects, engineers, and contractors. A Chinaman be- comes whatever he wishes ; they listen attentively to the direc- tions of their employer, speaking not to give him new ideas, but only to induce him to develop his own. A sketch, often a mere tracing on the ground, is sufficient, and they produce immediately all that you wdsh. Here are buildings in wood and in marble. Notice how thoroughly the architects have understood, according to their destined use, both the materials. which they have em- ployed and the position which they should occupy. It is impos- sible not to distinguish, at first sight, that this compartment contains the aquarium, this the drawing-room, the other the family sitting-rooms, and the fourth the secondary apartments. As to the marvellous decorations and the infinite variety of in- ternal arrangements, it is the result of Chinese and Hindoo art united with the effects of that dazzling light which gilds, ani- • mates, and throws into relief the simplest objects. " It is wonderful, in fact ; and to think that such results have been obtained by people whom we consider barbarians." The Chinese, barbarians ? Ah ! well. ^ Let us not be accused of exaggeration, since we Frenchmen have hnilt a Neo- Grecian palace for the Governor of Saigon, r.nd a Gothic catliedral at Shanghai. SCHEVENINGEN. 61 SCHEVENINGEN. THE VILLAS. — THE CHURCH. "One can go from the Hague to the sea in less than half an hour by a veiy pleasant road. We saw on our way a carriage driven by sails." — Regnard. A PASS AGE in a trcsckiiit is a mode of travelling still held in honor in Holland, and it is well to describe it to the reader, in order that he may avoid it. One must be possessed of Dutch calmness of disposition to be able to endure a trip, however short, in those hea^y, flat, and narrow boats, towed by a horse along canals of thick and greenish water. You can see nothing, for the canal is enclosed within two very high banks ; nothing can be heard, for there is no noise ; your travelling com- panions, usually inhabitants of the neighljoring villages, are mo- tionless, fixed to their seats ; they have nothing to say to each other, and, certainly, not much more to think about. The men smoke, the women knit; their heavy countenances, unvarying and without expression, show no traces of any impression or emotion whatever. Sometimes the boat stops, and draws up to the side ; another tresckuit is coming in the opposite direction. It is more than a hundred yards off, and there is ten times as much time as would be required to get out of its way, and to avoid delay ; but it would never come into the mind of any per- son in this country to do anything in a hurry. We must there- fore bear the inconvenience with patience, thinking with regret of the tramroad carriages which perform the journey from the Hague to Scheveningen in a quarter of an hour, and of Eegnard's carriage with sails, which is no longer in use except on the plains of Hong Kong ; but still, at last, we arrive at our destination. 62 HOLLAND. But to do justice to the tresckuit, it gives us oue moment of solid satisfaction, and that is when we leave it. That which most astonishes a traveller when he first lands at Batavia is not the brilliant shells or the fan-palms, the marble verandas or teak-wood kiosks. Nothing of this kind seems to impress a stranger so strongly as to see under this burning sky, and surrounded by such luxuriant vegetation, narrow and mean brick houses with fantastic gables, built on this new soil by Dutch colonists, in remembrance of the mother country. A similar, though contrary, impression awaits the traveller who passes through certain environs of the Hague, and goes to Scheveningen or "Woorburg. In the midst of clumps of shrubs and groups of tropical flowers, raised in hot-houses and brought out on grand occasions, may be seen houses open to the winds of heaven, showing nothing but verandas, porticos, and enclosed or open balconies. We ask with astonishment how such build- ings can be habitable under this gi'ay and misty sky. They are doubtless very uncomfortable ; but when, by cliance, a bright ray of sunshine lights up the landscape, the eye can see it and rejoice. We give the plan of one of these dwelling-houses, which is in process of construction. All of them have not been erected with the same care as this, and with so much attention to detail Very often recollections derived from a distant country are not so happily carried out, and in every case this mutual transfer- rence of works adapted specially to climates and necessities so opposite to each other is not precisely satisfactory, either to logic or reason. This villa (Figs. 30 and 31) has a north and south aspect, with a view of the sea. On that front it has a large loggia, — a kind of conservatory, — communicating with the ojDen galleries on tlie lower floor; a veranda, which establishes a connnuni- cation between the apartments on the ground-floor, shelters the south front from the sun. On tlie opposite side of the house there is a porch, serving as a covered entry for carriages. On SCHEVENINGEN. 63 the first floor are the family rooms, all having balconies either enclosed or open. The two principal bedrooms show in their arrangement a great knowledge of the art of comfort ; each is provided with a dressing-room ; the beds are placed on an eleva- tion in a recess formed by the projection of the partition w^all, thus leaving a wide empty space in the room; they are also completely sheltered from draught, or from the too bright light, which, when reflected from the water, is rather fatiguing to the eye. If it is fine, the occupier may, without leaving his apart- ment, go out into the enclosed balcony to breathe the fresh air I 4- I 5 Fig. 30. — Ground-floor. Fig. 31. — First-floor. (Scale, .039 inch to the yard.) 1. Porch. 2. Antechamber. 3. Morning-room. 4. Drawing-room. 5. Dining-room. 6. Open gallery. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Closet. Bedrooms. Enclosed balcony. Dressing-rooms. Water-closets. from the sea ; if it is wet, he can sit at his fireside, sheltered from the rain and wind, and enjoy the prospect to be seen through his wide sash windows, which are securely closed. The inferior apartments and the offices are placed on the op- posite side of the house, w^here the view is less interesting. The side facing the north has no opening, but is a dead wall, solidly constructed, for it was necessary on this aspect to be more com- pletely protected from bad w^eather. lustead of an ordinary wall of one thickness, the builder has erected two ; that on the out- side is about 1 ft. 8 inches in thickness, and the inner wall, formed of bricks placed lengthwise, is about 4 J inches wide. 64 HOLLAND. These two walls are separated by an interval of 4 inches ; they are connected only by cross-pieces of iron placed at the level of the floors, intended to bind them together, without, at the same time, allowing any damp to be communicated from one to the other ; the floors being supported by the inner wall, the outer has only its own weight to sustain. Four narrow openings are made in the outside, so as to keep up a draught, and at the level of the ground is a small channel, hollowed like the stones of a gutter, which receives all the w^ater produced by fog, and any damp that may have passed through the outer wall ; the paper- hangings of the internal wall are thus protected from all external influences, and remain perfectly dry. This system of double walls is frequently employed in Russia, and the holloAV space between the two serves to conduct the heat supplied by warming apparatus, which thus raises the tempera- ture by warming large surfaces, instead of introducing heated air by a single opening, the neighborhood of ^vhich is often disa- greeable. The decoration of the interior of this villa is not less deserving of attention than the external arrangements. Deal is the only wood employed ; but, notwithstanding such simple materials, the result obtained is excellent, and unquestionably superior to that produced by the use of imitative marble and papier mache so much in fashion with us. The joists of the ceiling are left uncovered ; there is a mould- ing on their edges, relieved by stripes of color ; other bands of very bright tint, traced on the joints of the boards, serve to form regular compartments, relieving the bright and uniform ground of the deal, w^hich glistens w^ith a thick coat of varnish. All this is very simple, but free from pretension and vulgarity. Fig. 32 show^s the general plan adopted for the construction and decoration of the principal staircase leading to the first floor. The steps, string-boards, supports, and even the balustrades themselves, are entirely made of deal; some parts are simply moulded or carved in the solid wood. SCHEVENINGEN. 65 The details bear the im^jress of Gothic ideas, and have been Fig. 32. — A Staircase. very carefully studied ; the materials employed are only brick and wood, with the exception of a few pieces of Belgian stone. ^ 1 For further details, and the drawings to which we have alluded in our de- scriptions, see " Habitations Modem es, par MM. Viollet-le-due et Felix Narjoux, architectes."— V« A. Morel et C^% editeurs, Paris. 66 HOLLAND. The village of Scheveningen, which is the Dieppe of Holland, contains nothing interesting except its country houses. There is, however, in the part inhabited by fishermen, a church (Fig. 33) which was built in the fourteenth century ; the choir was erected in the fifteenth ; the nave and the side-aisles are covered with the same roof. This church is, at present, devoted to the Protestant form of worship, and has lost much of the interest which it must have formerly possessed (Fig. 34). Fig. 33. — Ground-plan of Church at Scheveningen. (Scale, .039 inch to the yard.) On a dune, the base of which is consolidated by a brick wall, are arranged three hundred boats which the fishermen drew up for shelter from a storm of wind last night. They are lying- there in quiet, in perfect order, and ready to put again to sea. These boats are heavy, thick, and massive, and are very unlike any that you may find elsewhere. Leeboards, fixed on the gun- wales by a screw, hang over the sides during rough weather, in order to lessen the oscillation caused by the waves. Whether this plan is efficacious, or likely to be advantageous to boats intended SCHEVENINGEN. 67 for such service as these fishing-smacks, is very questionable ; at all events, it appears to us that this contrivance must inter- fere with the management of the boats, and when the sea is rough prevent their rising easily over the w^aves.^ Fig. 34. — Church at Scheveningen. The sea-shore at Scheveningen is very curious : there is an immense extent of fine, soft, level sand, which you reach, not by 1 These boards are, more probably, used to prevent the boats making leeway while fishing. — Tr. 68 HOLLAND. going down, but up, for the sea here is not below, but considera- bly above you. The depth of water is so slight, that bathers make use of machines on four wheels, and drawn by a horse. Before the vehicle stops, you have had time to undress ; the door is then opened, and you plunge into the water in a narrow space protected from prying eyes by sail-cloth. You may, indeed, by raising this screen, swim out into the open sea, if you wish to do so. When you have enjoyed your bath, you re-enter the ma- chine, the horse starts afresh, and you have time to dress as you return. While speaking of Scheveningen, we may mention some traits of Dutch life and manners which are obvious, yet w^orthy of no- tice. The roads or canals from the Hague to Scheveningen are, during almost their whole length, bordered by villas, the form or the good taste of which we do not now discuss ; but their ap- pearance is cheerful, smiling, and very agreeable. In front are hedges, flowers, grass-plots, borders filled with richly colored plants carefully cultivated. From the midst of these flower-beds the eye is charmed by the sight of the country, the beauties of the neighboring landscape, the pedestrians and the carriages that pass along. Behind these buildings is usually found a confined, enclosed space, very dull and uninteresting, with a ditch of stag- nant water, and the unfailing- windmill. Ah, well 1 this is the spot which the Dutchman has reserved for his own use ; here he feels at home and united with his family ; this ditch, this wind- mill, are a source of enjoyment to them all ; they neither see any one nor are themselves seen, and they are happy. As to that part of the dwelling left exposed to the public, it is entirely sac- rificed to show. The Dutchman there makes an exhibition of his fortune, and of the enjoyment that it is capable of affording to him ; he satisfies in this manner his vanity and his love for seclusion ; for if he were actuated solely by this latter feeling, nothing would prevent him from concealing and at the same time enjoying the riches which he now exhibits to the eyes of others. I SCHEVENINGEN. 69 We have another instance of this. The sea-shore at Scheven- in,Q;-en is frequented during the season by elegant people. The women, instead of showing themselves and making a display as they do in other countries, install themselves in small huts or summer-houses, which conceal them. They do not mix with each other ; there is no exhibition or competition in dress, but they live retired and by themselves. Yet they are all rich ; many are very rich. They often possess a peculiar beauty, pro- duced by the union of the Javanese and Dutch races, — a type full of contrasts : a fair and brilliant complexion with black hair, a dark skin with blue eyes, a nonchalant gait allied with expres- sive gestures. But their riches, grace, and beauty, all are con- cealed, and are never shown to the outer world. These are pleasures and charms reserved for tlie family circle. Social life is reduced to that of the family. In this respect, more than in many others, the Dutch do not resemble ourselves. 70 HOLLAND. LEYDEN. THE KOORNBROG. — THE TOWN HALL. "The city of Leydeu is the Versailles of Holland, by its air of decayed grandeur, its perfect sadness, and its imposing solitude." — Esquieos. AT the Dutch railway-stations there are no locked waiting- rooms, unfortunately so common among ourselves. We rejoiced, therefore, as we started on our journey from the Hague, to be able to go in or out of the refreshment-room as w^e pleased. A o-rave Dutchman, our fellow-traveller, explained to us, with the utmost seriousness, that such liberties could not be allowed to travellers in our country without exposing the French to great danger of accident, on account of our natural impetuosity ! It is indeed true that the inconceivable calmness and placidity with which a Dutchman enters or quits a railway-carriage is a striking^ contrast to our haste and vivacity. But this slowness does not accelerate the journey ; and as the country to be passed through is identically similar to that which you have already traversed, and as the most frightful monotony reigns all around, in nature as well as in the works of man, a journey through these interminable meadows, filled with the same black or white cattle, watered by the same canals, interspersed with the same windmills, soon becomes very tedious. Here we are at Leyden at last, with its encircling canals, its green houses, its hv.rg, and its souvenirs of the Anabaptists, the Elzevirs, and the famous siege of 1574, during which the be- siegers employed pigeons to convey news. When we first saw Leyden we thought it dull and solitary ; LEYDEN. 71 but afterwards we visited Utreclit, and now Leyden seems in our recollections full of life and animation. It is indeed an in- teresting town, commanded by a ruined fortress, which is coeval with its earliest days. These ruins are all that remain of the old burg, the foundation of which is attributed to the Eomans, and which, on the top of a hill fifty feet high, — one must be in Holland to call such a mole-hill a hill, — commanded a very Fig. 35. — View of the Koornbrog at Leyden. strong position on the Ehine ; a position unimj)ortant at the present time. We expected to find in the " burg " of Leyden some souvenirs of the castles on the Ehine, and some resemblance to them ; but these ruins are not very interesting, and are now converted into a cafe and refreshment-rooms. The keep, which is still stand- ing, has just been repaired, and from its battlements you can see the city and the environs. 72 HOLLAND. At the foot of the castle is the Koombrog (a covered bridge), in which we do not find the character and originality seen in buildinf^s of the same kind in Switzerland and Italy (Fig. 3o). itljatmifZ,A% Fig. 36. — The Town Hall at Leyden. The Town Hall is the most ancient building in Leyden. It is a large edifice of the sixteenth century, and has a high flight of steps, which serve as an extemporaneous tribune for popular orators. The details of the facade are bad ; the statues, pinna- cles, balustrades, and other forms of decoration affect grotesque, distorted, and exaggerated shapes (Fig. 36), which show what kind of buildings were erected there at the time of our "re- naissance." LEYDEN. 73 Beyond Leyden the road crosses a bridge over a yellow and muddy stream, — the old Ehine (the Oude Kijn), as the Dutch call it. Poor noble river, which, after having rushed over the rocks of the Grisons, formed the cataracts of Schaff hausen, and extended itself in all its majesty at Cologne, finishes its course sadly between the two w^alls of the quay of a canal, or disap- pears amongst the mud-banks of Northern Holland. 74 HOLLAND. HAARLEM. THE GROOTE-KERK. — THE SHAMBLES. — HEAD-DRESSES. •* In the very place where you now see a village ships of considerable burden used to sail, scarcely twenty years ago." — Van Ostade. BEFOEE we reach Haarlem we pass by the " polders," the former site of the lake of Haarlem. This inland sea, eleven leagues in circumference, with difficulty jDrotected from the Xorth Sea by dunes insufficient to resist stormy weather, was subject to real tempests, to terribly high tides, which more than once threatened Amsterdam itself It was therefore neces- sary to restrain this dangerous neighbor, and this was no trifling matter. The first proposals of this project were made during the sixteenth century. After having been long abandoned, it was reconsidered subsequently to the terrible inundation of No- vember 9, 1836, but not undertaken till 1840. This gigantic enterprise included, not only the draining of the lake, but the execution of many preparatory works of almost as great importance as the principal operation. It was first necessary to throw up round the lake or sea of Haarlem a double dike, inclosing a ring canal with a towing- path, and a weir, emptying itself into the North Sea. The water pumped out was poured into this canal, and thence ran into the sea. Locks constructed in the canals prevented the return of the sea at high tides, and kept it in stormy weather from filling the channels and flowing back into the lake. Having ascertained by repeated soundings that the mean HAARLEM. 75 depth of the lake was about thirteen feet, they calculated that the quantity of water which it contained might be estimated at 947,000,000 of cubic yards. It was necessary to add to this large amount the water brought by rain or by infiltrations from the soil, — about 47,000,000 of cubic yards, — deduction having been made of the loss by evaporation, which is not very consid- erable in a country where the atmosphere is constantly saturated with vapor. Three steam pumpiug-engines were employed, and were suf- ficient for this work, which only lasted three years and three months, in spite of unforeseen difficulties, and complications in- separable from the execution of such an undertaking. The most important of the machines used for this purpose w^as the Leeghwater, which is still at work, and which, by means of eleven lifting tubes, raised at once, at each stroke of the pis- ton, the enormous weight of 145,200 pounds of water. The expense of this enterprise comprised, first, the actual ex- penditure for the drainage itself, and then that of keeping up and repairing the dikes, canals, and draining-engines still neces- sary in order to insure the wholesome condition of the land. The practical turn of mind of the Dutch succeeded in covering the first outlay by the sale of the land reclaimed from the sea, and in reducing the second so as not to exceed the sum allotted previously every year for the construction and repair of dikes intended to protect the province from the encroachments of the sea of Haarlem. The surface of land devoted to agriculture by this operation is about 44,480 acres, now in full working order, and remarkably fertile. Villages have been built on this reclaimed land. In- stead of liquid plains, we see solid green meadows ; trees, houses, and churches now rise where formerly ships floated.^ But every medal has its reverse. When the traveller passes, on a hot day in summer, and looks on what was formerly the 1 A similar, but much less important, work is on the point of being executed in France, at St. Louis du Rhone. HOLLAND lake of Haarlem, he sees heavy vapors rising from the soil, marshy exhalations issuing from this muddy land ; and if he should linger, he will soon feel the sad shivering fit which is the precursor of fever. Nature seems to try to make man pay for his victory, and to take revenge for the struggle in which she has been conquered. This strife is without any truce ; and in order to understand that such must be the case, we have only to remember that almost all the soil of Holland is below the level of the sea. Thus, taking the level of Amsterdam as a base, — an assumed line to which the situation of otlier cities may be referred, — w^e find that Eotterdam is ten feet and a half below the level of the surface of the Meuse at high water, and the environs of Leyden and Haarlem are more than eleven feet below the level of the North Sea. The only aim of the Dutch must therefore be to " bridle the fury of the waves " ; and one of the characteristic traits of the persevering and industrious disposition of this people is that they have raised immense dikes to protect all the most threatened parts, and constructed them in wood and in granite, in a country which possesses neither quarries nor forests. Haarlem is especially distinguished for its love for tulips, and for the large organ in the church dedicated to St. Bavon. The rage for tulips has somewhat subsided. A bulb which formerly cost five thousand florins may now be bought for two hundred, which is still a considerable price. But the love of flowers has not diminished at the same time as their value, and the gardens in the environs of Haarlem are still the most beau- tiful that can be seen. Gardeners go thither from nearly every part of Europe to supply themselves with rare plants, and the flower-beds round the city form a brilliant border full of bright- ness and perfume. The church of St. Bavon, or the Groote-Kerk, which contains the or^^an, the great curiosity of Haarlem, is a building especially remarkable for its great dimensions (Fig. 37). The nave and HAARLEM 77 the choir were built in 1472 by Albert of Bavaria, Duke of Holland. The spire is not so old; it was not erected till 1516. Fig. 37. Ground-plan of the Church of St. Bavon at Haarlem. (Scale, .039 inch to the yarrl.) When we compare this church, one of the most important in Holland, with those constructed in France at the same period, HOLLAND. we see what progress we had akeady made, and what results w^e had obtained, while our neighbors, gaining hints from our works, were only feeling their w^ay by copying us unskilfully. A special arrangement in the churches of Holland — and on Fig. 38. — Internal View and Organ-Case, at the Church of St. Bavon at Haarlem. which we must dwell, as it gives them a character entirely dif- ferent from ours — is the substitution of a timber- vaulted roof for those built of stone or bricks, without any other modification than that which the suppression of flying buttresses may have HAARLEM. '9 caused in the lower parts of the structure ; while the ground-plan, the section of the pillars, and the nature of the materials, have the same conditions of resistance as if they had been intended to support heavy roofs of masonry. One might be induced to suppose that the Dutch architects had taken the idea of their buildings from those of other coun- tries, or rather that they had copied them as far as the spring of the vault ; but that, having arrived at this point, fearing, on account of the nature of the soil, the heavy weight of stone roofs, they had substituted for them vaulted roofs of wood. Fig. 39. — Stadthouse at Haarlem. The organ of the church of St. Bavon at Haarlem is enclosed in a very rich case, of which Fig. 38 wdll give some idea. It was built about the year 1736, and it enjoys a celebrity which may be justly rivalled by the perfection of our modern instru- ments. A simple remark, however, will show its importance. The organ of the Abbey of St. Denis, built in 1841, and w^hich is well known throughout France, contains only 4,500 pipes, while that of Haarlem has 5,000. 80 HOLLAND. The copper chandeliers at St. Bavon are Flemish. They have been wrought with the greatest care, and the style is very sim- ple ; but the thickness given to the metal scrolls injures the effect of the whole, and gives them a heavy appearance (Fig. 38). Before the Groote-Kerk stands the statue of Laurence Coster, who is said by the inhabitants of Haarlem to have anticipated Fig. 40. — The Old Shambles. Gutenberg in the discovery of printing. Close by is seen the Stadthouse or Town Hall (Fig. 39), built of brick, about the year 1630, if one may trust to the date inscribed above the door; but the style of architecture seems to indicate an earlier period. This edifice has undergone modifications and additions which have altered its original form. The principal building, standing HAAELEM. 81 behind the more modem erections, has in front a very elevated flight of steps. The facade, having an open balcony, shows a simplicity rare in Holland, and contrasts strongly with the neighboring structure, the Old Shambles (Fig. 40), a Spanish and Hindoo edifice of a most grotesque appearance. The swollen pyramidal turrets, the frieze, ornamented with the heads of ani- Fig. 41. — The Amsterdam Gate at Haarlem. mals, the red color of the bricks, and the white tint of the stone or of the parts covered with plaster, produce altogether an effect which is characteristic, but only moderately pleasing. The ramparts which formerly defended the town are now nearly demolished. One of the gates is still standing. It is a solid structure of the fifteenth century (Fig. 41). When we had gone over the city, we were invited to attend a 82 HOLLAND very curious meeting, of which the reader will be glad to hear some particulars, for it was called for the purpose of deciding on a competition for the plan of a building, and there never was in France among architects a more hond fide competition. A neighboring town, wishing to erect an elegant fountain in a public square, asked for plans and tenders for the work. Several architects and sculptors answered this appeal. The decision was made. Of course, every one was very discontented except tlie successful candidate ; but this was not all. Each of tiie others declared that the judges had not adhered to the conditions of the plan laid down, and that he had fallen a victim to the strict- ness with which he had observed the required conditions, etc., etc., — such protestations and complaints as are always sure to be made in case of a competition, whether it takes place in Hol- land or in France, and which we have always known to recur on every occasion. Tluis far tliere was nothing new ; but at this point the novelty commences ; for, after the decision, the judges are expected to give a public account to the competitors of the motives which decided them, and which caused them to incline to the right hand or the left. This account was to be given at the meeting to which we were invited. It was a very interesting occasion. The compe|itors were numerous. Each one claimed the right of putting two questions to the foreman of the jury, who replied, after having consulted with his coUeao^ues. There could, therefore, be no decision with closed doors, no influence of party or position. A therefore could not give his vote to the son of B, on condition that B should, on the next day, vote for A. The questions proposed were of course clear, precise, expressed in very good terms, and with the calmness and good temper which a Dutchman always displays, and which require a cate- gorical answer, free from circumlocution and subterfuge. It was not sufficient to say to an unsuccessful candidate, " I con- sider your plan a bad one " ; for he demands immediately why HAARLEM. 83 and in what respect this judgment has been formed, and he has the right to expect an answer. Thus, having been closely pressed by one of the candidates, the president made the following reply : — "A programme cannot always be literally carried out; we must interpret the spirit of it. This is a matter of tact and judgment. Suppose, for example, it was proposed to study the arrangement of a floor of a building consisting of four rooms. Among those who send in plans, the first places his apartments behind each other. He fulfils the conditions, but tlie arrange- ment is bad. Another divides a rectangle into four parts. He also fulfils the programme ; and yet his solution is no better than the former. A third, however, makes his four rooms indepen- dent of each other, by means of a hall. His project is a good one. Would you accuse him of having violated the conditions because he has introduced another element, the hall, which was not specified ? For my part, I should not hesitate to give him the preference ; and it is a consideration of this nature which has caused the rejection of your plan. You have complied faithfully, but in a servile manner, wdth the conditions imposed. Another has understood and interpreted them better ; he has been more intelligent and skilful, and has justified the preference which has been given to him." There was no replying to this argument, as it was stated in so simple and moderate a manner; and, indeed, this mode of dis- cussion, by immediately adducing an apposite example in order to render, the demonstration more striking, is quite in keeping with the upright and practical disposition of the Dutch people. Why could not we follow this example ? Is it not in accord- ance with our disposition ? I see no reason, at least, that we should not try it ; and if it should become a regular custom among ourselves for architects to be called upon to compete with each other, by supplying designs for public works, a plan much to be desired, it would be necessary, in order to encourage this innovation, to surround the decision with every possible condi- 84 HOLLAND. tion of impartiality; and, unquestionably, the best means of effecting this is to give each candidate an opportunity, on the day following the decision, to ask the judge the reasons for his preference without its being possible for him to refuse to reply, or to shelter himself behind the opinions of his colleagues, as was the case at , where an unfortunate competitor showed, one day, letters of condolence received from his four judges, each throwing upon the others the responsibility of the decision at which they had arrived. On the walls of the hall in which we were assembled hung Fig. 42. — Head-dress of the Women of Zuid Hollande, some pictures, bad enough in themselves, representing the dif- ferent types of head-dress of the Dutch women, — fashions which liave already become obsolete in towns, but are still preserved in the villages in certain provinces. Our sketches (Figs. 42, 43, and 44) may give an idea of some of them. The women of the southern part of Holland (Fig. 42) ornament the head with bands of gold and silver, secured under their caps, and terminating in a kind of spiral horns, often adorned with precious stones or rich enamel HAARLEM, 85 In the North of Holland (Fig. 43) the head-dresses worn by the women are very rich and complicated. The hair is cut short, Fig. 43. — Head-dress of the Women of North Holland. and covered with an under-cap of white satin, trimmed with Fig. 44. — Dutch Head-dress. black embroidery. Over this cap is worn a pad, which supports 86 HOLLAND. a broad circular band, having plates of metal attached to it, and adorned in front with the usual antennse. Servants wear these ornaments made of silver ; richer persons have them in gold. In addition to these, there is fixed in the hair, at the top of the head, what is called the forehead hair-pin. The married women wear the larger end of it on the right, the unmarried girls on the left. We may also add that rich citizens' w^ves cover the whole with a bonnet trimmed with flowers (Fig. 44) brought from Paris or London, and the effect is as droll as can be imagined. The journey from Haarlem to Amsterdam is not a long one. We can see at intervals the gulf of Y. The railroad passes through a district full of country-houses of the most cheerful aspect, but built with little variety. We soon enter a Grecian building, — the terminus. The courtyard adjoining is filled with omnibuses gilded and painted in gaudy colors. We pass under a gateway, a kind of triumphal arch with Corinthian columns, and we are in Amsterdam. AMSTERDAM. 87 AMSTERDAM. THE HOUSES. — THE NIEUWE-KERK. — THE OUDE-KERK. — THE WESTER-KERK. — THE KATOLIK-KERK. — THE CRYSTAL PALACE. — THE AMSTEL-HOTEL. — THE MONTALBANS-TOREN. "Among 500,000 men living in Amsterdam, there is not one who is idle or poor, not one fop, nor one who is insolent." — Voltaihe. "Amsterdam is built on herring-bones." — Dutch Piioverb, seventeenth century. I^NUMEEABLE canals covered with vessels ; a port dug in mud ; a yellow sea which wears away its slimy shores ; a soil reclaimed from the water by an incessant struggle ; a calm, laborious population ; enormous ships going and returning in the midst of a mass of uniform, dismal houses, always closed ; large, low, stunted public buildings, without any decided outline ; no cries, no songs ; people who go on their way wdthout any haste ; going out and coming back with unalterable placidity ; the same identical expression on every countenance ; round faces, with a white and red complexion ; behind the windows immovable figures, looking as if benumbed. This was what our first walk through the city revealed to us ; and yet we have often heard it compared to Venice. Alas ! where is tlie blue lagoon ? where the gay songs of the gondoliers, the Square of St. Mark, and the piazza ? Where can we find anything to remind us of that active, lively population, content with the sunshine and their free and easy life ? It is morning. The city awakes. Each inhabitant goes to business, leaves his dwelling, carefully closing the door. The children go to school without noise, without any hurry or dis- 88 HOLLAND. turbance. The servants and housewives, armed with large brooms and gigantic sponges, wash, rub, and polish the fronts of the houses, the footpaths, and the bricks which pave the streets. The houses resemble those which we have already seen ; and the details into which we have entered, when speaking of those of Rotterdam, need but little amplification. Fig. 45. — Houses in one of the Streets of Amsterdam. Holland produces scarcely any building materials, except mud. But this, dried and burnt, becomes brick, and thus forms the constituent element of every structure. These bricks are not laid, as in some countries, with studied care, and with varied combinations of form and color. The Dutch mind is opposed to such labor, such an innovation. The bricks are simply piled upon each other ; the lintels of the doors AMSTERDAM. 89 and windows are of iron or wood; the bricks follow, without interruption, their regular lines, only stopped at each opening by the wooden framework that surrounds it ; and, at last, after one or more stories, they crown the building with a grotesque gable, the top of which is often decorated with a piueaj^ple, a vase, or a vulgar piece of sculpture. All these houses follow each other in interminable lines. They are all alike ; they have no distinct characteristics. They differ from each other in no special and individual aspect, and can only be recognized by some variation in the shape of the gables ; so that we have often wondered how the inhabitants of certain streets of Amsterdam and London, where the same uni- formity of plan is adopted, can distinguish tlieir houses from those of their neighbors. In the plan of these houses there is no more variety than in their facades. On the ground-floor is a long passage serving as a vestibule; at the farther end are the stairs; at the side, the dining-room and drawing-room, separated by a movable parti- tion. On the first floor are two bedrooms, each with a dressing- room. If the house is of sufficient importance, there is another floor above arranged in the same manner ; and over this, on the upper story, the nursery and the servants' rooms. In the base- ment there are the kitchen and several important offices, for good cheer is fully appreciated in this humid climate. In the attics are store-rooms, intended to contain all kinds of provisions and articles for domestic use, since cellars are impossible in such a permeable soil. At the top of the gable a pulley is attached to a horizontal piece of wood, by means of which a basket can be raised or lowered with packages, so as to avoid the incon- venience and injury which might be occasioned by carrying them up and down the stairs within. In some cases, however, the houses built during the last cen- tury show greater variety in their facades and evince a certain amount of taste, and are therefore not destitute of interest. We give, in Figs. 47 and 48, the ground-plans, and in Fig. 46 90 HOLLAND. the elevation, of one of the houses constructed on the Nieuwe- Mark. What is especiaUy worthy of observation in this house is not the general plan adopted in the decoration, but certain special arrangements made by the builder, which manifest a Fig. 46. — Elevation of a House in the Nieuwe-Mark, Amsterdam. conscientious endeavor to carry out the proposed plan in all its details, and to leave nothing unforeseen. Thus, we see beneath AMSTERDAM 91 the cornice j)laced at the base of the gable opeuings about seven inches square, intended to receive the ends of poles by which scaffoldings may be supported, when required for the purpose of cleaning the frontage, pointing the bricks, or otherwise repairing the front of the house. These holes are usually closed by a small stone, by a terra-cotta ornament, or simply by the end of the pole, the rest of which is concealed in the attic. In the business streets the houses are of a different form. The shops occupy the ground-floor ; the upper stories, of which there are never more than two or three, serve as store-rooms or lodgings for the tradesmen. The outer door opens directly on the street. The arrangement is almost the same as w^ith us; Fig, 47. — Plan of Ground-floor. Fig. 48. — Plan of First-floor. (Scale, .078 inch to the yard.) 1. Entry. 2. Hall. 3. Dining-room. 4. Drawing-room. 5. Morning-room. 6. Bedrooms. with this difference, that the shops are often separated from the public way by an open, covered space, forming a recess in the front wall, and supported on pillars of the height of the ground- floor. This space, forming a kind of porch, facilitates the en- trance to the shop, and gives passers-by an opportunity of ex- amining quietly the articles exposed for sale, without interfering with the traffic or blocking up the pavement; but it has this inconvenience, that it darkens the ground-floor (Figs. 49 and 50). Such of these houses as are nsed for taverns, breweries, or ''societies'' (nearly the same as our cafes or " ccrcles''), generally have the floor sunk below the level of the street, and are divided 92 HOLLAND into two parts, — one for the public, the other reserved for cer- Fig. 49. — Elevation of a House in the Calver-Straat, Amsterdam. t _l di Fig. 50. — Ground-plan of the Frontage. tain privileged customers.^ "We may see, through the windows, 1 These societies, or places of resort, often bear veiy pretentious names, such as Prudence, Wisdom, Friendship, and Virtue. AMSTERDAM. 93 the frequenters of the rooms, sitting apart, immovable in their places, each at his little table, drinking and smoking, without exchanging a word, and without seeming to have a single idea to express. These rooms, such as they are, correspond exactly with the needs of their inhabitants, and the requirements of their do- mestic and unsociable life. Land is so scarce in Amsterdam that fresh buildings cannot be constructed, and it is an almost insurmountable difficulty for a new-comer to establish himself. Each inhabitant lives in his own house, and it is only when he dies without heirs, that any one can hope to procure, not indeed the house which he would prefer, but that which falls vacant. It is true that they are all so much alike, that choice is of no great importance. When a house falls into ruins it is rebuilt in the former man- ner, without modifying either the details or the dimensions. This plan, though excellent for preserving the unchanged ap- pearance of the city, is not exactly conducive to the develop- ment of an architect's imagination. Yet an opportunity pre- sented itself, and' was quickly seized by one of our brethren, to whom was intrusted the construction of some houses to be erected in a spot recently reclaimed from the sea.^ These modern houses are of an entirely different character from those which we have already described, and show an in- contestable progress ; for, besides the talent wdiich their con- structor has manifested, he must have displayed considerable energy, and have had great influence over his fellow-country- men, to induce them to adopt the new ideas and plans which he desired to carry out. We give two types of these dwellings. First, a group of houses erected in a sort of enclosure, and surrounded by a gar- den; and then another kind of buildings, with narrow fronts more conformable to Dutch tradition, with an area before and a garden behind. 1 M. Cuypers, architect at Amsterdam, Councillor of tlie Government for His- torical Public Buildings. 94 HOLLAND. The first type (Figs. 51 and 52) comprises three dweUing- houses united, yet each distinct in itself. On the groimd-tloor l-W-H V 5 'h r ■ 4 1 UJ 1 2 i i, b W-: Fig. 51. — Plan of Ground-floor. Fig. 52. — Plan of First Floor. 1. Principal entrance. 2. Kitchen entrance. 3. Passage. 4. Drawing-room. 5. Dining-room. 6. Bedrooms. of each of them are two sitting-rooms, one behind the other ; in the basement are the kitchens, and on the first floor the bed- AMSTERDAM. 95 rooms ; in front is a porch sheltering the doorsteps, and forming a balcony above. These balconies are open, — an arrangement Fig. 53. — Geometrical Elevation. (Scale, .151 inch to the yard.) which a Dutchman would certainly not have permitted in a street where there are many passers-by, or on a frequented canal, but which he has tolerated in the midst of an enclosed 96 HOLLAND. space. "We are, however, assured that a young lady would never come and lean on the rails of this balcony. Without further reference to this prudery, which loses much of its importance since the house is intended for foreigners, we must, however, admit that, in a climate as damp as that of Am- sterdam, an enclosed balcony is preferable to one open to the winds. The details are well carried out. The bricks, tlie constituent materials, are employed in various combinations. Glazed tiles. c i 4 6MV House of Business at Amsterdam. Fig. 54. — Basement. Fig. 55. — Ground-floor. 1. Kitchen. 2. AVash-house. 3. Courtyard. 4. Shop. 5. Back-shop. painted of different colors, placed in the gables, enliven the gen- eral aspect (Fig. *o3), and produce a pleasing effect, especially when contrasted with the neisfhborincr buildincrs. The second example possesses less originality. It is too nar- row, like the houses of this country, with an area in front, two rooms, one behind the other, on the ground-floor, with a garden behind, and then two bedrooms on the next floor (Figs. 54 and 55). The facades (Fig. 56) show well-defined outlines and original combinations. The well-staircase, constructed in the inner part AMSTEEDAM. 97 of the house, is unusual in Amsterdam. The plan is carefully reasoned out, and the materials are well employed, considering their nature. It must, however, be remarked how conscientiously the archi- m Fig. 56. — Geometrical Elevation. (Scale, about 1/5 inch to the yard. ) tect has preserved, in the buildings which he has erected, every- thing which appeared to him excellent and useful in those which preceded him, at the same time that he used new materials in 98 HOLLAND new forms. For this reason he did not hesitate to have large gables in front, and to utilize the valuable attic floor by means of a large opening and a common pulley. He did not conceal the holes intended to receive the scaffold-poles for repairs, while he contrived to make them subservient to the decoration of the facades. But, though a thoughtful and sensible inventor, he would not, through the desire of novelty, substitute Italian ter- races for pointed roofs, and stucco or imitative stone for the excellent bricks which he had at his disposal ; but he remained true to the old traditions while he endeavored to bring them to perfection. Indeed, a work progresses, an art is perfected, only by gradual advances, by taking time to draw conclusions slowly from study and thought, and by never taking one step forward until the preceding one has been accepted. Sudden transformations, hasty and rapid changes which take into account neither re- ceived ideas, nor the respect due to the productions of our pre- decessors, excite party hatred, cause mistrust and fear, and usually end in a revolution, and then in the reaction which is, unfortunately, almost always the fatal result. But to return to the dwelling-houses of Holland, and to con- clude our description of them ; it would be interesting to study the habitations constructed by the German, as compared with those of the Latin, races, in order to ascertain by what means each of these races, so opposite in their tastes, and differing so much in their requirements, have been able, wherever they have established themselves, to construct dwellings adapted to their w^ants, their manner of living, as well as the nature of the climate and the materials which they had at their disposal. We have hitherto been able to touch but slightly on this sub- ject, the further development of which would have too long detained us ; but we shall have occasion to return to it, and to complete our remarks by means of examples collected from other countries. The public buildings of Amsterdam are not numerous ; but AMSTERDAM. 99 they are not without interest, more especially since they allow us to make useful comparisons with our own. The square called the Dam ^ is the centre of the activity, the business, and the' life of all the city. The most crowded and frequented streets terminate there, and the most important buildings of Amsterdam have been erected round it, — the Ex- change, the Eoyal Palace, and the Nieuwe-Kerk. We may notice, en imssant, the conscientious care with which the Dutch guide-books state how many piles the foundations of the public buildings have required, and the evident pride with which they name certain numbers, as if the interest inspired by an edifice were in direct ratio to the quantity of piles driven in to support its walls. The Exchange (whose foundations required 34,000 piles !) is a kind of Grecian temple, massive, square, and heavy, of sad and sombre aspect, the construction of which dates from the year 1845. The Eoyal Palace, erected in the seventeenth century to serve as a town-hall, is sustained by only 14,000 piles ! This building is regarded as the finest in Holland. It is well situated, and produces a good effect. Its architect, whose name is known, — Jacob van Campen, — was imbued with Italian ideas ; but he was still a Dutchman. His methodical, regular disposition exer- cised an influence over the result of his studies of the buildings of another country, constructed during another age. The gen- eral plan adopted is cold and monotonous. The symmetry of this immense facade of 110 yards in length is fatiguing both to the sight and the mind. There is nothing to attract or arrest the eye, as it follows the long lines of architecture scarcely broken by the insufficient projections of the extreme wings and of the main central building. Fortunately, however, the profile of the campanile slightly relieves the regularity of the lines of the roof ^The word Bam means dike. Amstel-dam — M'hence comes Amsterdam — signifies the dike of the Amstel, on which the city is built. 100 HOLLAND The basement is so low that it is scarcely noticed. Two high stories, each having a large and small window of the same char- acter, the one placed above the other, alone attract the attention, but are nnpleasing on account of the repetition of the same pro- portions, the same orders, and the same details. There is a still greater fault. There is no projection in the main front of the Fig. 57. — External View of the Royal Palace at Amsterdam. building to distinguish the entrance. One cannot understand how those seven low, half-hidden doors can give access to such an immense palace (Fig. 57).-^ The interior contains many fine rooms, most of them very highly decorated, and some filled with valuable works of art. 1 The advocates of symbolic architecture imagine that there is an allusion in these seven doors to the seven united provinces. AMSTERDAM 101 They are well adapted for receptions and public ceremonies. The great staircase reminds us of the grandeur and the propor- tions of those of the Genoese palaces. That which is most strikino- in these saloons is the furniture. A Frenchman recog:- nizes there, even in the most minute details, that of the period of the Empire. In fact, when in former times France gave kings to Europe, she one day placed Louis Napoleon on tlic throne of Holland, and, by way of doing things thoroughly, she sent all his furniture with him. This has remained intact. The chairs have crossed legs, the bedsteads are ornamented with sphinx-heads, the carpets and hangings represent the exploits of Homer's heroes ; the coverings of the chairs and sofas came from Lyons and Beauvais, the porcelain from Sevres. In spite of its dimensions and its splendor, this palace, with- out gardens and with no courtyards except those connected with the domestic offices, cannot be a pleasant dwelling-place ; and we can easily understand that the King of Holland prefers to live in the royal palace, or the " House in the Wood," at the Hague. Holland can scarcely be said to have existed at the time when the public buildings of the Roman epoch were con- structed in France. Tlius edifices erected at the commence- ment of the Middle Ages are rare, and those that we meet with scarcely date so far back as the fourteenth or fifteenth century. Their types were all found in Ehenish arcliitecture, or in that of the Ile-de-France ; but the application which has been made of these forms and these recollections admits of much discus- sion. The feeling of due proportion and delicacy of taste are wanting, and they have not always made a haj)py choice of models. Sometimes, and even more generally, the model has been imperfectly imitated, or subjected to a kind of adaptation, so that the original idea is no longer to be found, scarcely even to be remotely recognized ; and it requires excessive complai- sance, even in a Dutch archaeologist, to admit that a certain church resembles Notre Dame de Paris or the Cathedral of Amiens. 102 HOLLAND, Nevertheless, such as they are, and precisely on account of what they are, and of the difterences which distinguish them from ours, the ecclesiastical buildings of Holland cannot be passed over without notice by an architect. I i ii Fig. 58. — Ground-plan of the Oude-Kerk at Amsterdam. (Scale, .039 inch to tlie yard.) ^AHien speaking of St. Laurence at Eotterdam and St. Bavon at Haarlem, we have already described the timber roofs which cover most of the churches of the Netherlands. Their architects have thns been able to utilize materials formerly very abundant AMSTERDAM, 103 in their country, and at the same time to avoid placing too heavy a weight on the very compressible soil on which they erected their structures. We saw at Eotterdam a remarkable example of these wooden Fig. 59. —View of the Interior of the Oude-Kerk. roofs; that which we examined at the Oude-Kerk of Amsterdam is still more interesting. This church was founded in the fourteenth century, but the greater part of the structure dates from the fifteenth. Its 104 HOLLAND ground-^jlan (Fig. 58J is composed of a nave and a choir, both surrounded by a very wide side aisle on which open chapels, originally belonging to certain families, who occupied them dur- ino- rehoious ceremonies. At the time of its transformation into a Protestant church there were very rich ornaments, valuable works of art, and as many as thirty-three gorgeous altars. All Fig. 60. — Ground-plan of the Nieuwe-Kerk at Amsterdam. (Scale, .039 inch to the 3'ard.) these treasures have since disappeared. The walls are bare, poor, and somite in appearance. Ficr. 59 shows the general arranirement of the timber roof covering the principal nave. This vault is composed of cross- sprin^i^^ers as well as wall ribs and diagonal ribs, which have the disadvantage of presenting outlines similar to those which would AMSTERDAM. 105 Fig. 61. — Section of Aisle. (Scale, about ^ g i"ch to the yard.) 106 HOLLAND. have been given to them if they had been constructed of stone. These arches are connected by cross-beams which render them rigid, and on which rest the phmks forming the vault; the diagonal and wall ribs rest on a small corbel, while the trans- verse ribs spring from a slender column, the base of which rests on a tie-beam placed above the arches of the side aisles. These tie-beams, which break the distance between the ground and the spring of the vault, were, no doubt, intended to maintain the side walls in a perpendicular j)osition, and also served as inter- Fig. 62. — Ground-plan of the Wester-Kerk at Amsterdam. (Scale, .039 inch to the j-ard.) nal supports and buttresses, rendered necessary by the nature of the soil The shaft of the columns is surmounted merely by a heading without sculptured capitals, the mouldings are meagre, the proportion of the arches is disagreeable. The arcades, which are above the arches of the side aisles, are of inlaid work, — a kind of decoration which has a very bad effect. Another church at Amsterdam, equally worthy of notice, is the Nieuwe-Kerk (the new church), a name to which it has about as great a title as our Pont Xeuf, for it dates from the AMSTERDAM. 107 beginning of the fifteenth century. Its ground-plan is superior in grandeur and proportion to that of the Oude-Kerk ; it is also Fig. 63.— View of the Wester-Kerk at Amsterdam. more compact and correct, if we may use the expression; a rather narrow aisle surrounds the nave. Several chapels erected 108 HOLLAND. on the right side of the transej)t must, by their arrangements, have greatly contributed to the splendor of Koman Catholic ceremonies. The choir is surrounded by aisles and radiating chapels, that of the east end rising above the others. The Xieuwe-Kerk was twice injured by tire. The present vaulted Fig. 64. • Ground-plan of the Church of the Sacred Heart at Amsterdam. (Scale, .078 inch to the yard.) roof cannot be earlier than the seventeenth century ; it is con- structed in the same manner as those which we have already described, but the plan is not so good, and it is not so well exe- cuted or so original as that of the Oude-Kerk. The section (Fig. 61) gives a general idea of the interior of the Fig. 65. AMSTEEDAM. Ill building; its proportions are not pleasing, the points of support are meagre, the outlines and the muUions of the windows are slender and bare. We find at the entrance of the choir another bronze screen of elaborate workmanship, but somewhat heavy and clumsy. The two sides of the transept are connected by a gallery. On the walls of the church and on the pavement there are a great number of gravestones and funeral monuments, one of the most noted of which is that of Admiral Euyter, with the cele- brated but not very modest inscription, Inunensi tixmor Oceani. Amsterdam also possesses many types of churches of that Fig. 66. — Transverse Section. (Scale, .078 inch to the yard.) style which we have denominated Jesuit architecture. One of the most complete of these is the Wester-Kerk (the west church). The ground-plan, which we give in Fig. 62, and the elevation (Fig. 63), will enable the reader to form an opinion of the Dutch churches of that period. AYe will only add that this building was constructed in 1610, and that from its steeple, which is 328 feet in height, there is a beautiful view all around, of the town, the Gulf of Y, and the Zuyder-zee. The Eoman 112 HOLLAND. Catholics of Holland, wishing to supply the place of the churches of which they were dispossessed during the sixteenth century, are now erecting a new one, dedicated to the Sacred Heart. The work is not yet completely finished, but we can already perceive what it will be. The ground-plan (Fig. 64) shows much originality ; the nave is wide and short, with chapels forming the side aisles, and it terminates in an immense transept capable of containing more than fifteen hundred persons, all of whom can, without difficulty, witness, from their seats, the ceremonies which are celebrated at one of the three principal altars, or at one of the four secondary ones. Four entrances of equal size allow the congregation to assemble rapidly, and to disperse without incon- venience; the unusual forms of the ground-plan are well ad- justed to each other ; and, besides this, they all have a reason, and indicate study though but little research.^ The facades have an irregular outline ; that of the apse (Fig. 65) gives an idea of the general appearance of the building, and of the effect produced. This edifice, wliich would be remarkable in any country in which it had been built, is still more so in one where monotony is so much in favor, and where the same forms are incessantly repeated and reproduced. It is therefore no slight cause for astonishment to see, in the midst of the neighboring structures, w^hat variety Monsieur Cuypers — an artist who has seen so much, and so well understood what he has seen — has introduced into his work. The outlines of the upper part are in good proportion ; the difference in the height of the gable-walls corresponds with their lower dimensions ; the spire stands well upon its base, and tapers gradually to its extremity. The vaulted roofs being built of hollow bricks, are conse- quently very light, and are directly supported by buttresses or arches placed under the lower roofs. Fig. 66 shows the height of the columns bearing the arches of the side aisles, and that of the vaults, as well as the general system of the construction. A 1 The architect is M. Cuypers. AMSTERDAM 113 lantern, which occupies the centre of the steeple, enlarges and lengthens the cupola of the transept. We give in Fig. 67 the details of the spire from its hase. It is, from the very bottom, built on an octagonal plan. Four of the trusses which support its triangular sides rest on the ridges Fig. 67. — Details of the Timbers of the Spire. (Scale, .157 inch to the yard.) of the gables of the transept; the four others in the gutters which separate these gables ; lower trusses, resting directly on the piers and formed of braces bound together by diagonal ties, sustain the principal trusses, the higher ones forming a fresh 114 HOLLAND. octagonal plane reduced to the dimensions of the base of the pyramidal sjDire. The angles where the faces of this spire meet are constructed of double beams, and are therefore completely rigid ; long struts, which take their bearing on the central tim- bers, the main support of the principal structure, keep these beams in a vertical position ; secondary braces also connect the higher part of these faces with the same central timbers; be- sides those braces which secure the connection of the trusses with each other, other ties, connected in the form of a St. An- drew's cross with the rigid uprights, serve to bind together the several sides of the spire. The eight angles of the spire, there- fore, take their bearing on fixed points, free and independent, but yet firmly connected with each other, so that every torsion movement (the ordinary cause of the fall of spires built of timber) that might be exerted on one of the sides would be equally divided among the rest, which would thus be able to resist it. Tenons and mortises are not used, but are replaced by braces and ties. The wood-work, far from being weakened on this account, preserves, on the contrary, a considerable resisting power. Iron is used only for bolts, and not for cross-bars or tie- rods, etc., which deprive the structure of the necessary elasticity. The scantling of the timbers diminishes in proportion to the height at which they are placed ; the weight of the upper part is thus lessened, and it is better supported by the stronger por- tions below. As to the external appearance, and to the profile of the roof, the architect knew that objects which are sharply defined against the sky may be easily made to lose or gain in relative importance. He has made use of this acquired experience, and all his attention has been given to the outline of the massive parts, so as to lead the eye upwards from the base to the sum- mit of the spire, without allowing it to rest on any disproportion which might injure the general effect. The large town-chimes are placed in the ^lutz-Toren ; at mid- AMSTERDAM. 115 night, when the clock has struck twelve, a brilliant peal sud- denly breaks forth; at first there is heard the loud whir of revolving wheels, and then come the modulated notes, the deep sounds of the bass united with the shriller tones of the lighter bells, and all the notes in full harmony melt into a cascade of shrill, deep, and mellow sounds. The profound silence of the sleeping city is for a moment disturbed ; each bell plays its part, unites its melody wdth that of its neighbor, and disappears in the concord. It is a brilliant harmony of sharp, clear, metallic sounds, which spread far and wide, recalling an old national air, calling up happy and joyous recollections, at which the half- awakened sleeper smiles; and then the concert ceases as sud- denly as it began, while the last vibrations only linger for a moment in the air. The Crystal Palace is built of iron and glass. It is intended for the same purpose as our " Palace of Industry," but without having so heavy an appearance. The materials employed, the mode of construction, the simplicity of its plan, or rather the absence of decorations, give it the appearance of an immense hall. The ground-plan (Fig. 68) consists of a nave and double aisles, and of a transept surmounted, at the point of intersection, w4th an oblong cupola. The means of access are numerous and convenient; principal entrances placed at the extremities, and supplementary doors opening at the sides, allow the crowd to pass rapidly. And then there is an excellent arrangement, too seldom employed in our public buildings, that carriages enter under a covered and enclosed approach, while visitors on foot go in through a special and separate entrance, without being ex^ posed to inconvenience from the horses, or interfered with by the great number of equipages. The stairs which lead to the upper galleries are not of sufficient importance, and the deal em- ployed in their construction gives the idea that the present stairs are only provisional. The facades of this palace are more varied in outline than the 116 HOLLAND. usual Dutch public buildings, and tlieir profile breaks somewhat the surrounding uniformity (Fig. 69). The section (Fig. 70) shows the plan of the construction ; the « I I large semicircular arches of the nave spring from a series of cast-iron columns connected in pairs ; these are bound together by arches, on which are placed small secondary supports. AMSTERDAM. 117 The roof is of glass, the walls are of brick, but of no consid- i erable thickness, which causes the air in the interior of the build- ing to be very much affected by variations of temperature. 118 HOLLAND. There is another circumstance connected with this which we might advantageously imitate ; the erection of this vast edifice is due to private enterprise. The idea of tlie building originated with an individual unconnected with the government, Dr. Sar- phati, and the engineer and architect, M. Outshoorn. The Amstel Hotel, also constructed by Outshoorn, is a private Fig. 70. — View of the Interior. undertaking, not less worthy of notice than the Crystal Palace ; and since so many large hotels for travellers are being built at the present day, it may be useful to enter into some details respecting that at Amsterdam. It differs from the large hotels at Paris, Marseilles, Nice, Vienna, Geneva, and elsewhere, in this respect. Instead of hav- ing a central courtyard, serving as a vestibule, into which car- AMSTERDAM 119 riages enter, and around which are the travellers' apartments and the servants' offices, it has a covered and enclosed porch for the entrance of carriages and the reception of luggage ; and be- yond this a large hall, on which the various rooms open, and where the stairs are placed ; while the travellers' apartments, Fig. 71. — Amstel Hotel. Ground-floor. '*h ll'TJ'-"-"-"-™! I m ^ mi tL 1^^ 1^ ^ . Fig. 72. — First Floor. (Scale, .039 incli to the yard.) 1. Porter's lodge. 10. Store-room. 2. Lift. 11. Reading-room. 3. Office. 12. Coffee-room. 4. Servants' rooms. 13. Directors' room 5. Large vestibule. U. Bedrooms. 6. Hall. 15. Drawing-rooms. 7. Dining-room, tabic d'hote. 16. Bath-rooms. 8. Breakfast-room. 17. Water-closets. 9. Refreshment-rooms. out of the way of all noise and disturbance, are arranged to the right and left, with wide and convenient modes of access, con- nected with halls and galleries which give air and light to every part. 120 HOLLAND. The plau of the ground-floor (Fig. 71) and that of the first i?mmmm\ '•liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, floor (Fig. 72) show the general arrangement. The hotel con- AMSTERDAM. 121 tains, in all, one hundred and twenty-four bedrooms, ten of which have a sitting-room attached ; a lift renders it unnecessary to carry luggage and packages up the stairs ; and all the bedrooms are supplied with water and gas, and are warmed by heating apparatus, and provided with means of ventilation. Air is collected and compressed in a reservoir constructed in the underground-floor ; pipes, such as are used for gas, distribute it to the various apartments ; it can be made to flow in by the simj)le pressure of a button. The air, as it leaves the reservoir, passes through a jet of finely divided vapor, which gives to it, when necessary, the required hygrometrical condition.^ The fac^ades of the hotel possess little originality, and resemble most of our modern buildings (Fig. 73). The construction of the Amstel Hotel comprised three distinct operations : the first consisted in the embankment of the land reclaimed from the Amstel ; the second, the establishment of the foundations on piles, a work commenced in 1864 and fin- ished in June, 1865 ; the third, in the buildings above ground, which, undertaken in February, 1866, were completely finished in July, 1867 ; the hotel was ready for occupation on the 15th of that month. These works cost 600,000 florins (50,400 /.), about 25 /. for each square yard covered, not including the substructures. These details are interesting; they show the process of the construction of great jjublic works in Holland, and the different phases through which they pass; and by comparing dates we find that, after a necessary delay, in order that the works should be thoroughly studied and arranged, sufficient activity was dis- played to bring it to a rapid completion. The bridges that we constantly met with in order to cross the innumerable canals by which the city is intersected have a gang- w^ay movable in the whole or in part, so as to allow vessels to pass ; the contrivance which raises or lowers this drawbridge is continually in action, and works with extreme facility, in conse- 1 A similar arrangement is found in several public establishments in France. 122 HOLLAND. quence of the arrangement adopted (Fig. 74). On the axis of the central piles rise two vertical supports, on the top of which are placed two horizontal beams, corresponding in weight and dimensions Avitli the lower transverse portions of the gangway. These two parts, thus disposed, keep themselves mutually in a state of rest ; but if an accidental cause, a difference of weight, however slight it may be, breaks the equilibrium, it begins to swing, the lower branches raise without effort the gangway of Fig. 74. — A Movable Bridge at Amsterdam. the bridge, and allow it to fall again gently as soon as the addi- tional weight is removed. The markets of Amsterdam are not, in all respects, so well arranged as ours. The new market is dark and badly ventilated ; its ground-plan, a square each of whose sides measures nearly a hundred feet, required a covering of a special kind. The roof is divided into two sloping portions, — the external skirt from which the water passes into the gutters and the eaves, and thence into the public street ; and that which inclines inwardly. AMSTEEDAM. 123 concentric with the former, and having the form of a funnel, from which the water descends into a large opening in the cen- tral pier, which is placed in the middle of the building to support the beams of the timber- work. This combination has the two- fold advantage of lessening the height, which would have been necessary for the roof of a building one hundred feet square, and of avoiding the intermediate gutters between two sloping skirts, which are an incessant cause of leakage, and consequent repairs. Fig. 75. — Ofllces of Inspector of Weights and Measures, Amsterdam. On the fish-market square, Viscli-mar'kt, we noticed a massive building of extraordinary appearance, with many projections. It is not now applied to any especial purpose, but was con- structed in the fourteenth century to contain the standard weights and measures, from which it still derives its name (Fig. 75), In the centre of another square, the Botcr-markf, stands the 124 HOLLAND. statue of Eembraudt. The sculptor, a Belgian, has represented him in a standing position ; he has given him a haughty, proud, and stern look. This statue, however, is not without merit, though it does not well correspond to the idea that one forras of Eembrandt, a good citizen of Amsterdam, a rich and eager collector of objects of vertu. The inscription on the pedestal is full of grandeur in its con- ciseness, consisting only of two words : " To Eembrandt." The ancient fortifications of the citv are no longer in exist- ence. We still find, however, three of the towers which flanked the ramparts; the Montalbans-Toren is one of these, and formed part of the system of defence constructed at the close of the fifteenth century. At present it is devoted to no particular pur- pose (Fig. 76). Amsterdam is defended from the sea by dikes, two immense arms which extend to the right and left ; the dike on the right encloses the docks and the basin for the large ships which make the voyage to Oceania. There were serious difficulties in con- structing these docks, the walls of which are of considerable height, since they were intended to receive ships in order to take in or unload their cargoes. In fact, to raise isolated walls to the height of from 50 to 65 feet, unsupported by any timbers, with the foundations laid in a yielding and compressible soil, was no easy undertaking. The system employed consisted in the estab- lishment of very firm supports, consolidated by innumerable piles, to sustain the weight of the superstructure; then these foundations were connected together by arches, and the interval which separated them was filled in with comparatively light masonry, not throwing any great weight upon the foundations, and independent of the principal structure, of which it forms no part, and from which it might be detached, even without modi- fying the general system or even weakening it. On this accoimt, if any subsidence were to take place in the parts thus filled, the solidity of the foundations of the arches would not be compromised; and if, on the contrarv, one of these AMSTERDAM 125 were to give way, it would be an isolated accident, the con- sequences of which would probably be but local and circum- scribed. In addition to this, it was a great advantage to prac- tical and economical people that this circumstance enabled them to secure the necessary stability for the foundations, by con- Fig. 76 —The Montalbans-Toren, Amsterdam. fining to these points alone the labor of consolidating the soil, instead of extending it all round the circumference of the walls. This system, indeed, is only the application of the principle which was carried out in the construction of our large cathedrals of the Middle Ages. 126 HOLLAND. The artistic riches of Amsterdam are its museums, iu which are deposited the masterpieces of the Dutch school, A Frenchman, more witty than wise, wrote, a short time since, during his visit to Amsterdam: "Pay no attention to people who advise you to go and see the curiosities of Holland, for there are none; the museums are few and but indifferent; there are two Rembrandts and one Potter ; this is all that is worth seeing ; and my guide informs me that the ' Bull ' of the latter and the 'Night Watch' of the former are much criticised and depre- ciated." This traveller is not to be trusted. He was, no doubt, exas- perated by the ridiculous pretensions of the Dutch, who do not hesitate to prefer Eembrandt's " Night Watch " to the " Trans- figuration " of Piaphael. On the contrary, the museums of Hol- land, especially that of Amsterdam, will well repay the traveller for frequent visits. This museum is located in an ancient private house. The pictures are placed in ordinary rooms, which are lighted from the sides; the ceilings are so low that the larger paintings nearly reach the floor, so that, in order to see them, you nmst stand so as almost to touch those on the opposite side. It is unworthy of an enlightened people to show such want of respect both to the productions of genius and to the public who come to admire them. But considerations of this kind have but little influence on the Dutch, and they are readily pro- vided with a reply to every remonstrance on this subject : " We are satisfied with things as they are, and if others do not approve of them they may stay at home." This manner of practising hospitality, and of estimating social relations, is not exactly con- formable to our ideas, and we give a very different reception to those who think fit to visit us. But the traveller must learn to overcome his angry feelings, for when once he has entered the Amsterdam museum he will quickly forget his first impression. This museum is the most important in Holland. It is there that we should study this school of painting, the last which AMSTERDAM. 127 arose in the history of art, the only one born on German soil, and whose works show such an incontestable originality. These artists are wanting in imagination; they do not rise into the ideal world, but remain on the earth ; they do not cre- ate, but are content with copying ; but how carefully they per- form this task ! With what scrupulous minuteness do they not reproduce even the slightest details of the design of a drapery, its bright colors, or the disposition of its folds ! with what care they represent the mouldings of a vase, every hair in a furred robe, the bricks of a house, and even the disproportion of the human body 1 how accurately they depict the grotesque features and the heavy, broad shoulders of their fellow-citizens ! Their entire aim is the glorification of real life, the only one which they can comprehend. They neither understand nor wish to see anything except the quiet repose of a citizen's home, the comfort and conveniences of an apartment kept carefully closed, the sen- sual satisfaction afforded by a hearty meal. The gayety which they depict is heavy, dense, and trivial; it is that of a tavern, or of a monotonous and regular life. They do not bring before our notice the efforts of man to attain to happiness, but the enjoy- ment which he derives from the satisfaction of his senses. Whenever they leave this habitual track, and this general rule of their compositions, their idea is not clearly expressed or ren- dered evident. The tw^o principal paintings in the museum at Amsterdam, Eembrandt's "Night Watch" and Yander Heist's " Civic Banquet," are proofs of our assertion. The latter repre- sents a citizen scene, national guards seated at table, and all the heads are portraits ; the former is a work of imagination, and the subject of it is not, even up to the present time, clearly determined. But it is the difference of origin alone w^hich forms the dis- tinction between these two works. Both have an astonishing truthfulness and depth of coloring ; each personage is depicted with his peculiar character and temperament, expressed not only in his features, but by his precise and sober gestures. As to the 128 HOLLAND. details, they are studied with a carefulness and a finish, the value of which can be appreciated only by close examination. The principal merit which is displayed in these works — a merit perhaps superior to truth of expression, and the exactitude of the scenes represented — is the knowledge and delicacy of coloring displayed by these masters. In order thoroughly to understand this side of the question, we must know the country in w^hich the Dutch school of paint- ino" took its rise, and thus take into account the influence which it has exercised on the artists and their jjroductions. The deepest impression that can be made on the mind of a painter is that which is produced by the natural objects in the midst of which he is placed. In a varied and rugged country the artist notices especially and almost exclusively the outlines ; the mountains are clearly defined against the sky in noble and grand forms. In Sicily and Tuscany, for instance, every object stands out in bold and definite relief against the background formed by the pure and clear sky ; in flat countries, on the con- trary, the contours disappear, all forms are softened down. In the Netherlands the lines are indistinct, the horizon is sombre and cold ; color must come to the aid of drawing, w^hich is of itself insufficient to give effect to form, relief, and outline. It is for this reason that, when making a comparison between the Venetian and Dutch schools, it has been said that, in these two countries, nature has made man a colorist ; but Venice had its sun to gild its landscapes, and Holland has nothing but mist, which leaves hers pale and cold. The fair locks of the patrician ladies of Venice do not resemble the yellow hair of the wives of the bursjesses of Amsterdam. Drawing may indeed represent a landscape among the moun- tains of Provence or Spain, may show the dry and dull aspect of the soil, all the tints of which disappear under the bright light of the south ; but in a flat and moist country like Holland, the sky, hidden during a great part of the year, loses all its importance ; we see it only as an opaque veil, and terrestrial AMSTERDAM. 129 objects, consequently, acquire an importance which there is nothing to counterbalance. These must, therefore, be brought prominently forward, and thrown into relief. The artist must represent these glistening muddy streams, changing color every moment, passing from the most delicate gray tones to those of moistened soot. He must shoAV the red or yellow fronts of the houses, or the cattle dotted here and there over meadows always verdant; objects with but little variety, constantly bathed in vapor, and standing out against a level and monotonous horizon. To arrive at such a complex result, it was necessary to unite with a knowledge of all the niceties and resources of color that calm, placid, and studious temperament peculiar to the Dutch, — a gift indispensable in order to bring to a successful issue the long and patient study necessary to conduct to the end which has been so happily attained. We may add to these observations on the Dutch school of art, that it was the breath of liberty to which it owed its rise, and that when the Netherlands lost their independence they saw the last of their great artists pass away. We are now near the time of the Kermess, the great annual fair of September. As soon as the gas is lighted Amsterdam changes its aspect ; there is bustle and noise instead of calm and silence ; the whole population begin to prepare for the enjoy- ment which is about to take place, and present a curious sight. The princijDal streets are filled with an impatient crowd, rude in their movements, and with whom it is unpleasant to come in contact. In the public squares, booths are erected for the sup- ply of eatables and liquor, and for the sale of articles of every kind, especially such as are brought from Paris. There are crowds of servants arm-in-arm with soldiers, all in a state of inordinate gayety, singing, as they pass, songs which excite shouts of laughter, — shrill, prolonged cries which fatigue the ear. But this gayety is coarse, low, and noisy ; the animal feel- ings are unrestrained; they show themselves openly, without bounds or disguise. The people enjoy to repletion during a 130 HOLLAND. whole week the pleasures from which they have abstained for all the rest of the year ; expenses, usually so economically regu- lated, become, for the time, excessive ; calm and quiet are ban- ished from the houses; the Dutchman leaves his home and lives out of doors ; though, during the rest of the year, he shows his excessive love for economy, retirement, and silence, yet now, during the Kermess, he spends his money, goes out, and shouts. These trivial demonstrations, this coarse enjoyment, has in it nothing attractive ; far from this, it inspires one with a feeling of utter repulsion. "What a contrast with the popular fetes of Paris or Eome I There a display of fireworks, a van full of maskers, a band in the open air, are enough to please every one ; the crowd will remain for hours to see a sky-rocket or to hear a song. And how thoroughly they fill up the intervals, while away the time with a rattling fire of personal jokes, an uninterrupted series of witticisms and jests which pass from one individual to another and from group to group 1 The listeners are the judges of this tournament of fun ; their shouts of laughter encourage the merry orators, and loud " bravos " await the happy repartee which pro- cures for its author the difhcult achievement of having the last word. In Holland, these witty contests, these battles of the tongue, are unknown ; they do nothing but eat, drink, shout, and fight in an indescribable manner. Holland has the reputation of pure morals, but it does not de- serve this credit at the Kermess. As to other times, after having witnessed certain scenes in the solitary paths of the "Wood at the Hague, or in the Calver Straat and other unmentionable quarters of Amsterdam, we may well ask whether this pretended simplicity is anything but the most entire corruption. NORTH HOLLAND. 131 NORTH HOLLAND. *' Some of the details of this singular country would lead us to suspect that a scene had been got up to mystify the traveller." — Nim. AMSTERDAM is the starting-point for several excursions, the most interesting of which is that through North Hol- land, a large peninsula united to the continent by a narrow neck of land. The northern canal cuts through this isthmus, and unites the North Sea with the gulf of Y, and allows ships of considerable burden to j)roceed, at all seasons, to the port of Amsterdam, without undergoing the delays peculiar to the canal of Holland, or fearing the sand- banks and shallows of the Zuyder-zee. We pass over the gulf of Y (which froze so conveniently in 1794 as to allow the French cavalry to board the fleet of the Netherlands), and when once we are on the other side we look back at the panorama of the city which we have just left, — a mass of red houses scarcely rising above the water, four or five steeples, gray and yellow blocks of buildings, a slimy and glis- tening sea, and, if it is warm weather, the aroma of the port and the canals of Amsterdam brought over by the wind. There is nothing here, whatever may be said, to remind one, even re- motely, of Venice as seen from Lido. Nearly in the midst of the gulf, small wooden huts, built on piles, standing by themselves in the midst of the waters, on a kind of dike, are the pleasure-houses of the rich merchants of the city. They come in boats to pass their Sundays in these prisons, and make themselves happy in eating, drinking, and smoking, without the fear of noise or any visit from an intruder. 132 HOLLAND. There are two principal points of attraction for the traveller in Xorth Holland. One is the fantastic village of Broeck, whose fastidious and ridiculous cleanliness is known to all ; and the other is the cottage at Zaandam, inhabited by Peter the Great when he came to Holland in 1696 to study ship-building. We passed by these two points, which have become rather hackneyed, and preferred to continue our journey as far as Enkuisen. It would give the reader no information were we to state that the country is flat ; indeed, it would be incorrect and insufticient, for we ought rather to call it hollow. The shores of the sea are slightly elevated by means of dikes ; the rest of the country is depressed, and exactly resembles a basin. The canal of Holland, which reaches from Amsterdam to the extremity of the Helder, passes to the left. The road crosses the polders, with their meadoAvs, cattle, and windmills, which are everywhere the same. But in the midst of this monotony, which strikes us more and more forcibly in the country, we see more decidedly the strange and grotesque aspect of the works of man. The country is very rich. AVe perceive this by the number of cattle, as well as of houses, and more strikingly by the cos- tume of the inhabitants, especially of the women, whose heads are enclosed in a kind of helmet similar to those which we have already described ; but with this difierence, that, instead of being made of copper or silver, they are of gold, decorated with valua- ble stones and hIinJcers of excellent workmanship. The women have an exaggerated reputation for beauty; yet they possess a peculiar charm, owing to the delicacy of their skin, the bright- ness of their complexion, and the whiteness of their teeth. Their hair, as far as they allow it to be seen, is of a dull, fair hue. Tlieir features are coarse, their gait is heavy, and entirely desti- tute of elegance or grace. The farms and houses inhabited by the peasants correspond but little with the idea which that word awakens in us. In- stead of heaps of manure, cattle wandering at liberty, crowded NORTH HOLLAND. 133 farmyards, rooms badly kejjt and in disorder, and the untidy inhabitants of our houses in the country, the Dutch farms have courtyards well sanded, enclosures in good condition, houses neat and well kept ; within doors, rooms of an unheard-of, excessive, inconceivable cleanliness. In one of these the mistress is at work, surrounded by her maids. Their dress is coquettish and even elef>'ant. The stable, which has a direct communication with this kind of parlor, has a floor perfectly irreproachable. pTTTDTTMJMljWTTOilim^^ I Fig. 77. — Reception-room in a Farm-liouse in ISTortli Holland. clean, and free from vStains. The milk-pans and utensils of every sort shine and glitter with a brightness continually re- newed. The bedrooms, on the same floor with the rest of the dwellino'-house, contain lars^^e beds enclosed in alcoves, which form a kind of cupboard. There are nests of shelves covered with delft ware of surprising value. In the common room we find, hanging on the walls, maps, mathematical instruments, a lactometer, a barometer, a level, a leveUing-staff, or carj)enter's 134 HOLLAND. tools. On a book-shelf are arranged books and newspapers. There are two kitchens, — one for the summer, with a north as- pect ; the other for winter use, sheltered from cold winds, — and, Fig. 78. — View of tlie Exterior of a Farm-lioiise in North. Holland. B " J 3 2 * 4 Fig. 79. — Ground-plan of a Farm-house. (Scale, .039 inch to the yard.) 1. Stable. 2. Cart-shed. 3. Kitchen. 4. Bedrooms. 5. Usual entrance. 6. Special entrance. to crown all, a room for grand occasions, cleaned every week with the most scrupulous care. This apartment (Fig. 77) is intended for no special purpose, but in it are kept the rich NORTH HOLLAND. 135 family ornaments, and the layette for the new-born child. It is there that the bride puts on her marriage-dress. The coffin of the dead parent is placed there. The door of this room, called the " golden door," opens on the road, but is always kept closed excej^t on great days of mourning or rejoicing, — a baptism, a marriage, or a burial We were present at a ceremony of the latter kind. The rela- tions and friends filled the room, surrounding the coffin, the lid of which was partly raised, so as to show the face of the dead. The minister and the schoolmaster were chanting a hymn, in the midst of cries and sobs which seemed to form part of the ceremony. Then the golden door was opened, the bier was placed upon a car, and the widow solemnly seated herself on the remains of her late husband to convey him to the cemetery. Figs. 78 and 79 represent the house of a respectable peasant. It contains a kitchen, a sitting-room, and bedchamber. Behind, and forming a part of the same building, are the barn and a house for six cows. A small gable surmounts the sitting-room, and shows the importance which is attributed to it. The four chimneys unite in a single opening, — a large shaft with a chim- ney-pot at the top. Figs. 80 and 81 represent a farm of greater importance. The stable is capable of containing eighteen cows. The dwelling contains two kitchens. That for summer use is isolated, and has wide openings ; that used in winter is placed in the centre of the building, with two large closets to contain beds, and is in direct communication with the stable, which is perfectly neat and clean. On the other side of the building are the parlor, the master's bedroom, and the special room with its private door. Beyond the stable are the piggery, and the dairy with the cheese heaped up in the corner, reminding one of cannon-balls in an arsenal ; the large roof contains granaries for the storage of corn and fodder. These two farm-houses are constructed of wood and bricks. The wall of the basement floor is a brick and a half in thick- 136 HOLLAND. ness. The upper walls are of only a single brick; but their Fig. 80. —View of a large Farm-house. I I I ui I q 1 I I I M I r r^T Fig. 81 — Ground-plan. (Scale, .OSS inch to the yard. 1. "Winter-kitclien. 2. Stable. 3. Piggery. 4. Summer-kitchen. 5. Sitting-room. 6. Bedroom. 7. Special room. 8. Ordinary entrance. 9. Special entrance. NORTH HOLLAND. 137 outer surface is covered with a wainscoting of planks, an ar- rangement which causes the interior to be perfectly healthy and free from all damp. The larger farm-house is covered with tiles, the smaller one with rushes from the isle of Marken, — that remarkable little island near the coasts of the Zuyder-zee, the buildings of which resemble those of a colony of beavers. These two houses are most carefully constructed. Among the noticeable details we may mention wooden gutters for the roof, supported by small brackets, discharging arches over the lintels, and proje'cting ridge-tiles, to prevent water penetrating where the shafts of the chimney pass through the roof. These buildings, which we have taken as a type among the many of a similar kind that w^e have met with, are in a perfect state of repair, owing to the constant care bestowed on them by the proprietor. One would suppose that they had been built but yesterday; and yet they date from the beginning of the seventeenth century. There are few countries where buildings so simply and economically constructed, and of materials so little durable, have lasted to the present time, except in ruins, or without having undergone such modifications as have com- pletely altered the original form. As we continue our journey we find the same strange char- acter showing itself still more and more in the habitations and in the manners of the people. This affords some relief amidst the monotony of the landscape which never varies. In certain parts all the houses are built in the middle of a square piece of land, surrounded by a wide ditch full of water. When one of the inhabitants wishes to go out, he throws over the ditch a movable bridge, formed of a plank, which he kicks back again when he has passed. No risk here of being annoyed by trouble- some visitors or prying passers-by ! The little gardens in cer- tain small towns are still more curious. We find there rustic bridges, Japanese temples, Gothic chapels, and ancient ruins in close proximity. We even see summer-houses in which are 138 HOLLAND. stuffed figures forming groups not easy for the uninitiated to understand. Then, under trees cut out of zinc, there is a piece of water on which black and white swans and tame ducks try to reach cakes which, like themselves, are made of zinc ; while red fishes, painted on cement to imitate sand, seem to be swim- ming in a stream of which we cannot say " susurrans inter lapil- los," for it is formed of a certain number of panes of glass. These are but playthings for grown-up children. Sometimes we see a rich farmer driving at full trot along the road, which is paved with bricks, in order to avoid both nmd and dust. His yellow or red cab, the body of which is orna- mented with paintings and carving, is mounted on high wheels which pass rapidly over the ground, and is drawn by a black stallion. These equipages are the boast of their owners. The horses are remarkably fine animals, with black coat, and a tail which reaches the ground. We see in Paris their degenerate descendants performing the dismal duty of drawing funeral cars. In the sixteenth century Enkuisen sent 140 boats to the fish- ery, and had 20 men-of-war to protect them. At this period it had a port and dockyard for building ships, and its walls en- closed streets with large and luxurious habitations; now the harbor is choked with sand, the dockyards are closed, the edi- fices destroyed. The grass grows on the remains of the ruined buildings, and Enkuisen has but 500 inhabitants. The sight of this great dilapidation and ruin does not produce such an im- pression as might be expected. The houses are empty, but they are always clean, and the bricks and stones which faU from the front are carefully 'heaped together before each house. Time itself has introduced order and method, while it has created such a solitude and desolation. That which still remains of the church will scarcely give an idea of what it formerly was. It is now a bare chapel, cold, sombre, plastered from top to bottom, and paved with large black slabs. Its rood-loft, of the sixteenth century, is covered with carvino's which show a curious mixture of Christian sub- NORTH HOLLAND. 139 jects and mythological allusions. We find also some timber- work and a pulpit of the same epoch, which are curious speci- mens of the Eenaissance beyond the Khine. We will not speak of their form and details ; but the execution is remarkable, and shows a patience and manual skill which we can only regret to see employed on subjects of such doubtful interest. Among the buildings that yet remain, those which are in the best condition are the artisans' houses of the seventeenth cen- tury ; they are still, as when they were first erected, inhabited by a single family. Their arrangement is very simple : a large room looking on the street, one of smaller dimensions behind, and at the back a courtyard and a little garden ; on the upper floor are shops or work-rooms for the inhabitant, if he carries on his trade in his own dwelling-house. These houses are wholly of brick (Figs. 82 and 83), with the exception of a few parts constructed of wood, and two or three pieces of stone. They are well built, and remain in good repair in the midst of the desolation around them. Their external ap- pearance, characterized by lofty gables of stair-like form, reminds one rather of Flemish gables than the Dutch ones covered with grotesque ornaments; as to the internal parts, like all those that we have already seen, they are replete with everything conducive to the comforts and conveniences of life, and are kept with a scrupulous neatness and care unknown among ourselves. A little above Enkuisen the Zuyder-zee grows narrower, and the land projects on each side, nearly closing the entrance of tliis great gulf. The industrious and persevering genius of the Dutch has conceived the idea of draining the Zuyder-zee and converting it into polder. All that would be necessary, says an official report, is to construct a dike from Medemblik, a cape at no great distance from Enkuisen, as far as Stavoren on the oppo- site shore, that is to say, in Friesland. This dike would be rather more than 31 miles in length, with a variable but insig- nificant depth ; the portion of sea to be drained would yield a surface of 494,228 acres. Eugineers are now studying the 140 HOLLAND. means of carrying out this plan; bankers are raising capitaL The undertaking will perhaps be long before it is completely carried out ; but the scheme is feasible, and it is no less certain that, if commenced, it will be successful The wind has blown a gale since yesterday, so that, instead of returning to Amsterdam, we started for the Helder to see the effect of the great waves upon the dikes which protect the coast. Fig. 82. Fig. 83. Elevations of Artisans' Houses at Enknisen. (Scale of about V5 inch to the yard.) It is a magnificent spectacle. The wind is dne north, and there is no land between Holland and the Pole to break the force of the rollers ; they are of monstrous size, and their fright- ful mass dashes incessantly on the granite walls which arrest their course, l^ot a sail is in sight; the sky is dark and gloomy. It is very cold; the terrible uproar of the sea over- powers every other sound in the heavens or on land. As the NORTH HOLLAND. 141 night comes on, every one departs. The engineers and those under their command alone remain at their post, ready at the first signal to rush to the threatened point ; for upon a breach depends perhaps the existence of the country, since a storm like this might sweep away all ]^orth Holland at once. The dikes, against which the sea spends its force in fruitless efforts, are constructed almost entirely of Norwegian granite; the}^ are about 5 miles long, with an average height of 262 feet, 46 of which rise above the water, and the slope of the masonry is 40 degrees. The upper part serves as a promenade and a public drive. 142 HOLLAND. UTRECHT. "Utrecht is, bj^ its University, the seat of Protestant orthodoxy." — Esquiros. FEO^I Amsterdam to Utrecht there is no change in the usual monotony of the country. We pass, for a short dis- tance, through a large meadow planted with trees, whose trunks are decorated with alternate bands of black and white paint, of equal breadth. The stakes to which animals are tied, the milk- pails, and the wooden shoes of the peasants have all received the same kind of ornament. The road over which we pass is paved with bricks, so as to form black and white stri]3es. This fright- ful repetition of the same things and the same colors, a repeti- tion for which no motive can be assigned, troubles the mind and irritates the reason ; it is the last and most complete ex- pression of this strange mania by which a Avhole people is so entirely possessed. Utrecht is dull and solitary. It is a religious city where old sects are still preserved, the remembrance of which is almost entirely effaced and lost elsewhere. The austerity of Calvinism prevails there without mitigation. A silence peculiar to the cloisters reigns in the streets bordered with houses, which are low, narrow, hermetically closed, without any mirrors suspended at the windows, without anything which can allow those within even to guess at that which is passing without. Xo carriages, no pedestrians ; here and there may be seen a Jansenist, with an anxious look, exchanging, as he passes, a glance of contempt with an orthodox Lutheran ; some fair Puritan, with downcast eyes, goes slowly to hear a sermon, and this is all ! The greatest UTRECHT. 143 excitement to be met with is the noise of the little cart drawn by a dog, in which a tradesman is conveying provisions; a female servant, in a violet dress, — for such is the uniform, — her arms bare as far as the shoulders, shows herself at the area, makes her purchases almost without a word, and hastily with- draws ; then all returns to the usual quietude, undisturbed even by the sound of footsteps, for even this is dulled by the moss with which the brick pavements of the streets are covered. Fig. 84. 1st story. 2d Story. Plan of the First and Second Stories of the Tower of the Cathedral at Utrecht. (Scale, I'lo inch to the yard. Yet, notwithstanding this sadness and solitude, Utrecht does not fill us with en7mi. These striking characteristics, so rarely now to be met with, have left upon us an impression on which we love to dwell. We especially remember a very small house, shaded by large trees, by the side of a canal covered with duck- weed, — a house where one would love to study quietly. An- other, the door of which we ventured to push open, showed us an old man sitting in a large room filled with flowers, singing psalms with his two daughters by his side, who were quietly 144 HOLLAXD ^YO^king on a piece of tapestry, while their mother was preparing dinner. How^ can all these people live, and what is their home exist- ence like ? It is not easy to ascertain it ; and perhaps, if our curiosity were satisfied, it would end in deception, by placing before us individuals filled with the convictions of a former age, and whose ideas do not extend farther than a limited horizon, beyond which, as far as they are concerned, there is nothing. But Utrecht contains the most remarkable Dutch edifice of the Middle Ages ; it is the Dom-Kerk, which has preserved its Catholic name of cathedral. Built in the thirteenth century, on the ruins of a primitive church, it contains nothing at present except the transept, the choir with its chapels, and the tower formerly placed at the en- trance. This tower is now separated from the rest of the struc- ture by the whole space once occupied by the nave, the very vestiges of which have disappeared. The choir and the transept have been recently restored in a remarkable manner, but the necessary works did not affect the main fabric ; we see no traces of important alterations ; the details only of certain parts needed reparation. The restorers respected not only the form and disposition of the ancient parts, but also the arrangement and the nature of the materials. The tower (Domtoren) is the most remarkable part of the building; it rises from a ground-plan 62 feet square, and is about 393 feet in height. This is occupied by two high stories, the upper one being narrower than the lower, and the former is surmounted by a campanile, a sort of open lantern, the lightness of which contrasts with the lower part of the building, which is massive and heavy. The spire which should crown the whole no longer exists. The difference of width between the two stories is compen- sated by the excessive dimensions given to the lower w^alls, which, as they retreat, always leave sufficient space to take the bearing of the upper walls. Fig. 86. UTilECHT, 147 This is the plan on which many steeples were erected in France during the Middle Ages (Limoges, St. Leonard, etc.) ; but the tower of Utrecht, which resembles that of Limoges by being separated from the rest of the church by the space for- merly occupied by the nave, was constructed with less science and research. The Dutch architect employed nothing but bricks; it was, therefore, difficult for him to depend on slight Fig. 86. — Canal at Utrecht. and but few points of support for the structure ; besides this, it would have been imprudent to throw the weight of so consider- able a mass on piles of masonry of small dimensions, since the soil in which the foundations were to be laid was of an inferior quality. It was necessary, on the contrary, to divide, as he has done, the weight of the whole work over the largest possible surface, in order to avoid the subsidence or flaws so much to be feared under these circumstances. 148 H L L A#N D . The plan of the two stories (Fig. 84) shows the whole system of constructioa Intermediate masses of masonry have been constructed to consolidate the original work, which render it difficult to ascertain it with certainty. Fig. 85 gives an idea of the general aspect of this tower, by far the most interesting of all those which we have seen in Holland. Fig. 87. The Oude Gracht (old canal), which crosses the city in its greatest length, has by its side quays with two terraces. The lower one, which scarcely rises above the level of the canal, is bordered by arches, which afford shelter to fishermen, sailors, and all those whose business is carried on by water. The ex- UTRECHT. 149 trades of these vaults — which, by the way, are very unhealthy — is converted into promenades, along which are erected build- ings of a rich and comfortable appearance, each always inhab- ited by a single family (Fig. 86). Utrecht was our last stage in Holland. Beyond this city the nature of the country begins to change. There are no longer those interminable meadows which w^e have never ceased to traverse since we left Dordrecht. We see ploughed fields, with here and there a copse; a kind of hill diversifies the horizon, and then, towards evening, the last windmill is lost in the mist (Fig. 87). 150 HOLLAND FINE ARTS. — MANNERS. — CUSTOMS. BEFOPiE we reacli the frontier of Germany, let ns rapidly sum up our impressions of what we have seen in Holland. Holland has no architecture of its own. Its public buildings and its arts have no peculiar style ; its school of painting alone has cast a bright splendor on the seventeenth century. From this period the Dutch seem to have renounced the fine arts, in order to give themselves exclusively to commerce, to trade, and all those professions adapted to ameliorate the physical condi- tion of mankind. In fact, Holland produces nothing of importance to the liter- ary world, — a subject which does not at present occupy our attention. Statistics prove that though this is the country where the most printing is done, it is, on the contrary, that in which the fewest books are written. Publishers issue nothing but theological works, and more especially translations of for- eign productions. Modern Dutch painters do not challenge notice, and this mod- esty is not a proof of great artistic excellence. Dutch architects also produce nothing new ; for in all that we have seen and brought before the attention of the reader, noth- ing indicates an original school, which has a style of its own, and is not a souvenir of the buildings of another country. Some few houses only have a special character, — an arrangement peculiar to themselves. Upon what does this state of things depend, and how can we explain it ? It will be necessary, for this purpose, to enter into some details ; and as the nature, the customs, and the tastes of FINE ARTS. — MANNERS. — CUSTOMS. 151 men are always indicated by the dwellings which they rear, and the public buildings which they originate, let us inquire what are the disposition, the habits, and the tastes of the Dutch. And, first of all, the country. The soil is damp, because of its situation below the level of the sea ; then it is watered by three great rivers, the Scheldt, the Meuse, and the Rhine ; it is inter- sected by numerous canals, and in certain parts water stagnates on the surface of the soil. The inhabitants must therefore keep up an incessant struggle to enable the land to defend itself against the water, — a conflict in which the very life of the peo- ple is at stake. The climate, saturated with vapor, relaxes a man's nerves, does not excite his passions, but rather tends to calm them ; and the precautions necessary for his defence render him persevering, patient, and laborious. NTow let us examine the individual himself The Dutch race is a branch of the Germanic stock, with fair complexion, blue eyes, and light hair ; they are jocosely said to have turnip-juice in their veins. The Hollanders are tall, well formed, but with- out elegance ; carved, as it were, with the axe. Their features are bony ; they have a heavy and dull look, with no resemblance whatever to Grecian statuary. They receive impressions from without but slowly ; their in- telligence is neither active nor alert ; they are wanting in what is called quickness of apprehension {esprit) ; if you ask them for information or direction, the answer is slow in coming ; you no- tice a painful effort which is shown in the face, — an evident difficulty in finding a suitable reply. A dealer in cigars threw himself into a perspiration one day in explaining to me, very insufficiently, the value of the national coinage. The Dutch are not very refined in their pleasures ; during the Kermess the people give way to low debauchery. They are indifferent to the gratification of vanity or glory; their calm, unimpressionable disposition deters them from ambition. They know how to be content ; and when they have attained the end proposed, we see them give up business, while yet young, to enjoy a repose which 152 HOLLAND. will allow them to live, for a long time, on the fruit of their labors. The Dutch are domesticated, economical, rather unsociable. When together they are good listeners ; they will remain im- movable for several hours; they are not dazzled by frivolous appearances, but wish to go thoroughly into a question. It is on this account that their banking-houses are so prosperous and so firmly established. They shut themselves up in their homes, living a family life, devoted to a certain routine of religious observances, and never seem to dream of anything beyond this limited horizon. Public assemblies are very rare ; social meetings are almost unknown. At Scheveningen, the most frequented seaside town in the Xorth, we may see mothers at work, surrounded by their children, and forming each a separate clan, without uniting in groups and coteries, as among ourselves; they have even in- vented, for this purpose, a kind of hut or watch-box, which, under the pretence of sheltering them from the wind and the sun, serves to isolate and conceal them from each other ; and in these the women w^ork for hours together, without speaking or even stirring. The love of gain, and the desire of promoting their worldly interests, occupy all the powers of their minds, and divert them from the search after intellectual or metaphysi- cal enjoyments. Eeligious questions, in which they are so intolerant, disturb and trouble them. They have established neutral schools, rea- sonably hoping that children of various religions, subjected to the same rules and the same instructions, wall, when they have grown up, be more ready to make concessions, and be more tol- erant towards each other. Their calmness and tenacity of purpose easily turn to obsti- nacy. One evening at Amsterdam, in the Dam Square, an om- nibus contained one passenger too many. They were going to a kind of promenade concert which closed at ten o'clock. It was already eight ; the conductor refused to start, the passenger to FINE ARTS. — MANNERS. — CUSTOMS. 153 get out. The conveyance drove once, twice, three times round the square, and then returned to the starting-point. A crowd gathered round ; there were no shouts, no angry words ; they discussed seriously the rights of the passengers and the duty of the conductor. At ten o'clock the coachman took out his horses and w^ent home to bed ; the passengers also left the vehicle and returned home ; they had lost their evening's amusement, but they had not yielded the disputed point. It is worthy of notice that the police had no occasion to interfere, and that no one had even thought of them. The family is, with them, the object of a truly religious wor- ship. Ill-conducted households are very rare. The birth of a child is announced to the public by a small cushion suspended outside the house, and the sight of this imposes on those who pass by certain notice and attention. The tastes of the Dutchman are all directed to the satisfaction of some material wants. The most strongly developed of these is the love of good cheer, for he has an excellent appetite. Next to peace of mind and repose, which he loves above all things, he enjoys the happiness of a comfortable, neat home, a quiet hearth, exempt from storms. He excels in such w^orks as demand great patience, attention, and perseverance. It is among the Dutch that we meet with the best diamond-cutters, — a profession at which a workman must be occupied for months together in cutting and polishing a small precious stone of insignificant dimensions. The Dutch feel no desire to talk or to sing. It is only during the Kermess that we hear for a few days in the streets the songs which are so frequent in our Southern towns. Dealers who sell their wares in the streets do not attract purchasers by their cries : they pass silently along, always at the same hour, before the houses of their customers. Tlieir love of cleanliness has become a mania, and the seem- ingly incredible exaggerations which we hear of this quality are only simple truth. 154 HOLLAND The desire of gain has induced them to conquer their love of repose. Hardy mariners, skilful merchants, they have profited in a remarkable manner by their intercourse with Japan; squeezing the inhabitants dry, buying for a trifle that which they sell in Europe for gold, and, until lately, tiiey were the only people of the Old World who had a factory in Japan. Their servants are not, like ours, lodged in the upper story of the house. They are few^ in number, have apartments near their masters, and are in constant communication with the mis- tress, who is not satisfied with merely superintending and di- recting them in the cares of the household, but she assists with her own hands in domestic affairs. Charity is entirely dependent on private enterprise, and yet there is no country in Europe which possesses so great a number of establishments for the relief of human misery. They make some display of this very natural feeling, and the odd uniforms in which they dress the paupers in their almshouses must at all times lessen the dignity of the unfortunate recipients and the modesty of their benefactors. They are generally rich, sometimes very rich, and pay exorbi- tant taxes. It is requisite, in order to become an elector, to pay in land-tax alone, nearly 150 florins, about 121. 12 s. They do not like discussion, and are good listeners, as w^e have already said ; therefore the representative and parliament- ary regime suits them admirably, and their political organiza- tion is carried on in a manner which may excite our envy. It is not the same wdth religious questions ; and, while they agree on political matters, they can never come to an understanding on religious dogmas, which are the source of constant and inter- minable discussions, in which they almost lose their temper. It is easy, from what has been said, to understand why the architecture of Holland is such as we have found it. Except a few churches of the j\Iiddle Ages, bequeathed to them by the Roman Catholic religion, the Dutch have no ecclesiastical build- ings worthy of the name, because they are divided into so many FINE ARTS. — MANNERS. — CUSTOMS, 155 sects that a small space is sufficient to conduct the worship of each. They have no theatres because they are not fond of meeting in public ; and in literature, as well as in painting, they care only for the representation of the ordinary actions of their daily life, — subjects, as we may believe, but little adapted to excite the genius or imagination of foreign poets or musicians. We have already seen that they themselves neglect literary productions. They have no splendid buildings for their museums, since they do not value external appearance, and are insensible to that which speaks merely to the eye. They consider the riches of a museum to consist only in the works of art which it pos- sesses, and not in the building which contains them. For the same reason they dispense with elegant buildings for their town halls and courts of justice, as well as for the dwell- ings of their princes and high functionaries ; since they despise everything which has for its aim outward appearance, — that which merely pleases the eye, without having any useful and remunerative purpose ; this causes them to neglect the decora- tion and ornamental arrangement of their towns. On the other hand, they have schools, hospitals, asylums for the poor, dikes, harbors, roads, canals, and railways ; works in which practical ideas prevail rather than the imagination, and where we find, combined with an outward form almost always unpleasant and of doubtful taste, a skilful carrying out of the proposed plan, and a logical, clever adaptation of the means necessary to attain the desired end. They have especially dwelling-houses very well suited to their character, their tastes, and their wants. These are small, sombre, detached, all alike, perfectly neat within and without, divided into a limited number of rooms of considerable size, with a small garden, where they cultivate the flowers which they love so well. This affords the Dutchman the most complete satisfac- tion of his desires and aspirations. He is there alone and at 156 HOLLAND. peace, shut in, with no neighbors, no prying looks, no noise. These houses are as well adapted to their inhabitants as the inhabitants themselves seem made , for them. Such dwellings as these would be utterly unsuitable for us who are so fond of variety and novelty, w^ho cliange our habita- tions ten times in the course of our lives, modifying our abode according to our situation at the time, our present resources, or the increase of our family. If the Hollander grows rich, he improves the interior arrangements of his house, but without changing his residence ; if his family increase (never beyond a certain number), the children are crowded together, and leave their home while young to seek their fortune elsewhere, — in Java or the Indies, — but the idea of the removal of the house- hold would never occur to them. There are no apartments to let at Amsterdam, Eotterdam, or the other large towns, and a house is never rebuilt till it falls down.^ The system of tracing out new streets by expropriation is entirely unknown. The plan of building detached houses inhabited by a single family has not yet been adopted by us. and it is probable that it will be long before we imitate it. The excessive value of land in large towns is doubtless one of the reasons of this, but not the only motive ; since in London, w^here land is as expen- sive as at Paris, each person has his own house. The true cause of this habit depends upon our natural disposition and our origin. We are of Latin race, and we like to make a show. Everything wdiich is brilliant and splendid pleases and attracts us. We are fond of beautiful stuffs, of bright colors, of palaces, and all that can throw an illusion over our life and the social position we occupy. We should never be contented to inhabit a house built of bricks, mean in appearance, with contracted windows, low doors, and narrow passages and staircases. We require large vestibules, a hall with a wide j^orte-cochere, a grand stair- case, an ornamental fac^ade, and all those external signs which 1 They have, however, lately endeavored to build, in Amsterdam, a quarter where new-comers may be able to take refuge. FINE ARTS. — MANNERS. — CUSTOMS. 157 would give a stranger an idea of our fortune and position in the world. We can only satisfy desires of this kind at great ex- pense, and a private individual cannot procure the enjoyment of them from his own resources ; therefore several unite their funds and inhabit a large house, with such conditions of outward ap- pearance as please them best, the expenses of which are less since they are divided among a greater number.^ A private house includes in France not only the expense of the first establishment, the price of the land and of construction, but the additional outlay for decoration, repairs, servants, porter, gardener, and other expenditure of the same kind ; which, as we have seen, the economical Dutchman is singularly able either to restrain within due bounds, or to avoid altogether. We ^^•ill not here discuss the question whether we are right or wrong, — whether we are the madmen, and the Dutch are wise. We merely state facts, show the conditions under which we live, the details of our social life which distinguish us from the Hollanders ; and we will conclude by saying that the Dutch houses, so well adapted to their inhabitants, would be as little appreciated by us, as our spacious habitations, in which several families live side by side, would be suited to their tastes. 1 It is understood that we here speak of only the middle ranks both in France and Holland. The higher or lower classes are not atfected by these considerations. GERMANY. HANOVER.- HAMBURG. -THE DUCHIES. FROM UTRECHT TO HANOVER. THE COUNTRY, THE JOURNEY, AND THE TRAVELLERS. IT was with a heart-rending feeling that we approached the frontiers of Germany. We thought with sadness of all the harm that had been done to ns by those who had come from that country. The image of our disasters, of the terrible misfor- tunes of which we had been victims, recurred to our mind, with the remembrance of all the painful details and the mournful scenes which had accompanied them ; but an interest which can easily be understood urged us onward. We wished to see in their homes, to study in their own country, those Germans who know us so well, and whom we know so imperfectly and so little. We had already visited Germany, but before 1870; and since that time both the people and the country appeared to us in a new light and under another aspect. In order thoroughly to attain our end, we ought perhaps to have gone to Prussia; but our courage had failed us, and we had, on the contrary, chosen for the scene of our new journey those provinces of this great empire which were the least Prussian, and had been the most recently annexed. At Oldenzaal the Dutch custom-house officers, dressed in white and red, bade us adieu. Those who received us at Ben- theim had the rough speech and the appearance of soldiers. The railway-station is fortified ; the employes wear the military costume; they are armed, and you would imagine that you were 162 GERMANY. entering a fortress. Germany, from the very first, appeared to us under that aspect which is the basis of its character, — that of military government carried to the last extreme ; society, as a whole, organized like an immense regiment, in which each mem- ber, from the highest to the lowest, is but a number. Custom-house officials do not in any country assume attrac- tive forms, but nowhere are they so disagreeable as in Germany. Eude and imperious, they thrust everywhere their villanously dirty hands, indulging occasionally in coarse jests, repeated with the accompaniment of rude shouts of laughter. They take an immense time in performing their duties, and confiscate every doubtful article with a zeal that reminds one of the former cus- tom-house officers of the Italian principalities. But everything comes to an end in this lower world, even a visit from German officials; and at last they allowed us to re- turn to our carriage and continue our journey. The railway from Eheine to Minden — a point where it joins the line from Hanover to Cologne — is a new route, still but little known, and which appears picturesque to a traveller arriv- ing from Holland. He sees cultivated land, high hills covered with woods, cottages painted with cobalt blue or vermilion, carts passing with the last loads of the year's harvest ; all around are numbers of young men and girls, strong, vigorous, and well pro- portioned. Near Osnabriick, the centre of important iron-mines, we saw^ an immense assemblage of workmen, — a sort of meeting- preparatory to a strike. In the country, at the entrance of the towms, and at the gates of the stations, are large direction-posts covered with notices, showing the name of the province, that of the commune, the number of the regiment, of the battalion, and of the landwehr company, of which the adjoining country forms a part. This is one of the elements of the district organization which renders it so easy to concentrate rapidly mobilized troops, since each soldier belonging to them knows beforehand the place of meeting. At the more important stations — that is to say, almost every hour — there is a long stoppage. The train is FROM UTRECHT TO HANOVER. 163 emptied, the travellers rush out into the refreshment-rooms, take by storm mountains of rolls filled with ham or cheese, which they wash down with large glasses of ale drunk off* at a draught, and then return supplied with sufficient ^^rovisions to last until they reach the next station. The passengers are unoccupied during the journey. They do not read, converse but little, and hum occasionally some patri- otic airs. Their only amusement, when they cease to eat, is to smoke enormous pipes. Sometimes they smoke at the same time a cigar and a pipe, taking alternate whiffs at each. Contrary to what takes place among us, who have a smoking compartment, they have one for those who do not smoke. The men appear rough, brusque, unpolished. They thrust aside without pity the women and children who come in their way, in order to get first into the carriages and secure the best places. The jokes which pass among them if they are successful, and the gestures by which they are accompanied, are rude and foolish ; but these excite loud and boisterous laughter, the repetition of which is annoying and fatiguing. Happily the carriages are comfortable, and each compartment is, as a rule, far from full. There are four classes ; the first exactly resembles our coupes. As to the fourth, it is no better than our cattle-vans. The seats in the second-class carriages, placed opposite to each other, can be drawn nearer at night, and form an excellent bed. The ex- press trains usually have carriages of all four classes. The station at Minden looks like a veritable fortress, with an external rampart protected by forts. The railway here enters the valley of the Weser, — a very strong line, and Avell defended. All the railway-stations have the appearance of fortifications (Fig. 88). They are built of brick, with watch-towers, machico- lations, and loopholes. One would imagine them to be great playthings, if the Germans were fond of play. It is most rea- sonable to suppose that our prudent neighbors have desired to provide against the possibility of an attack in the northwest, and to arrange that in case of defeat they might be able to fall back 164 GERMANY. and re-form under the shelter of a second line resting on the sea, and extendingr along the course of the Weser. The views and landscapes which succeed each other are varied and interesting ; but they are wanting in animation and cheer- fulness, in that joyful festival air which gives such a charm to the countries of the South, where you constantly hear the shouts Fig. 88..— Railway-station in Germany. and lively songs in which the people of France, Spain, and Italy take such delight. The buildings, w^hich lie on each side of the road, bear no re- semblance to those which we have hitherto seen. Their form and arrangement are infinitely varied ; the exteriors differ greatly, and the picturesque is developed freely on the fagades. FROM UTRECHT TO HANOVER. 165 The materials employed are brick and the white stone of the country. These bricks are used in every possible combination. They have also special forms of them, which are adapted for use in a manner unknown among ourselves, and which produce un- usual forms of great originality. Their colors are as varied as their shape. ' Sometimes the angle of a brick is removed ; several bricks, thus broken, being placed by the side of each other, produce an effect like the teeth of a saw. Four bricks, w^ith the angles thus taken off, joined together, leave a small dark opening which throws the courses into relief Occasion- ally, bricks alternately red and white are laid edgeways, so as to show the narrowest face, and are surmounted by black bricks cut to an angle of 45°, presenting the appearance of a kind of arcade, etc. The joints of bricks are also often filled with a cement, the color of which contrasts with them, and forms a fresh design. The sills of the windows, the chimney-pots, and the spaces above the doors, being carefully studied and more richly decorated than the rest of the building, present salient points which attract attention. All the buildings, whether great or small, are formed on the model of French architecture of the Middle Ages, adapted to modern requirements with a remarkable skill and a care which are the result of long and patient study. We do not move for a moment from the window of our carriage, being anxious to lose nothing of what is passing before our eyes. As we approach Hanover, where the Gothic style has so remarkably flourished during our own times, we begin to believe that the marvels that have been promised to us will not prove illusory, and will not prepare for us, as is usually the case under similar circumstan- ces, a bitter deception. We reach the station. The public crowd on the platform, for they have free access to receive the friends who are arriving, and to bid adieu to those who are going. The waiting-rooms of all classes have refreshment-rooms, which you can enter or quit as you please. There are long sofas by the side of the walls. 166 GERMANY. with tables before them, on which to place parcels, — advantages reserved in our equal republic for the passengers of the first class only. The offices are ojjen to the platform ; immense maps cover the walls. The foreigner, if he finds any difficulty in making himself understood, can point out the place whither he wishes to go. By looking at these maps during the long hours he has to wait, even an ignorant man would at last receive into his mind certain configurations, certain traces which are thus unconsciously imprinted on his memory, and which may recur to his recollection at a time when he may need them. An- nouncements in English, French, and German show the travel- ler the du'ection in which the trains pass. AVhile he has to watch over his own personal safety, it is not easy for him to ascertain which way he should go, while trains passing in difier- ent directions are crossing each other. Happily an attendant came to our assistance, and almost immediately we found our way into the city. The impression made by our first walk through the streets of Hanover is still present to our mind. Xight was coming on, and the lars^e buildino-s and houses on each side of the wide streets through which we passed assumed a fantastic aspect, which carried us back to another epoch, and made us dream of other ages ; so that the morrow, which was to transform the illu- sion into reality, seemed very slow in coming. HANOVER. 167 HANOVER. I. GENERAL APPEARANCE. — NEW STREETS.— THE OLD TOWN.— THE RATHAUS.— THE MARKT-KIRCHE.— THE RESIDENZ-SCHLOSS. — THE OPERA-HOUSE. — THE GYMNASIUM. — THE SYNAGOGUE. — THE SCHOOLS. THERE is no European city whicli has been remodelled dur- ing the present era, according to a decided and well-deter- mined style of architecture, and in which the public buildings stand in due relation to the private dwellings, where we do not find Gothic churches by the side of Grecian palaces, placed in the midst of houses of the Renaissance. ^lunich contains, in the works carried on by King Louis, only copies of buildings of every age, of all countries, and every style of architecture, with- out any connection between them ; it is a museum of copies. St. Petersburg, Vienna, Geneva, and many other towns, have lately done nothing but reproduce Parisian buildings, which are not very remarkable for their homogeneity, or the expression of a unique idea or a dominant principle. Hanover, for some reason which we can neither ascertain nor understand, has given birth to a school of learned architects who have pursued their studies at home and abroad, more especially in France, as we may say without an affectation of false mod- esty. The works of this school are already numerous and im- portant. We can recognize and follow step by step, in the modern structures in Hanover, the manner in which they first felt their way, the progress attained by slow degrees, and their 168 GERMANY. influence in the former kingdom of Hanover, afterwards extended to many cities in the German Empire. The first step in these attempts was the study of the old buildings, — types that remained of the architecture of a former age and of another country, transplanted to this foreign soil. This architecture, which, properly speaking, does not belong to Germany, was inspired by Ehenish buildings, and the examples of our old French architecture of the Middle Ages. The Germans, ^vho have schools of literature and music of their own, have none of painting or of architecture. They have no national architecture; and w^e see this great German race borrowing from the Latins, the Slaves, and the Saxons, who are on their frontiers, the form and construction w^hich are to be seen in their private and public edifices. For this reason we cannot discover in Germany a gradual development of artistic facts, a relation between the various buildings, or that regular gradation which they display every- where else. The transitions are sudden ; or, rather, there is no transition between the various periods and the different styles. They received the Gothic in its completeness, they applied it without effort or study; all at once, without passing through our Eenaissance, they advanced from Gothic to Eococo, — and what Eococo it is ! When we built Versailles, they constructed their palaces at Berlin and Vienna. They have never originated any- thing, and have always copied ; but we cannot but acknowledge one merit which they possess : that they have known well how to choose their models. The same thing which the Germans did in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Eenaissance they know how to do in the nineteenth century. After having taken as their examples the Eoman and Gothic buildings of the Ehine and the Ile-de- France ; after having endeavored, without any result, to compre- hend our Eenaissance, and having transformed it in a manner so well known, the Germans have, at the present day, entered on the path which archaeological studies and labors had begun to HANOVER. 169 open iu France thirty years ago ; and since then they have made such rapid advances in the career they had traced out for them- selves, that sometimes, as at Hanover, they have excelled us. We knew what to expect at Hanover. Drawings, photo- graphs, descriptions, had prepared us beforehand to see Gothic architecture^ valued there more than among ourselves; but our expectations were exceeded, and — a thing which seldom occurs — we found works better- planned and more numerous than we anticipated. The new city is intersected by magnificent avenues, the prin- cipal of which — Schiller-strasse, George-strasse, and Eisenbahn- strasse — are nearly 100 feet in width. These roads are, in their whole extent, bordered by modern buildings, almost always in the most original and varied style. Not one of these houses resembles the adjoining one ; each has its own peculiar form, its distinctive aspect. The proportions are not always agreeable; the details show somewhat of pretension and research, but the entire effect is pleasing ; it excites and retains the attention. We lingered long over our first walk. We were never tired of gazing at the facades of public buildings, or of private houses of brick or of stone, on which were to be seen bold projections formed by loggias, covered balconies, veritable moucharahjs surmounted by extraordinary gables. We glance cautiously through an open window, at some drawing-room on the ground- floor, some half-hidden interior, thus preparing in our own mind a plan for a visit and examination which promise such attractive studies, so fertile in information and satisfaction of every kind. It is not so easy as may at first be thought to find one's way in the midst of buildings so varied, but between which there is such a family likeness, that some time is required to arrange and classify them thoroughly. Nevertheless, we were not long 1 We employ the word Gothic to describe the architecture derived from the recollections of the Middle Ages in France, because we have no other which we 170 GERMANY in conquering this difficulty. A little observation alone suf- ficed, and it soon became easy to ascertain our bearings. AVe soon beo-in to make certain classifications and remarks, the result of whicli serves to show how much care and study have been devoted by the authorities of Hanover to the task of constructing the new quarters of the city. Xothing has been left to caprice or chance; and yet it is easy to see that the greatest liberty of action has been allowed to the skill and the individual tastes of the architects to whom was intrusted the duty of carrying out the plan. One of the most important questions to be solved in a new city, when once the general outline is adopted and the plan laid down,i is the study of the angles formed by the meeting of two streets. In certain towns— as at Turin, for example, which is the perfect image of a draught-board — no particular arrangement is necessary. In Paris we see the houses at important angles, such as those which are at two cross-roads, distinguished from the rest by a special combination. Unfortunately, all the houses constructed under these conditions resemble each other so strongly, that it is not always easy to recognize them a second time. At Hanover the houses at the corners of a cross-road, or those fronting a square, are treated differently, according to the form of the site on which they are built, and the effect of perspective which they are intended to produce. "When the disposition of the public road leaves a large vacant space before the building, the facade of such a house is treated otherwise than if it were built in a narrow road; and as, in spite of the width of the streets, the buildings which form them are relatively low, the system of ventilation is excellent. On a public promenade or before a square the look-out is skilfully arranged, so as to allow the inhabitants within the house to enjoy the prospect without. 1 In order to discuss the plan of Hanover, it would be necessary to have a knowledge of the local topography, which we do not possess, and we must there- fore consider this plan a good one until the contrary is proved. HANOVER. 171 The windows have then a special form: they are wider and descend lower, and bay-windows are thrown out to enable per- sons to see what passes on every side. A few sketches will illustrate what we have already said, and what is to follow. Fig. 89. — A Comer-house in Hanover. Pig. 89 represents the front of a house, by Mons. Oppler, architect, built at the corner of two streets, forming an acute angle with each other ; the angular point is occupied by a bay- window of picturesque appearance; the two retreating fronts 172 GERMANY. are much varied in their outlines, with very decided projections ; their principal lines being also broken up by buttresses and gables, as well as by many recessed and prominent portions, the whole' from a front view, would have a heavy appearance, but seen sideways it is foreshortened, and a lighter effect is pro- duced by the contrast of light and shade which soften down the details. •-'<*'y'^^g»^^;^:^-^^ ?^;2r^-^^^^ Fig. 90. — House in Hanover. At an obtuse angle, on the contrary, as in Yig. 90, the fa(^ades are thrown forward, and may be taken in at a single glance ; there would be, in such a case, some fear of the monotony re- sulting from a long line of similar openings ; in order to obviate this inconvenience, the fa(^.ade is unequally divided, and the HANOVER. 173 principal part projects beyond the wings. The lower lines extend regularly along the building, passing over the projecting portions, and thus producing a good eflect ; while in the wings Fig. 91. — View of a House in a Square. there are the divisions with their projections. The stories vary in height, according to their importance and the part which they are intended to play ; and in the thickness of the walls there 17-i - GERMANY. are recessed balconies, surmounted by large arches, which extend over the windows on two floors. The whole is very subdued, and does not aim at effect so much as the preceding example, where the attention is arrested by each separate point; while here, on the contrary, the mass of the work was of sufficient im- portance to make it necessary to divide it, so as to allow the spectator easily to take in the whole effect from one extremity to the other, and, by means of breaks and intervals skilfully interposed, to diminish the extent on which the eye would have to rest. A building erected in a square (Fig. 91), by Mons. Oppler, the architect, resembles in many respects the preceding struc- ture ; but with this difference, that the principal projection is more prominent, and assumes the proportions of an important decoration. The wings are relatively sacrificed to it, and throw into relief the middle of the building, which is treated in a more •elaborate style, and differs from the rest both in form and the nature of materials. It is evident that a square, surrounded by buildings with such outlines as these, looks brighter and more cheerful than if the houses were uniform in appearance and height. It may indeed be replied, that the latter plan — adopted, for example, in our Place Vendome and Place Ptoyale, etc. — gives to them, according to academic conventionalities, a grander and more monumental aspect. When a house is to be erected at a corner formed by the in- tersection of two or more cross-streets of secondary importance, the plan adopted is less rich, but the result obtained is always original, picturesque, and remarkaljly varied. We see that the architect has endeavored to produce a good effect with regard to perspective, and an outline which is striking at a distance. Figs. 92 and 93 represent a small corner-house : it is distin- guishable at a distance, and cannot be confounded with the neighboring houses ; the angle, being cut off*, is superseded by a plane surface supported by a small column, rising to the level of the ceiling of the first floor, and sustaining the balconies of HANOVER. 175 Fig. 92. — Comer-house in Hanover, 176 GERMANY the upper stories; and the whole arrangement carries out au ingenious idea, the conception of which is analogous with those to which we have already alluded, the principal aim being to attract attention to one special point, throwing into the back- ground the other portions of the frontage, which are to some extent sacrificed. These examples are only intended by us to explain the prin- cipal combinations adopted in the fac^ades of Hanover. As to the use which the builder has made of the materials employed, and the arrangement of the ground-plan, these are questions which will occur hereafter, when we come to examine the in- terior of these dwelling-houses. AVe will merely remark here that the houses to which we have just alluded are built, some entirely of bricks, and others of white stone and brick ; that these bricks are of various colors. Fig. 93. — Ground-plan. yellow, red, or black ; that their form varies, as we have already shown ; and that, according to the manner in which they are employed, they are well adapted to imbricated work of every kind, thus giving to the facades an appearance entirely new to us. We also feel assured that the inhabitants must find in the interior of their dwellings an enjoyment as great as the exterior produces on the passer-by. We can easily imagine what a charm must be added to an apartment by a bay-window filled with flowers, well exposed to the sun, with an extensive view, which diffuses animation and cheerfulness over the whole room. We may also remark that these are not peculiarly luxurious houses or sumptuous mansions, but lodging-houses, intended to be used by several lodgers ; the ground-floor containing shops, and the upper stories the ordinary apartments. HANOVER. 177 The new streets of Hanover are usually quiet, and the crowd is not great. They possess an importance not in keeping with the rest of the city; they seem to have been built on too grand a scale. It is true that when Ernest Augustus undertook the embellishment and enlargement of the city, Hanover was the capital of the kingdom, the seat of government, and the resi- dence of the Court, and that no one could foresee that some day Prussia, taking possession of this little State, would constitute it a province of the German Empire. Hanover is an ancient city ; it j)ossessed considerable impor- tance even in the twelfth century. In 1553 it accepted the Eeformation, and increased rapidly after the year 1763, when George III. caused the surrounding fortifications to be demol- ished. In 1801 the kingdom lost its autonomy, became first a Prussian province, then a French department, and was reconsti- tuted in 1817, to become once more a German province in 1866. The old city has preserved the characteristics of the Middle Ages. The streets are dull, narrow, dark, and in many places there are still wooden houses with gigantic gables, the height of which extends to five stories. These houses (Fig. 94) are of various periods ; some as old as the fourteenth or even the thirteenth century. These are the most ancient : the different stories project one over the other, supported by small wooden corbels ; the intervals between the cross-beams are filled in with earth or brick. Other houses, more numerous, date only from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They show many details of the architecture of the Netherlands united with those of the style called by the Ger- mans the German Renaissance, and which is, in fact, only a species of Rococo, ugly in form and disagreeable in its propor- tions. This kind of architecture has for its distinctive charac- teristic swollen balustrades and columns, pinnacles wider at the top than at the base, and also (but this is an advantage) pro- jecting loggias, a kind of bay-window extending down several stories, a modified form of which we have already found and noticed in the modern buildinos of this citv. 178 GERMANY. The Germans are eminently a conservative people; this is one of the fundamental qualities of their character. Ko Euro- fcCii'- veu^sijc^sii^uz- Fig. 94. —House with ancient Gables in a Street in Hanover. pean nation — for the Dutch are decidedly of German origin — has taken more care to preserve the public buildings and works HANOVER. 179 of art which it possesses. We do not meet in Germany with those zealous authorities who demolish an edifice in order to collect portions of it in a museum. On the contrary, the council of a town or commune will, on all occasions, take every precau- tion most lovingly to protect the ruins which they possess, and Fig. 95. — The Rathaiis, Hanover. adorn them so as to render them more pleasing, restoring them as far as possible, and always preserving them. The smallest public building is brought under our notice, the most modest gallery of paintings exhibited so as to attract attention and to acquire celebrity. If there is any remarkable work of art in an 180 GERMANY. unimportant town, public notice is given of it, and as soon as the traveller leaves liis railway-carriage he is made aware of what there is to excite his curiosity, and by what means it may be gratified. We ought, indeed, in some cases, to distrust the enthusiasm which has its source in so good a motive, but which too often ends in deception. Disappointments of this kind await the traveller who expects to find in the Eathaus or the Markt-Kirche, at Hanover, build- ings worthy of his attention. The Eathaus (town hall), Fig. 95, is a large building detached on three sides, of grotesque appearance, and dwarfed by an enor- mous roof. The first floor is irregularly pierced by windows of various dimensions ; the upper cornice is no longer in its original form ; dormer windows, of late construction, occupy the places of gables like those in the principal front, and change the origi- nal proportions of the roof. The gables at the end of the building, which are very pointed, are composed of five rows of square brick pillars, which present to the view, not one of their flat sides, but an angle ; the inter- vals are filled with masonry work in very thin bricks, so as to allow the angles of the pillars to project boldly from the front; between each of these pillars there is a narrow opening. This remarkable feature, almost entirely detached from the mass of the building, gives a striking but not very attractive appearance to the whole. On the oround-floor, and coverinf^ the outside steps, there is a porch with a square balcony, built at a much later period than that of the rest of the Eathaiis, in the archi- tectural style of that German Eenaissance of which we have so often spoken. This does not produce a pleasing effect, either in its entirety or its details. In the whole of this building the proportions are very defec- tive. The openings and the solid parts are badly arranged ; the projections are too pronounced, the outline is therefore hard and exaggerated, and our French taste does not readily accept the excessive means employed under the gray sky of the Xorth to HANOVER. 181 produce the effect which the warm light of the Southern sun gives so readily elsewhere. As to details, they are but few ; those which we find are reminiscences of other models, and often badly placed. Near the Rathalis stands a modern building which serves as a butchers' market, the details of which are somewhat interest- ing, since they evince care in the plan on which it has been erected. The hooks on which the animals are hung^, the stalls of the dealers, the beams of the wooden ceiling, the decoration of the walls, have not the usual commonplace forms and colors ; but the whole plan has been well traced and reasoned out, and all is truly Gothic. On the market square stands the Church of St. George, the only ancient ecclesiastical edifice in Hanover which is interest- ing (Figs. 96 and 97), and in w^hich we find the union of the two distinctive characters of the churches of the Middle Ages in Westphalia, the vaults of the side aisles raised to the same height as that of the nave, and the columns without sculptured capitals. The interior contains painted glass windows of Middle- Age workmanship, wdiich, although they do not equal those of our fine French cathedrals, are, in some parts, admirable both in color and design. They have been recently restored with much care and good taste. These Germans can neither destroy nor create, but still they know how to preserve most admirably ; while to demolish, or to replace an old thing by a new one, is opposed to their nature. There was, in a corner of this church, a plumber occupied in repairing the narrow^ leads of a glass window wdiich had just been taken down. He proceeded leis- urely with his work, making his repairs w4th great care, meas- uring slowly on a rule pieces of lead an inch and a half in length ; and he took delight in this monotonous and tedious occupation. A French w^orkman would soon have cast aside all these morsels; his master would have preferred that he should use " new stuff" ; but the Germans are patient and thrifty; they bear, without any inconvenience, the monotonous labor imposed upon them. 182 GERMANY. Being economical, they never go to any useless expense. It never comes into their minds to employ a new thing when the old one can be utilized.^ A guard-house with Doric columns, which reminds us of the old harriers in Paris, indicates from a distance the Eesidens- Schloss (the royal residence). We passed before a line of sol- diers. In a corner there was a little, low, and narrow door, and, Fig. 96. — Ground-plan of St. George's Churcli, Hanover. after many formalities required by a disobliging porter, we were left to the care of a guide, who went with us across a dismal and solitary court. There was no noise, no other movement than that of the monotonous and regular steps of the sentinels ; one would think that it was a prison rather than a palace. The pavements are damp, and grass grows among the chinks; it seems as if life and animation had disappeared forever from the 1 The Germans cairy the principles of conservatism to such an extent, that they have not yet removed from the uniform of their soldiers the three buttons which Frederick the Great caused to be sewn on the sleeves of his gi'enadiers, to prevent their making use of them instead of pocket-handkerchiefs. HANOVEE. 183 place. Its masters are gone, and the latest resident, blind and in exile, is spending his life with his daughter sadly and far from his country. Fig. 97. — View of the Churcli of St. George and its Surrotindiiigs at Hanover. Our guide was able to read our name and that of our country inscribed in the register. After having led us through the porch, he began his description in French, very good French; and, noticing our astonished looks, he said, with an expression that cannot be described, " I am from Metz." There was a profound 184 GEKMANY. sadness in Lis voice, and this short phrase showed in its utter- ance such great grief, — it was so eloquent in its brevity, — that we dared not ask him, though we could easily guess, what were the circumstances w^hich had thus driven him from his country. 'We held out our hands, and wrung his in silence. What a sad similarity between the destinies of the King and this simple citizen, two beings placed at so great a distance from each other in the social scale, and on whom the same hand had inflicted the same misfortune ! The one driven from France, deprived of his cottage, finds an asylum in Hanover;- the other, deposed from his kingdom, driven from Hanover, takes refuge in France. The royal palace is a princely residence, furnished luxuriously. The facades have no distinguishing characters, but we were struck with the interior ; first with the floor, and then w^ith the decoration of one of the apartments, and this neither the largest nor the most elegant. The floors, constructed of wood of various kinds, are covered with inlaid work, forming arabesques and geometrical designs, sometimes even representing bunches of flowers or human figures. This marqueterie, executed with as much care as in minute arti- cles of Parisian workmanship, shows a finish and perfection not easily attained, both as regards composition and execution. "VVe must, however, add, that in some parts the more difficult scroll patterns are traced by means of colored cement let into the wood, thus allowing the artist to obtain effects more agreeable and more uniform than those that could be produced by inlaid wood alone ; but these artifices are too rare to diminish the merit of the whole work. The room, the decoration of which struck us most, is of moderate dimensions, and we have forgotten its precise destination. The walls are painted with trellis-work, between the irregular lozenges of which are interlaced vine- branches and flowers ; the ground is of a milky-white tint, and through the intersections pass garlands of flowers and leaves; the tones of color are but slightly varied, — red, yellow, green, blue, all clear and fresh. The drawing is exquisite, and with a HANOVER. 185 truly astonishing richness of imagination on the part of the artist, notwithstanding so great a number of objects of the same nature and the same kind, not one resembles another; each has its special form by which it is distinguished, — its physiognomy, if we may so call it. These paintings have not the usual error of ordinary decorations in imitating conventional lights and shadows, — a deception w^hich is modified by the time of day, and the effect of which is not the same in the daytime as by candle- light. The subjects are painted without the help of light and shade, and the effect is produced only by the contour of the forms and the purity of design. The royal palace contains several other apartments remarkable for many reasons, but which unfortunately resemble those of all possible palaces. One of these, the Silher Kammcr, formerly contained about twenty tons' weight of silver plate, which may now perhaps be seen at Berlin. Another, a kind of long gallery, in imitation of the " Galerie des Glaces " at Versailles, looks out on the valley of the Leine, and gives a distant prospect of smil- ing meadows, a sweet and animated landscape, varied with copses on the hills, at the foot of which are situated the dwellings of Montbrillant and Herrenhausen. In this room there are several pictures remarkable for many reasons, and among others the portrait of Duke George Louis, before which the courtiers used to bow every Sunday when this prince had quitted Hanover in 1714 to occupy the throne of England under the title of George I. As we returned into the new town, w^e perceived at the end of a large square, ornamented with plantations of trees, a vast edifice, which at first sioht seemed larojer than it really is. This is the new opera-house, opened in 1854. We know not why this building, a specimen of Italian architecture, has been erected in the midst of this new Gothic city, and we were not able to ascertain the reason ; but the opera-house at Hanover, such as it is, deserves a visit (Figs. 98 and 99). The carriage entrance is a covered space under a porch wide enough to allow two car- 186 GERMANY. riages to pass each other without inconveuience ; visitors on foot enter by two side doors, which are reserved for them, and they thus escape any danger from the horses or the wheels; after- wards those who come either on foot or in carriages meet in the vestibule in front of the ticket-office. To the right and left, two Fig. 98. ■The Opera-house, Hanover. winding staircases, the steps of which are more than six feet wide, lead to the floor containing the first tier of boxes ; second- ary staircases lead to the second, third, and fourth tiers. Each tier contains twenty-two boxes, and, besides, there are the stage boxes, and the grand royal box, which, as in the Italian theatres, occupies the centre of the house and the height of two HANOVEK. 187 tiers. The King had also a private stage box allotted to him ; he reached it by a special staircase leading from an inner court- yard, where the escort and the carriages were stationed. The " foyer " is on the first floor. It opens on a terrace, which, dur- ing summer evenings, forms an agreeable promenade for the spectators. To this foyer is attached an immense refreshment- stall, — an indispensable accessory to all places of public resort in Germany. The interior of a theatre, seen by daylight, and between the hours of representation or rehearsal, has always a fantastic, strange, disquieting look. The body of the house, plunged in silence and obscurity, seems sombre, dark, and frightful ; there is nothing there but emptiness and solitude. A human figure wandering in the midst of this darkness reminds one of a ghost. The stage, only lighted by a few attic windows in the roof, which give but a pale and dull light, assumes grotesque, incomprehen- sible proportions ; the decorations, seen out of the proper point of view, show strange outlines without any intelligible significa- tion ; the side wings, brought close to each other against all the rules of perspective, look like a shapeless, incongruous, and falsely colored assemblage of palaces, churches, ruins, houses, gardens, and forests. The mind cannot take in the meaning of this mass of objects : the ropes, pulleys, ladders, the accessories and decorations piled up everywhere, heaped together without order or symmetry, or strangely hung one over the other, seem as if in an inextricable confusion, in which it appears as if it would be impossible to find at the time of representation any- thing necessary for use at the proper moment. Sometimes a sudden noise, without any apparent cause, is heard in the roof; it resounds, awakening the echoes of the vast space, and makes us shudder involuntarily. A beam cracks, — the acoustic effect gives us an idea that the whole building is about to fall. A cat utters a loud mew, and it seems as if all the fantastic animals which people the cardboard menagerie start at once into life and motion. The imagination is strongly and strangely moved by 188 GERMANY, the scene. We were in this excited state, when suddenly, from the royal box, came a full, youthful, vibrating voice, — that of a woman ; an Italian voice, whose accents fiUed the whole house. She was singing that grand morccaii from the first act of the Traviata : "Tutta sola perduta in questo deserto." Poor girl ! She had left her bright sunshine, her cheerful and gay fellow-countrymen so easily pleased, for this gloomy and cold sky, these heavy duU people, who come and listen to her as they digest their saner-kraut. But what a pleasure it was to us to hear instead of rude German accents the soft and win- ning intonations of the sweet language of Italy ! Then silence returned, more entire and deep than before. This song had in a moment transported us far away, calling up such a crowd of recollections as the slightest incident is able sometimes to evoke, and over which perhaps it is weU not to linger. Let us return to our visit to the opera-house. Besides the theatre, properly so called, there is a concert-room containing 430 square yards. The principal entrance is through the foyer. Being lighted by windows on both sides, this hall serves also for meetings in the daytime. The opposite wing contains the rehearsal-room, three rooms for the practice of the ballet-corps, and of the musicians and dramatic artists, with rooms open to the air in order to isolate them from the rest of the building and to avoid noise ; and then, at the back of the stage, the various offices and accessory rooms, the wardrobe, and the dress- ing and retiring rooms for the actors. This building, as we have said, is entirely detached, and placed at the highest part of a large open space. This position gives it importance, and it appears higher and more elegant than it really is. Its facades (Fig. 98) have, on the whole, a grand appearance. The details are wanting in originality, but are very simple and kept under due restraint. The proportion of the various stories. HANOVER. 189 and their dimensious when compared with the main body of the building, as seen from without, are too uniform. There is also another more serious defect. This building — the idea of which has been derived from an architectural style belonging to another country, under a climate less rigorous than that of the north — has the great disadvantage of having roofs formed Fig. 99. — Ground-plan of Opera-house, Hanover. into terraces — a deplorable condition in a damp country under a dull and cold sky ; and, although it is only twenty years old, it already shows traces of deterioration, which will only be aggravated by time. We noticed on our way home a curious structure, which presents a striking contrast to the opera-house. This is the Gymnasium, built by Messrs. Schulz and Havers, architects. 190 GERMANY. The principal portion of the building fronts the public road (Fig. 100) ; it includes one story above the ground-Hoor, which, being dwarfed and low, gives the upper part greater importance. The ornamental portion, placed over the entrance-door, is some- Fig. 100. —The Gymnasium, Hanover. what complicated, but is ingeniously arranged. There are many details in which the German taste has endeavored to represent, after its manner, Gothic ideas. The effect produced is original, since it shows so plainly its origin and the transition from the hea^T, harsh forms of Teutonic Gothic to the new proportions ; HANOVER, 191 not, indeed, invented by the Germans, but so well adapted and applied by them. There is, however, a redundancy of ornament and a want of simplicity in the whole conception; thus the Fig. 101. — Ground-plan of Gymnasium at Hanover. 1. Hall. 2. Men's dressing-room. 3. AVashing-room. 4. Room for apparatus. Office. Attendants' rooms. Gymnasium. principal projection does not correspond well with the side portions, so that instead of a homogeneous whole w^e have two distinct things having no relation to each other. 192 GERMANY. The ground-plan (Fig. 101) is anything but academical. In the principal building we find on the ground-floor a vestibule, a kind of English hall, enclosing on the left the staircase, the dressing and washing rooms for men; on the right the office and the apartments for the attendant, with a sitting-room for the professors. On the first floor (Fig. 102) there is a separate gymnasium for the exercises of women and sick persons under special treatment, and opposite to this is the women's dressing- room. One of the apartments also serves as a dancing-room. In the building at the back of the first floor is placed the large -t -~i w t9 m 5 'M 20 M% Fig. 102. — Plan of the First Floor, Gymnasium, Hanover. 1. Gymnasium for women. | 2. "Women's dressing-room. hall for gymnastic exercises (106 feet in length, by 72 in breadth). It is divided into eight compartments, each about 13 feet wide, with the exception of the last two, which are only about 6 feet 6 inches, and on which rests a gallery, approached by a staircase from the ground-floor. This hall is covered by a unique roof, the timber-work of which is as curious as we have ever seen (Fig. 103). From isolated stone pillars, only 9 feet 10 inches high, spring arches which separate the nave from the side aisles. These very narrow side portions, being only 4 feet 3 inches in breadth, have a cylindrical vault turned over them, while a lower arch HANOVER. 193 connects the isolated pillar with the outside wall, which is only about 1 foot 8 inches in thickness, hut is supported by but- tresses. The construction, up to this point, is precisely similar to that adopted in certain French churches of the Middle Ages ; for instance, La Souterraine, in the department of Creuse. But, beyond the nave, the resemblance between these buildings dis- appears ; for, instead of a stone roof like that which covers the Fig. 103. — Section and View of Roof of Gymnasium. French building, an uncovered timber roof, of a special construc- tion, has been erected over the German edifice. The top of the pillars is about 9 feet 10 inches above the ground, as we have already said, while the height of the ridge- piece is 54 feet, and the distance of the opposite pillars from each other is 59 feet. The erection of a timber roof of these dimensions, without any intermediate support, presented great difficulties, which the Hanoverian architects have surmounted 194 GERMANY. in a most intelligent manner. On the top of the walls they have placed a hammer-beam, supported by a brace, which forms a right-angled triangle with the wall and the under part of the beam. Above this hammer-beam the same triangle is repeated by a vertical bearer supporting the principal rafter; the brace of the lower triangle, prolonged so as to meet the king-post, forms with the principal rafter a system which the triangles, firmly braced together, render rigid and unyielding. Above the lower hammer-beam a boarded vault has been constructed on an arch occupying the space between the principal and secondary rafters, so as to render the interior of the building less affected by cold and heat. This vault, the upper part of which is, unfor- tunately, rather dark, serves, by its form and importance, as an ornament to this large hall. As to the thrust exerted on the walls by the timber-work and the very heavy roof which it supports, it is perfectly resisted by the pillars connected with the walls and the counterforts, the construction of which we have before explained. The masonry is in stone and brick, the wood- work in deal ; and neither the vault nor the roof has shown the slightest indi- cations of giving way. It may be said that it would have been easy, by employing iron, to have attained this end without having to overcome so many difficulties. Our answer is, first, that the employment of iron would have been much more expensive, and also, that it would not have been possible to erect roofs of the size re- quired, so as to afford the same protection from heat and cold as those which have been adopted ; thus a zinc roof under similar conditions does not avail unless complemented by an inner layer of wood. A glass roof would have been too hot in summer and too cold in winter ; and would, besides, have been obscured by snow at the very time when the light afforded by it would have been most needed. A tiled roof w^ould have re- quired iron supports of enormous dimensions, and consequently very costly; and, indeed, when we see what results have been HANOVER. 195 attained, we may surely concede to the Hanoverian architects the right to build as they think fit, and to prefer the timber, which they have ready to their hands, to iron, which must liave been procured at great cost. While we are speaking of buildings departing from ordinary rules, we may also mention a church now being erected in ^gidien-stadt (Figs. 104 and 105). We see there the same isolated pillars, the narrow aisle, forming a kind of internal buttresses which we have already noticed at the Gymnasium ; so there is no necessity to allude again to them. We will only call attention to the method adopted for the roof of the nave, and which consists in long tie-beams, supported by two rows of braces of unequal length, from which annular vaults spring. This combination is ingenious, but the effect is heavy. The dimensions which are necessarily given to the timbers dwarf the lower parts. It is a kind of compromise between some churches in the Netherlands and certain of our modem ones, in which barrel vaults have recently been constructed. Still, while accepting ideas of this nature, it is evidently an advan- tage, with regard both to the appearance, the construction, and the durability, to substitute, as we have done, stone arches for the wooden tie-beams from which the vaults spring. The most important modern ecclesiastical building in Hanover is the new synagogue, the architect of which is Mons. Oppler. The synagogue was anciently the place where the Jews met to pray, to read and expound the sacred Scriptures. This cus- tom has not been changed ; and the Hebrew worship, after the lapse of three thousand years, requires no modification of the arrangement according to which the temple of Solomon was built. It seems, therefore, at first sight, that the plan of this temple ought to have been adopted for all synagogues in every country ; but, though the creed and mode of worship have not been altered, the requirements of different climates are not the same. It was necessary to unite the modern necessities of the West with the conditions required by a religion which origi- 196 GERMANY, nated in the East, and to plan an edifice which by its form, its Fig. 104. —Interior of a Church, in ^gidien-stadt, Hanover. 7 4, %}K^ Fig. 105. — Grotmd-plan of the same. HANOVER. 197 character, and the system of its construction, is adapted to present circumstances, and, at the same time, in accordance with the traditions which it must recall, and the fundamental principles which it must transmit. Synagogues, like all other buildings, vary, therefore, in form as much as in architectural disposition. The ground-plan of the Hanover synagogue (Fig. 106) is con- formable to conventional notions. It assumes the form of a rectangle, but the greater width to the right and left of the nave would, unfortunately, recall the idea of the cross, were it not that this transept is so disposed as to present, with the prolongation of the nave and the choir, a vast central division, which, correctly speaking, forms in itself the main portion of the building, divided from the aisles by arches springing from isolated pillars. Before the entrance, which is at the west end, is a porch, to which open the staircases leading to the galleries ; the vaulted roof of this porch is supported by twelve columns, intended to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Beyond the nave or lioly place, is the sanctuary or holy of holies, placed at the east end. In the central part a large cupola rises higher than any other part of the building, and symbolizes the idea of the unity of God. Near the sanctuary there are two vestries, to the right and left; and at the entrance are two other rooms. In the large space on the ground-floor are raised seats reserved for men, and on the first floor those allotted to women. Within the choir are the stalls of the grand rabbi, of the members of consistory, and of the administrative commission. In front are the pulpit, the seven-branched candlestick, and the traditional lamp; in the apse, the ark or chest, a souvenir of the ark of the covenant, in which the Jews keep the five books of the law of Moses, written by hand on vellum, and rolled up in the ancient manner. We may notice among the architectural details of the interior 198 GEEMANY. Fig. 106. — Ground-plan of Synagogue, Hanover. HANOVER. 199 (Fig. 107) the large arches of the nave, which occupy its whole height, from the ground to the roof, without being cut by lower arches intended to support the galleries. These remind one of the ancient churches in Westphalia, in which the aisles were always as high as the nave. The galleries are sustained on pil- lars and consoles of wrought-iron, and seem to be independent of the structure, so that they might be removed without making any other change in the disposition of the building. This is, perhaps, a fault, but, on the other hand, the plan adopted is novel ; it increases the elevation of the vaults, since no combi- nation of details interferes with their height. The cupola is supported on four squinches, formed of retreating arches succes- sively lessening as they recede. The rest of the building is cov- ered with groined vaults with projecting ribs. The whole has a comfortable and rich appearance, which will be still more aug- mented by the decorative parts, which are far from being finished at the present time. The principal arrangements of the ground-plan and the inte- rior are evident in the facades (Fig. 108). We can easily recog- nize, as we examine them, the large central hall^ mentioned before, surmounted by a cupola, and defined by four projecting pillars. We may remark that the vaults of the nave might, per- haps, be dark at the upper part (for they receive only borrowed light from the windows of the aisles), were it not that, on account of the comparatively little length of the ground-plan, the build- ing will be lighted by the large windows at the extremities of the transept. This synagogue is built of freestone, as well as bricks, wood, and iron. This is one of the few buildings in Hanover in which w^e have noticed the employment of iron. Its use has been so well understood, and it has here been employed in forms and combinations so appropriate to its nature and to the part which it plays in the construction, that it is evident that its unfrequent application is not owing to Hanoverian architects not knowing how to employ it with effect. It rather depends on the influ- 200 GERMANY. ^i^.- ■, A--. .jy r-r- ^'"^tiE . ..^.^ It s 10 ;2uM. Fig. 107. — Transverse Section of the Synagogue, Hanover. HANOVER. 201 ence of wise economical views which cause timber to be pre- ferred to iron, since the former is still abundant in the country and comparatively cheap. Fig. 108. — Synagogue at Hanover. The Gymnasium and the synagogue are two such interesting 202 GERMANY. buildings that they certainly deserve the detailed descriptions Avhich we have given of them. The architects who planned them have had the merit, rare among our German brethren, of not borrowing and appropriating to themselves the results of the studies of others. These public buildings constitute, each in its kind, works of great personal ability, including, as we see, many diverse elements ; but these reminiscences are wisely co-ordi- nated, and placed in perfect agreement with each other, and produce, on the whole, a combination much to be admired. We enter a primary school, where we find the playground small, the class-rooms insufficient, the ceilings too low, the chil- dren too crowded together, the school furniture unsuitable. One master presides over and teaches more than a hundred scholars at once. The light is not good ; the building, originally a pri- vate house, has been transformed into a school, and this trans- formation has not been judiciously effected. We pay a visit to a second school. This is not so badly arranged and kept as the preceding, but still it is far below what v>'e meet with in the modern schools of France and England. It was very warm there, and the odor produced by the assemblage of so many children was intolerable. We asked the master what means he had at his disposal for ventilating the school-room. It was necessary to repeat the question several times, and, then his countenance suddenly lighted up ; he understood, and rushing to one of the windows, threw it wide open with a triumphant air. The Polytechnic School is an establishment which nearly cor- responds to our large lyceums, or rather to the Eollin and Chaptal colleges in Paris. The class-rooms are small but well ventilated, and the pupils have a respectable appearance. Xot being desir- ous of showing our nationality as Frenchmen, we asked one of the elder lads a question in English. He replied in very good French that they did not learn English, but French only, as this language alone is obligatory. He was a boy of about fifteen years of age, and he expressed himself easily and without em- barrassment. We doubt whether many of the pupils of our HANOVER. 203 lycees could make themselves so well understood in German. The uniform consists of a minute white cap with a wide red band round it. Many of the children wear spectacles ; we might almost say that those who do not are in the minority. Short sight, indeed, is an infirmity which is distressingly on the in- crease in Germany, and is generally attributed to the defective manner in which the rooms are lighted, and to the insufficient plans adopted for the construction and arrangement of the pri- mary schools. 1 Hanover possesses one of the six military schools of Germany. We shall only notice them in order to show what kind of in- struction is given to the fourth division, which includes a knowl- edge of every document connected with the armies of foreign governments. These documents, modified every day, keep the students perfectly acquainted with the armaments, the position of the various corps cVarmee and the strength of each regiment, the places where they are stationed, the names of the officers who command them, the cannon with which they are provided, and the war material in the arsenals of Europe. It was the exact knowledge of all these details which we attributed to the spy system, not being able to explain it otherwise during the war of 1870. The students, during their last year, undergo frequent exami- nations on these subjects. They are expected, in answer to the questions proposed to them, to give, for instance, the numbers of the regiments forming such or sucli a corps cVarmee in a for- eign country, the military stations, the local resources, the im- " portance and the nature of the productions of every commune, the names of the crenerals of brigade and of division, with the particulars of the service which they have seen. The camps, fortresses, and arsenals are the subjects of similar study and of the same careful investigation. A German officer ought also to know thoroughly the network of railways throughout Euro23e, 1 See "Constructions et installation des ecoles primaires," par Felix Narjoux, architecte. 1 vol. in 8vo. Librairie Morel, 13 Rue Bonaparte, Paris. 204 GERMANY. the manner in which they are worked, the points of bifurcation of the lines, and the quantity of rolling stock belonging to the companies. The bridges over the larger and smaller rivers are indicated on special maps, with an estimate of the weight which they are calculated to bear. The width and depth of rivers and canals are exactly quoted and learned by heart. Nothing is neglected, so that during a campaign there should be no obstacle whatever due to ignorance or irresolution, so as to delay the advance of troops. The pupils, both of primary and secondary schools, engage with eagerness in gymnastic exercises. The importance given to the buildings of the Gymnasium (Figs. 100, 101, 102, and 103) shows what interest the Germans attach to such games as develop the body and give it the strength necessary to maintain a just balance between the physical and mental powers. We have no intention of instituting a thorough comparison between the secondary schools of France and Germany ; but stiU we will notice the most important points of difference between the two systems. Germany has established the tutorial system so much in favor in England, by substituting for large boarding- schools, smaller ones for eight or ten pupils, limited establish- ments kept by professors of colleges. The professors receive these boys into their own families, accompany them to school, hear their lessons, watch over their conduct, and take the place of their absent parents. There are no regular and obligatory hours of study ; the children work whenever they please ; pro- vided that their duties are performed at a given moment, the master requires them to give no account of their time. Instead of junior masters, there are monitors chosen by the pupils, and taken from themselves. The classes, instead of lasting two hours each, are only three quarters of an hour or an hour in duration, and are always separated by a period of recreation. If the higher German studies lose themselves in the mazes of metaphysics, and a sort of poetical dreaminess full of minute details respecting the analysis of the sentiments, the secondary HANOVER. 205 teaching for younger lads is, on the contrary, eminently prac- tical ; and young pupils are well grounded in geography, history, mathematics, the natural sciences, singing, drawing, and one or two living languages, taught by means of long conversations be- tween the professors and the pupils. Primary instruction, when the somewhat slow intelligence of a German child is able to follow it, is rather advanced. The pupils have greater knowl- edge of singing, arithmetic, and geography than the children of the lower classes in our country. The last observation that we shall make on this subject is, that during several visits paid to Germany, we have always been struck — long before 1870 — with the great number of maps which cover the walls of the railway- stations, taverns, and restaurants ; in fact, of every^ place of public resort. There were among them many maps of France, and we still find them there. They are, we must say, excellent substitutes for the pic- tures, in such bad taste, unfortunately so much in favor among ourselves and elsewhere. This use of maps appeared to us so advantageous, that when we were requested, soon after one of these visits, to draw up a plan for a school-house, we proposed to paint maps on the walls of the class-rooms and playground. This proposition was re- ceived by the local administration with much laughter at our expense. The same result followed our suggestions in Paris with respect to the construction of workshops for a large number of men. We then suggested that maps, tools, models for calculation, writing, design, or the usual requirements of the business, should be painted on the walls. " That would distract the attention of my workmen," replied the master. 206 GERMANY. HAXOYER. 11. THE HOUSES, THEIR FURNITURE, AND THEIR INHABITANTS. BEFORE speaking of the houses of Hanover, let us notice their inhabitants and the general aspect of the city. Thouoh it is still early, the streets wear already an animated appearance; housekeepers are going to market in their red or blue bonnets; the mistress of the house does not consider it beneath her dignity to go herself to make her purchases, accom- panied by servants who, with their arms bare as far as their shoulders, carry in their large baskets an enormous load of provisions of all kinds, and are prodigal of their smiles to the helmeted soldiers whom they pass. Groups of persons are fre- quently seen. Those who compose them remain indefinitely rooted to the same spot, and yet their conversation does not seem very animating or interesting. Two men meet ; they stop and smoke by the side of each other their long porcelain pipes ; they exchange but few sentences, but are contented with utter- ing now and tlien a word which appears to be very significant, for it is sufficient to give fresh life to the interview and to pro- long the time of their stay. There are not many vehicles drawn by horses, but a great number of hand-barrows, in which a single man is able to take a considerable load. Clerks go to their offices with that weary look, that indefinable expression of ennui, which, in every country, is given to their features by the monotonous and regular life that they lead. "We see regi- ments of soldiers drawn up in line ; the men are strong and HANOVEE. 207 robust ; their natural powers are developed, their physical force is very great, but there is but little intelligence shown in their eyes or their brows. The discipline appears to be excessive, and is maintained with exemplary severity. If an officer passes, the soldiers stop and salute ; if it is a superior officer, not only the common soldiers, but the officers whom he meets, draw up, salute him, and continue on their way with the regularity and precision of an automaton when the spring which moves it has been touched. At meal-times — and they frequently recur — the restaurants are filled immediately the former guests have left. Enormous dishes full of meat, prepared with but little delicacy, are placed before customers who are always hungry and eat greedily, scarcely stopping for a moment to empty large glasses of beer, which they drain at a single draught. Between meals, they frequently take rolls filled with ham, cheese, or cold beef, and wash them down with beer or brandy. The men lay down their pipes only when they are eating, and resume them immediately after they have finished. One may easily understand that their manners have but little refinement and politeness. The time which is not given to business is often passed at the tavern. The women sometimes exchange visits in the afternoon ; these little social meetings are called MittwochnachinittagcaffcgeMll- scliaft ! They then partake of slices of bread-and-butter and cups of cafe cm lait ; these slices and cups are of considerable size, and nevertheless the former rapidly disappear, and the latter are frequently refilled. When one of the guests, seated at the door of a tavern, makes a joke, he smiles blandly, his countenance expands with simple and dull enjoyment ; the jest passes from one table to another ; each one repeats it to his neighbor, even repeats it to himself that he may thoroughly understand it; at last they begin to laugh, and their mirth increases in intensity, so that there is no end of it ; a quarter of an hour afterwards it still continues. They dwell upon a single word or a gesture which they think 208 GERMANY, worthy of attention, and ponder it in their minds, heavily en- grossed by it. In one of the grand taverns near the railway- station a stout officer had just taken his breakfast. The meal which he had swallowed would frighten the reader ; but having at last finished with a salad-bowl full of herrings and potatoes, and a soup-plate of cofe au lait, he felt satisfied ; then, rising from table, adjusting his spectacles and buckling on his belt, our hero began to sing with a thundering voice and an accent impos- sible to describe, Meiii Herr Malporough sen fa-f-en guerre ! The applause which he obtained was prodigious. Every person present repeated the words, passed them on to their neighbors, told them to the new-comers, and then came shouts of laughter and stamping of feet. An hour afterwards the excitement had not calmed down, for it only ceased to begin afresh. The famous phrase was repeated and commented on in a hundred ways with evident satisfaction and admiration, and certainly provided suffi- cient intellectual employment for the whole of the day. The vanity of these people is unbounded;^ you notice it in every word and gesture. These parvenus of victory have en- dured our supremacy and our influence in all European ques- tions for many years, and they are now determined to have their revenge ; but they do not understand, as we do, true glory and pride, and they remain inferior to us in greatness and gen- erosity. The splendor of triumph is sufficient for us, but they can understand only the outward and material aspect of con- quest. A title of honor is the reward of a French general who returns victorious. German generals, like barbarians, gorged themselves with gold after the war of 1870. . We stop before a cabinet-maker's shop. The men are work- ing conscientiously, steadily, and without spirit, yet still with- out wasting their time. The one who was nearest to us was 1 On a table in the museum of Sans-Souci at Berlin there is a large book bound in red velvet. On the first page we read, in letters of gold, "The Austrian cam- paign " ; then beneath this, *' It occupied Frederick the Great for seven years" ; and on the opposite page, " William I. concluded it in seven days." HANOVER. 209 connecting two oak planks by a groove and tongue joint ; every moment he fitted his boards together, tried them, turned them over, and compared them ; he took a small piece off the tongue, and then enlarged the groove; then he tried them afresh, en- deavoring to drive one into the other with his mallet ; then he examined his boards on every side. The work was certainly done firmly and well, but he had occupied twice as much time as a Frenchman would have done ; and, after all, it was finished without taste. The veins of the wood were not matched ; they crossed each other instead of meeting at the central line, and spreading afterwards so as to form the aigrette, so much admired in our cabinet-work, and which would not have been forgotten by a French w^orkman who was skilful and who was fond of his trade. There are no beggars in the streets, for mendicity is strictly forbidden in Germany, and in some of the northern towns a fine is inflicted on every person convicted of giving alms. We do not see so many women in the streets in the afternoon as in the morning. They go out but little, and pay but few visits to each other ; which accounts for their eagerness to form groups in the streets, and to exchange a few words when they are out and happen to meet. The men are heavy, dull, stout, gross, but strong and robust ; we seem every moment to meet with all the shoeblacks, tail- ors, and shoemakers that we have seen in France. Benjamin Constant was right when he once said of these people : " The Germans are ponderous in their reasoning, their jokes, their tenderness, their diversions, and their quiet hours, — they seem to think that it w^ould put them out of breath to be cheerful, and that they would be thrown off their guard if they were polite." Theatrical performances begin and conclude at an early hour. The women go in morning dress ; they listen without stirring from their boxes, or paying visits to each other ; the men fre- ■ quently go out to eat, drink, and smoke, and return with great 210 GERMANY noise, stTiLl wearing their overcoats, and affecting in public a deplorable want of decorum and consideration for others. They have not yet, however, adopted the custom of the inhabitants of Breslau, who enter the theatre with muddy boots, and place them on the railing in front of their box, where they form a kind of decoration, which has, at least, the merit of origi- nality. The inhabitants of Hanover seem to have considerable taste for the theatre ; their opera-house is open during eleven months of the year. The repertoire is chiefly composed of comic operas, a few ballets, some translations of French pieces, and the works of native anthors. One of the favorite amusements of a certain class of the pop- ulation is chamber-music, for which German composers have written so many pieces, and by the harmony of which they are able to produce a wonderful effect, even with but few per- formers. These people are not rich, and they spend but little, so that their income and profits are small ; and the balance-sheet is not always in their favor, since they are often in debt. The dress of the women is modest, but in bad taste. They are in themselves neither graceful nor elegant; many of them wear glasses, and all of them show in their intercourse with men a strange want of reserve, which is singularly repugnant to our ideas of propriety and decorum. At a table cVhote, before a hun- dred persons, a woman will kiss her husband ; she sits on his knee in a railway-carriage, and sings to him, in a low voice, melodies in that sweet language which Ave in France consider fit only for horses. If they are merely engaged to each other, he only presses her knees under the table, and sends her kisses from his fingers' ends. It must be remembered that we are here speaking of persons who, by their fortune and position, evidently belong to the higher classes in society. It is said that such free manners show the innocence and simplicity of those Avho prac- tise them ; it seems to us, on the contrar}^, that they are a proof HANOVER. 211 of a defective education, and of the absence of delicate and ele- vated feelings. 1 The middle class possess neither the influence nor the power which they have in France ; where, in these later times, they may be said to be absolute masters. In Germany they are in a rudimentary position ; they have but few possessions, and are either absorbed into the higher class, or not distinguished from ,that beneath them. They are of an anxious temperament; their debts occupy their whole attention, and are the sole object of their thoughts. These form an inexhaustible subject of conver- sation, and the theme of anecdotes, remarks, and stories of all kinds. This impression we received many years ago ; for tedious histories of debtors and creditors formed the staple of all the themes and exercises contained in the grammar from which we learnt so imperfectly w^hen we were at college this terrible Ger- man language. One of the subjects most frequently treated of in their works of fiction is the rapid acquisition of fortune, not by industry, but by some accidental cause : an unknown rich relative is all at once discovered, or an unexpected inheritance is left by some great nobleman, who forms a just appreciation of their merits. Their life is simple, and exempt from trouble. Violent pas- sions are rare ; all their interest centres in the family, and every- thing is so arranged in the household as to secure the influence of the father, and to simplify the duties of the motlier, who un- dertakes the education of her children, of whom tliere are often a great number. The family hearth is never abandoned, except for weighty reasons ; when the fortune of the parents permits it, the home contains all the elements necessary to render it agree- able, and is abundantly provided with linen, china, plate, and more especially w^ith flowers. Gold is very rare in Germany; our French coins have no cir- culation there ; but as soon as a five-franc piece is offered to a 1 In France, eight per cent of the children are said to be born " en-ante natu- rals " ; in Germany the percentage is fourteen. 212 G E R ]\I A N Y tradesman, lie seizes it, presses it fondly, and looks particularly radiant if he can extort one or two silver grosclien as a premium for- exchange. AVe must, however, make one remark in favor of the Germans. During the whole course of this excursion, made soon after the war, and a second visit paid since, we never in any town heard a single insulting expression relating to our defeat, or recalling Fig. 109. — Plan of Ground-floor of Fig. 110. — Plan of First Floor. Private House. 1. Porch. 2. Hall. 3. Drawing-room. 4. Breakfast-room. 5. Dinino'-room. 6. Library. 7. Bedrooms. 8. Dressing-rooms. 9. Terrace. (Scale, .098 inch to the yard.) it in such a manner as to hurt our feelings. A considerable for- eign element is to be found in Hanover, principally of English residents. The bonds which unite England with Hanover are of ancient date. They were for a long time under the same sceptre, and the race of their kings, as well as their political in- terests, have been entirely separated only by the events of the last few years. HANOVER. 213 This rapid sketch was necessary to give an idea of the man- ners of the inhabitants whose dwellings we desired to study. The principal points worthy of notice, and on which we wished to dwell are : first, tlie mediocrity of their resources, their calm and peaceful habits, the love of home, the absence or at least the rarity of social meetings, and, as a consequence of this, the necessity of remaining usually in the bosom of their families. In order, therefore, to minister to these wants, they require cheer- ful and convenient habitations, containing all those arrangements for comfort which make home life agreeable ; and these must be of sufficient size, so that the inhabitants may have plenty of room and everything that they may require. The house, of which Fig. 109 represents the ground-floor, and Fig. 110 the first story, is a semi-detached double house, being intended for two families who wish to live side by side and united, yet entirely independent of each other, — a combination frequent in the North, where families and friends love to assem- ble in the same quarter and the same streets. A dwarf wall, surmounted by a balustrade, is built in front of the public road, and a free space, serving as a terrace-walk before the drawing- rooms, separates the building from the street, and keeps passers- by at a distance. A covered porch protects the front steps, w^hich rise from the level of the street to the ground-floor. The kitchen and its offices are placed in the basement; on the ground-floor are a drawing and dining room, each having attached to it a secondary apartment. These two rooms, the most important in the house, are comparatively small, but they can be united so as to form but a single room. On the first floor there are two large bed- chambers, with dressing-rooms, and above these the school- room for the children, the nursery bedroom, and two for ser- vants. This dwelling-house is well adapted to a private family. The rooms are lofty, being thirteen feet in height ; the mode of access is easy, while the terrace-walk and the balcony allow the resi- 2U GERMANY dents to go in and out, and add a charm to the interior of the house. Fig 111. — Semi-detached Houses, Hanover. The architectural forms adopted in the fronts (Fig. Ill) are not like those ^vhich we are accustomed to see in modern French houses ; they rather resemble certain monastic habitations of the HANOVER 215 Middle Ages, views of which are given in archseological publica- tions. The proportions are not perfect, but the details have been carefully studied, and show that the architect has endeavored to give to his work a special appearance peculiar to itself. The mode of construction is in good taste and keeping. Bricks, with a few blocks of stone, form the principal part of the build- ing. These bricks are yellow, red, or black. This variety of color has permitted the introduction of imbricated work, the use of which enlivens the general effect. The dimensions of these 1 • ' ' 4 •" 8 /2M.V* Fig. 112. — Ground-plan of Private House, Hanover. 1. Passage to carriage entrance. 4, Back drawing-room 2. Antechamber. 5. Dining-room. 3. Drawing-room. 6. Store-room. bricks are rather different from those employed by us, being about 2.36 inches in thickness, 5h inches in width, and 9.6 inches in length. The stone is white, and of a good quality. "We may remark, before we proceed further, that two circum- stances give to the houses of the North in general, and to those of Hanover especially, a peculiar aspect : on the outside the absence of blinds; and within, that there are no fireplaces. The custom of standing at the window is not permitted ; and so the window-sills do not project beyond the outer wall, but are flush with the inner surface of the frame, and incline outwards 216 GERMANY. to the front. On this slab flowers are placed, and sometimes birds are kept in the intervening space. On the inside a second glazed window-frame forms an enclosure, opening by a small casement, rather larger than our usual panes of glass, which is intended to give fresh air to the apartment. Stoves are substituted for fireplaces. The heat given by them is more equalized ; it is greater, and especially more economical, than that of an open fire ; but this plan deprives the room of an ornamental feature, which stands out so prominently, and by which we produce such striking effects. The looking-glasses have no invariable position ; they are of small dimensions, and many rooms are entirely without them. Clocks are rare, even at the present time ; and what we are accustomed to call chimney ornaments are usually placed on a console table fixed to the wall. The reception-rooms in the interior of these dwelling-houses are not decorated in a manner out of proportion to the fortune of the inhabitants. Stucco-work, imitation marble, plaster ceil- ings with gold on a blue ground, and cupids in ^9«^9zc?' mache, are not in favor. The construction is simply carried out, and the parts thrown into relief are decorated in a manner, the least merit of which is that it is reasonable and sensible. Figure 112 re^^resents the ground-plan . of a small mansion, the arrangement of which, we must say, is open to criticism.^ AVe enter directly from a rather narrow vestibule into a large drawing-room adjoining a smaller one ; the door of the dining- room is opposite to that which leads from the passage forming the carriage entrance. The vestibule is too small, and the vis- itor and the friends who receive him are crow^ded into too little a space, but the internal decorations of the drawing-rooms am- ply deserve the praise which we have already given. The dining-room is separated from the large drawing-room, and that again from the smaller one, by wide openings (Fig. 1 See, for further details, "Habitations modernes en Europe," par MM. Viollet le Due et Felix Naijoux, architectes. Librairie Morel, 13 Paie Bonaparte, Paris. HANOVER. 217 113), which can be closed by thick leathern hangings. The framework of these openings tends to lessen the apparent height of the apartments, and in the dining-room supports a partition wall. The whole of this combination is in oak ; some parts are decorated and enriched with very brightly colored designs. The walls are hung with printed calico (Fig. 114), covered with foliage patterns of bright colors, and with figures of men and Fig, 113. — View of Interior. animals, hunting scenes, in the midst of scrolls of flowers and leaves, the whole being in imitation of tapestry; but the de- signs are in outline and not relieved by shading. The ceilino- is oak, formed of small bare beams with cham- fered edges. The long intermediate panels are painted of a uni- form tint, with a few stripes of another color. The pilasters have chamfered edges, and, above the fillet which divides them midway, they are ornamented with designs in trellis-work. 218 GERMANY. The lame stove which warms the drawino-rooms is made of enamelled terra-cotta, the colors of which, however bright they may be, are a poor substitute for the cheerful blaze which the eye looks for in vain during the long winter evenings. Terra- cotta is much used in Germany, and this manufacture has been brought to great perfection in that country. AVe will not enter £.za UAi zjus urret Fig. 114. — Decorative Paintings. into any further details respecting it, as we shall have to return to this subject when we describe our visit to the porcelain and pottery works at Hamburg. We give in Fig. 115 the ground-plan, and in Fig. 116 that of the first floor, of a mansion more important than the preceding. H A X y E R . 219 Id Paris it would perba^Ds be considered only a private bouse, but bere it occupies a mucb bigber rank. Carriages do not enter under a covered way, wbicb is, espe- cially in tbe !N"ortb, an unfortunate omission. It is true tbat a projection of tbe gable sbelters tbe steps and protects visitors. Tbe front wall is separated from tbe public way by an area, in wbicb is tbe kitcben entrance ; tbe servants and tradespeople do not cross tbe tbresbold of tbe principal door, wbicb is covered Fig. 115. — Ground-plan of a Mansion, Hanover. 1. 2. 3. 4. Porch. Garden entrance. Hall. Small drawing-room. 5. Drawing-room 6. Dining-room. 7. Library. 8. Garden. (Scale, .098 inch to the yard.) by a projecting porcb. Tbe ball is divided into two unequal parts ; tbe largest of tbese serves as an anteroom, and is of suffi- cient size to be used as a cloak-room, and to contain bencbes for servants wbile tbey wait for tbeir masters. An isolated column, wbicb indicates tbe point of separation of tbese two portions, as sbown in Fig. 117, gives an air of elegance to tbe ball, and tbis simple arrangement enables one to understand tbe construction of tbe staircase. 220 GERMAN Y By a door ou the left baud of the vestibule we enter the smaller drawing-room, and directly opposite is the entrance to the larger one. The dining-room communicates with both of these by wide openings, thus allowing all these apartments to be easily thrown into one suite on reception days. The kitchen and its dependent offices are connected with the ground-floor by a spiral staircase in a turret, which is ap- proached by a wide passage leading to the closets. We must not forget that the servants in Germany are not entirely sepa- rT^-3 2 S— c J. "MS Fig. 116. — Plan of First Floor. 1. Antechamber. 2. Bedrooms. 3. Dres.sinor-rooms. rated from their masters, but live more with the family than is the case with us ; and the mistress of a house on the other side of the Rhine does not consider it derogatory to go occasionally to superintend the kitchen department. On the first floor is a large antechamber where the children can play. Then there are very large and lofty bedrooms, each with its dressing-room, fitted with hot and cold water, a large bath and shower-bath, — the latter an English fashion. "\Ve must here notice the manner in which the beds are placed. There is no recess ; but the bed stands with one of its shorter HANOVER. 221 sides against the wall, so that it projects into the room and leaves both of its longer sides exposed. This arrangement, when the size of the room will permit, is the most convenient and the most healthful, and is especially useful in cases of sick- r SJdAiZKlSJtil Ci.-A ^ Fig. 117. —Hall, with Staircase. ness. It is always employed in large state bedrooms in palaces, and was constantly found in those of the Middle Ages. The want of space is the only reason which can induce people to prefer the position now commonly adopted. The faqades (Figs. 118 and 119) resemble those which we 900 G E R :^I A X Y Fig. 118. — External Geometrical Elevation of the Facade of a Private Mansion, Hanover. HANOVER, 223 Fig. 119.— Country House, Hanover. 224 GERMAXy. have already seen. There is too much variety in them, and they have not a quiet appearance; but the principal parts of the structure are well indicated. The spiral staircase (Fig. 119), as well as the drawing-rooms and vestibules, project externally; large double windows give light to the principal apartments, and, contrary to the laws of symmetry, lesser ones open into the smaller and secondary rooms. Imbricated work plays an im- portant part in the decoration of these fac^ades, to w^hich both recessed and projecting arches give a varied outline. Terraces and covered balconies render the interior of the house more agreeable, and allow sedentary inhabitants frequently to take a little exercise. We might multiply examples of these dwellings ; but we must not delay, as we have still to examine at least one public hotel and one country-house. The hotel of which the ground-plan is given in Fig. 121, and the plan of one of the upper stories in Fig. 120, is one of the second rank. It is not intended for tourists travelling for pleas- ure, who are accustomed to luxurious dwelling-houses, and to whom expense is of secondary importance. Those who use it are either commercial travellers, or persons living in the en- virons, who come into the town on fair or market days on business. Eooms for reading and conversation are therefore unnecessary. The apartments must be of no greater dimensions than are abso- lutely necessary. They must be convenient, warm in winter, and cool in summer. Dressing-rooms and reception-rooms would be superfluous. Under the carriage entrance, which is enclosed by three glazed doors, intended to give sufficient light while they protect persons from draught as they enter or leave their vehicles, is the lift, which receives the luggage at once from the roof of the omni- bus, thus sparing the servants fatigue, and avoiding the incon- veniences of carrying heavy articles up the stairs. By the side of this lift is the entrance to the hall, and on the left the lodge HANOVER. 225 Fig. 120. — Plan of First Floor of Public Hotel, Hanover. Fig. 121. —Ground-plan. 1. Carriage entrance. 2. Front door. 3. Porter's lodge and lift for luggage. 4. Office. 5. Drawing-room. 6. Breakfast-room. 7. Table d'hote. 8. Housekeeper's room and store-room. 9. Bedrooms. 10. Dressing-rooms. 11. Balcony on ground-floor. 12. Ditto on first floor. 226 GERMANY of the porter, who plays so important a part in the towns of the Xorth, and acts as a special providence to foreign travellers. This porter, who differs entirely from our concierges, always speaks German, French, and English. It is he who gives all the necessary information to travellers, sees that passports are vised, obtains permission for residence when any is necessary, procures cards to visit museums and public buildings, and knows the hours of arrival and departure of trains, diligences, and steamboats. He sells also French cigars and photogTaphs, keeps samples of articles of local manufacture, procures couriers, settles dis- putes with the drivers of vehicles, and neglects no means of obtaining from the traveller — whether or no he is willing to bestow them — all kinds of gratuities. In front of this useful functionary's box is the door of the office, which is divided into two parts ; the first serves as a waiting-room for travellers, the second for the money depart- ment. After these come four rooms, separate, yet connected with each other, — the smoking-room, where the newspapers can be read; the large dining-room; the breakfast-room (for meals are too frequent, and follow each other too closely, to allow persons who wish to take some slight refreshment to obtain a place at the table dliote in the large room) ; and then, facing this smaller room, there is another, of the same form and dimen- sions, which can be used for private dinners, and in which the dessert is prepared, the meat carved, and the dishes placed when removed from the oreneral tables. These two rooms communi- cate with the large dining-room (Fig. 122) by means of arches, which can be closed by thick hangings. At the end of the large room there is a recess in which a table can be placed when required, and where persons may sit while w^aiting for the din- ner hour. The office, the coffee-room, and the small dining- room open on a terrace, on which, in summer, tables are placed for those who may feel inclined to look out on the busy streets while they take their meals. HANOVER. 227 228 GERMANY. The stairs turn to the right, with a large landing ornamented with flowers ; and at the bottom is a hall, the walls of which are covered with maps and notice-boards of all kinds. To the right and left hand are two turrets, one containing two closets, the other the kitchen stairs. On the walls are maps, useful notices in various languages, a table of the comparative value of money in different countries, and a complete list of every- thing curious and worthy of notice in the town. There are no fireplaces ; but in their stead are large earthen- w^are stoves, which reach from the ground to the ceiling. The furniture of the bedrooms is simple, but very neat and well kept : a wash-hand stand, a chest of drawers, two chairs, and one of those terrible German beds, — instruments of torture which will never be forgotten by one who has been condemned to them even for a sino-le nifrht. The rooms are high-pitched, the ground-floor is 15 feet high, the other stories 13 feet and 12 J feet. There are twenty-five bedrooms; and the dining-rooms would be too large for such a limited number of travellers, were it not that, besides those in the house, this establishment accommodates many persons coming from the neighborhood only to take their meals, so that it serves as a restaurant for a great many inhabitants of the town. The facade resembles those which we have already described, and our sketch (Fig. 123) renders any further notice unneces- sary. The building is constructed, as usual, of brick and stone, and the framework of wood, with the exception of the large covered balcony, the supports of which are of cast-iron, and its roof of wTought-iron. The country-house, the ground-plan of which we give in Fig. 124, is honored with the name of a chateau. The gTound-plan is rather wanting in regularity. The taste and wishes of the proprietor have perhaps influenced the architect, Mons. Oppler, and interfered w^th his plans, for we have seen many of his works superior to this ; yet it is a complete example of a mod- HANOVER. 229 em country habitation in Germany, and as such is worthy of attention. The arrangement of the rooms is very peculiar. It corre- Fig. 123. —View of the Facade. sponds with wants very different from our own, and on this ac- count loses much of its interest to us. As to the facades (Fig. 230 GERMANY. 125), they have too strong a Teutonic character to please us; there is too great a desire for novelty. One cannot imagine what motive can have induced them to erect those square gables of exaggerated form, with so many arched apertures, through 4 8 12 16M'=* Fig. 124. — Ground-plan of a Country-house in the Environs of Hanover. 1. Veranda. 2. Antechamber. 3. Dining-room. 4. Store-room, 6. Smoking-room. 6. Parlor. 7. Library. 8. Drawing-rooms 9. Oratory. which the outlines of the roof can be seen. But, in spite of these defects, we are struck with the general outline when we do not examine the details, and with the effect produced by the many projecting parts, which indicate externally the distribu- tion of the rooms within. .^ E" ruj>iASi^,j.c^fio' Fig. 125. HANOVER. 231 The building is constructed with conscientious care. The proportions are correct, and in accordance with established rules. The height of the stone courses corresponds exactly with an entire number of bricks, without rendering any con- trivance necessary in order to obviate a difficulty of this kind, or ever showing a loup or wolf ^ in the facings. Great care in the employment of materials, as well as regu- larity and scientific knowledge, are usually shown in German buildings, and constitute one of their chief merits ; and for this reason we dwell on this important matter, which is too fre- quently neglected in our modern structures. All the dwelling-houses which we have described, and which are only examples chosen from among a great number, have excellences and defects in common, on which it was necessary to make some observations. They are adapted to the tastes, the wants, and the social habits of the persons for whom they are intended. They vary according to the position, the profession, and the fortune of their proprietors. We have not been able, in these notes of our travels, to enter into details which would have become tedious, or to give a greater number of examples in support of our observations, since time would have failed us. We could not give sketches of houses adapted to certain pro- fessions ; one for a physician, for example, with a special ante- chamber, a consultation-room with two distinct entrances, the whole being separate from the family apartments. We should have liked to describe fully a certain architect's offices, contain- ing a large lofty room, with a gallery midway towards the ceil- ing serving as a library, and cases filled with architectural models ; there are tables for daily work and a retired bay, where one could study of an evening calmly and quietly. At the side is a separate room, intended for the reception of clients and con- tractors, and there is convenient communication between these offices and the family apartments, the entrance to which is ^ A French, workman's phrase, signifying an imperfection in the construction. — Tr. 232 GERMANY, separate. If we had noticed all tliese houses we must have sketched half the city of Hanover. In all these buildings no space is lost. The staircases, which are fully in sight, are easy of ascent, and have wide and low steps turning to the right hand, and the landings are decorated with flowers. The apartments correspond with the importance of the house, and the social or secluded habits of the inhabitants. Thus there is often no drawing-room, it being considered un- necessary for quiet people of moderate fortune ; but then the dining-room is very large, and the family live there, thus saving fire and lamps. The same character of economy and foresight is shown in the facades. The front is not covered with a costly coating of plaster, which is expensive to repair; there is no cement facing loaded with very perishable mouldings, and no widely projecting cornices covered with sculptures executed in very bad taste, and with gutters formed of imitation stone, through which the water percolates to the inside of the walls. But, instead of these, there are level fronts made of bricks, so laid that the outline of the materials is clearly displayed, with a cornice, or rather a simple projecting coping, supported on cor- bels. Above this there is a wide zinc gutter, a complete passage round the roof to facilitate repairs. There is no fear of infiltra- tion to the walls; it is easy to examine the roof, and conse- quently it is better kept in order. There is economy both in the original construction and in the subsequent attention which it may require. Yet, in order to carry out the views which prevailed in the construction of these houses, some improvements might perhaps have been made. Thus for persons of moderate fortunes, kitch- ens placed under ground are inconvenient. It is impossible to have servants on every story at the same time ; the frequent journeys up and down the stairs are trying to them, and take up much of their time. The mistress of the house is less able to have its arrangements under her own eye ; it entails upon her gi^eater fatigue, and she involuntarily hesitates at going up or HANOVER. 233 down the stairs, when she would willingly cross a passage. Whoever is acquainted with a German household and the eco- nomical princijDles which govern it, will understand the impor- tance of this observation. There is another important matter. The principal rooms are large and well ventilated, but necessary conveniences are ^vanting. The closets are insufficient or too few in number ; the modern requirements of a large house ex- pect these to be placed near the principal bedchambers, as well as a bathroom and dressing-room. Germans, it is true, are more easily satisfied than we are. They are more simple in their habits, and are not accustomed to the refinements of our civili- zation, and to the necessaries which administer to our comfort. So much for the interiors. On the outside, as we have already said, the fac^ades are too complicated. Both in public edifices and private buildings, they strive after exaggerated and unusual effects. These are, in fact, the expression of the characteristics of the German mind, which imitates, lays a stress upon, and draws attention to delicacy and elegance of language, yet cannot comprehend tliem. The details are heavy, forced, and pretentious in execution. It may be said that this is a matter of personal taste, on which it is impossible to give a decided opinion, resting on a firm and incontestable basis. A Frenchman, for instance, could never persuade a German that the latter wants taste, and that his own ideas are preferable. The reasons which each one advances to support his own opinion are the same ; they may, with the same success, be used on each side, and therefore it is impossible for either to be convinced. One of those foolish remarks on this subject, which are con- stantly repeated in every country, is, "that artistic education should be made to agree with the public taste." This signifies, on the part of the artist, that he ought to impose upon the pub- lic his peculiar tastes, which are superior to all others ; and, on the part of the public, that the artist should be compelled to produce nothing but that which pleases the said public, who are 234 GERMANY better judges thau any one else of their requirements and desires. We may also remark that French, English, German, Italian ar- tists, and others, all wish to reform the public taste, — that is to say, to impose upon it their own, — and not only do these vari- ous tastes differ, but they are destructive of each other. There- fore, although there exists a standard of measure, the metre, to which reference can be made in case of disagreement, no one has yet invented a standard of taste, so that every one persists, and will still persist, in his own, and in the conviction that it is far superior to that of his neighbor. Now that we have examined the Hanoverian houses with ref- erence to their construction, we must pay attention to their fur- niture, and internal decoration, in which respect they are well worthy of notice. In France the interior and exterior of our houses bear little relation to each other, which is explained by the simple reason that, being but rarely the owners of the house in which we live, we cannot modify our furniture at every change of residence. Besides, these discrepancies unfortunately do not shock us. We have no objection to a Eenaissance house with furniture and decorations belonging to another period, or to Moorish apart- ments with Gothic furniture, or that of the age of Louis XV. The exaggerated fondness for knick-knacks at the present time has favored and justified this strange eclecticism. These incon- gruities are not so readily accepted in England and Germany, for there the style adopted in the facade of a house is usually fol- lowed in the interior. In a w^ord, if the fronts of houses that we have seen there are Gothic, the interiors are in the same style, and the furniture has some of the characteristics and remem- brances of the Middle Ages, — souvenirs which are shown not so much in forms modified and adapted to the wants which they are intended to satisfy, as in the application of principles which have guided the study and adaptation of these forms. The people of the North, so skilful in all carpentry-work, are not less so in the manufacture of furniture. They know per- HANOVEE 235 ■0 50 ' i MV rig. 126. — Siirfexie and Section of a Panelled Ceiling, Hanover. fectly well how to give to all kinds of wood those forms which correspond to its nature and the purpose for which it is intended. 236 GERMANY yyy^^ Fig. 127. — Surface and Section of Panelled Ceiling. Timber is still plentiful in Northern Germany, and it lias sup- plied builders with materials which they have so happily em- Fig. 128. —Chimney-piece. HANOVER. 239 ployed in the decorations and furniture of their dwelling-houses. As German masons have respect to the value and nature of the stone ^Yhich they employ in their buildings, so do their cabinet- makers study the value and nature of wood. They employ it according to its characteristics and qualities, avoiding useless ■waste and large curved portions which interfere with the grain of the wood ; but, on the contrary, they always form combina- tions with it in the direction of the fibres, and so preserve all its strength. As to the taste shown in the execution of this kind of work, the reader must judge for himself Thus, instead of our plaster ceilings, — which conceal the timber and lessen its duration, which are subject to cracks and crevices which cannot be avoided, and require continual atten- tion and expensive repairs, — they have constructed panelled ceilings, of which Figs. 126 and 127 afford two examples. These ceilings seem, at first, to remind one very strongly of those of the Town Hall at Augsburg, and the Presle mansion at Nuremberg. They are not, therefore, interesting in respect of originalit)^, but of very ingenious adaptation. The ceilings of public buildings of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries consisted only of bare joists resting by each extremity on a wall ; or, if the distance was too great, on an intermediate beam. There were few or no openings in the walls to receive them, but corbels inserted in the masonry to support the ends of the beams. The edges were chamfered, the intervals and projecting parts were painted, and sparingly decorated. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries these primitive arrangements were transformed and enriched. The beams were placed so as to form panels and compartments ornamented with carving and painting; and at last the decoration assumed the prin- cipal feature, being distinct from the timber- work to which it was affixed, and thus ceasing to be an integral part of the struc- ture. The ceilings represented in Figs. 126 and 127 are, as we have said, copies from fourteenth-century models, and in reality 240 GERMANY. present only the lower face of the boards, thus showing plainly the nature of the construction which they embellish. In the ceiling (Fig. 126) the panelling is attached to the lower surface of the joists ; in Fig. 127 it is supported by furring nailed along each principal and cross beam. The carvings are in solid wood, and the gi^ound-work of the panels rests on planks cut so as to give them the necessary projection ; our sketches show the plan of construction. Above these large girders are joists of suffi- cient thickness to support the upper floor, and to fill up, in certain parts, the intervals between the beams. The height of Fig. 129. — Sofa TaWe. the room in which these ceilings are placed is 18 feet, which accounts for the outlines being so bold and the carvings so decided. As to the price of these ceilinsrs, it is somewhat high, the square foot costing 2 J thalers (about 9 s. 4d.). The chimney-piece (Fig. 128) stands in a large vaulted hall of octagonal form. It is made of white sandstone and polished serpentine. By means of a combination of colors which cannot be seen in our sketch, the union of stone and marble of different tints gives the colors of the armorial bearings of the proprietor, whose scutcheon is i)laced over the mantel-piece. The table HANOVER. 241 (Fig. 129) is intended to stand before a sofa in a drawing-room. The dimensions of its various parts may perhaps appear exag- gerated, when compared with those of our modern furniture; but, on the other hand, they increase its firmness and durability. The legs spread out at the end, by means of an oblique arrange- ment, which gives greater support and steadiness to the upper part. The Ijraces and cross-pieces, which connect the extremi- ties, are rather high, in order to prevent persons placing their i AiZK/tW.fC> _^>^^^'^^^^^^'^'^ 2><^''^^'^^^^^^''^- Jx'*^-^-"'^^^ ^. TO/XAiZJe. Fig. 130. — Table with Cupboard below. feet upon them, contact with which injures them so rapidly. This precaution may appear trivial, but it is the mark of a practical and thoughtful mind. This table in walnut wood cost 65 thalers (about 9 I. 16 s.). Another table (Fig. 130) may at the same time serve as a cupboard in the lower part. It is made of oak, and copied from an old engraving of the fourteenth century, from Ramerstof. So 242 GERMANY, true it is, that in small things as well as great, the Germans prefer to copy rather than originate. The "what-not" (Fig. 131) is intended to hold albums or curiosities. It is made of oak; hut its supports, which are Fig. 131.— What-not. rather hea^^, and its prominent carvings, render it unsuitable for a drawing-room. It cost 32 thalers (4/. 16 s.). The bedstead (Fig. 132) is entirely in red deal (pitch-pine), which possesses the great advantage of never being attacked by HANOVER. 243 244 GERMANY. Fig. 133. — WaJnnt-wood Cupboard. vermin.^ Excepting the angles, wliicli are canned, all the rest 1 This kind of wood is used in Alsace for a similar purpose and for the same reason. HANOVER 245 Fig. 134. — "Walnut- wood Bureau. of the decorations are painted and varnished, for the sake of cleanliness. The price of this bedstead, exclusive of the paint- ing, is 30 thalers, equivalent to 41. 8 5. 246 GERMANY Fig. 135. — Bookcase. The cuplDoard (Fig. 133) differs from the preceding articles of furuiture, and those which follow, in the quiet character of HANOVER. 247 its ornaments. The hinge-plates on the doors are of polished iron, and the wood employed is American walnut. The bureau (Fig. 134) is an article of furniture of a very complicated construction, and is intended for a lady's use. The wood employed is also American walnut ; the metal- work, which is very rich, is polished iron. The scrolls repeat the letter E, "^■"hoj^t^/if'ii Fig. 136. — Ann-chair. the owner's initial. The figure placed at the top represents Albert Durer. This bureau is too richly ornamented ; there is a want of simplicity, and of that which is highly necessary in every bureau, sufficient room for work. In the midst of the many partitions, drawers, and doors, there is scarcely room to 248 GEEMANY. hold a sheet of paper. This biu^eau cost 160 thalers (24/.), which is rather dear. The bookcase (Fig. 135) has perhaps the same defects, but this is atoned for by an arrangement which allows it to be adapted to the circular form of the room in which it stands, since the two wings can be placed obliquely. The chairs (Figs. 136, 137, and 138) are in oak or walnut; Fig. 137. —Chair. the arm-chairs, without the covers, cost 50 thalers (about 7/. 9 s.). In order to avoid the usual manner of connecting the back of the chair and the hind legs, the designer (Mons. Oppler, the architect) has obtained the necessary inclination for the back by causing the framework to go down to the middle of the hind legs, which are placed at a more oblique angle than those in front. This idea, which is very simple and ingenious, is also applied HANOVER 249 to the construction of common chairs, which are thus more steady than ours, the legs of which are united with the back at the level of the seat, and they are more comfortable than those with upright backs. The price of common chairs is 2 J thalers (about Ss.). Fig. 139 represents a bracket, intended to be iixed against a wall to support a statuette, or any other work of art which stands out in relief against the background of velvet. A looking- Fig. 138. - Chair. glass is often substituted for the velvet, and serves as a re- flector for a lamp placed in front of it. These articles of furniture resemble joiners' rather than cabi- net-makers' work. They are really strongly made, and their construction is well planned and executed. The wood is of fine quality, well cut according to the grain, with sharp and well- defined sides and edges. The joints are made with the greatest 250 GERMANY. care, always fastened with wooden pegs, without any parts let into each other or nailed. There is no veneering or gluing. On the contrary, the mouldings and carvings are cut out of the solid wood; but there is often a deficiency of grace and elegance in the workmanship. The general effect is heavy, clumsy, and massive, and, when they do not copy ancient models, there are often defects in the proportions. Fig. 139. — Bracket. Having now visited the different public buildings, and seen the exteriors and interiors of the houses of Hanover, there re- mains nothing, before we go, except to add a few words respect- ing modern German Gothic. The Germans, as we have already said, have never had any architecture peculiar to themselves ; they take their ideas from the buildings of foreign countries, and copy those of past ages. HANOVER. 251 The types of Gothic architecture which they possess are far inferior to the magnificent examples of the Middle Ages to be found in France ; and they did not dream of reviving this style in Germany till after the appearance of those buildings which were the results of our first archaeological studies, which, twenty- five years ago, led us to regard with honor edifices till then con- sidered rude and barbarous. They followed in our steps, profit- ing by our attempts, our studies, and our faults ; translating into their language, without compunction, extracts from our works, in order to apply the results of our researches. And in the same manner as the German who built the cathedral at Coloi^ne knew and imitated those of Amiens, Beauvais, and Troyes, so modern Germans, finding in a neighboring country information, hints, and formulae ready to their hand, have, with great skill and much success, ajDpropriated to themselves all that could be useful and profitable. But while, amongst ourselves, the ar- chitects of the Gothic school limited their works to the resto- ration of ancient buildings and to the construction of churches, the Germans, on the contrary, went farther, and following out the ideas which they had received, erected ecclesiastical and civil structures, both public and private, said to be Gothic, in which, while they respected the fundamental principles of the logical reasoning which had served as a basis and starting- point, they varied the forms and multiplied their combina- tions, so as to obtain different results, and to carry out va- ried plans suited to all the requirements of public and private life. Their want of imagination in works of art was of service in- stead of hindrance to them in the laborious task from which they derived such excellent results. Being cold and conscien- tious reasoners, they did not allow themselves to be carried too far, Not overstepping the bounds of nature, while trust- ing to their taste and skill, they have hitherto avoided excesses and exaggerations into which others, as the English for in- stance, have fallen, while following the same path. The Syna- 252 GERMANY. gogue, the goods station at the railway,^ the Gymnasium, and most of the houses of Hanover, are ilhistrations of what we have stated. As to our influence in the country, it is hUent, but incontesta- ble ; facts prove it, though not a single German has had the good taste to allow or own it. They copy our architecture and our works of art, they act our plays and perform our musical compositions. They almost all know our language, read our literary and scientific publications, and are eager for articles of Parisian manufacture. Their women ape ours, and think that they resemble them. They have conquered us, and yet the con- quered people inspire them with a terror, an envy, and a mean jealousy which they can neither overcome nor conceal; and the phrase " to live like a God in France," has passed into a prov- erb, which is often on the lips of the people. If they know us so well, we, on the contrary, know little of them, and that little but imperfectly. On our return from one of our visits to Germany, a friend, an eminent architect, said to us one day, " What induced you to go to that country ? there is nothing to be seen there, not a single public building ; there are scarcely any railway-stations." "We then showed him some of our sketches. He could not contain himself, made a hundred exclamations, and, like a true Frenchman, passing from one ex- treme to the other, he declared that these people were " very clever, cleverer far than we " ; which was as foolish a saying as if any one were to assert that the reflected ray was more bright and luminous than the source from which it emanated. It is, unfortunately, one of our national characteristics to yield too readily to the excitement and impressions of the moment. Ever since the misfortunes which have befallen us, two trains of thought and feeling have been manifested among us. Some, filled with foolish pride, and unwilling to acknowledge either 1 We twice endeavored to sketcli the goods station, but each time we were inter- rupted and expelled in a manner so essentially German, that we did not think it prudent to make another attempt. HANOVER. 253 our misfortunes or their cause, consider themselves greater than before. Others, on the contrary, giving themselves up to an exaggerated humility, have too low an opinion of themselves, and think their adversaries in every respect superior. We must avoid falling into either of these opposite extremes. But, with- out entering into considerations foreign to the scope of this work, we can but see that the efforts made by the Germans to copy us in artistic matters, prove that we have excelled them, and that they have been our imitators. It is for us so to act that we may maintain this position. 254 GERMANY HAMBURG. FROM HAARBURG TO HAMBURG. — THE ELBE. — HAMBURG. — THE ALSTER. — THE JUNGFERNSTIEG. — THE OLD TOWN. — THE CONFLAGRATION OF 1842.— THE NEW TOWN. — THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS. — THE HOUSES AND THEIR IN- HABITANTS. FROM Hanover to Hamburg the countr}^is flat and unat- tractive. In the midst of a large sandy plain we notice Zela, whose inhabitants speak, it is said, the purest German, but which does not sound to us on that account sweeter or more melodious. Then we come to Luneburg, with its houses with pointed gables, and its town-hall full of artistic curiosities, the merit of which has been greatly exaggerated. Happily, the country is adorned by the guard-houses and the stations, which are by the side of the line. These small buildings are con- structed entirely of brick, with the exception of a few blocks of stone; the platforms are protected by sheds, made entirely of plain wood. Climbing plants cling here and there, mount to the roof, and fall in rich festoons, covered with brilliant flowers. A fountain is playing in one corner, and through the open doors of the waiting-rooms we see large earthenware stoves, which mitigate the cold in winter, and the stalls of the refreshment- rooms covered with provisions and large glasses of sparkling ale. These refreshment-bars play an important part in the stations of German railways, and all are provided with them. They are attacked on the arrival of every train, and the formidable appe- tite of the people is a constant source of astonishment to the foreign traveller. We leave the railway at Haarburg, and embark on the Elbe HAMBURG. 255 to follow it as far as Hamburo^. This is the most interestinsr part of the journey. The boat at first descends the southern stream of the Elbe, and then, by a lateral branch, reaches the northern Elbe. From this moment we perceive Hamburg, with its steeples, its buildings rising in the form of an amphitheatre, and the astonishing activity of its immense harbor. First we reach Altona, formerly the second city of Denmark, but now absorbed into the Empire of Germany. To the right is the large island of Wilhelmburg, across w^hich Marshal Da- voust, in 1813, raised a causeway to connect Haarburg with Hamburg by means of a bridge of boats.^ Boats find some difficulty in making their way in the midst of the enormous quantity of ships with which the river is covered, and among which the large vessels of the Hamburg Company, which put in at Havre on their passage to New York, occupy the first place. Our poor little steamer was obliged to stop every in- stant, and to back, sometimes almost going about, in order to prevent her bow getting fouled; and at times being scarcely able to proceed. No river in Europe serving as a port to a large city, with the exception of the Thames in London and the Clyde at Glasgow, can give one an idea of this state of confusion, — this incessant and ever- varying bustle. Large vessels laden with emigrants are just beginning their long voyage, escorted by boats full of friends and relations who wish to bid them farewell; the men may be seen clinging to the nettings and waving their hands, the women weeping and holding their children above their heads to let them have a last look at their native land, which, for the most part, they will never see again. The officers of a man-of-war are going ashore in a twelve-oared cutter. It flies over the water, regard- less of all the boats that are in its way. We pass close by a magnificent iron-clad frigate ; the sailors are in the rigging, sing- 1 These works have been since destroyed ; and until the bridges and the rail- way, now in course of construction, are finished, they have stationed here steam ferry-boats of sufficient dimensions to receive six carriages of full size. 256 GERMANY ing one of those old airs whose monotonous melody is heard in every sea. Fishermen are tacking out to sea, for the season is already advanced, and the lucrative northern fishery will soon commence. Some little coasting vessels, laden till they are ready to sink, are passing up the river made fast to a tug, and seeking a convenient place to unload. We are proceeding very slowly ; but the scene which passes before our eyes is so varied, so picturesque, so full of life and color, that we feel that we have no reason to complain. And now we no longer look around us, but forward, and try to make out the large city which stands out so massively against the blue sky. Eising above our heads is a terrace-walk, passing along the crest of an eminence; it is the extreme point of the enclosure formed by a network of canals. The city begins to show itself: first come the high roofs of the public buildings, which rise above the low, narrow, filthy houses which lie along the quays. As we draw nearer, the detg^ils begin gradually to appear ; the buildings around the harbor are black and dirty, and the inhabitants of these wretched hovels resemble them. The aspect of Hamburg, as seen from the river, is anything but attractive ; we would fain turn back to gaze upon the moving vessels with their busy crews, and upon the outline of the city defined against the horizon; but our trip is over. We land, and a drosky conveys us through a labyrinth of miserable streets and filthy canals to the magni- ficent quays of the Alster, where in our astonishment we ask if we can possibly be in the same city, of which we had a glimpse but a moment before. Night came on before we had walked round the quays of the lesser Alster, known under the sweet names of " Neue uud alte Jungfernstieg." These quays are lined by lofty houses (Fig. 140), five stories high, almost all hotels or large establisliments. The shops are in two tiers; those underground, in which live those who keep restaurants and taverns, and dealers in eatables ; the ground-floors, raised very high above the level of the street, contain shops of all sorts, brilliantly lighted. Crowds of people HAMBUKG 257 come and go, and everything sliows the activity of a great city. A number of persons are standing before a large placard illus- trated in the English fashion, and which represents two people fighting a duel ; above this is a woman dressed in a shroud, and Fig. 140. — View of the Alster Quay, Hamburg. laid on a bier. We follow the current, and entei' the exhibition of Jenkins Brothers, " citizens of free America." At the moment that w^e took our seats the stage was occupied by the persons represented in the bills ; they were clothed in an odd costume, 258 GERMANY, the one being dressed like a Hungarian, and the other in a sort of pelisse resembling that of a Eussian peasant. They clash their sabres against each other with looks as terrible as their blows. After a short time and many attempts, the Hungarian gives his adversary a severe cut through his sleeve ; the Imnd of the Eussian, dropping the sword, rolls down to the middle of the stage before the horrified spectators. Blood flows from the wrist in large drops, and stains the floor; the wounded man turns pale, and falls. They rush to him, and carry him off, while the Hungarian, picking up the hand of his opponent, waves it over his head, showing the contracted fingers, the blue nails, and the bleeding wound ; it is a hideous sight. The stage remains vacant for a few minutes, till the two antagonists return, show their four hands uninjured, bow to the company, and the curtain falls. When it rises again, there is nothing on the stage but a box of oblong form and dismal appearance, the sight of which in such a place makes a painful impression. When the spectators have had time to contemplate this sight, and their emotion is suffi- ciently excited, a man enters, dressed in black with a white neck- cloth, armed with a hammer, and with his hand full of nails. He opens the box, which resembles a coffin, turns it all round, strikes it on all sides, and invites those present to examine and see that it is fastened tightly together. During this preliminary operation a fresh personage, a woman, makes her appearance, dressed in a winding-sheet, which covers her from head to foot, and fits closely to her body. She places herself in the coffin, and her companion carefully nails down the lid ; then he spreads over it a black pall, covered with white spots resembling tears, and, having done this, he retires. We looked on with much astonishment, not understanding the whole proceeding, and unable to guess what was about to happen, when the coffin suddenly begins to tremble, the dead- alive struggles, and begs, as well as she can, to be released from her prison. At first there are nothing but dull sounds; then HAMBURG. 259 you hear her heels beating against the sides of the coffin, and the head moving up and down in despair ; the hands endeavor to tear with their nails the smooth surface of the wood : the most frightful silence reigns in the hall ; you may imagine that you hear the panting breath of the woman thus struggling be- tween four boards ; then cries of fear are heard among the spec- tators, wliich are instantly hushed. But the movement of the coffin becomes more sudden and violent ; it rolls about, shaken by the poor creature supposed to be in such fearful convulsions, and struggling in her anguish, a pre}^ to terror and fright. We seem to see her, wdth her writhing and bleeding limbs, dashing herself, without a moment's cessation, against the walls that con- fine her ; she loses her senses, she sees nothing, feels nothing now ; there is not sufficient air for her to breathe ; her strength is exhausted, and her cries are stifled. Then the movements become less rapid ; they cease for a while, only to recommence with greater energy and courage ; then all is quiet again ; tlie dismal box shakes for the last time, and all is over. They throw the pall over the coffin again, and carry it away not a moment too soon. What a nightmare it seemed ! but the movement given to the coffin by a person thus enclosed within four planks of wood, and without space to move and throw about her limbs, must be a very difficult gymnastic feat. Fortunately, to revive our spirits a young girl appeared, ex- tremely pretty, but so lightly clad that one knew not whether she were about to dress, or had just finished undressing. She was well formed, however, and took no pains to conceal it. She advanced timidly, with downcast looks and trembling voice ; her beautiful eyes scarcely dared to glance around. This be- havior contrasted so strangely with her dress, that we asked our- selves, as in the preceding scenes, what was about to take place. The heroine crosses the stage, and sings, in French it was said, and we suppose it was, some lines from the "Belle Helene." When this was over, she turned, and found herself confronted by a person in the fancy costume of an executioner — one half 2G0 GERMANY red, and the other black — who seized her by the nape of the neck. She fell gracefully backwards, and he stabbed her with a poniard in the breast. The blade disappeared ; the executioner gave it a slight twist, and drew it out again ; the blood flowed, dveing^ the white robe of the victim who fell, with her hair dishevelled, her eyes closed, her face, her arms, her breast, and her limbs livid, yet still exhibiting in her fall the remarkable plasticity of her frame. This trick was less successful than the preceding ; it was too evidently seen that the executioner, while twisting his dagger in the wound, fixed on the bosom of his victim an adhesive picture, intended to favor the deception ; but how was it possible to pro- duce in a moment such decidedly deathlike hues ? This little performance satisfied us, and we did not care to wait for the conclusion of the exhibition, but hastened to our lodgings for the night. Fatigued with our voyage, and having eaten for supper some fowl and gooseberry jam, lying on a German bed, and lulled to sleep by the remembrance of the scenes which we had just witnessed, it may well be imagined what nightmares embellished our dreams, and how often the foolish saying re- curred to our mind till we were inclined to curse it, "a bad night is soon over." We had, however, long before been convinced of the contrary fact, that a good rather than a bad night seems of short duration. Early the next morning we began to examine the labjTinth of streets which compose the old town. Some of the worst streets of Frankfort, Genoa, Xaples, and London may give some idea of those which form the ancient quarters of Hamburg, and of the picturesque appearance of all these houses built of wood, with their tottering gables advancing irregularly one over the other (Fig. 141). The timbers are sharply defined on the brown ground of the bricks or mud with which the framework of the wall is filled in ; they are sometimes relieved with a red baud, forming around them a kind of frame. These houses are lofty, for land HAMBUEG. 261 has always been dear in large cities ; they have sometimes four and even six stories. The dates of their construction are ex- ceedingly various, and they have been so often modified and restored that they possess now no other interest than as objects Fig. 141. — An old Street in Hamburg. of curiosity, the greatest merit of which is their undoubted antiquity. These old houses are found everywhere, along the sides of narrow streets and tortuous canals; they all have gables w^ith openings through which the light can be seen, narrow windows, 262 GERMANY. and plastered walls falling to decay. Not one of tliem resembles its neighbor; each has its peculiar appearance and different character, and one is never tired of examining them. These quarters are often the scene of painful incidents, showing no very high sense of moral obhgation, or any very refined taste in those who are connected with them. Brutality, desire of gain, and roughness of manners form the prevailing characteristics. The maritime population live near the harbor or the canals. Another quarter is almost exclusively occupied by the dwellings of the Jews, who are very numerous at Hamburg, where they carry on profitably many of the favorite callings of their race ; but, throughout all the ranks of their social life, the types have remained the same. And on the thresholds of the doors, or through the panes of the windows, may be seen beautiful girls with dark hair, white teeth, and hooked noses, whose profile resembles that attributed by tradition to Eachel or Samh. We may easily understand the result of a fire, when it breaks out in these hovels of worm-eaten wood, and what its ravages w^ould be among so many elements so well suited to aid in the work of destruction; and we may imagine what the terrible conflagration of 1842 must have been. "The Great Fire," as it is still called at Hamburg (where this event occupies so impor- tant a position that it divides the history of the town into two portions, the one before and the other after this disaster), was almost as terrible as that of which London was the victim in 1666. It began on Thursday, May 5. There was a report that a fire had broken out in a cigar manufactory in Deichs-Strasse. The devouring element soon assumed such proportions that ordinary means were insufficient to resist it. There had been a month of great drought, and the canals were dry. On the first day twenty-two houses were consumed, and the Church of St. Nicho- las fell into the flames with a dreadful crash ; and the next day the sun rose over an ocean of fire, throwing far around a shower of ashes and sparks, the violence of which increased every mo- HAMBURG. 263 ment. Cannons were employed to clear a space around the burning houses; but through the violence of the flames the wind blew from every quarter, and changed its direction every instant, rendering it excessively difficult to aj)proach the places that were attacked. The cries of the terrified crowd, the heart- rending scenes that occurred in all directions, prevented aid being given with sufficient activity and authority to render it effectual. The metal ran down from the roofs, covering the spectators with a shower of fire. All the inflammable mate- rials had been thrown into the canals, and had there taken fire, and, like a river of flame, carried on all sides fire and death. In every street might be seen vehicles loaded with furniture and valuable effects, mothers rescuing their children ; some, who had become mad, throwing themselves headlong into the burning mass. Then, all at once, there arose a fearful cry ; the tower of St. Peter's Church began to totter on its foundations ; its bells, set in motion by the action of the fire, tinkled for the last time, and the enormous mass was overwhelmed in the immense fur- nace below. On the same day the Bank, the Old Exchange, and the Town Hall were destroyed. Assistance came from every quarter. Altona, Lubeck, and Bremen sent provisions, men, and troops. On the 7th a mer- ciful shower of rain fell, which restored courage to those who were employed in the work of extinguishing the flames; and finally, on Sunday, the 8th, the fire may be said to have been got under control. It had lasted three days and three nights, — had destroyed sixty-one streets and two thousand houses (a fourth part of the city). A hundred persons had perished ; twenty thousand were reduced to poverty, and were without shelter. The loss in money was estimated at one hundred millions of marks banco (about 7,520,000 /.). Subscription-lists were immediately opened in Europe and America for the assistance of the unfortunate peo- ple who were thus left without any resources. The sum obtained amounted to more than 400,000 I. ; and thus the victims of this 264 GERMANY. frightful disaster were enabled to procure for themselves the indispensable necessaries of life. At Hamburg the inhabitants engaged to raise among themselves a sum of 2,000,000 /. for the rebuilding of the town. All traces of this calamity have now disappeared, ^ew buildings have arisen instead of those quar- ters that w^ere burnt. These are built of stone, erected along wide, well-planned, and well- ventilated streets ; the noisome Fig. 142.— Flower-girL canals are arched over ; and Hamburg lays greater claims than ever to be " the finest city in the Xorth of Europe." "When the Exchange is closed, and the day's quotations have been telegraphed to the whole world, the business day is over, and that of pleasure begins. All the mercantile and laboring population of the town repair to the Jungfernstieg, which at this moment exhibits a spectacle of which the Unter den Linden at Berlin and the Prater of Vienna may, to a certain extent, HAMBURG. 265 give some idea. The crush is great under the trees which line the Alster ; cafes established in small tents fill rapidly ; a num- ber of boys bring, on pewter trays, refreshments contained in vessels which resemble the birettas worn in our churches. Car- riages throng the road ; the promenaders, among whom may be seen the most distinguished of the demi-monde, exhibit gaudy costumes in extravagant and glaring colors. Among the wheels of the carriages and the groups of promenaders may be every- where seen flower-girls (Fig. 142) in a singular dress, — a very short red petticoat with a broad green border, showing a great deal of a leg with red stockings, and feet which are rendered as narrow as possible by tight shoes. The body of the dress and the apron are violet, and the arms are left half bare. In winter long white skin gloves reach to the elbow and meet the sleeves. They wear on the head a straw hat which strongly reminds of the w^omen of the Bay of Tourane in Cochin China. These young girls, who are not overburdened with modesty, accost unceremoniously every new-comer ; fortunately they express themselves in German. When they find that their eloquence is in vain, they stick a rose in your buttonhole, and then de- mand a few groschen with an importunity which is soon com- plied with. Workmen who are enjoying their leisure seat themselves at tables by the, side of the road, smoking and drinking, and from time to time venturing some rude joke, of more than question- able taste, on some w^oman who is passing, and w^ho replies in the same strain, without being disturbed, and without any hesi- tation. As the evening advances the meal-time arrives. Then the restaurants are filled ; the counters are covered with attrac- tive and choice eatables. The salmon of the Elbe, geese from Stettin, game stuffed with prunes, roast beef with pears, raw hams, and smoking pies are displayed on the refreshment-bars so as to be seen from without. The customer can judge of the resources of the establishment before he enters. But there is no exquisite cookery, — none of those choice sauces, the glory 266 GERMANY. of French chefs ; but quantity and solidity are substituted for delicacy and skill. "When once they have taken their places the people all eat greedily, with their elbows on the table, without troubling themselves about the glances of strangers, who are very numer- ous at Hamburg, and who, seated by their side, are astonished to see them satisfying so unreservedly and so grossly their phys- ical wants. They shock, though unconsciously no doubt, all the instincts of elegance and delicacy of people of Latin race. They are stolid, heavy, and impolite. Their women are ignorant of the laws and resources of the toilette; they know neither how to make a bed nor prepare a dinner, and spoil the best things by mixing them in a manner contrary to all the rules of taste and reason; they have no idea of self-restraint, so that they sometimes forget even the respect due to themselves. We have been often told that this arises from artlessness and sim- plicity. As for German simplicity, where shall we find it ? These people are utter roues ; we have seen them in their un- guarded moments, alas ! In what does their simplicity consist ? In embracing each other ridiculously in public ? Or is it be- cause they have more natural children than any other nation in Europe ? Or because they hoard the few crowns which they possess, and never give way to any sentiment which will not yield them either advantage or profit? To-day we entered a school; there were the maps on the walls, and we had no need to examine them to know what country tliey represented. It was France, with its rivers, rail- ways, and mountains. There were references to printed details of the nature of local productions, and information respecting the means of communication and the obstacles which might present themselves. Opposite to these was a large map showing the extent of the Empire of Germany, with the Duchies, Hanover, Saxony, Alsace, Lorraine, Bavaria, Baden, Wurtemberg, etc. Looking at such a map, w^e are at once struck with the idea that Germany is not HAMBURG. 267 a nation, but an agglomeration of many nationalities, differing in their origin, their manners, and their religion. The only thing which they have in common is their language ; but, sliould a fortuitous event stop one of the wheels of this im- mense machine, the whole would fall to pieces and instantly separate. Each country w^ould rise against the master who has brought it under subjection, — would resume its autonomy, and recover the position of which it had been deprived. Continuing our walk along the Alster quay, we saw on the Fig. 143. — Ground-plan of the Museum at Hamburg. right the new Museum, built entirely of brick, which deserves notice on this account rather than because of its form. The ground-floor (Fig. 143) is composed of a central building and two wdngs. A very fine staircase occupies the middle ; it is of a single flight, wdth a wide landing half-way, and seems a miniature of that of the senate-hall at the Luxembourg. On the ground-floor are the sculptures and the curator's apartments. On the first floor there is a large and beautiful room at the head of the stairs, then a smaller one, and a long side-gallery. A 268 GERMANY. fourth division, in three compartments, contains drawings and encrravincvs, lioht beins: admitted at the side. The whole of these rooms are not yet filled. The works of art Avhich they contain are but of secondary merit ; but they are well arranged, and placed so as to be seen in the best possible manner. Those of greater importance are hung on hinges, which allow the light to be modified, and the position to be altered, according to the hour of the day. There are many seats, and the visitor may sit on a low and wide divan, without fatigue, and examine the pic- ture opposite to him. Most of the paintings are works of that German school so w^ell known in France by the specimens sent to our annual ex- hibitions ; but the effect produced is not the same when these paintings, instead of being lost in a crowd, are brought together so as to form a whole. The Genre pictures, so much admired by our neighbors, shock our ideas, because of the choice of subjects ; some of the details are too crude and too realistic for our refined taste. It was always a subject of astonishment to us to see how openly a Ger- man shows his preference for one subject over another. Good taste is as unknown to him as reserve or delicacy. Thus, a group, composed of a husband, wife, and children, who wore the appearance of people moving in good society, were standing by our side convulsed wdth laughter, and w^ere uttering loud excla- mations before a picture representing a soldier too familiar with a servant-girl. The most favorite subjects of the German artists are interiors, as "\ve have before said ; the representation of the ordinary oc- currences of citizen life, simple and sometimes trivial family scenes. Such subjects as these are unsuited to the sculptor, so that works in this branch of art are rare. It is not adapted to the genius of the Germans, who only leave the trivialities of life when they lose themselves in the domain of a vague idealism, often difficult to be understood, and v^^hich sculpture, with its rigorous geometrical precision, is unable to reproduce. HAMBURG. 269 We have already said that the faQade of the Museum (Fig. 144) is entirely built of bricks. These vary in form according to the position which they are to occupy ; thus the shafts of the columns are formed by four triangular bricks, united at the Fig, 144. — The Museum, Hamburg. centre by a core filled with mortar, exactly in the manner that columns in the Forum of Pompeii, and many other ancient pub- lic buildings, were constructed. The bricks used as voussoirs are adapted to the form of the arch ; their upper part is wider than the lower, so as to allow the joints to be of the same thick- 270 GERMANY ness. Mouldings are formed of bricks of special shape, the in- convenience of which perhaps is, that they have the same profiles as stone, without being able to show such clear and delicate edges. In the upper cornice there are panels filled in with enamelled terra-cotta, ornamented with designs in bright colors. Compartments, formed of bricks of various tints, fill the solid parts of the building, and tend to give it a heavy appearance. "VYe feel that the conception is too labored ; the niches filled with unnecessary statues ; the combinations of balustrades and of cornices intended to conceal the roof show a striving after effect, a certain embarrassment, and an exaggerated attempt to succeed, while it would have been easy to obtain a better result by the employment of more simple means, and the study of more pleas- ing proportions. The Gross- Alster is separated from the Binnen-Alster by a narrow neck of land, on which they have contrived to construct a road and a railway. This connects the Berlin line with that of Sleswig, and serves as a medium of communication between different parts of Hamburg. It crosses, on a level, one of the frequented streets of the city, and yet there is no guard, no bar- rier placed there to prevent access. When one wishes to pass, he looks if the way is clear, raises a chain, replaces it, and goes on his way. A clock, placed by the side of a notice-board fixed to a post, gives all requisite information, and' the precise time of the arrival of the trains, so that large and heavily laden vehicles, which move but slowly, may not pass the crossing without a certainty of having sufficient time. Each person is able thus to secure himself from danger. We do not manage matters so simply in France. After having traversed without inconvenience the level cross- ing before us, and passed along the causeway by the side of the Gross-Alster, we found ourselves before the General Hospital, of which we wish to give a short description. Questions relating to the construction and internal arrangement of hospitals are at present of so great interest, that it will be useful to enter into CO to ^ 2? O lance to that of tlie Romans. It is of recent creation, and is of a new type, which owes its origin HAMBUKG, 289 -^ - -^ ^^^■^ Fig. 154. — View of Exterior and Interior. to our fondness for watering-places and for sea-bathing, and which has been further developed by the facility of communi- cation, by means of which we can transport ourselves, in a few hours, from the place of our abode to the borders of a lake in the midst of mountains, favored with a delightful climate. 290 GERMANY. ALTONA. A FUNERAL. — THE KINDERGARTEN. — ALTONA. — BLANKENESSE. OXE morning, while we were waiting for the departure of the omnibus to Altona, we heard suddenly, in a side street, loud cries of mourning and lamentation; then, at the same moment, we saw a strange procession, which we should certainly have taken for some carnival masquerade, if we had not seen, raised above the crowd, a coffin covered with a long pall, the folds of which concealed the bearers, and swept along the ground. It was a funeral, but the most fantastic that could be imagined. Instead of relatives and friends in tears, those who followed the bier were muffled up in doublet and hose, with swords by their sides, wearing powdered wigs, carrying under the arm a hat with feathers, and on one shoulder a small dress- cloak. These people were hired mourners, and their lamenta- tions were proportionate to the generosity of the families for whom they served as substitutes, when it was necessary to carry one of their relatives to the grave. Their costume and their grief depend on the liberality of the survivors ; a silk or velvet robe corresponds with profound sobs and almost inarticulate cries, while a simple cloth garment demands but a few moderate tears. VThen the procession had passed, the omnibus resumed its route. It was a lofty and wide American omnibus, and pro- ceeded very rapidly. Our fellow-jDassengers were principally composed of cooks going to market, or on their return, dressed for the occasion, according to the custom of the country, in their ALTONA. 291 best attire, and concealing under a fold of their shawl the copper vessel in which they carried provisions for the household. At the end of a few minutes we were opposite to the ancient gate of Altona, on the front of which is the benevolent inscrip- tion, Nohis hcnc, Nemini male, ; and soon after we entered the town, which till lately was the second city in Denmark. The object of our trip to Altona was to see the Kindergarten (children-garden), which we had been strongly recommended to visit. The Kindergarten resembles in many respects our orphan asy- lums. These establishments receive children from two to six years old, at w^hich latter age education becomes obligatory. The resemblance which exists between a plant and a child, and the care necessary for both, form the basis of the principle which lies at the foundation of all these establishments, and gave rise to the name " children-garden," that is to say, the place where their understanding and their affections are cultivated. The premises are large, healthy, and well ventilated. There is a meadow before the entrance, serving as a place for recreation ; a schoolroom, and a courtyard j)lauted with trees. One hundred and twenty boys and girls are assembled, the former on the right hand and the others on the left, under the superintendence of a governess, assisted by a certain number of young girls from twelve to fifteen years of age, allowing one to about ten chil- dren. The garden is opened at nine o'clock. The children come, after having taken their first breakfast at their own homes ; they are examined, washed, and made tidy, and are then arranged before tables, on which they find games of all kinds, — little wooden cubes for building houses, leaden soldiers to be drawn up in battle array, tracings of geometrical figures to be filled in with colors, etc., etc. They are incited by emulation to do better than those around them ; their fingers and eyes thus acquire unconsciously a certain amount of skill. After an hour of this occupation, they go out into the meadow and 2^l<^'-y ^'^ sol- diers, for the German must accustom himself early to the part 292 GERMANY, which he must act during the whole of his life. They there perform many gymnastic exercises, such as stretching out their arms and raising their legs at the word of command. They then go into the garden, and turn over the ground with their spades, or load their wheelbarrows with sand. They are taught neither to read nor to write ; their minds are simply prepared for the lessons which will afterwards be given to them. This system, founded on a just idea and a true princi- ple, gives results the advantages of which have been fully proved by German statistics. It is said that schoolmasters can recognize at once such of their pupils as have been trained in the Kindergarten. The aptitude which they disj^lay, their intelligence, and the free use of their limbs are much more developed than in other children, and they are more readily inclined to follow the directions that are given to them. Some of these establishments are free, and intended for the children of the lower classes; in others, on the contrary, a greater or less payment is required. But all are managed on the same rules and on similar principles. Altona is within a pleasant walk. The principal street, the Palmaille, planted with lime-trees along its whole extent, pre- sents a very animated scene ; the other streets are C|uiet, and much more retired than those of Hamburg. The houses stand in the midst of gardens and pleasant groves. Cafes, hotels, and taverns abound ; for Altona is on festival days the resort of the Hamburg population, who find there, within their reach, all the elements of pleasure and enjoyment adapted to their tastes and dispositions. On Sundays, in fine weather, Altona is full of excitement. Dances in the open air, cafe concerts, and taverns are fre- quented by crowds of visitors, principally workmen, sailors, and soldiers. Female servants from Hamburg, with their arms bare as far as the shoulders, and a square of lace over the head, meet with the village girls of the neighborhood, and 'amuse ALTOXA. 293 themselves with a freedom of manners of which the public balls of Paris, even of the most advanced type, cannot give the remotest idea. " It is their simplicity," we are always told. Call it simplicity if you will, but our corruption — and there is no doubt of its existence — is a hundred-fold more reserved and less revolting. The citizens go to Blankenesse, rather farther off than Altona, to seek for rest and pleasure on Sundays. Blankenesse is a pretty little town, or rather a village, on the right bank of the Elbe, situated in a meadow lying at the foot of an eminence, — a refreshing place with abundance of flowers, — and is chosen by German Platonic lovers for their sentimental walks. You may meet them two and two, hand in hand, forming grotesque groups as they saunter along the road. The dreamy lover, with his lustreless light hair curling round his neck, gazes languish- ingly at his companion decked out in ridiculous and pretentious finery, and with her eyes ornamented with spectacles. They talk but little and think less, but exchange interminable kisses, while they dream of philosojDhy and ethereal poetry. 294 GERMANY. HELIGOLAND. AMOPiE agreeable excursion than the preceding, full of strange and unexpected incidents, is the voyage from Hamburg to Heligoland. We embark at Hamburg, run down the Elbe as far as Cuxhaven, and then cross the arm of the sea which divides Heligoland from the mainland. What a pleasant voyage, and what delightful scenes ! How refreshing after the works of man ! Since we left Dordrecht we have seen nothing but houses and public buildings, which we have been compelled constantly to examine, discuss, and compare. AVe feel happy as we recline peacefully on the deck of the vessel, looking at the blue sky, watching the innumerable boats which pass and repass around us, or listening to the noise of the water which gently ripples against our prow. We con- gratulate ourselves that to-day, at least, we have not to draw the plan of a building, to sketch a house, or to study the " logical and artistic employment of building materials." When Blankenesse has been passed, the river begins rapidly to widen. The two banks differ in appearance : the left is flat and monotonous ; the right is more varied, and shows a succes- sion of hillocks, the summit of each of which is surmounted by a country-house. Buoys, placed in the middle of the river, show the channel traced through the shallows and sand-banks. The weather is fine, and the water so limpid that its A'arious tints allow us to distinguish the dangerous passes. Occasionally the channel grows more and more narrow ; there are but two fath- oms of water, and at the stern of the ship we can see the screw HELIGOLAND. 295 cutting through the thick bauk of sand, so as to trouble the Avater, and send up large bubbles to the surface. At Cuxhaven some passengers land, and others are taken on board. All the Germans take advantao-e of this chano-e to get the best places, and we caused great astonishment by giving up our seat to a woman Avho was standing. When once the bar of the Elbe has been passed, the greenish tint of the sea-water makes the river-water which rolls by in enormous masses appear yellow. We pass near the island of l^ewerk, which can be reached on foot at low water, and notice the light-ship, whose fires, lighted every night, point out the shoals along the coast. This ship is moored by an iron chain fixed to an anchor weighing nearly 3 J tons. The length of the chain allows the vessel to yield gradually to the force of the sea ; it is rapidly raised by the waves, but, at the moment when it seems about to be carried away, the chain checks it/giving it oscillating movements of extraordinary violence. Its rolling motion is intolerable when the wind blows in a direction opposed to the river current. It strikes the vessel on her beam, and lays her over on her beam-ends without a moment's intermission. The fatigue undergone by the crew is so great, that the strong- est sailors cannot occupy, for any length of time, this post, which requires as much courage as devotion to their duties. The tide is going down, and vessels are at anchor at the mouth of the Elbe, waiting for a favorable opportunity of entering the river ; but we pass on, and continue our voyage without incon- venience. -We had a quiet passage, for the North Sea was pro- pitious. For a short time we lost sight of land — just long enough to feel the curious impression always made on one in the open sea, to see one's self the centre of an immense circle, with the sea bounded as it were by a vast coif, stretching on all sides to the horizon. How powerful man feels himself when brought face to face with that immensity which he is able to control, in the midst of that solitude through which, with so much certainty, he ploughs his way ! 296 GERMANY. The Sim was already beginning to descend ; but, before it dis- appeared, it tinged with rays of fire the clouds in the w^est, and displayed near the horizon distinct zones intensely colored, from the deepest red to the faintest opal. They were so harmoniously blended, that it was impossible to say where one ended, and the other commenced — when suddenly there appeared before us, emerging from the waters, and clearly defined against a splen- did background, a point, at first scarcely perceptible, which soon assumed the appearance of an enormous rock, and then of a black compact mass, with sharp crevices and abrupt angles, showing here and there red and white spots formed by houses. This was Heligoland. Shortly afterwards we landed at the foot of a flag-staff bear- ing at the top the proud standard which displays on its broad folds the British lion, for Heligoland is one of the English pos- sessions. In 1807, at the time of the blockade of the European ports, the English established there a depot for contraband goods; then, considering that what was worth while to take was also valuable to keep, they remained masters of this small island, situated at an equal distance from the mouths of the "Weser and the Elbe, and which, if it does not command the entrance to those two rivers, would, more especially with the aid of jdow- erful modern artillery, greatly annoy an enemy's fleet either entering or quitting the ports of Bremen and Hamburg. The English government is not, however, a hard master. Its sub- jects at Heligoland pay no imperial taxes, and are exempt from military service ; they live on the produce of their fisheries, and especially on the income derived from the many tourists and sea-bathers who, during the summer, come and live there, to bathe in the waves, which are said to be more powerful than in any other part of Europe. Heligoland is a triangular rock (Fig. 155), in the midst of the waters, from which it is separated by rocky cliffs nearly 200 feet in j)erpendicular height. A portion of the shore slopes HELIGOLAND 297 down, so as to form a narrow tract of sand called the Unter- land, the lower land, while the upper part is named the Ober- land, the high district. The baths and places of public resort are in tlie Unterlaud. There is a finer view from the houses in the Oberland ; but it is necessary, every time that you wish to reach the sea, to descend 184 very steep steps, and, what is far worse, to reascend them when you return home. The great charm of this little island is that one can enjoy there a calm and quiet life, and breathe a pure and bracing air. You can take pleasant walks by the seaside, which are never i. TOMIAiiiia^UJi'J Fig. 155. — View of Heligoland. long enough to be fatiguing, and can make delightful sea-excur- sions all around. The inhabitants have manners and customs peculiar to them- selves, and have preserved their original costume. They live happily and quietly, far from the social and political movements which disturb modern society, and strangers to all the passions and interests by which we are governed. When once the bath- ing-season is over, communication with the mainland is so in- frequent and difficult, that it can be effected only at irregular and distant periods. The national lanc^uat^e is Frieslandic, the official language 298 GERMANY, German, and, during the bathing-season, much English and Swedish are spoken. The habitual visitors of Heligoland are, in fact, Germans, English, and more especially Danes or Swedes, who come thither to enjoy the sea-bathing of the South. We did not go to Heligoland to examine buildings and to trouble ourselves with architecture; nothing was further from our intention ; and yet we must describe our lodging, a bathing establishment which, on account of the necessity imposed by its required southern aspect, fulfils in an original manner the most complicated conditions which an architect could be required to satisfy. It may easily be understood with what violence the winds from every point of the comj)ass blow on this unsheltered rock in the midst of the ocean. The westerly winds especially are very furious ; the noith-wind is excessively cold ; and that from the east, if it is less keen, blows more frequently, even in the fine season ; the southern aspect alone is agreeable, and is always preferred, for the sea-breeze moderates the heat of summer. The proprietor of this bathing establishment required his ar- chitect to plan a building capable of containing from twenty-five to thirty bedrooms for visitors, with the usual apartments, din- ing and drawing rooms, kitchens, offices, etc. It was to be fin- ished in a comfortable but simple manner, and without any complicated decorations and costly accessories — more especially as they are quite unknown in the island. There was one indis- pensable condition, that all the bedrooms should have a south- ern aspect, and receive light and air from that quarter only. The building itself was to consist of only the ground-floor and one upper story. The first idea which strikes one, in order to comply with these demands, is to erect a simple building, with walls of moderate thickness, presenting in one line all the rooms required; but, first, it would be difficult for the servants to attend to the wants of visitors in a house of this description, and a greater number HELIGOLAND 299 ■I5- Pig. 166. — Ground-plan of Bathing Establishment at Heligoland. 1. Porch. 2. Vestibule. 3. Hall. 4. Bar-room. 5. Porter's lodge. 6. Office. 7. Director's room. 8. Washing-room and closets. 9. Dining-room. 10. Small drawing-room. 11. Domestic offices. 12. Drawing-room. 13. Chambers with two beds. 14. ♦' " one bed. 15. Covered balconies. 300 GEKMANY. must be employed ; and then a plot of ground with a frontage of at least eighty-seven yards would be required, and the land at his disposal was not of half those dimensions. The architect, who is said to have been an Englishman, solved the problem in a manner which it would be difficult to explain without the assistance of the accompanying sketch of the ground-plan (Fig. 156). We do not hesitate to say that this combination is ingenious, and though we should not recommend its adoption by a pupil of the Ecole des Beaux Arts if he wished to be successful in a competition, he might afterwards make use of it in the exercise of his profession. There is no covered entrance for carriages, since they are not used in the island. Under the porch is the entrance to the bar-room, where liquors and spirits are sold, and partaken of by customers while standing there. After this comes the porter's lodge; opposite are the washing-room and closets ; then the entrance to the large vestibule, a kind of hall with a glass roof (Fig. 157), and in the centre rises the principal staircase. A projecting part of the rocks which run along the coast slielters from the north-winds the buildings at the extremity, which are only domestic offices and dining-rooms. The bedrooms occupy the two side wings ; the sloping direction of the walls gives to all the windows a southern aspect and a view of the sea. In front of each of these rooms is a separate triangular balcony, useful and pleasant dur- ing fine weather. The wind may thus blow from three points of the compass, without being felt by the inhabitants of these apartments, which are thoroughly sheltered from the north, the east, and the west. In the basement story are the kitchens and offices. On the first floor there is nearly the same arrangement as on the ground-floor, only, instead of drawing and dining rooms, there are bedcham- bers ; and above the domestic offices are the linen-rooms, bath- rooms, servants' bedrooms, etc. The covered gallery, which forms, on the ground-floor, an annex to the drawing-room, and opens on a garden from which you can go down to the sea-shore, forms also HELIGOLAND. 301 a balcony for the upper rooms, and during the summer it is cov- ered with an awning. The buildino- is constructed of bricks and iron. The architect o does not seem to have thought of ornamenting the fronts in the slightest degree (Fig. 158) ; his only study and care was to ar- range the interior conveniently. The hall, and the staircase which it contains, look rather grand ; the rooms appear small, but each piece of furniture has its allotted space. The sim- plicity of the plan ado})ted renders communication easy between the different parts of the building. The walls are thick enough to defy the rigor of the climate, so that, though it might be pos- sible to find fault with the problem submitted to the architect, we can certainly find none with the manner in which it has been solved. We must also remark that this establishment — although pri- marily intended for the use of those who come for sea-bathing during the summer — is occupied, during the winter, by an in- creasing number of tourists, especially English, who are fond of deep-sea fishing, and who come and reside on this rock to satisfy this taste, — rich, idle, liases people, ready to bear any privation, and to brave the dangers of a storm, in the hope of feeling a new sensation ; but still willing, on their return, to find in their lodg- ings the resources of a refined civilization, and the means of sat- isfying their luxurious, self-indulgent, expensive habits. They can either shut themselves up in their rooms, or enjoy each other's society in the drawing-room. The hall serves as a prom- enade during rainy or snowy days ; and, far removed from those exciting scenes in which their lives are usually spent, each one can indulge in occupations suited to his disposition, and adapted to the degree of cultivation of his mind. Heligoland offers neither the pleasures nor the amusements of our Norman watering-places. This dull, dreary spot does not appeal to the imagination of every one. In order to enjoy its seductive charms, we must, above all, thoroughly love the sea, and not fear the monotony of an existence free from unforeseen 302 GEHMAXY. changes. Every morning, at dawn of day, the professed fisher- men and the courageous English girls embark and stand out to sea. The bathers stroll down to one of the two strips of coast, and then, beneath the shelter of a rock, watch the tide as it rushes up and washes the foot of the clifls. In certain parts these are red, and communicate their color to the surrounding water ; you might imagine it to be a sea of blood. Then, as the day wears on, they climb to the signal-post, count the sails with- in sight, follow with the eye the flight of the sea-gulls, whose wings lightly glance on the crest of a wave, or are lost in the mists of the horizon. Sometimes a sudden breeze springs up, sweeps along the sky, and brings on a stomi, and every one must hasten to seek shelter. Three times a week, the steamboat from Hamburg or Bremen brings news from the mainland ; then the natural disposition for excitement prevails ; each one rushes to the journals, and devours the news which they contain, those of France and of Paris more especially, and yet, — a fact which filled us with astonishment, — though among all these people there is not a single Frenchman, there are many readers of the " Figaro." In the evening they all return to the sea-shore. The phosphor- escence of the water is so great, that when the wind raises the waves ever so slightly, and dashes them against the rocks, every drop of water looks like a luminous aigrette, which is reflected on all sides on the surface of the waves. The visitors linger long to enjoy this curious sight, and then every one returns home, prepared to recommence on the morrow the occupations of the previous day. This calm, monotonous existence has a great effect on certain organizations, on minds fatigued and worn by the struggles of life. There is still to be seen a small house, formerly inhabited by one who had been conquered in the great battle of modern society. He landed on this rock, one day, filled with disgust, and dead to all hope ; at least, he thought so. He lived there for some time, calm and tranquil in appearance, thinking of the £* 'I I 8fi ihj HELIGOLAND. 303 past, lost in this deep solitude in which he found repose, in front of this stormy sea, and in the midst of this barren and uninvit- ing land. At last the echoes of some startling event in Europe penetrated even to this spot ; the spark was rekindled under the ashes, the old man reappeared, and, rushing afresh into the ter- rible melee, made the world resound with his name, and perished at last in a fearful catastrophe. We were obliged, however, at last to bid farewell to the little island. A vessel which neared the coast of Sleswig, and put into Heligoland for a pilot, took us on board, and carried us to Hussum, a port on the North Sea, the starting-point for the ex- cursion which we desired to make to the scene of the war of the Duchies. 304 GERMANY. THE WAR OF THE DUCHIES. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. — THE AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN ARMY. — THE DANISH ARMY. — THE LINES OF DANEYIRKE. — TAKING OF MISSUNDB. — FORTIFICATIONS OF DUPPEL. — TAKING OF DUPPEL — THE ISLAND OF ALSEN. — CONDITIONS OF PEACE. — THE PRUSSIANS DURING THE CAMPAIGN. PEUSSIA had, for a long time, cast her eyes on the two duchies of Sleswig and Holstein; she found that they were necessary for the creation and development of her mari- time power. In the course of the year 1863 — thinking that circumstances were favorable for the execution of her plan, and under the pretext that Denmark kept troops in Holstein — they pretended that the Danish government Avished to annex this duchy. In order to avoid any serious motive for a conflict, Denmark withdrew her troops. Prussia then declared herself the champion of the Duke of Augustenburg, a pretender to the sovereignty of the duchy ; and, having taken this first step, she hurried on the necessary preparations, so as to be able to over- whelm her neighbor when the proper moment arrived. This kind of attempt was then new, and gave promise of what took place afterwards. One of the causes of the power of Prus- sia is her profound contempt for the trivial considerations of good faith and sincerity. To pretend that feeble Denmark thought of attacking the rights of the powerful Confederation was a bitter mocker}^ ; no one could be deceived by it, or feel any doubt of the result of the conflict. Europe did not then suspect the ambitious designs of M. de Bismarck, which, first revealed in 1864, were, six years later, to establish the empire of Germany. THE WAR OF THE DUCHIES. 305 When we look into history, we are utterly astonished that certain events could have taken place without having been fore- seen. How is it, — men are always repeating, since 1871, in the reviews and daily journals and in conversation, — how is it that Europe did not, in 1864, anticipate the result of her indif- ference, and why did she not come to the help of Denmark ? How many evils might have been avoided by such intervention ! Sadowa would not have existed. The campaign of 1870 would not have taken place, and Prussia would not have been the ter- rible power which we now see her to be. But in 1864 France, the great protector of right and justice, yielding to a deplorable policy, remained neutral. The Aus- trians, to maintain their influence and popularity in Germany, courageously allied themselves with the strongest side. Eng- land still felt ill-will against Denmark, on account of the treat- ment to which the unfortunate Maria Caroline had been sub- jected. Eussia wished to see the issue of events before she took any part, and Sweden was not sorry for the humiliation which she foresaw would befall the neighbor that had so frequently been her conqueror. Denmark therefore found herself alone at the opening of the campaign ; but still she did not hesitate to prepare for the conflict, without any boasting, but, at the same time, without despondency. The Danes remembered that they had already beaten the Prussians in 1848; and, although M. de Bismarck boasted that he would soon " make them feel the power of the Prussian arms," they did not despair of the result of the campaign which was about to open. But, alas ! they still depended on the help of France, and hoped that, at the last moment, Sweden would remember their common origin. Diplo- matists were excited, and rushed hither and thither, assuring the Danish ambassadors of their officious sympathy; butj be- fore they decided officially, they waited to see which side would be successful. AVe know by experience this situation, and the value of promises of this nature. The concentration of the Austro-Prussian troops was effected 106 GERMANY. at the end of January, 1864. They were assembled in Holstein, under the command of the Prussian Field-Marshal Wrangel. The reason given for taking up arms was to carry out the wishes of the inhabitants of Holstein to be governed by the Duke of Augustenburg. The allied army had been divided into two corps; the Prussians, to the number of 42,000 men, with 110 guns, formed the right wing, commanded by the Prince Royal, Frederick Charles. The Austrians, who numbered 32,500 men, with 48 guns, formed the left wing, commanded by Field-Mar- shal De Goblenz ; so that there were in round numbers, exclu- sive of the sick and non-combatants, 158 guns and 60,000 men, prepared long before, perfectly equipped, and well trained.^ The Danish army was far from being in such a good condi- tion. The men who composed it were mostly mobilized corps, for the effective force in time of peace is very small, only about 8,000 men. The troops were not fully officered, and the artil- lery was insufficient ; 35,000 soldiers were assembled with great difficulty in Sleswig, under the command of General De Meza. Denmark distrusted her old enemy, Germany.^ She remem- bered the war of 1848, and, to guard against an attack, she had Ions: before begun a line of defence, the Danevirke, estab- lished at the place where the Fjord of Schley encroaclies on the shore, in front of Hussum, and considerably reduces the width of the peninsula. The extreme points of this line were Mis- sunde, on the Baltic, and Friedrickstadt, on the Xorth Sea ; the intermediate space was broken by marshy lands, by enclosed portions, and by water-courses, the river Eyder amongst others. This line would therefore have presented a serious obstacle to the march of the allied armies. Unfortunately, the works ne- cessary to complete its defence had not been kept in good order- They were repaired as well as possible, and finished in haste, but in an insufficient manner, and pieces of artillery were want- 1 " Annuaire des deux mondes." Paris, 1864 ; Dagbladet, Copenhagen, 1864. ^ According to an old Danish proverb, Denmark could not fail of being happy if there were no Germany. THE WAR OF THE DUCHIES. 307 ing for the fortifications. The Danish army determined to await the attack behind the Danevirke. The Prussians passed the Eyder. On February 5 they were before Missunde, and opened fire immediately ; the Danes re- plied but feebly. The Prussian artillery destroyed Missunde without injuring the intrenchments. There was -a thick fog. The Prussians advanced, but, being no longer supported by their batteries, the same thing happened as is usual under such circumstances ; they gave way and retreated before the Danes. The exploits of this day were confined to the destruction of the village of Missunde ; and yet, at the close of the skirmish. Prince Frederick Charles, with that burlesque German pom- posity which nothing can equal, ventured to say to his soldiers, parodying the celebrated proclamation of Xapoleon I. : " When you return to your homes, you will only have to say, I was at Missunde ! and every one will cry, This is a brave man." As to the Austrians, they had advanced on their side, and were at tlie other extremity of the Danevirke, near Friedrickstadt. Still the situation of the Danes did not improve. At war even with the elements, they had to endure the severity of such a winter that the Fjord of Schley, in which they trusted as opposing an impassable barrier to the enemy, had to be crossed and recrossed incessantly by a steamboat, to break the ice, and to keep a free passage in the midst of the water. When affairs were in this state, General ]\Ieza, finding him- self insecure behind the Danevirke lines, and fearing another attack on his intrenchments, which he knew to be insufficient to protect him, decided on retiring, that he might not compro- mise, without any chance of success, the safety of an army on which the hopes of his country depended. His retreat was effected in good order, but the indignation excited in Denmark by this movement was immense. They demanded that the commander-in-chief should be superseded, and they shouted treason, as a nation unfortunately always does when success does not crown their efforts and desires. 308 GEKMANY. Distrust began to show itself in the ranks of the army, and it was under a bad impression that the regiments were re-formed before the island of Alsen, behind the fortifications of Duppel in Sleswig, and Fredericia in Jutland. They had depended on the line of Danevirke to keep the Austro-Prussians in check till the time necessary for finishing the defences of Duppel. Thus nothing was completed, and the Fig. 159. — Blindage in the Lines of Danevirke. sudden retreat of the army disturbed and threw into disorder the plans that were to be adopted. Notwithstanding this, the willino-ness, courai^e, and zeal of all, both officers and soldiers, were so gi^eat, that the necessary defences were soon, if not en- tirely finished, at least in a condition to be utilized. The cold was too severe to allow works in masonry to be carried on, but they supplied their place by erections in timber, bound together THE WAR OF THE DUCHIES. 309 by iron bolts and wire, and covered with earth ; but this earth itself was so hardened by the frost, that it was tedious and difh- cult to work in it. We give here sketches of two works of this kind, from models X^reserved in the museum at Copenhagen. The first (Fig. 159) is a blindage, intended to serve as a covered way between two trenches. The system adopted is composed of a framework cov- ered with a mass of earth, by which means its height may be lessened. The balks, w^hich form the supports, are double. They are more widely separated at their lower extremities, and rest on bearers let into the ground. Cross-pieces, tongued, and se- curely tied, and iron bands, support and strengthen them half- way up. At the upper end is a cross-beam, on which rest the balks of timber, serving as a roof. These timbers and the sides are covered with earth. The trusses are placed at a dis- tance of 1 foot 8 inches, 2 feet 3 inches, or 3 feet 3 inches from each other, according to the weight which they have to support. The blindage just described, which was constructed at the commencement of the w^ar, before the Danes had realized the force of rifled cannon, had not been covered with a sufficient thickness of earth to prevent, for any length of time, the chance of rupture or of sudden accident ; but in the next example (Fig. 160) the Danes had profited by experience. The supports are double. Two vertical poles, fixed in soles buried in the ground, suj^port two cross-beams inclined at an angle of 45°, which are bound together by a horizontal beam, meeting two other cross- pieces resting on the ends of the vertical j)oles, and fixed obliquely, so as to unite and cross at the upper ends. These double trusses, placed at a distance of two feet from each other, are firmly bound together by bolts and iron wire. At the sides and on the top are laid balks of timber, forming the walls and the roof An enormous mass of earth, of from 13 to 17 feet in thickness, is heaped upon the whole. Blindages of this kind have been proved by experience to be possessed of an elastic 310 GERMANY. force capable of resisting the shock of the most formidable pro- jectiles of modern artillery. In spite of the rigor of the season, the Danes labored without Fig. 160. —Improved Blindage. rest or cessation. The works at Duppel, which were necessary to be completed, comprised ten redoubts, eight enclosed and THE WAR OF THE DUCHIES. 311 two open ones, disj)osed round an arc of a circle, and connected together by trenches and works, of which our sketches may give some idea. In front of the salients of the bastions 7, 8, and 9, on which it was supposed that the attacks of the enemy woidd be made, were outworks and obstacles intended to keep them in check. But we saw, in the siege of Paris, that the mode of attack adopted by the Prussians — by the use of artillery of long range — renders precautions of this kind almost useless. With- in the first line of defence there was another, less strong, com- posed of bastions, covering a trench ; the approach to which was defended by a glacis surmounted by pointed stakes and a fence of iron wire. The intention of this second defence was to pro- tect the retreat of the army if routed. This precaution shows an unusual amount of foresight, for unfortunately before the battle people reckon too confidently on victory, and do not suf- ficiently provide against the possibility of defeat. The artillery which defended all these works could not con- tend with the rifled cannon of the Prussian army, of the great range and force of which the Danes were utterly ignorant. When, therefore, they constructed their intrenchments, they did not think it necessary to make them of the necessary dimensions to resist the overwhelming effect of these new projectiles. We ought to make some excuse for them, since after the war of the Duchies, and the Austrian campaign, we did not know much more than in 1870. In addition to the defensive works on land, the Danes had recourse to an ironclad monitor cruising along the coast, — a new warlike engine, which then for the first time took part in regular warfare in Europe. . The Danish troops, sheltered behind the works of Duppel, or intrenched in the island of Alsen, re-formed their regiments, and filled up the number of their officers ; but their equipments and their supplies of provisions had suffered considerable loss during the first part of the war and the retreats that had fol- lowed. The soldiers were worn out by their labors in complet- 312 GERMANY ing the defensive works, digging the trenches, increasing the tliickness of the slopes, traverses, and covered ways, forming casements for the guns, and making sorties upon the Prussians, who themselves do not follow up their guns, and never seek to take an obstacle by assault, but destroy it with their artillery before the soldiers approach it. These fatigues caused much sick- ness. The weather became rainy. When they retired from the trenches, with their clothes saturated with water, and had to run to the advanced posts, they suffered from the sudden cold, and, notwithstanding the energy and the strong constitution of the men, many succumbed to it. The Danish uniform consisted of pantaloons of blue cloth con- cealed by large and strong boots, a short vest, and over this a long brown capote ; tjie knapsack unrolled so as to form a kind of skin, which, when spread on the ground, made a dry and healthy bed. Besides this knapsack, each soldier carried a wallet of white cloth, containing provisions for the day ; some fresh beef and salt pork, without vegetables, some barley-bread, brandy, and coffee. The muskets were of old-fashioned con- struction, rather heavy, and consequently very inferior to the rapidly firing guns of the Prussians. "We see, from this, the inferiority of the Danish army in com- parison with that of the Austro-Prussians, and yet the latter did not decide on making an attack upon them. The Austrians remained in observation before Fredericia, having thus invaded Jutland, which gave a new aspect to the campaign, and turned it into a war of conquest. The Austrians had also to contend against a grave comj^lica- tion which arose amon^^ the reoiments of different nationalities of which their army was composed. The Hungarian contingents had revolted, being ashamed of aiding their conqueror to subdue a nation struggling to preserve its autonomy. It was feared lest this spirit of revolt should affect the Italians, and then the Poles of the duchy of Posen. A terriljle act of repression stifled the mutiny in the bud. It is said that 300 Hungarian officers THE WAR OF THE DUCHIES. 313 and soldiers were executed, but the hopes excited by this eveut in Denmark soon vanished. The siege of Duppel was regularly carried on. The Prussians fortified themselves in their positions, to prepare for a retreat in case of a defeat. They remembered that in 1848 they had been beaten and repulsed before this very city by the same General Meza, and were unwilling to venture on a decisive blow without a certainty of success. For this purpose they occupied the heights all around, placed masked batteries behind copses of trees and slight mounds of earth, not to be removed till the last moment. This is a plan familiar to them, and the bravery of the Danes formed a striking contrast with this j)ru- dence. One instance of this may be given. The correct aim of the Prussian rifles astonished the Danes. It was necessary to ascertain the precision of their aim, in order to provide against it and protect themselves. For this purpose an officer ventured alone to a distance of about sixteen hundred or two thousand feet in an open space, thus serving as a mark for the balls of the enemy. He observed the discharge and noted the deviation of the ball, which at this distance was about, a yard. The bombardment of Duppel commenced on March 27. The Danes abandoned the town after having burnt it, and retired behind the fortifications, which up to this time had not greatly suffered. On March 29 the Prussians attempted an assault, but were repulsed with loss. The soldiers, as soon as they found them- selves within range of the enemy's projectiles, threw^ themselves flat on the ground, refusing to advance, in spite of the commands of their officers.^ After this check, the Prussians did not quit their lines, leaving the artillery to do its w^ork. In such contests as these, the valor of the soldiers counts for nothing. It was out of their power to approach the Prussian batteries; their strength rendered it impossible that any attempt of this kind should succeed, and surprises in such a contracted space were 1 "Le Danemark," par Oscar Comettant. 314 GERMANY impracticable. The Danes, whose guns could not reach the enemy's batteries, now only made use of them to repel an as- sault. As to the Prussian cannons, they were never silent. It had been hoped that they would spare Sunderborg, an unfortified town. This was a strange delusion, for the town was destroyed. On April 2 the bombardment was resumed with greater vigor. By the 14th the Danish intrenchments had already received 50,000 projectiles. The defensive works had been destroyed. The garrison, worn out by disease and privations of all kinds, diminished by their losses, which amounted to from 100 to 200 men per day, were exhausted, and were no longer in a condition to continue the struggle. The j)sycliolo(jical moment seemed to have arrived ; none of the hoped-for and expected reinforcements came, and yet the Prussians, fearing a reverse, dared not attemjDt the assault. The enemy, deprived of all their resources, weak- ened by months of privations and physical and moral sufferings, still appeared to them too formidable. They waited till the 17th, and, thinking that by this time the Danes could no longer even hold their guns, they recommenced the bombardment with extreme violence. In the course of thirty-six hours they threw 30,000 projectiles into the enemy's intrenchments, and then at last decided o]i forminof the attackinsj columns. But even then — a thing which is scarcely credible — the Danes, whose strength and courage might have been thought to be utterly prostrated, roused themselves with fresh energy, instead of surrendering, and, thougli without hope and certain of defeat, they all fought like heroes. Out of 10,000 men who were engaged, 2,000 fell, 2,000 were made prisoners, and the rest crossed the Little Belt and retired to the island of Alsen, after having cut the bridges which connected the island with the mainland,^ the extremities of which bridges were defended till the last moment by a body of brave men who sacrificed themselves for the common safety. 1 This manoeiivre was very skilfully executed, by means of gunners fastened by chains to the movable bridges. At a given signal these men set themselves in motion, dragging the bridges after them. THE WAR OF THE DUCHIES. 315 This was the last effort of the Danes. They attempted to fortify themselves in the island of Alsen, but they had lost all hope and all ardor. The soldiers, having no longer any confi- dence in success, saw traitors and spies everywhere, and the struggle was thenceforth continued only to sustain to the last the honor of the national flao-. The Prussians did not profit by the advantages gained. They dared not attack the island of Alsen, which the Danish fleet could still effectually protect, and perhaps retake if they were to gain possession of it. They preferred to extend their con- quests, and a part of the allied army combined with the Aus- trians to take possession of Fredericia, which could not resist, but fell into their hands on April 28. Three days afterwards the Austrian fleet allowed itself to be beaten by that of the Danes off the coast of Heligoland, where it had been compelled to take shelter under cover of the English guns. But this suc- cess could have no influence over the issue of this disastrous campaign, the result of which was already considered desperate ; therefore a suspension of arms was agreed upon on May 12. The situation of the Danes was deplorable; the fourth part of their army had been destroyed ; they had now only twenty rifled cannon left. On the other hand, the Austro-Prussians occupied Sleswig, Holstein, and a part of Jutland ; their army of sixty thousand men lived at the expense of the conquered country. This is one of the laws of war, and we know well how conscientiously the Prussians carry it out. A conference was held in London to arrange terms, but no result could be obtained before the end of the armistice. Hos- tilities were therefore resumed on May 26, and on the 28th the Prussians took the island of Alsen. This conquest was not dif- ficult, since the Danes could no longer defend themselves ; men, rations, and ammunition were wanting. They abandoned the island, and retired into the island of Funen, whither the Prus- sians did not pursue them. N"o more Danes remained on the mainland. The Germans completely occupied Jutland, and ;16 GERMANY. prepared to cross the Little Belt, to invade Funen ; but on July 20 an armistice was signed. It was changed on August 1 into a final suspension of arms, and afterwards a treaty of peace was imposed upon Denmark. The Duchies were to be annexed to the Confederation under certain conditions ; the payment of that part of the Danish debt which referred to the Duchies was still to be paid by them. Prussia had the right to make a canal between the Baltic and North Seas, a condition of immense importance to them, since this canal would open a free communication with the ocean for their fleet, without compelling them to pass the Sound through the Danish and Swedish waters. As to the Duke of Augusten- burg, whose pretensions to the sovereignty of the Duchies had served as a pretext for M. de Bismarck to commence hostilities, his name was not mentioned during the debate. A year afterwards, a misunderstanding arose between the joint proprietors of the Duchies ; Austria and, Prussia declared war asjainst each other, and came to blows. The consequences of the annexation were deplorable for Sles- wig. Though the inhabitants were greatly attached to Denmark, they saw themselves violently severed from it, and united with Germany, which they detested. The proceedings of the con- querors were also not calculated to gain the affection of the con- quered people ; the exactions and the enormous taxes so violently imposed were the prelude to vexations of all kinds. The simple and unsophisticated feelings of this courageous people were con- stantly hurt by the gross instincts and rough manners of their new masters ; yet, notwithstanding the misery endured by the whole country, not a single inhabitant would take advantage of the aid sent from Berlin. Societies were formed to facilitate emigration en masse among the peasants who wished to quit the country, and meetings were held in the towns imploring the assistance of France. Unfortunately, France remained unmoved, keeping in its scabbard that sword which had so often protected the feeble and the oppressed, and which in our own times had THE WAR OF THE DUCHIES. 317 defended Turkey and created Italy. Then silence fell on this great catastrophe, and Prussia had, unsuspected by the whole of Europe, taken the first step in her career of fortune. Might had overwhelmed right. We will now finish this sketch with some details of the man- ner in which Prussia behaved during the war. They almost entirely destroyed Sunderborg, an unfortified town, which w^as not exposed to the fire of the batteries directed against Duppel. In the island of Alsen, they burnt detached farms, destroyed Kjer, Eonhavis, and all the villages along the coast, merely for the satisfaction of doing mischief, and thus going back to the state of civilization and morals of many centuries ago, — a crime with which they have been openly reproached. At each suspension of hostilities both sides made an exchange of dead. The uniforms of those sent back by the Prussians had been stripped of their buttons and lace; the officers had been deprived of their decorations ; all their jewelry, money, and other valuables had disappeared, and their pockets were turned inside out. Towards the end of the campaign the Danes stood on their ruined intrenchments, w^aiting for an invisible enemy who had hidden behind their cannons ; in fact, it is a plan always adopted by the Prussians never to show themselves openly, or to give any signs of their presence. They hide themselves in a hole or behind a tree ; you may be close upon them, and suspect that they are there, but you do not see them. There is never any fire in their camp, the smoke of which might betray them ; they go forward, working slowly, without rest or intermission, till at last one day a "rideau" of turf is thrown down, an "epaule- ment" disappears during the night, and unmasks a new bat- tery. All these precautions are fair in war ; they show great prudence, and a perfect knowledge of the character of the Ger- man soldier, who could not stand against the impetuosity of the charge of a French regiment, but who could remain for 318 GERMANY. hours together croucliing at the bottom of a ditch. The in- stincts of bravery and chivalry, noble, delicate, and elevated sentiments, excite a smile in a German. They would never have said to the English at the siege of Fontenoy, " Gentlemen, pray fire first." During the whole of this long and terrible campaign the energy and resolution of the Danes never failed for an instant ; the patriotic feeling with which they were animated was so powerful that it caused them to do wonders ; but they sought in vain to contend against an enemy whom they could not dis- cover, but who from a distance thundered upon them with his terrible artillery. Xo reverses daunted them, but they marched against the enemy, raising their heads aloft in the midst of a shower of projectiles, while the explosion of a shell made the Prussians fall flat on their faces, with Prince Frederick Charles at their head, in the island of Alsen on April 27, 1864 The Germans were armed with superior rifles and cannon; they were four to one in number, and in many cases they were beaten and suffered great losses when they were no longer pro- tected by their batteries. But their rodomontades and their inordinate vanity exaggerated the slightest advantages gained, coolly changing defeats into splendid victories. One day three Danish officers and sixteen soldiers went to a small island near Alsen, and spiked two of the guns of a battery which, since the preceding evening, had annoyed the Danish force. This bold exploit so astonished the Germans, that the next day they took the credit of it to themselves. The Danes bore with the most noble firmness the misfortunes which befell them. The soldiers, as w^ell as their officers, had a high sense of their duty and their dignity ; astonished to see the Prussians always well informed as to their plans and prep- arations, they supposed themselves to be surrounded by spies and traitors. Such is, unfortunately, the impression of every soldier when defeated; yet their discipline did not for an in- stant relax, and after their retreat into the island of Alsen, in THE WAR OF THE DUCHIES. 319 the midst of the general disorder, an eyewitness ^ declares that he never saw a single drunken man. It was not our intention, in thus referring to some of the events of the war of the Duchies, in which the Prussians com- menced the series of their conquests, to have the puerile satis- faction of exciting the reader's feelings. We will no longer proceed to draw inferences which every one will doubtless do for himself; but it seemed necessary, when passing through the country which had been the theatre of this memorable struggle, to recall the remembrance of contemporary facts, which seem already to have happened long ago in comparison with those of which we have so lately been the victims. It is not our business now to deal with political questions ; nevertheless, it will not be out of place to show the similarity of the means employed by Prussia against her enemies in 1864, 1866, and 1870. The same plans preceded the declaration of war; it was always Prussia that was attacked, and that acted on the defensive.^ Then, when war was declared, it was found that these people, taken unawares, were in an admirable state of preparation, — that their troops were concentrated, their sol- diers trained, their arsenals full, their arms perfected; while their opponents had not a man or a piece of artillery to employ, and, during the time so valuable to them for making prelimi- nary arrangements, they were compelled to fight without being able to find an ally or a su]3porter. There is no doubt that this is excellent warfare. Perhaps it is better to see others use such means than to do so ourselves ; at all events, the best way to lessen their influence in the future is to speak of them, and to make them known. How is it that at a period like the present, when railways, steamboats, and telegraphs enable people to know so well and so rapidly what passes in other countries, we are so completely 1 "Le Danemark," par Oscar Comettant. 2 Prussia and Austria contained, in 1874, 70,000,000 inhabitants ; Denmark only 1,600,000. GERMAN Y ignorant of what the Germans are doing, while they know so thoroughly all that happens amongst ourselves ? The thing is easily to be understood. We never visit them, we do not read their books, and but seldom translate them ; they are constantly in France, they read and make translations of all that we write. It is easy for us to follow their example, and, in doing so, we shall be more and more convinced of the advantages which we may derive from a thorough knowledge of the good qualities and faults of our adversaries, so as to be able to imitate the former and avoid the latter. DENMARK DENMARK. JUTLAND. — THE LITTLE BELT. — A FERRY-BOAT. — A FARM. — FUNEN. — THE GREAT BELT. — THE ISLAND OP ZEALAND, "Since we have begun to go beyond our own frontiers and look around us, we have as yet no thorough knowledge of any country, except of England and Ger- many, i When we shall have gone a step farther, and visited Denmark, we shall be surprised to find that there are treasures amassed in a city to which we are accustomed to attribute but little influence, and learned men dispersed through a country which one of our journals lately called a land almost barbarous." — X. Marmier, AS soon as we pass the new frontier which divides the empire of Germany from the kingdom of Denmark, the country changes its aspect ; it is as flat as ever, but seems less dull and monotonous. The peat-bogs are intersected by large woods ; animals are seen feeding in the meadows, tied to sep- arate stakes at regular intervals, as in Holland. Here and there appears, like a colored dot in the midst of a gray or green ground, a red hut, a blue farm, and the picturesque cos- tume of a peasant-girl, who, with her large eyes wide open, gazes placidly, from a distance, on the crest of smoke hovering over the passing train. The costume of these peasant-girls is, however, that which especially attracts attention (Fig. IGl). The head-dress is shaped like a Persian cap, tied by ribbons under the chin ; they wear a short cloth cape, trimmed with colored embroidery or metal ornaments of various forms, sewed upon it. The sleeves 1 M. Marmier perhaps goes too far when he asserts that we are thoroughly acquainted with England and Germany. 24 DENMARK. are narrow and short; the arm is left bare as far as the elbow in summer, but in winter it is covered with long and thick leather gloves ; bracelets of metal or black velvet sur- round the wrist; the petticoat is made of thick brown or deep red stuff; and the apron, made of silk or woollen mate- rial, is either red, blue, or green. The colors are rather gaudy. Fig. 161. — A Peasant-Girl, Jutland. but the pale light of the North harmonizes and softens, in- stead of exaggerating them, as under the brilliant sunshine of the South. On the right of the road appears the extremity of a harbor, with green transparent waters ; this is Fredericia, where we are to embark in order to cross the Little Belt. This passage is effected by means of a ferry-boat, which THE LITTLE BELT, 325 conveys the train — a method of transport common enough in America, but still rare in Europe.^ The Little Belt is not IJ mile wide; yet this short passage is sometimes difficult, and even dangerous, during the preva- lence of certain winds, on account of the currents, shallows, and reefs which obstruct the strait ; so that large vessels avoid this Fig. 162. — Plan of the Approaches of a Ferry on the Little Belt. 1. Eailway ferry-boat. 2. Movable pontoon. 3. Rails for leaving the pontoon. 4. Rails for approach. 5. Pier. passage, which is almost always effected by means of coasting- vessels and fishing-boats. The landing and embarking of luggage formerly caused great waste of time, for so short a passage, and involved tedious and fatiguing labor ; so that a considerable improvement was intro- duced by the Danish railway company, when they conveyed the 1 We think that there is no railway ferry-boat in Europe, except on the Lake of Constance and at the Little Belt. It has been lately proposed to start one between Calais and Dover, on the system of Dupuy de Lome. 126 DENMARK carriages directly to the ferry-boat, which carries them to the opposite coast, where they are again placed on the rails, — a result which is obtained by a very simple contrivance. The railway, which follows a direction almost at right angles to the sea, passes obliquely as it approaches the shore, so as to become parallel to it ; then, advancing or backing, according to the direction in which the train arrives, it reaches the pier ter- minated by a movable pontoon, at the extremity of which the ferry is moored. The Baltic, like the Mediterranean, is not subject to tides; the level of the pier and that of the deck of the vessel are, there- fore, almost always the same. The difficulties which would arise from the rise and fall of the tides might easily be avoided by bringing the ferry-boat into an enclosed basin, in which the level of the water could without difficulty be regulated, so as to coincide, at first with that of the movable pontoon, and after- wards with that of the sea. When the two rails — that of the ferry, and that of the pontoon — are placed exactly in a coitc- sponding direction, the carriages are shunted in by an engine, which does not enter the boat, but remains outside. The car- riages thus placed on board, generally two or three in number, are sent forward in succession, one at a time, so as to allow the level of the movable pontoon to be adjusted according as the boat sinks more deeply after each fresh load. "When once on board, the carriages, which are firmly secured, are left uncovered on the deck of the ferry-boat ; the plan adopted in America, on the contrary, is to convey them in the covered part of the vessel. These carriages are usually only goods-trucks or luggage- wagons. Those allotted to travellers are forwarded only when the sea is sufficiently calm ; but in all cases passengers are per- mitted, when once on board, to leave the carriages and re-enter them as they please, and have every facility afforded them for walking on the deck, or remaining in the cabin during the passage. As the rails occupy the centre of the ferry-boat, the engine cannot be fixed in its usual place, and it has been found THE LITTLE BELT. 327 necessary in its construction to have recourse to a system of horizontal cylinders, arranged in such a peculiar manner that we cannot intelligibly give a description of them. This system of making the passage by sea, without unloading and reloading the carriages, offers great advantages; but it is often impracticable in rough weather, the necessary manoeuvres, both at the departure and arrival, being then very difficult. On the other hand, in spite of the opinion given by a man of un- ^ — ^ — ^ — ^ © I0Z5I0 ^ I ' ^ 'loM'J Fig. 163. — Section of the Movable Pontoon. questionable ability, we consider that a voyage of any length would be very dangerous in a vessel too heavily laden on the deck. Fig. 162 shows the plan of the approach to the station, and to the landin.ir-quay on the shore ; Fig. 163, the movable pontoon or drawbridge, forming a connection between the pier and the ferry-boat. Our passage was rapid, and without any inconvenience. When the ferry reached the other side, a similar mano-uvre, in the 328 DENMARK. opposite direction to that adopted at starting, brought the car- riages to the pier, and they were placed on the rails which led to their destination. At the moment that we were taking our places in the train we saw some one advancing toward us with a smile, and with extended hand. We recognized in him a former travelling com- panion, with whom we had made acquaintance as we were going from Rome to Yiterbo, shut up in a pontifical mail-coach with a yellow body, and escorted by two of those magnificent cara- bineers, with a terrible and martial air, whose presence reas- sured the traveller when he thought of the consequences of some unfortunate encounter which might befall him ; but who, by their lofty plumes, served to inform the brigands, if there were any, of the importance and quality of those who were on the road. We renewed our acquaintance while the train was preparing to start. Several years had passed since our last meeting. We had left Paris after a long evening sj)ent together, while he re- lated, and we listened to, the many changes of fortune which had occurred during the struggle between Denmark and Prussia in 1864 AVe now met again in the island of Funen in 1872 ; but we, alas ! had in our turn to relate the disasters of 1870. Our friend was a Norwegian, a native of that land which pro- fesses the greatest admiration of France, and the warmest sym- pathy for it. " Whence do you come ? " we immediately inquired. " From the South." " You are then on your return from Italy ? " "0 no : from Jutland." '' Do you call that the South ? " " Cer- tainly, when you live in Christiana." "Yes, of course. And where are you going? To the North?" "Yes; to Copenha- gen." " Do you call that the North ? " " Certainly, when you come from Paris." " Ah ! well," he replied with a laugh ; " it is all rio-ht when we understand each other. Well," said he, "instead of reaching Copenhagen this evening, you will have to delay for a few days. You would not care to stop at Odensee, FUNEN. 329 where even the cathedral has but little to interest an architect. I will take you with me to a farm near Nyborg, which belongs to me. It is now occupied by a friend, a fellow-countryman, who has just completed and furnished it in such a manner as would astonish a Frenchman. You will there have a curious glimpse of our Scandinavian customs, and an interesting speci- men of those wooden structures which you Europeans, as they say at Christiana, are too much inclined to consider huts of savages built of trunks of trees." There was but one reply possible, — to thank our friend and accept his invitation. Shortly afterwards the train stopped. AVe were at Xyborg, on the shores of the Great Belt. Instead of going on board the vessel which crosses the strait, we took our places in one of the large cars of the country, drawn by three horses abreast, which started with us at fuU trot along the coast road. This was the first time that we had seen a real Northern land- scape. The green-tinted sea was gently rippling on the sandy shore ; extensive and unvarying plains were stretched before us, surrounded by woods of beech and birch. Here and there cul- tivated fields relieved the pale verdure of the meadows or the dark trenches of the bogs. From time to time were to be seen a park, with its lawns and well-kept flower-beds, an elegant house half hidden behind a grove of trees ; then farms and agri- cultural buildings surrounded by fields of thin and short-stalked corn ; an orchard of fruit-trees ; and herds of cattle returning from the pasture. We passed, on the sea-shore, a lively fishing village, full of small houses with roofs nearly flat ; the bricks as well as the w^oodwork were painted with gaudy colors, the win- dows glittered in the sun, and on the ridge of each roof was a carving rudely representing the prow of a vessel. Through the half-open doors you could see neat and clean rooms. The fish- ing-nets were spread on the shore to dry ; the boats were drawn up ; the women and children looked at us with curious eyes, and the men raised their w^oollen caps to salute us. They are robust )30 DENMARK and vigorous, and look quiet and good-natured. These excellent people, who enjoy such a calm and orderly existence, who live honestly on the produce of their fishing, and practise all the virtues of domestic life, are nevertheless descended from those bold pirates whose terrible exploits were- the terror of the seas; who, in the ninth century, sailed up the Seine as far as Paris, and, in the twelfth, seized upon the Crown of England. These men, whose honesty and loyalty remind us of the Golden Age, seem to have no idea that their ancestors were such audacious corsairs. We have now left the coast, the road turns inland ; we trav- erse a forest, with solitude all around us. An old woman passes, bending under an enormous bundle of grass mixed with flowers, on which a small lean cow feeds, as she walks behind her. On the doorstep of a cottage are three children, eating, with a good appetite, some coarse black bread. Nothing is heard among the large trees but the footsteps of the horses, and the harsh and hoarse shouts of the driver; we ourselves are silent. All is quiet and tranquil ; a sweet melancholy and an indefinable feel- ing of sadness pervade both man and nature. The light is soft- ened, as if it passed through a screen of gauze ; the effects of light and shade are toned down ; there is nothing to arrest the eye, nothing to attract or detain it. The silence is deep and pro- found ; no cries are to be heard, no songs, onl;j a slight twitter- in£f of birds hidden in the foliao-e, the lowing: of an ox, or the noise of a cart whose wheels grate on their axle. Then, all at once, the prospect widens, our team starts off more rapidly, the conductor cracks his whip loudly, and, just as the sun is about to disappear beneath the horizon, we see a group of habitations regularly arranged. The roofs are red, the last rays of the set- ting sun glitter on walls of varnished pine-wood ; a bell rings to announce our arrival, the carriage passes through the large gate- way, turns into the courtyard, and stops before a house, under the veranda of which our hosts are waiting to welcome us. AVe ascend a flight of steps sheltered by a small wooden FUNEN. 331 porch ; and, conducted by the master of the house, pass through the veranda, which serves as a hall, and enter a room which is at the same time a drawing-room, a dining-room, and a recep- tion-room. The floor is strewn with green twigs covered with red, blue, and yellow flowers, which form a rich carpet of brill- iant colors. The sideboard, at the end of the room, is sur- rounded by garlands of flowers, and on the walls are festoons of foliage ; the eye is charmed with this decoration, for which they are indebted to nature alone. Everything is pervaded by a sweet smell of resin and wild plants. When we have been in- troduced, we are conducted to our chamber. We occupy the spare room, a very large apartment on the first floor, with a wide bed, placed high above the ground. The furniture is of pine- wood ; there are windows on each side, some opening on a gal- lery over the veranda below, the others on a covered balcony. But we have no time to examine everything ; we must go down quickly, for it is the dinner hour, and we are soon seated at the family table. The dinner, for we must speak of it, commenced with some siveet soup, a mixture composed of small pieces of meat swim- ming in a broth, in which were prunes, slices of orange-peel, pieces of licorice, dried currants, barley, pejiper, and salt. For- tunately, to aid in the digestion of this alarming dish, they gave us some excellent beer, served in small glasses placed before each guest, and some rye-brandy, which removes from the palate the flavor of everything which it may have previously absorbed. Then came steaks of sturgeon, rog-brod (rye-bread), slices of black bread spread with butter and mustard, rolled round ham and smoked beef, and rod-grod, a kind of pudding ; very solid food, but at the same time very acceptable. After dinner, we had, with our friend and our entertainer, a long conversation full of recollections of the past and anecdotes, till the evening drew to a close. We retired to our apartments ; the night was clear and fresh, and the breeze brought vague inti- mations of the pine-forests, the sweet perfume of flowers, and the DENMARK. distant murmur of the sea on the sandy shore ; while through the half- open windows came the somewhat harsh accents of a woman's voice, who in the courtyard, in the midst of a group of men-servants, was singing an old Eunic chant. On the following day they showed us, in detail, the farm and its dependencies. Our host was a native of Norway ; peculiar circumstances had induced him to quit his native country ; so he came to settle in a corner of the island of Funen (Fionia) with his wife and children, — two pretty little fair girls with gray eyes, who never ceased to gaze at us, seeking to divine the mean- ing of our words from our looks and gestures. This family had brouoht with them all the habits and customs of their native land, and their dwelling was, in many respects, the reproduc- tion of old remembrances which they loved to retain and per- petuate. AVe first left the enclosure (called in Norwegian the gaarcl), which contains the courts and buildings, and we looked about us. The whole is comprised in a large rectangular space (Fig. 164), covered with buildings of various heights and dimensions, all fronting in the same direction, having a narrow gable at the north and south ends. Each of these buildings, being allotted to a special purpose, is separated from the next by a considerable space, a kind of wide road around each of them. The only ma- terial employed in their construction is wood, with the exception of the tiled roofs. In front of the entrance is the first building, higher (Fig. 166) and more ornamental than the rest ; this is the dwelling-house of the farmer. On the ground-floor is a porch, which, as we have already mentioned, shelters the outer flight of steps, and a large veranda serving as a vestibule, on which all the rooms open. This veranda is closed during the winter by glazed sashes, and serves for the reception of persons who are not expected to enter the private apartments. It opens into the hall, a large family room, where they usually live, and in which they take their meals. By the side of this are the kitchen, the closets, and the staircase leading to the first floor ; on which are F U N E N a gallery over the lower veranda, two large rooms, and one smaller one. On the side opposite to the veranda, and facing the farm buildings, is a balcony supported on cantalivers. This balcony is enclosed with sash windows, and together with the lower gallery is a part of the house used as a play-room for the '^^^ ^:- ■^.^■ *i|a:;-;t-^'''%^y:; ;^^..'^f^ ssMz:^ y [Si -j/-:V v-^-^ y [:: [> E L..... I- [5] _-.i yF •J tl I I I 1 1 1 1 r 6 iO ;o 30 *0 Iv^is Fig. 164. — General plan of a Farm in the Island of Funen. 1. Master's residence. 2. House for servants. 3. Barns and coach-houses. 4. Cattle-house and stabling. 5. Wash-house and bake-house. 6. Workshops. 7. Dairy and sheds. 8. Fowl-house, pigsties, water-closet. 9. Slaughter-house. 10. Kitchen-garden. children, and as a place where the family can walk when, being detained at home by cold and snow and by the nights of eighteen or tw^enty hours long, they cannot leave the house. This bal- cony serves also as an observatory for the farmer, and enables !34 DENMARK liiin to see every part of the various buildings, and to superin- tend his laborers. The buildings are, as we have said, entirely of timber, and are composed of wooden bays, very different from the framework concealed under a coating of cement, which is usual among our- selves. They are constructed by means of slight uprights, of 7 inches by 7f in scantling, connected by horizontal cross-pieces. C?^ Fig. 165. — General View of a Farm. connected by plough and tongue joints, and rabbeted into jambs. This framework is covered on the outside with deal shingles. The inner cross-pieces are from 2 to 2| inches in thickness ; the wainscoting is nearly 1^ inch thick ; the shingles 2 inches wide, nearly 5 inches long, and about ^ inch thick. The end of these shingles is flush with the projection of the vertical side- posts. The woodwork of the roof is composed of rafters with trusses ; FUNEN. 335 that is to say, that each rafter forms in itself a principal. The whole structure, in fact, is a perfect casing of pine-wood,^ Fig. 166. — Exterior of Farm-house. The interior (Fig. 167) of this dwelling-house and its furniture are of the simplest kind, and show no striving after luxury or 1 This manner of working in pine-wood is not the only one employed in Den- mark and Sweden. See *' Encyclopedic d' Architecture," 1872; and **Comte- rendu de I'exposition des pays du nord de I'Europe." Felix Narjoux. Lib. Morel, 13 Paie Bonaparte. 336 DENMARK. mere a]Dpearance, but, on the contrary, the love of home and domestic life. The walls are covered with very thick felt, fastened to the m -OMAJZKIF.WJCZ Fig. 167. — View of Interior. partitions by lattice-work made of crossed laths ; and small tri- angular pieces of wood, attached to this, form combinations both curious and ingenious. In the principal room the portion of the stuff which is shown is decorated with a flower or a ireomet- FUNEN. 337 rical figure. These ornaments, which are colored, relie\'e the surface, which otherwise would appear cold and too uniform. The cornice is ornamented with a carving in pine-wood, the ground in which has been painted of a deep color, on which the ornamental part stands out uncolored. The ceiling is formed of bare joists united by cross-beams, thus forming compartments, in which are fixed centre-pieces of carved varnished wood, which relieve the blue or red of the groundwork. The furniture also is made of deal. The seats, we must con- fess, are not very comfortable ; but the beds are large, with thick hangings, and placed at some considerable height above the floor. In the dining-room were two large sidel)oards, surrounded by garlands of flowers, for which they substitute, during the winter, paper wreaths of various colors. The windows are double, the panes of glass brilliant, with no curtain to obstruct the light; blinds are not in use. Large gilded and painted earthenware stoves diffuse everywhere a pleasant and equal warmth, but de- prive those who sit near them of the sight of the bright flame which sparkles and crackles in the chimney-corners of our country-houses. The sitting-room is employed for many purposes, not only for the ordinary use of the family, but for festival occasions, and the feasts which are given after hunting and fishing excursions. Northern manners, which are less polished than ours, have pre- served certain rude traditions which have disappeared among ourselves; and it is not uncommon, even now, to see these festivals degenerate into orojies. In former davs they almost always ended in a fight. Buildings of this kind are more especially adapted to the demands of a climate which requires, above all, that a dweUing- house should be dry and warm in winter; but they have this inconvenience, that they are an easy prey to fire. In order to guard, as far as possible, against this danger, each building is destined to a different purpose, and is separated from the rest by a large space serving as a courtyard and a passage (Fig. 165). DENMARK. A relic of ancient Xorthern traditions does not permit servants to sleep under the same roof as the master ; they have a sep- arate house, built opposite to that intended for the head of the family. This building includes, on the ground-floor, a common sitting-room, a kitchen, and a room serving as an ofdce ; on the upper story are bedrooms. To the right of the servants' house are the stables, in which there are, on the ground-floor, stables for the horses, and stalls for horned cattle. The first floor, which is approached by an inclined plane, is reserved for goats and sheep. Opposite to this, and at the other side of the enclosure, is the barn, con- taining the threshing-floor, and, above this, the gTanary. In front, and at a considerable distance, for fear of fire, are the wash-house and the bakery ; and, opposite to these, workshops for the construction and repair of all tools, implements, and furniture necessary for the farm and the household. Denmark, an essentially agricultural country, is deficient in manufacturing establishments, and, therefore, every one is obliged, in certain cases, to construct such implements as he may require. Some of the peasants are skilful enough to make wooden clocks quite sufficient for their purpose. To complete this assemblage of buildings, of which our figure will give some idea, there rise, on each side of the court, sheds and other shelters, and at the extremity is a large kitchen-garden. All these buildings are covered with tiles, and the ridge of the roof of each is decorated with one of those carved beams which slightly resemble the prow of a ship, — the last recollec- tion of the existence of those maritime populations who had no other dwelling than the deck of the vessel in which they passed their lives. The agricultural produce consists of wheat, black corn, and food for cattle, — a crop which is often compromised by sudden heat or late frosts. Field-work is completed in a shorter space of time than in more soutliernly countries. Sowing and reap- ing must be begun and finished within a few months. The FUNEN. 339 more rapid cultivation in this climate is productive of less favorable results. Spring and autumn have scarcely any exist- ence, and the heats of summer succeed almost immediately to the long and cold nights of winter. The return of the sun. the time when it comes again to render the earth fruitful, are days of joy, welcomed and celebrated in the country by festivals and public rejoicings, in which all, young and old, rich and poor, take part. On May 1, when the cold north- wind has ceased to blow, when the snow melts under the first rays of the sun, and when the thick mists, which have enveloped the earth for long months, have at last disa23peared, the peasants dress themselves in their best attire ; the boys tie ribbons of bright color round their hats ; the girls adorn the body of their light gowns with spring flow- ers ; and then in long files, preceded by bands of music, they go, on foot or in carts, towards the place chosen by each group of villages for the celebration of the return of the spring. The day is passed in amusements of every kind, especially dances, and is ended by an immense feast, to which every one con- tributes his share, and which is prepared by those whom more advanced age detains from more active enjoyments. Then, be- fore they leave, all who are present choose among themselves a king and queen, whom they crown with flowers, and who, during the whole year, bear the title of king and queen of the spring, and enjoy certain privileges, of which the final result is very frequently a happy union. But the time of this festival has long gone by ; we are on the eve, not of spring, but of winter. We are only in the month of September, and yet already the nights are cold, a slight hoar- frost covers the fields and the sea every morning, so we must hasten on, and not linger on our journey. We therefore return by the way that we came, and, provided with warm letters of recommendation to friends at Copenhagen, we embark on the " Great Belt," to resume the journey so pleasantly interrupted ; our friend accompanied us, and, as we went along, we spoke of Denmark and her population. 140 D E X M A R K . Notwithstanding the disasters which have befallen this coun- try, it is evident that it still enjoys a certain amount of pros- perity. Agriculture prospers; the Dane is more fit for field labor than for commercial pursuits. Honest, laborious, intel- ligent, and very much attached to the country, he is prudent, and but rarely risks in any enterprise the money which he finds it so difficult to earn ; so the industrial pursuits of the country make but little progress. Large fortunes are as rare as extreme misery, and public education is developed more and more every day. The Dane, thick-set, robust, with projecting cheek-bones and square chin, the signs of force and resolution, does not pos- sess the lively, supple, and graceful characteristics which con- stitute the great charm of the Latin races. They atone for this by their energy and perseverance ; and their bold mariners have made the national flag known in the most distant seas, as far as the extremity of China and Japan. France has no influence in this country, and yet its name excites the warmest sympathy ; we frequently found this as we proceeded on our journey. Formerly, Hamburg had a prepon- derating prestige in the whole of Scandinavia and Denmark ; but since the annexation to Germany, the German and Scandinavian races grow every day more alienated, and English influence pre- vails in their stead. A great project, which would secure for Denmark the trans- port of all the merchandise brought from Sweden into Uuroj^e, and vice versa, is at this moment seriously contemplated ; it is to unite Copenhagen with Yordingborg by a railway, and then to reach, by means of fixed bridges, the islands of Falster and Laaland, a packet-boat from which would cross the strait of Fehmern to the island of that name, which would be connected directly with the mainland by a new series of fixed bridges. The execution of these works would certainly change the face of the country, and modify its tendencies, by substituting for English influence that of the southern European nations, with which they would be placed in easy and rapid communication. THE ISLAND OF ZEALAND. 341 ^ The "Great Belt" was not favorable to us; the passage, always difficult on account of the shallows, becomes very un- pleasant when the wind blows directly through this narrow channel, so that we hailed with delight the green coast-line of the meadows in the island of Zealand. As we approach the shore, we are struck everywhere with the adventurous life of the mariner, which develops the strength of these brave N'orthern races. On the sea were to be seen numer- ous barks struggling against the waves ; not large vessels, for their greater draught of water obliges them to pass through the Sound; but a number of small coasting-vessels coming from the Cattecrat, and thus establishins^ a communication between the ports of the Baltic. There are many villages on the shore, near to each other; we could distinguish the fishermen's cot- tages, and their nets drying on tlie strand, the boats drawn up and placed under shelter from the storms of the night; and, beyond, rich enclosures of fruit-trees, parks, and country-houses, the summer villas of the nobility or the rich merchants of the town. When once seated in the railway-carriage, we proceed rap- idly ; the country has always the same melancholy and miser- able appearance. There is nothing bright or luxuriant in the landscape ; the land is flat, the vegetation fresh and humid, the horizon shut in by forests of oak and beech trees ; everything around looks cold and stern, and inspires sadness rather than ennui. We soon perceive, on the left, the deep indentation of a fjord, at the extremity of which is Eoeskilde, formerly a royal resi- dence, and the episcopal town of Denmark, until the intro- duction of the Lutheran religion. Eoeskilde, which contained twenty-six churches with their cloisters, the palace of the kings, and that of the princes, which was surrounded with the splendor and magnificence of a court that swayed the sceptre of the three Scandinavian states, retains nothing of all this glory except the cathedral of Canute the Great, the silent resting-place of the kinss of Denmark. 342 DENMARK This cathedral, the most beautiful structure of the kind in Denmark, was founded in the middle of the twelfth century; its plan is long and narrow (Fig. 168). Its side aisles are sep- arated from the nave by a number of arches of unequal width ; :¥::.:r^.. K\ J::v|!:;:::::;v;^||:;;:J Fig. 168. — Ground-plan of the Cathedral at Roeskilde. the building is terminated by a circular apse ; and, by an ar- rangement very frequently adopted, the thrust of the vault of the nave is counteracted by arches placed under the roofs of the side aisles. Like all the edifices of this period, raised in THE ISLAND OF ZEALAND. 343 the extreme North, the cathedral of Eoeskilde is disfigured by- additions of greater or less importance, which have altered its original form, and modified, not only its details, but its proportions. The large, wide, and lofty chancel, and the tran- sept and its aisles, with galleries which lessen the apparent height, give some idea of what this building must have been at the time of its splendor, alas 1 how long ago ; and, to crown all, the whole of the internal decorations have been lately cov- Fig. 169. — Geometrical Elevation of the Facade of the Transept. ered with glaring paintings representing flowers, branches of trees, and verdure, which have completely destroyed the grand and noble effect of the building. The facades (Fig. 169), built of granite wrought with great care, are rather primitive in style, the effect of which is not without its charm, and reminds us of our churches in Auvergne and Limousin, erected at the same period, and with materials of a similar kind. The tombs of the kings are numerous. They have been com- 344 DENMARK. pared, with some amount of exaggeration, to those of St. Denis. One of them, however, attracts attention ; it is that of Christian IV., surmounted by a statue by Thorwaldsen. The surrounding country is filled with tombs, funeral monu- ments, and Eunic stones, and abounds with souvenirs of mytho- logical history, poetry, and the paganism of the Xorth, of which this country w^as the birthplace. Altars, on w^hich human sac- rifices were offered, are to be seen at Lethraborg. The legend of Hrolf and his twelve giants is connected with Leira. At Hleidra was the sacred wood of the goddess Hertha, with the lake, into the waves of which she plunged the incautious men who had surprised and gazed upon her while in her bath. It was over this land that she drove in her chariot drawn by cows ; and under the shadow of these beech-trees were offered those horrible sacrifices of human beings, tied to each other before they were put to death. But if the monuments which recall these recollections possess an archaeological interest, they have none in an artistic point of view ; and we must also own, in all humility, that the most beautiful Eunic inscrijDtions are but a dead letter to us. Xevertheless, as it is not possible to be in Denmark without speaking of Odin and the Eunes, we must say a few words about them. Odin is said to have been the inventor of these Eunes. As they were cut and engraven in stones, it is asserted that their name was derived from a Gothic word having the same meaning, or from another word Eona, which signifies secret, — an explanation derived from their mysterious charac- ter ; but as the Germans pretend to have discovered everything, and to be in themselves the origin of all things, they will have it that the word Eune comes from one in their own language, Eaunen, which signifies a murmur, — a rather German allusion to the part assigned to the Eunes, which, thanks to the expla- nations of the learned, murmur almost whatever they wish. The Eunic alphabet is composed of sixteen characters, sup- posed to be of Phanician origin, each of which has a name and THE ISLAND OF ZEALAND. 345 signification peculiar to itself. These characters are grouped, intermixed, and interlaced; they are read either from left to right, or from right to left, and thus give rise to translations which vary among every nation, and according to the taste of every individual. These Eunes were not only graphic signs, but they had a mysterious power, and a charm to which the initiated had re- course under certain circumstances. They attributed to them the power of inspiring love, raising the dead, curing diseases, lulling tempests, extinguishing fires, etc. Eunic chants are full of a strange and mysterious poetry, which strikes the imagination and carries it away to the realm of dreams and improbability. It is difficult to forget these accents when they have been heard, even for once, so profound is the impression made by these mystical words, whose meaning- is unknown, when they are chanted to a rhythmical air filled with strange power and harmony. 346 DENMARK, COPENHAGEN. GENERAL ASPECT. THE terminus is a wooden building, covered with a roof on the plan of Philibert Delorme, and which cannot be com- j)ared with the magnificent halls of the French railways, built of iron, and covered with glass ; but, as some compensation, the police and the custom-house soon set us at liberty, and we found ourselves outside, in a large avenue planted with trees, facing an extensive park, and the Xon^bro (the Northern bridge), pass- ing over which we entered the city. The sunshine was delightful, the air pleasantly warm, the sky clear ; and throughout the day we walked on and on, gazing on the right hand and the left, on persons and things, being intent on seeing as much and as thoroughly as possible. When we had passed through the environs of the city, we walked down one street, traversed the square, entered a second street, and found ourselves in front of an enormous building. It was the Christianborg (the palace of Christian, the royal palace), which resembles a fortress or a state-prison. Close by there was a canal thronged with boats laden with vegetables, fruits, and fish ; and then came a labyrinth of small streets, and a large open space, the Kongens Nytorv, an irregular square, bordered, in some parts, by lofty narrow buildings, with fantastic gables (Fig. 170). At the extremity was a palace; at the side, the Opera-House ; at the other end, a canal ; and in the middle, a statue, hidden in a clump of rose-bushes. At the corner of one street we read : " Eestaurant des Dames francaises." There COPENHAGEN. ;47 was a great crowd of persons in this square ; carriages, horses, omnibuses, crossed in every direction ; a detachment of soldiers were passing with their drums beating ; the men look strong, but their step is rather heavy ; their equipment and uniform resem- ble ours, and they are armed with rifles. We begin to sketch ; / ■^^fe Fig. 170. — The Kongens-Nytorv, at Copenhagen. a crowd gathers round, an officer comes to us from the neigh- boring guard-house. We do not understand what he says, but still, full of deference for discipline, and thinking that he came to forbid us to continue our sketch, we close our book and rise to go on our way ; but it seems that this was not what he wanted. 548 DENMARK He had thought that we were German. He asked what we had been doing: we showed him our sketch-book, in which were some remarks in French, and our address in Paris. The officer reads : Paris, French : the bystanders repeat, French, Paris (it sounds in Danish something like Frensh, Parish). The expres- sion on the features of those around us at once entirely changes, and they look on us with kindness and sympathy, two soldiers are sent from the guard-house to clear a space around us, and we are allowed to finish our drawing. We know not how to express our thanks ; but, without being able to understand each other, Ave exchange the most friendly words and cordial com- pliments. In the Ostergade (West Street) there are many shops, in lofty houses of several stories, built of stone or brick. Some, of an unusual shape, have an original and grotesque appearance, but the greater part are uninteresting, and of an ordinary kind. The footpaths are paved with red Norwegian granite, which, when recently washed, is of an agreeable color, and the particles of mica glisten in the sun. By the side of the jDath is a wide and deep gutter, covered with strong deal boards, serving both to limit the roadway and to act as a drain. People pass quietly, and without haste ; they do not press on each other, and keep scrupulously to the right hand. AVe reach the Gothergade, the Ptegent Street or the " Rue de la Paix " of Copenhagen, w^here there are beautiful, large, lofty, well-built liouses, with shops over each other; that is to say, on the basement and ground- floor. Those below the level of the ground, to which the ap- proach is by steps made in the area which separates the houses from the street, are used as taverns, beer-shops, restaurants, and shops for eatables. When we set our foot on the threshold, the step gives way, the visitor feels as if he were losing his equilib- rium, and a bell tingles at the farther end of the shop ; this is a signal to announce the arrival of a customer. In the shops on the ground-floor, which might, indeed, be as well called the first story, are sold articles manufactured in Paris, London, or Vienna, COPENHAGEN. 349 such as gold ornaments, jewelry, and stationery. There are also shops of a more modest, but no less useful kind, such as those of tailors, shoemakers, and dealers in cigars. The goods are not displayed, as the sill of the window is nearly on a level with the heads of passers-by. There are no splendid shop-fronts ; large panes of glass merely protect the wares, not from ill-in- tentioned j)ersons and robbers, for these are unknown in Copen- hagen, but against wind and rain. Tradesmen, who are more distrustful, leave the gas alight during the night, so that it is impossible that any robbery should be committed without being seen from the public street. We see many persons at the gate of a large garden, the Rosen- borg-have. We enter ; bands of music are playing in the open air, and people are walking about. There are many young and pretty women, with bright complexions, blue or gray eyes, and fair hair ; they wear white or light dresses, with a bright-colored band round the waist. Their figure is slender, their hair falls in long curls over their shoulders, and is only confined at the back of the neck by a ribbon of the same color as the waistband. A kind of small head-dress with feathers is placed jauntily on the top of the head ; the neck is left bare, and under the transparent material of the body of the dress there is a glimpse of the rich carnation of the shoulders. The hands, tightly gloved, carry an immense parasol, and, as they pass by, they occasionally draw round them, with a graceful and coquettish air, a long scarf, when the keen breeze from the North raises the ringlets of their hair, or gives them a momentary shiver. The fine season is, in fact, so short that people must enjoy themselves as much as possible while it lasts, and display their bright summer dresses whenever there is the least interval of sunshine. These women are gay and merry ; they are always ready to smile, in order to show their beautiful teeth ; they exchange greetings, and shake hands energetically with the friends whom they meet ; which is often the case, as every one here seems to know everybody else, and they look more like the promenaders of a provincial town. 350 DEXMAEK. than the inhabitants of a capital city. The men exaggerate the Parisian fashions, want what we call distinction, and have rather a heavy and clumsy gait. Passing through Dronningenstvergade, we arrive at a complete "faubourg St. Germain," w^ith wide quiet streets, lined with palaces and rich mansions separated from the public road by courts and wrought-iron gates. There are but few persons pass- ing by. The nobility are at their country-seats, and their town residences are deserted. This quarter has a grand appearance, but these solidly built mansions have not the architectural char- acter that you might expect. They remind us of our rococo, of the period of Louis XV. You must look at them in their en- tirety, and not notice the details. At the farther end of this quarter is an octagonal space, with four broad and four narrow sides. At the four smaller sides are four similar palaces, with wini^s extendincT alon^ the largjer sides and down the streets which open in the middle of the shorter ends (Fig. 172). Two of these palaces are united by arches crossing one of these streets, and forming the royal residence. The square, if it may be so called, resembles the grand courtyard of a palace. In the middle is an equestrian statue ; the whole has a cold as^^ect, but never- theless looks rather grand. Some masons were at work in a side street ; they were build- ing a brick wall, and placed their bricks methodically, but slowly, paying especial attention to the reg-ularity of the joints, adjust- ing their bricks before they laid them, fitting them gently, and employing a thousand precautions lest they should break them ; steeping them in water, and covering their hands with tar to protect them against the rugged surface of the materials they employed. Their task was well finished, but they did not work quickly, and a great number of men must be employed to build a house during the short space afforded by the fine season. Some other men were constructing a front wall built of large ashlar stones, which were all of equal size, and consisted of granite with the surface rendered slightly smooth. The joints, which were COPENHAGEN. 351 very projecting, were of cement, and gauged to the same width. The work had the appearance of being carefully finished; the gray stone is surrounded by joints, which, in process of time, become black, and give the houses a rather gloomy look. The wages of the laborers must be low, or else this kind of work would be very costly. They were employed, a little farther on, in forming an arch with blocks of stone ; the voussoirs, prepared beforehand, were too long in proportion to their breadth ; they were laid without sufficient precaution, and their form was not adapted to the purpose for which they were intended, so that the joints had not a regular width ; they were too close together at the base, and too far apart at the top ; the skill of the workman was at fiiult. We have not met a single beggar ; and we begin to believe in the reputation possessed by Copenhagen of being the best-built city in Europe. We have not yet seen, and do not expect to see, any of those dilapidated dwellings, those unwholesome hovels, of which too many sad examples are to be found in the largest cities. Even in the suburbs there is no vestige of those wretched habitations in which the dregs of the population of a large town pass their miserable and abject lives. There is a view of the sea from the Amaliengade. Here is to be seen the harbor with its ships, large and fine steamers which are bound to stations in the extreme North ; there is great activ- ity, but little noise. The language spoken is harsh, rapid, abrupt. The Russian sailors, tall, strong, and with broad nostrils, are distinguishable by their rough appearance and their violent ges- tures. A tavern established in the underground story of a house is the favorite resort of laborers and sailors. We look in at the open door, and see regularly arranged upon the counter large glasses full of milk, and, near each, smaller glasses filled with KiTscli ; the Danes drink, emptying each glass one after the other, pay their money, and go away without noise and tumult. On the other side, gin and Kummd are served out to the Rus- sians ; they are noisy, boisterous, and rough ; many of them are 352 DENMARK. scarcely able to stand. This sobriety on the one hand, and ex- cess on the other, form a contrast all the more striking, as it is circumscribed by so narrow a space. We now reach the sea-shore, and find there a long promenade, the Lange-line, which is sometimes compared to the Chiaia at Naples. There, however, we perceive in the midst of the beau- tiful bay, islands bathed in the blue waves of the Mediterranean, the smiling scenery of Pausilippo, groves of orange-trees and ole- anders, the heights of Vesuvius, and the whole country flooded with that brilliant light which makes so many and such various objects unite and blend so exquisitely. At Copenhagen we see the many ships traversing the Sound, sharply defined against the green sea waters, and the coast-line of Sweden lighted up by the pale Northern sunshine. The Chiaia and the Lange-line are therefore by no means alike, but still each has its peculiar merit and beauty. Thus, during the winter at Copenhagen, when the strait is covered w^ith a thick coating of ice, and when the snow conceals with its winding-sheet both the land and the sea, this immense white plain, which extends as far as the pole, and is wrapped in a dense mist, must unquestionably present a specta- cle the grandeur and severe majesty of which may well vie with the splendor of the lands of the South, where, as at Naples, Nature has shown herself most prodigal of her gifts and favors. At this end of the city stands the citadel, a castle more gloomy than dancrerous, more terrible than useful, constructed on Yau- ban's system, protected by two outworks, which modern artillery would soon demolish ; then close at hand is a quarter formed of Ions streets lined with small low houses, all similar in form and dimensions, and. completely uniform in all respects ; this is in- habited by sailors and other persons connected with maritime occupations. We cross the harbor in a boat, and land on the island of Amok, where are large dockyards for ship-building, and in a side street there are modest-looking shops, in which Jews sell. COPENHAGEN. 353 at a moderate price, lacquered ware, curiosities, and porcelain from China and Japan. At the end of this street we notice the grotesque tower of the Church of the Trinity ; and, returning by the same way, we see the spire of the Exchange, the form of which can neither be understood nor described. At last, by the Langebro, we come again to the Wester-allee and the new quarters of Frederiksborg, lined with cheerful hotels, small houses, and places of public resort, which minister to the pleas- ures of the lower classes during the summer fete days. This was the result of our first walk in Copenhagen. We must now examine in detail that which we have only observed in the mass in this rapid survey. 354 DENMARK. COPENHAGEN. 11. KONGENS-NYTORV. — AMALIENBORG. — RONDE-KIRK. — FRUE-KIRK. — CHRISTIAN- BORG. — ROSENBORG. — EXCHANGE. — CRYSTAL PALACE. — HOSPITAL-SCHOOLS. — FREDERIKSBORG. — THE OLD AND NEW FORTIFICATIONS. THE Kongens-Nytorv, the Place Eoyale, or new market, serves as a connecting link between the commercial quarter and that inhabited by the nobility. It is very large, and of an irregular form. The palaces, which extend along one side of it, are not devoid of architectural interest. Their desti- nation is various, but their character remains the same ; and one cannot understand at first why, for instance, the Carlottenborg is not used as a military school, — the military school for a museum of the fine arts, and vice xersd. Two old houses of the seventeenth century still remain stand- ing on one of the sides of the square (Fig. 170). They belong to that period called the German Eenaissance by the Germans, who, in their inordinate vanity, wish to persuade themselves that they have originated a school of architecture, because they have exaggerated the forms and disfigured the proportions of foreign works. These houses, built of stone and brick, are of considerable height ; the small space occupied by the town, enclosed as it is within the fortifications, did not allow the buildings to be ex- tended, and they were therefore obliged to raise them to a greater height. Each story is marked out by a moulding, which serves as a support to the windows of the floor above ; all the COPENHAGEN. 355 lintels are protected by arches; the gables are pointed, with retreating portions ornamented with grotesque pinnacles; the water-courses and the iron clamps in the walls still remain. In the centre of the square there is a statue erected in honor of Christian V., which has been judiciously concealed behind a clump of trees. It is intended to be equestrian, but it is diffi- cult to ascertain positively on what animal the hero is mounted ; he treads under foot a woman, the symbol of envy. Around the pedestal several personages are arranged, who seem much aston- ished at being together, and look as if they were asking each other the reason of their meeting ; these are Alexander, Hercu- les, Artemisia, and Minerva. All these grotesque and ridiculous figures are cast in lead. The Amalienborg (Fig. 171) is a series of palaces surrounding a beautiful square. Taken separately, these palaces, which have a gloomy and cold appearance, seem mean ; but, seen together, their mass is imposing, and we must only look at them in their entirety, for their details and arrangement show no originality, novelty, or evidence of careful study. The middle of the square, or rather of the palace-yard (Fig. 172), is occupied by a leaden equestrian figure, like that of Christian V., and representing a Frederick or a Christian, but which of the kings known by those names, we will not venture to say for fear of mistake ; but, at all events, this liberal and witty monarch certainly deserved something better, if only on account of the interesting anecdote of which he is the subject. One of tlie privileges of the nobility, at that time, permitted any noble to get rid of a villain who had offended him, on con- dition of placing a crown piece on his dead body. This privi- lege appeared to the monarch to be excessive, and he suppressed it. There was great discontent and complaint at court ; the no- bility combined, made protests, which were not well received, grew angry, and retired to their country estates, — in short, acted with such vigor that the tijrcint was obliged to yield and cancel his decree. He did it, however, most graciously, and assembled 356 DENMARK his high and mighty lords to announce to them the restoration of the right which they claimed ; and at the close of his speech he added, by way of peroration : " But if I am not allowed to de- prive you of any privilege, no one can forbid my granting one to Fig. 171— The Palace of Amalienborg. my other subjects ; and I have therefore decided, that in future any man belonging to the lower ranks may get rid of a noble who displeases him, on condition of paying two crowns, for, as you have justly said, we must maintain a proper line of demar- cation between the social classes in the community." COPENHAGEN. The churches of Copenhagen are not very interesting. The most remarkable have been destroyed in the great catastrophes that have befallen the city. The Runde-Kirk, built in the seven- teenth century by Steenwenkel, a pupil of Tycho Brahe, who was not only a great astronomer, but a skilful engineer, is the oldest that is still remaining. It was built in the style which }*> ■ I" 1?2. Fig. 172. — Plan of the Amalienljorg-Slot. is called, in France, Jesuit architecture ; and there is nothing worthy of notice in it except the pyramidal spire on the top of the tower (Fig. 173). The base of this spire stands on a low circular vault, sup- ported by the tower, — an enormous base, lofty, with thick walls, and great force of resistance. An open spiral path, leading to 358 DENMARK. Fig. 173. — Runde-Kirk, Copenhagen. COPENHAGEN. 359 the very top of the building, is hollowed out of the mass of the tapering spire, thus allowing one to ascend, on the outside, to the highest point, from which there is a magnificent view. Or- dinary people go up simply on foot, keeping close to the wall or clinging to the hand-rails ; and notwithstanding these precau- tions, there is some danger for persons w^hose heads are not very steady; but some sovereigns, as Christian IV. and Peter the Great, are said to have made the ascent in a carriage-and-four, — an extravagant feat, whicli inspired an early writer with great respect for the coachman and the horses. It is evident that it is a great mistake to compare the spiral of the Runde-Kirk at Copenhagen wath the inclined plane of the Campanile of Venice. The former is a very picturesque exter- nal pathway of a very unusual form, which could not be modi- fied without being entirely destroyed ; the latter, on the con- trary, being concealed in the interior of the building, gives no idea, from without, of its form and arrangement, which might be quite different from w^hat they are, without materially altering the form or the plan of the structure. The second of the Copenhagen churches, w^orthy of a visit, is the Frue-Kirk, the Church of the Virgin. The original edifice was destroyed in 1807 by the English bombardment ; that which exists at the present time dates from 1829, and is the work of Hansen. It is not the architectural merit of this Greco-Roman building wdiich attracts the notice of the visitor, but the sculp- tures of Thorwaldsen with which it is adorned. The most remarkable are those in the tympanum over the principal entrance, and in the pediment of the facade. They represent our Saviour's entrance into Jerusalem, and St. John preaching in the w^ilderness ; we see also, in the interior, the statues of the twelve Apostles, and under the altar, placed in a niche, the w^ell- know^n colossal head of Christ. As we shall have occasion, w^hen describing our visit to the Thorw^aldsen Museum, to study the works and the genius of the great Danish artist, we merely mention here the sculptures in the Church of the Virgin, to which w^e shall subsequently refer. DENMARK The Christianborg is not, properly speaking, a palace, but rather the union of several palaces of various forms, and of different importance and destination, erected at various periods, partly destroyed by fire and war, and rebuilt without any idea of uniformity, or any settled and definite plan. It is possible, by simply comparing a few dates, to judge of the transformations undergone by this palace. Bishop Absalom built in 1168, on the site now occupied by the Christianborg, a fortress which, after it had become a royal residence, fell more than once into the hands of the enemy, and was, at last, utterly destroyed. Frederick IV. in 1726 constructed on these ruins a castle, six stories high, which could not have been a very pleasant dwelling-place, and did not last long, for Christian VI. caused it to be pulled down in 1740, and replaced by a new castle, one of the finest in Europe, if we may believe the chroni- clers; but this, unfortunately, was destroyed by fire in 1794. At last, in 1828, the edifice which we see standing at the present time was finished. It is more remarkable for its great dimensions than for its form or appearance, for it has the great- est faults that can incontestably be found with a work of art ; it is common and vulgar. The palace-yard looks gloomy ; grass grows between the stones of the pavement ; the base of the walls is green with damp. At the back is a kind of courtyard, which is a thoroughfare for the public, like ours at the Louvre ; it is surrounded by porticos, and terminated by two wings covered with a terrace walk, from which there is a beautiful view of the country and the sea. Before the principal gate there is a porch, surmounted by a pediment, in which Thorwaldsen sculptured Jupiter in the midst of Olympus ; on one of the sides of the gate may also be seen his Hercules. This edifice is used for various purposes ; it contains state apartments rarely inhabited, and drawing-rooms for grand court receptions. One of these rooms, the hall of the knights, con- tains, in the entablature of a gallery which surrounds it, Thor- COPENHAGEN. 361 waldsen's famous frieze, — the expeditions of Alexander. The rest of the palace contains a riding-school, stables, a theatre, a chapel, the ministerial offices, the treasury, the high court of justice, and the hall of the Eeichstag. One of the most agreeable places of residence in Copenhagen is the Eosenborg, a chateau constructed in the midst of the Kosenborg-have park, having in front of it a large space used for reviews and military exercises. The approach to it is by a street, the Danish name of which, the Kronprindsessgade (the street of the Princess Royal), deserves mention, since it shows how easy this beautiful Danish language is to be understood, r n Fig. 174. — Ground-plan of the Rosenborg. and how conveniently it can be used by foreigners. The Rosen- borg was built in 1604 by Christian IV., whose statue stands in the courtyard behind the principal facade. This building is of small dimensions for a royal chateau (Fig. 174) ; the staircase is placed in a separate tower projecting beyond the rest of the building. With the exception of a few large rooms, the whole is used for the preservation of the archives of the kingdom, and contains documents precious, in an historical point of view, con- cerning the monarchy and the charters of Denmark. The architecture of the edifice takes a certain character from the nature of the materials employed, red bricks embrowned by time, and long regular courses of freestone, forming cornices, plain mouldings, and the parts around the bays. From the side 362 DENMARK. walls project bay-windows, which, if other proofs were wanting, attest the Anglo-Saxon origin of this building. Quaint gables, tortured like those of the Netherlands, deprive the facades of the appearance of unity, which is noticeable in the lower parts. The whole, shown in Fig. 175, is not an architectural creation; it is an agglomeration of incongruous elements, good and bad, united without any reason, and appearing dissatisfied at find- ing themselves connected with each other. However, as to its resources and its pleasantness as a habitation (which is, in fact, the main object to be attained in any dwelling, whether a palace or a cottage), this chateau is, of all those to be found in Copen- hagen, that which, both by its situation and its general arrange- ment, must be the most agreeable and the most convenient. Its appearance, doubtless, has not been considered sufficiently im- posing, for the Christianborg, a kind of fortress, has been pre- ferred to it, or the Amalienborg, which is narrow and confined, but has facades adorned with pilasters and column. The Exchange (Fig. 176) is a long and grotesque building, which occupies almost the whole of one side of the Slotsholms- gade. The entrance door is in one of the gables ; it is approached by a rather steep inclined plane, which, seen from below, adds to the grandeur of the front. This gable, which is very pre- tentious in its form, has at the top a large niche, which is still vacant, waiting for a hero. Behind this is the Exchange, prop- erly so called, which is installed on the first floor, with reference to the level of the quay, on which opens a ground-floor occupied by depots and shops of all kinds. The fac^ades, extending along the quay, contain wide mullioned windows; dormer windows, arranged along the roof at certain distances, and surmounted by stiff and grotesque gables, break the monotony of the longer lines, and produce a varied outline, which, seen from a distance, has a good effect. But the most important feature of the build- ing, that which has more especially rendered it noticeable, is the spire above the central tower. This spire is of timber, covered with lead, to which has been given the form of four COPENHAGEN. 365 monsters, whose nature it is difficult to determine. Their heads rest on the four corners of the tower, and their tails are curled upwards round the spire, and terminate in a sharp point. It is impossible to explain this strange conception, and to under- Fig. 176. —The Exchange, Copenhagen. stand its meaning. Even its origin is uncertain, for it is said not to be of Danish workmanship, and Christian IV. is reported to have brought it from Kalmar, as a trophy of his victory over Sweden. This is not a remarkable building, artistically considered, but its unusual character excites curiosity. 366 D E X :M A R K . The interior of the Exchange is not in keeping with the outer part. It seems almost a deception to find there only one or two ordinary rooms kept very clean, wainscoted with deal painted so as to resemble oak, with a deceptive ceiling divided into sham compartments, and false projecting joists which support a false floor. The exhibition building was erected in 1871 to receive the Universal Exhibition of the Northern European states ; this is the most important modern building in Copenhagen. It stands outside of the town, near the Norrbro, at the extremity of a vast Fig. 177. — Ground-pian of the Exhibition Building. park, varied by occasional slight elevations, and pieces of water, both salt and fresh, — real lakes, which allow certain special exhibitions of objects to be made under conditions peculiarly appropriate. The palace forms a rectanole whose longer sides are 492 feet, and the shorter ones 295 (Fig. 177) ; this rectangle is divided into four compartments, surrounding a central court covered with glass. A crystal palace like those at Paris, London, and Vienna, was impossible at Copenhagen; the snow, which would have accu- COPENHAGEN, mulated on the large roofs, would have been productive of raj^id injury; and, on the other hand, the Industri-borg was to be preserved, and afterwards utilized for several purposes. It was therefore necessary to render it habitable at every season of the year, and capable of being warmed, either entirely or in parts. The Danish architect has surrounded his central court with buildings having thick walls, the comparatively narrow aper- tures in which, either towards the public road or the internal courts, can easily be closed by glass windows. He afterwards So( ni f la. Fig. 178. — Transverse Section of the Exhibition Building, Copenhagen. covered the interior, not with a single roof, which, extending over the lateral buildings, would be exposed to the terrible blasts of the north-wind, but by five successive roofs (Fig. 178), resting on supports rising from the foundations ; these are placed sufficiently near each other, and strong enough to sustain the weight of snow that might accumulate in the intervening spaces. This division into five parts also has the advantage of throwing any occasional addition of weight on a much larger surface than could have been done if the roof had been single. The facades are rather monotonous (Fig. 179) ; they might perhaps have laid the bricks in a more ornamental manner, and 168 DENMARK. it would have been possible to avoid the monotony of all those windows of equal size, and those similar pilasters. Even the entrance-door is not of sufficient importance, and does not look grand and noble, in spite of its dimensions ; but the whole build- ing is judiciously constructed. We have already explained the plan of the large hall covered with glass ; the same idea is car- ried out in the facades. Thus, the pilasters which ornament rajffAJZjijgn'^z Fig. 179. — General View of the Indnstri-borg. them, far from being a mere decoration, form, on the contrary, firm and stable supports to the walls, while the intervening space is filled in with slighter work. The materials to be found in the country have alone been employed. The floors, the steps of the stairs, and the parti- tions are of deal ; iron is used in some parts of the roof ; bricks constitute the whole of the masonry work of the walls, and COPENHAGEN. 369 even of the isolated points of support of the grand nave, which have the form of columns of 1 ft. 8 in. or 2 ft. 3 in. in diameter. The primary schools are lofty and very large, and the chil- dren are not so crowded as in ours ; but these buildings, both in their external and internal arrangements, are not to be pre- ferred to those in France. There is one exception as to school furniture, not with respect to its form, but to the manner of its construction. The Danish schoolmasters were struck with the evils result- ing to the health of the child from its being badly seated, and having the reading-book or copy-book too near or too far from the eyes, during the school hours ; and with the inconvenience of placing great and little children on the same form; and therefore they prefer that each child should have a seat propor- tioned to its height, and made, in some respects, to its meas- ure. The class-rooms are therefore filled with rows of small pieces of furniture,^ comprising a chair furnished with arms and a back, to support the body during the hours of study ; before this is placed a small desk, with a top which opens to hold books and paper. Each child is seated at the place assigned to it according^ to a^^^e and heig^ht ; and the seats are brouu;ht nearer to each other according as the class is great or small, thus never leaving an empty or unoccupied space. This arrangement requires much room, and would be very costly in any country where the furniture would be required to be less roughly made than in Denmark, and in Sw^edeu, where it is also common. A precisely similar j)lan would not seem practicable in France, but the idea might be adopted, and we might find it advantageous to remedy somewhat our school furniture, which is so inconvenient. The large Communal Hospital (Fig. 180) is built almost in the country — where all hospitals ought to be located — between the outer w^all and a large canal which surrounds the city on 1 See "Construction et installation des ecoles primaires," par Felix Naijoux. 1 vol. 8vo. Morel & Co., 13 Rue Bonaparte. 370 DENMARK. this side. The ^yards are of great size, and occupied by a re- stricted number of patients ; they oj)en on a gallery connected Avith the various domestic offices. The rooms appropriated to the officers of the establishment extend along enclosed courts, ^yhile the sick-wards have open courts around them. This establishment is therefore well arranged as far as salubrity is concerned, but the internal apj)ointments-are not so comfortable as are required in hospitals of this character. We have still to pay a visit to another palace, that of Fred- w^m Fig. 180. — Ground-plan of Communal Hospital. 1. Director's apartments, 2. Sick-wards. 3. Eooms for separate patients. 4. Domestic offices. 5. AVards for contagious maladies. 6. Lying-in ward. 7. Surgery and Amphitheatre. 8. Chapel. eriksborg, at the gates of the city. "We enter, at the Kongens Nytorv, one of those large omnibuses which are just beginning to be used in Paris, and in which forty persons can sit with ease, and can enter or leave the vehicle without pressing or in- terfering with each other. The omnibus is full ; a woman pre- sents herself, and immediately a man rises, gives up his place, and stands upon the platform. Each passenger, when he pays the conductor, takes as a receipt a little square piece of paper, which he holds in his hand, and thus avoids all dispute. You COPENHAGEN. 371 pay by tickets instead of money, and these are sold beforehand at the offices. When any one wishes to alight between two sta- tions, the horses slacken their pace without entirely stopping. The carriages cannot turn on their springs, so that when they reach the end of their journey, the horses are unharnessed and put in at the opposite end. There is but one tramway, so all the carriages must wait for each other at the crossings. This camses long and frequent delays, but no one is disturbed by it or grows impatient. We alight at a large iron gate, at the end of a road planted with trees. This avenue has on each side cheerful houses, sur- rounded with gardens, lawns, and beds of flowers. At the ex- tremity is the Frederiksborg-have, a very beautiful park, though of no great extent, well laid out, so as to appear larger than it really is, and traversed by a Seiyentine River ; but the flat and level soil is not well suited for such picturesque conceptions. The palace, which stands in the front of a large court and a green lawn, is an ugly building, of a kind of Italian architecture, uninteresting and with no originality. This park and the avenues which lead to it serve as a drive for carriages during certain summer nights, when the sun remains above the horizon till ten o'clock. Then popular fetes are held there ; and performances in the open air, cafe concerts and noisy balls give extraordinary animation to the scene. It is said that these fetes are very curious for a foreigner to witness ; but unfortunately we are far from the time when they take place, but the amusements which are offered by the Tivoli Garden may give us, as we are told, a good idea of them. The old city is surrounded by ramparts which cramp it ; while the new one, on the contrary, spreads and extends without re- straint. It passes into the country by wide and beautiful avenues, builds its houses in the midst of gardens, and surrounds them with verdure and flowers. The fortifications of the old city are insufficient ; they would not now protect it, even provided that they could protect any- DEXMARK. thing but a very small portion of tlie habitations. A bombard- ment would soon demolish the lines, if they were exposed to the fire of the besiegers, and the city might be entirely destroyed by means of cannon of long range, placed in batteries at the distance of 6,500 yards, and firing at random. It has, therefore, been necessary to provide against this contingency, and to insure a safe defence if required. The attacking batteries, according to modern warfare, w^ould be composed of guns of long range, and, as we have said, would probably be placed by the besiegers at the distance of from six to eight thousand yards from the place to be taken, and they would fire either directly or vertically. In either case certainty of aim would not be possible at that distance, since an inappre- ciably small difference in the training of the gun w^ould give a considerable divergence from the mark at which the shot is aimed. For this reason one can rarely attain accuracy of aim by direct fire; on the contrary, the projectile almost always passes over the ramparts, and falls at a greater or less distance beyond, so as sometimes even to go over the opposite parapet of the town or fortress. With vertical fire, relative success, at least, is more certain. In fact, taking as an example a place defended on Yauban's system, still in use even in modern times, we see that, though the projectile very rarely strikes the ram- parts, it is not difficult to make it fall within the lines, and do irreparable injury to the barracks and magazines of all kinds crowded together there, and often to a whole city. The enemy, carefully firing into a circle of large diameter, is thus always certain of doing sufficient damage to cause the surrender of the place within a certain time. But if, instead of an enceinte fortified by fronts and salients enclosing a large space, the defence presented only a succession of very extended fronts of but little depth, and if these fronts were connected with each other by splinter-proof passages, trav- erses, and covered ways, and were also sufficiently distant from each other, so that the projectile intended for the outer line of COPENHAGEN. 373 fortifications should not reach the second, and so in succession, the efforts of the besiegers would be singularly neutralized. In the first place the quantity of projectiles required would be enor- mous, since it would be an exceptional case when those sent would reach their aim ; and the line of defence, being extended over a considerable front, would be very effective. As to towns, instead of being surrounded by walls, they would, on the con- trary, be open and free, sheltered from a bombardment, and be- yond the range of projectiles, because of the distance of the outer lines of defence from the inner enclosure. It is this system which is to be employed in the defence of Copenhagen. Forts, presenting an extended front with but little depth, will be erected at a great distance from the town on the heights of Vigersbev and Utterslev, to protect it on the land side ; while a fortress, defended in the same manner, and built on a part of the coast w^hich is not yet definitely determined, will defend it from any attack by sea. These forts, connected with each other by covered ways and secondary works, will prevent approach, and defy the terrible projectiles of modern artillery. In addition to this, the line of defence thus obtained will be too considerable to be blockaded, and the complete investiture of the town will thus eventually become impossible. The siege of Paris in 1870 has afforded experience to the Danes, as we have already seen ; why did not we profit in the same manner by the lessons which they had received during the war of the Duchies ? The inhabitants of Copenhagen have good reasons for taking these precautions. They find, in the history of the city, records of great disasters that have befallen them ; and without going back farther than the beginning of this century, they remember the attack attempted by Xelson in 1801, and, six years after- wards, the bombardment of their city by the same English, who, without any previous declaration of war, destroyed, in three days, three hundred houses and public buildings, and took possession of the Danish fleet. 374 DENMARK, COPENHAGEN. HI. THE MUSEUMS. — THORWALDSEN MUSEUM. — THE MUSEUM OF NORTHERN AN- TIQUITIES. — THE ETHNOGRAPHICAL MUSEUM. THIS morning it rains ; later in the day it will be very hot ; and in the evening we shall be frozen by the north-wind. This is a climate which has nothing settled except its variation, and it is sufficiently trying to foreigners. Therefore we get under shelter whenever we can, and spend our mornings in the museums, where we are fully compensated for our disappoint- ment in not being able to examine the public buildings of Copenhagen. THE THORWALDSEN MUSEUM. On one of the sides of the Christianborg stands a long square building, the front of which is ornamented w^ith Etruscan paint- ings, which it would be more correct to call grotesque. These represent the principal events in the life of Thorwaldsen, of whom Denmark is so proud, and in whose honor the museum which bears his name has been erected. This museum contains a great many original works of the illustrious sculptor, and the moulds, models, or sketches of almost all the others. Thorwaldsen was born at Copenhagen in 1770; he gained in 1796 the first prize at the Academy, and was sent to Eome at the expense of the government. This journey was made at an unpropitious time, which was very unfavorable for study ; the COPENHAGEN. 375 political agitation into which Europe was thrown at that period occupied the minds of all men so entirely, that the feelings of the citizen allowed but little scope to the inspiration of the artist ; so that the time allotted for his stajj there closed with- out allowing Thorwaldsen to give much promise of what he would one day become. The generosity of Hope, the banker, gave him an opportunity of continuing his studies, and the works which his genius inspired were from this time produced without any further delay or relaxation. After his first attempt, Jason carrying off the Golden Fleece, the marble copy of which is in London, the bronze in the pos- session of the King of Denmark, and the plaster model at the Thorwaldsen Museum, there followed rapidly a vast number of busts of all the important personages in Europe, and at that time there were indeed many. All those heroes who had re- cently acquired glory wished to transmit to posterity their fea- tures sculptured in marble or cast in bronze. At the same time as these works, which were produced from day to day, appeared the Lion of Lucerne ; the monument in memory of Poniatowski, erected in front of the bridge over the Vistula at Warsaw ; the Triumph of iVlexander, ordered by Napoleon, which we saw at the Christianborg ; the bas-relief of Priam and Achilles, one of his most popular works; the medallion of Mght; the statues of the Graces, of Hebe, Adonis, Venus, and Hope; those of Copernicus, Maximilian of Bavaria, Byron, and Christian IV. ; the tomb erected in St. Peter's to Pius VIL, etc., etc. Any account of a visit to the museum must necessarily be to some extent a mere catalogue of names. After having accomplished these laborious tasks, Thorwaldsen was seized with an irresistible desire to return to his native country. He quitted Eome, after having lived there forty-two years, and in 1838 came back to Copenhagen, where he was received in triumph. ISTotwithstanding his advanced age, for he was now sixty-eight, the great artist set to work, and still gave proofs of his skill. The decoration of the Frue-Kirk at 376 DENMARK. Copenhagen was intrusted to him ; this was his final important work, and the last scintillation of his genius. Thorwaldsen died in 1844, six years after his return to his native city. His tomb was erected in the court of the museum which is devoted to his memory, which bears his name, and where he rests in the midst of his works. Thorwaldsen disputed with Canova the glory of being the first sculptor at the commencement of this century ; there were many controversies to establish the superiority or inferiority of the Danish sculpture when compared with that of Italy. This was a barren discussion, since the premises of argument were incorrect. Thorwaldsen was not a Danish, but a Eoman sculptor, like Canova, from whom he received lessons. He did not create a school or a style peculiar to himself; his produc- tions do not form a distinct branch of art, but, on the contrary, belong to the Italian school, which he studied, and the tenden- cies, forms, and results of which he so happily assimilated to himself An indefatigable laborer, Thorwaldsen produced many works. The most remarkable were aU originated at Eome, under the influence of the surroundings in the midst of which he lived. Except the bas-reliefs of the Frue-Kirk of Copenhagen, sculp- tured in the decline of his career, his works were all executed far from the scenes of his native land ; and not one, except a few busts and statues, was inspired by the manners, the nation, or the men of the country where he was born. His imagination revelled in the ideal world, and all his most remarkable com- positions have for their object the reproduction of an allegorical idea, recollections of mythological ages, or of so distant a period of history that it may be ranged among them. When, on the contrary, he wishes to reproduce a purely human idea, and to represent a contemporary personage, with respect to whom the ordinar}^ details of life are of importance, he becomes inferior to himself. It is for this reason that his Cupids of every kind, his Gods of Olympus, and the Triumph of Alexander are far COPENHAGEN. 377 superior to his statues of Schiller, Gutenburg, Pius YII., Pouia- towski, and others, whatever the incontestable merits of these works may be, .The chief characteristics of the works of art of the countries beyond the Ehine are the careful working out of detail, and their servile and often trivial copying. Purely ideal concep- tions are not formed by these artists, and the productions of Thorwaldsen are remarkable for results diametrically opposed to these. He had the germ of his genius within himself, in his soul and his nature ; but it was under the sky of Italy, and by the study and the contemplation of the productions of Eome, that this divine essence was developed, and acquired its povver and perfection ; the seed was sown in Denmark, but it put forth its full blossom only in Italy. Thorwaldsen was not, therefore, a Danish, but a Eoman artist ; if he was born in Denmark, he lived, formed his artistic char- acter, and became what he was only in Italy. The tombs of Canova and of Thorwaldsen plainly show the difference of sentiment between the races and countries which have given them birth. They are evident proofs of the distance which separates these two countries, which distinguishes their tastes, their feelings, and the manner in which they receive impressions. The tomb of the Danish sculptor is a complicated monument, both in form and dimensions ; for it is not merely the mound and the sepulchral stone erected in the midst of the court. His tomb is rather the museum, the halls and galleries, the works of all kinds, sculptures, inscriptions, symbols, the triumphal car, the laurels; each minute detail is carefully carried out, each souvenir appeals to our attention, excites our curiosity, and sat- isfies it; it insists upon informing all, as if they were totally ignorant of it, who it was whose loss is so much deplored. Noth- ing must be left to be guessed or interpreted by the imagination of the people of the Xorth. What a difference between this funeral monument and the 378 DENMABK. tomb of Canova iu the Cliurcli of de Trari at Venice ! When we disregard the rather complicated assemblage of persons and scenes, which are independent of the general conception, and render it pretentious, we see only a pyramid of marble. At the base stands a winged genius, who is extinguishing a torch and opening the door ; through the opening we perceive the gloomy horror of darkness, and on the top of the pyramid are these words : " To Canova." The spectator is astonished, disturbed, and excited. This is not effected by the multiplicity of the means employed, by novelty of invention, or complicated de- tails; but these blocks of stone, and this door of eternity left open, sufficiently tell the tale. The impressionable Italian needs but a word, a sign, and an indication. MUSEUM OF NORTHERN ANTIQUITIES. The museum of the Antiquities of the North is installed in the palace of the princes.^ This is richer in prehistoric antiqui- ties than any other in Europe ; there we hnd collected, classified, and explained, all the discoveries obtained from excavations made in the islands of the Baltic, and in the peat bogs of Funen, Zealand, Gothland, Eugen, and elsewhere. The different ages of the world are there .represented by objects illustrating the various degrees of civilization. We may thus follow, step by step, the formation of the social ages of the globe. The classifi- cation is so well made, and the objects so skilfully displayed, that we go from one glass case to another without fatigue or ennui, studying, comparing the various transitions and the handiwork of men who succeeded each other, generation after generation, in a regular, constant, and uninterrupted gradation. We pass by the ages of polished stone ; all these little flint implements, whether round, sharp, or worked 'into a pointed form, or one resembling a hatchet, give us but little informa- 1 See "Musee des Antiquites du Nord a Copenhague." Engelhardt, Kioben- havn, 1870. Figs. 181 to 185. —Trumpet of the Age of Bronze. (Prehistoric period.) From the Museum of Scandinavian Antiquities, Copenhagen, COPENHAGEN. 381 tion ; and we reach the rooms allotted to the bronze age, that period when arms and cutting instruments were cast in bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. Gold was already frequently used in the manufacture of jewelry and ornaments,* but they did not yet understand the working of iron and silver; and they were also ignorant of the process of soldering. They were, therefore, much restricted in their productions, and the forms obtained could vary but slightly. Yet the results are very astonishing; we may judge of them by some ordinary articles selected from among those which struck us the most. A bronze trumpet (Fig. 181), composed of several parts joined together, but cast separately, the form of which resembles the letter S. A small chain connects the two ends, and from the links of this chain project small birds (Fig. 182), the first attempt to represent living creatures. Projecting rings (Fig. 183) on the body of the trumpet show where the chain was attached; the mouthpiece (Fig. 184) is still surrounded by some threads or the woof of some kind of stuff, intended to be grasped by the hand of the person who wished to use the instrument; on the mouth (Fig. 185) are traced in intaglio some perfectly regular geometrical designs. It would certainly be curious to place this trumpet to one's mouth, and to ascer- tain what sounds it would give forth, and what melody it was formerly able to produce. Fig. 186 represents the handle of a drinking-horn, made of bronze. There is also a bronze dagger about 13 inches long and l-\ inch broad ; on the handle there are designs engraved, very sim- ple geometrical figures, but very regularly traced ; the sheath is made of wood, covered w^ith carving ; the care shown in the fabrication, the choice metal, and the finished touches of the ornamental parts, show that this poniard was a valuable weapon. It was found in a wooden coffin, formed of the trunk of an oak, hollowed out without the aid of the saw, no traces of which could be found. The bottom of the coffin was covered with 382 DENMARK. the hide of an ox, on which the corpse was laid, dressed in gala costume, and surrounded by his weapons. The other articles discovered in this coffin were very curious ; there was a frag- ment of a dress composed of woollen cloth, a small box, a horn comb, a bronze knife, and a hatchet, also made of bronze. This hollow hatchet is filled with clay; one of the sides has been broken, but the other, which remains intact, has on its surface ornaments in deep intaglio, incrusted with gold. Fig. 187 represents a bronze pin, of the natural size, and of a regular design ; the plan by which the pin is moved is very simple and ingenious, and is still in use in modern jewelry. Some other very rich golden ornaments, but heavy in appear- ance, and of no very complicated workmanship, are by the side of the first; these are diadems, bracelets, rings, and armlets, ornamented with engraved work and spiral or geometrical de- Fig. 186. — Handle of Drinking- vessel. signs. There are in every instance the same simple patterns, easily traced and uniformly repeated. The iron age improves slightly on these early productions of human industry. We will mention some specimens of this period. Coins with Cufic ^ legends, of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, which have enabled us to distinguish three distinct periods in the iron age. Articles of the toilet or the riding- school, earthen vases, etc. Fig. 188 represents a bronze pin, of the natural size; the spring which is adapted to the pin is of a spiral form, scarcely different from those used at the present day. At the extremity, near the broken portion, is the inscription " Hiriso," which re- 1 Arabic characters used before the fourth century after the Hegira. — Tr. COPENHAGEN. 38: minds us of those of the same kind which are now engraved on ladies' ornaments ; all round this are small ornamental circular depressions. The body of the pin was evidently intended to represent a ribbon or some kind of stuff tied in a bow. Another very curious bronze pin, of simple but very original form, is shown in Fig. 189, two thirds of the natural size; the spiral which gives motion to the spring is similar to that used in pins of English manufacture (Kirby). Many other ornaments of the same kind are to be seen, with inscriptions, which are most probably Eunic. rig. 190 represents a bronze cup, half the natural size, of re- markable workmanship ; the outlines are sharp, well defined, and free from stiffness ; the handle is curiously curved, and of Fig. 187.— Bronze Pin. original form ; in the upper part is an attempt at the represen- tation of the head of some animal. This vessel came from a tumulus discovered in Jutland, wliich was formed of two concen- tric circles of stone ; in the middle were found other goblets of silver, enriched with plates of gold, and a kind of saucepan cov- ered with a strainer, intended, as is supposed, to receive the blood of victims after a sacrifice. There are also other ornaments of Byzantine workmanship for women ; these are heavy and clumsily formed, and on many of them Kunic inscriptions are engraved. There is a boat, discovered in the peat-bogs of Sleswig (a ves- sel more than 78 feet long, and 11|- feet in its greatest breadth), in which there is an oar still remaining, in such a state of pres- 384 DENMARK. ervation as to allow us to study the mode of construction, and the manner in which wood Avas employed, We see also spear- heads, swords whose blades are damascened with wonderful care Fig. 188. — Bronze Pin. and art, fragments of coats of mail, and clasps to fasten them. A helmet made of rejoousse bronze, and plated with silver ; the visor allows the mouth, nose, and eyes to appear, the hinder part Fig. 189. —Bronze Pin. was enclosed with bars of openwork ; between these two parts is a rich band embellished with gold, and decorated with en- crraved desicjns. In Fig. 191 is shown part of the harness for a horse, of the ]ater iron age, which came from a tumulus opened in the island COPENHAGEN. 385 of Funen. It is composed of an arched cross-piece of wood, ornamented at the upper part by a projecting piece through which the reins were passed. The ends are enriched by the heads of fantastic animals (Fig. 192), and the ornaments, made of repousse bronze, engraved and gilded, are wrought with ex- treme care ; they show one of the earliest examples, of so suc- cessful a character, of the reproduction of allegorical figures, resembling, in some degree, beings endowed with life. There are also fragments of woollen and silk stuffs, of an odd design, easily understood, but difficult to describe; as well as Euuic Fig. 190. — Bronze Cup. stones, covered with inscriptions, which appear to possess a high archfieological interest, but which we are unable to understand or discuss. We now come to the Middle Ages. The new kind of architecture, introduced into the North at this period, and derived from Ehenish recollections or those brought from the Isle of France by monks of all orders, does not manifest its influence by large public buildings or edifices of great size. Examples of this kind are very rare ; those found in Scandinavian lands are, with few exceptions, dark, low churches, 386 DENMARK. without towers or steeples ; often with a flat wooden ceiling in- stead of a vaulted one. The interiors are meagre, and in the COPENHAGEN. 387 few decorations that we find, Pagan ideas predominate, adapted to the requirements of the new worship. But still, the gradual improvement of Middle Age art may be seen and ascertained in the monuments of this period which are still preserved. Fig. 193. — Granite Tomb. Front View. We will mention a few of these. A tomb made of granite (Fig. 193) shaped like a roof; the ridge, the sloping side, and the base are surrounded by a mould- ing, forming a kind of frame. The tomb was supported by two Pig. 194. — opposite Side of Tomb. stones, having grooves cut to receive it, and placed at each end. On one side is sculptured in relief (Fig. 194) a man, armed with a bow, fighting with a centaur, behind whom stands an DENMARK angel carrying a child in his arms. On the opposite side is a fanciful animal (Fig. 193) devouring a man, whose head alone is still protruding from its jaws. The Danish archaeologists, as ingenious as those in France, suppose that the former subject represents the deceased striving against evil, under the figure of the centaur. The angel on the other side is St. Michael, opening his arms to the soul, victori- ous in the fight to which his fleshly body has been exposed. The second subject is an allusion to the words of the Apostle St. Fig. 195. — Granite Font. Peter, " Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may destroy." Granite baptismal font (Fig. 195). In the front of this is the figure of a woman between two imaginary animals, who are gnawing her arms ; the manner in which, according to Danish archaeologists, they expressed the fact that man is always a prey to evil passions, unless he watch against them. The sculpture of these two small monuments of the past is in good preservation, and its execution is distinguished for its remarkable simplicity, which is shown, not only in the work- manship itself, but also in the expression of the figures, and the COPENHAGEN. 389 manner in which they are depicted and grouped. These works, of arch^ological rather than artistic interest, are very inferior to those which our Middle Ages produced at the same period. Fig. 196. — Chancel Candlestick. A century later, the arts had made sensible progress. There are shrines of the twelfth century, made of metal or wood, and adorned with enamels and wreathed work, executed with great skill. There are also a considerable number of other enamelled 390 DENMARK articles, and among these a chancel candlestick (Fig. 196) of copper, enriched with enamels, the designs of which are very fine, and show great freedom of execution, being formed of scrolls around a central pattern. We find here a great number of objects used in public wor- ship (thirteenth century); some tolerable painted windows, statues and groups of figures, censers, pyxes, and other sacred vessels ; also carved stalls and seats, in every respect very infe- rior to our productions of the same period. There are other curious objects of a more recent date, — an- cient Scandinavian calendars, domestic utensils, drinking-liorns ornamented with copper and silver both engraved and gilt, arms and ancient armor, and pieces of artillery. Fig. 197. — Terra-cotta Taper-stand. There are some taper- stands made of terra-cotta (Fig. 197), nearly eight inches long by seven in height, rudely representing a castle defended by gates, w^ith towers separated by a gable ; on all sides of these are irregular designs, applied before the mate- rial was baked. There are, besides these, tapestries of the six- teenth and seventeenth centuries, an altar of ebony and silver, clocks, watches, nuptial crowns, etc. We see, by this too rapid survey, what riches are deposited in the Museum of Korthern Antiquities at Copenhagen ; it may easily be understood how many things interesting and worthy COPENHAGEN. 391 of attention we were obliged to leave undescribed. One ought to be able to devote a considerable time to this museum ; and the student, who has leisure to do so, will not regret it, and will find there an enormous quantity of rare and curious articles. THE ETHNOGRAPHICAL MUSEUM. Another museum at Copenhagen, the Ethnographical, is less learned, but as useful and interesting as the museum of anti- quities. It comprises a collection of typical objects, characteristic of human civilization in every part of the world ; and, in order to arrive at this result, it gives such details as are best suited to illustrate the nature and the degree of advancement of each form of civilization. The most curious and amusing portions of this museum are those which relate to Greenland and Japan, coun- tries of which we know very little, and which consequently excite greater curiosity. Instead of rags hanging on the walls, and articles, lying side by side, without any link to show the connection between them ; in fact — instead of objects dispersed over a large space — the Ethnographical Museum at Copenhagen exhibits, on the con- trary, collections which attract and arrest the attention, and in which every one seeks immediately the points in which he is interested ; details which differ in each individual, according to his tastes, his tendencies, and his education. Thus, instead of furniture, dresses, and utensils arranged sep- arately and scattered here and there, we find a dwelling of the natural size, with actual furniture, and with the masters of the house at home, and under the circumstances of ordinary life. And, first, w^e have the habitations of the Greenlanders — huts built of earth and moss, from 13 to 20 feet in diameter, covered internally with skins of animals. The entrance is effected by a low and narrow passage, through which it is necessary to pass in a creeping posture ; at the top of the hut 192 DENMARK. is an orifice, which can be opened in case of need. Within is a family, installed, as they would be in their snowy desert ; two men, three women, and four children are partaking of a meal. An earthen saucepan is on the fire, and others are arranged in a corner with some dishes and lamps; the usual combustibles are wanting, but their place is supplied by oil, which warms the frosty atmosphere and cooks the food. The perfumes which exhale from this interior, and which, to render the illusion more complete, have been conscientiously respected, will not allow us to make too long a stay. The fig- ures, of life-size, are dressed in skins of animals; some furs, stretched on a low and wide settle, indicate what serves for a bed. The women are preparing the food, and putting the sauce- pan over a lamp furnished with a wick made of moss, the size and length of which are adjusted so as to be suflicient to cook the meal ; and then all lie down and sleep. When the family wake, the feast is ready, they eat, fill the pot again, place it over the lamp, the wick having been renewed, and then they lie down again and sleep, resting and eating alternately. These people have no idea of days or hours ; they make no distinction of time except between periods of light and darkness. There are also a team of dogs, which, in that countr}% supply ■ the place of horses ; sledges drawn by seven dogs ready har- nessed ; one of these animals serves as leader ; it is he who ex- cites, leads, and encourages the others ; his marvellous instinct guides him, and secures the confidence of the travellers. Then, there are fishing-dresses made of skins with the fur on, inflated with air, so as to be buoyant in water in case of acci- dent, and to avoid damp, the consequences of which are fatal in these latitudes. The men, thus dressed, look like the figures of gold-beater's skin, filled with gas, which serve to amuse chil- dren. There are also huntimr-dresses, woven from the intestines of the dog-fish. We next see a Cajak fishing-boat, rowed by women, — twenty of whom hold the oars ; they are not handsome ; those who wear COPENHAGEN. 393 red head-dresses are married; the others with green ones are unmarried ; those with yellow caps are neither married nor vir- gins, and make no secret of it. There are some fishing-implements; and as the fish lurk at the bottom of the sea, and often far from shore, in order to find warmer water, it is necessary, when they wish to catch them, to make a hole in the ice, and to let down a net from 2,300 to 2,600 feet in length. These nets are made of whalebone, and have great strength. We notice also the marriage trousseau of a young Greenland woman — a carpet of dog-fish skin ornamented with minute colored designs, some thread made of the fibres of animals, a thimble, a little instrument used for tracing the designs with which the skins are ornamented; there are also dresses and furs. We pass over America, Africa, and Oceania, which are repre- sented in a manner less striking and original, and contain but little to attract the attention, and we arrive at the empire of the rising sun. There is a Yeddo house, built of fir- wood and paper; the principal supports are four posts, the intervals between which are formed of frames covered with paper. In the daytime these frames are removed, and the roof seems supported on stilts; when night comes, they push in the side scenes, and the house, lighted within, resembles a gigantic Venetian lantern. Every house of this kind is inhabited by a single family. On the ground-floor is a shop ; on the upper one a sitting-room, divided, at night, into a certain number of little rooms by means of slid- ing partitions. The furniture is very simple: a cupboard to contain the mattresses during the daytime ; a small stove hid- den in a corner ; a series of little tables slipping into each other ; and, arranged on shelves, a collection of cups or dishes of lac- quered ware. In the middle of the room are the chibot or brasier (hrazzero), and the tabacco-bou (tobacco-box); on the floor is a very fine, thin, and flexible mat made of straw, on 394 DENMARK which no one is allowed to tread till he has taken off his shoes. The house which we were examining had the front removed, so as to allow us to see a very cheerful scene within, — five or six persons together, squatting on their heels, drinking and smoking around the teapot. The women are dressed in a kind of cloak, confined at the waist by a very broad girdle of green and yellow silk, tied in a large bow at the back. Their lips are gilded ; their black hair, smoothed and waxed, is confined with large pins, by which it is built up to an extraordinary height. You may see at the door the little wooden shoes in Avhich they hobble along in the street, and which they have now taken off, in order to lie down on the mat. One of the men is standing, to show his splendid costume, — an overcoat with sleeves of extravagant width, under which appear two sabres, the insignia of his rank as a Yakonine, or officer of the Daimio, whose arms are embroidered in gaudy colors on his back, and around his neck. He wears a large hat of a dark crimson color ; at his waist is the whole apparatus of a smoker, a pipe as small as a thimble, a tobacco-box made of paper, a flint and steel, etc., etc. On his feet are stockings made with a special compartment for the toe, and sandals of plaited straw, which he keeps on with difficulty. There is a Norimon, or Japanese cab, a vers^ inconvenient box, into which the traveller squeezes himself, with his legs bent under him; air is admitted by a small opening in the roof, similar to that in the Hansom cabs in London. At each side of this box are two poles, which are supported on the shoulders of two bearers, very slightly clad. When they are fatigued, they allow the norimon to rest on two short poles witli which they are furnished, so as to avoid the trouble of lowering and raising their burden. We noticed a specimen of Japanese paper, a kind of parch- ment, but thicker, and at the same time more pliable, a tissue which cannot be torn, is impermeable, and whose uses are mani- COPENHAGEN. 395 fold. They make of it the walls of houses, great-coats, napkins, and umbrellas, and it has nothing in common with the idea which the word "paper" awakens in our minds. Japan detained us for a long time; we cannot, however, describe all that we saw, or the many curious and interestino- things that attracted our attention, such as a Daimio with his attendants, and the view of a Yankiro, one of the quarters of Yeddo or Yokohama, where the tea-houses are situated. We cannot give an idea of all the costumes, and the attitudes of these full-sized dolls so splendidly dressed, representing persons in every social position in Japan. We must not describe their large public buildings and immense temples, or relate the legend of the forty-seven Yakonines who disembowelled themselves on the tomb of their Daimio, so terribly represented in a series of colored pictures; but we must say a few words about the remarkable productions of industrial art in Japan, and examine the furniture, ivories, porcelain, lacquered ware, and bronzes, of which there are so many examples around us. The oddness of these objects is not their most remarkable characteristic. It is more apparent than real; it strikes us, because some of their customs and ideas are so opposed to ours ; and it suggests so great a dissimilarity between their surroundings and those to which we are accustomed. We are also not always willing readily to suppose that others can think and act in a different manner from ourselves ; but still this dis- crepancy between our ideas and theirs is not necessarily to the disadvantage of the Japanese, and, on the contrary, it is some- times in favor of their tastes and usages. After all, we must not judge of the peculiarities of the Japanese from the speci- mens displayed in European bazaars, the unusual forms of which have been exaggerated by the manufacturer in order to attract more strongly the attention of the purchaser. The Japanese, unlike ourselves, make no distinction between high art and that which has recently been called " industrial." They look upon both these branches of art in the same light ; 396 DENMARK. aud the artist who models a vase of an elegant form, or designs a graceful decoration, is considered to be as truly an artist, and to possess the feeling of his art in the same degn^ee, as he who decorates the facade of a temple, or sculptures a statue in honor of Buddha. The result of this is that articles in common use are brought to a higher state of perfection, which astonishes us, and would surprise us still more if we knew that the delicate porcelain and lacquered dishes, which are used by us only on grand occasions, and are considered as exceptional, are employed in Japan for the ordinary purposes of daily life. The peculiar characteristics of all these works, those by which they are distinguished from our productions of the same kind, are the absence of symmetry, the entire correspondence of form with the nature of the material employed, and the method of coloring. We must not understand by the absence of symmetry a dis- proportion between the various parts of the same whole, or imagine that we shall meet with a bandy-legged or maimed figure; we must not confound harmony with s}Tnmetry. If, for example, we place two vases on our mantel-shelf, they will be exactly similar, not only in form, but in decoration. They are in reality the same vase, and when we look at them we have no double pleasure from this twofold possession. If, on the contrary, we examine two Japanese vases, we find them similar in their general form; one is not tall and the other short and wide, but still the sweep of the outline is not iden- tically the same in both, although the difference between them is not sufficient to shock our taste. Then the decoration on each is different, the color of the ground in one is often that of the design in the other ; the birds and flowers vary in their tints; the figures are of a different character; and the scenes represented are not the same. These observations refer not only to vases, but to everything, — paper-hangings, lacquered boxes, cups, plates, etc., etc. COPENHAGEN. 397 The complete correspondence of form with the nature of the materials employed is still more easily explained. We have only to compare the smooth and unvaried surfaces of porcelain, which is a material essentially fragile, with the irregular pro- jecting surfaces given to bronzes, the substance of which is extremely hard. Ivories are carved in intaglio, without allowing any projection to rise above the level of the ornamentation and thus to be exposed to injury ; and, a circumstance which strik- ingly illustrates our observations, the teacups have no handles, and those of the vases are merely small thick hoops, so as to give the least possible chance of inevitable accidents. Acrain, the manner in which all these articles are colored differs essentially from that practised by ourselves. The paint- ing is not in relief; no transition, except that of the harmony of colors, produces the contrast and difference of the tints, and yet, notwithstanding their intensity, this harmony is so great that they never offend the eye ; the colors employed are always definite and but few; yet, owing to the variety of designs employed, their number seems infinite. But w^e must stop, or w^e might be accused of imitating those travellers whose enthusiasm increases with distance ; and as we are already in Japan this might carry us too far. These museums are not the only ones to be seen in Copen- hagen. We may mention the museum of antiquities, that of engravings, and the gallery of the Moltke Palace. During the Exhibition of 1872 a number of pictures were collected, consist- ing of the modern works of Swedish and Danish artists. It nmst be confessed that there was no great artistic merit to rec- ommend these paintings ; but they were very interesting to a foreigner, since they depicted, almost exclusively, scenes relating to the manners and customs of the daily life of Scandinavian society, and thus afforded a striking contrast to those treated in our annual exhibitions. There were many winter landscapes ; a boundless horizon, an immense white sheet, enveloped in frozen mist ; and there, lost 198 DENMARK. iu this desert, you could just perceive a sledge drawn by rein- deer, whose furious gallop threw up the whirling snow; this dark point was the only object which told of movement and of life in the midst of this white immensity. By the side of this picture were to be seen, under a serene sky, sledges full of handsome women, who shiver under their furs, as they pass over a carpet of snow tinged by a pale ray of light ; others are look- ing at a group of skaters in bright costumes, or striving to catch the harmony produced by a band of musicians, whose notes seem to freeze in the air. This picture is a recollection of Lapland ; it is the Melar, on a festival occasion, on a hcautifid cold day. In contrast with these scenes is the Gustaf-Adolph Platz at Stockholm on a winter's night, when at midnight you can still distinguish the outlines of the ships outward-bound for the Baltic. In other pictures we see the islands of the Archipelago of Aland, covered with trees whose verdure mingles with the greenish hue of the water; or the dark rocks of Xorway, against which some monstrous iceberg is dashing ; or, again, the Djugarten, filled with gay and loving couples clinging to each other ; and, still farther on, the portrait of a Dalecarlian woman in her picturesque costume, or that of some frail and enticing coquette. But, as we have already said, the interest of this ex- hibition was, unfortunately, to be found only in the choice of subjects, and in their novelty, rather than in the manner in which they were treated. COPENHAGEN. 399 COPENHAGEN. IV. THE DANES. — THE THEATRES. -AMUSEMENTS. THE men are of middle height, strong, and well knit ; they have pronounced features, light hair, and blue eyes. Their gait is heavy, and is wanting in ease and gracefulness. They have no elegance or distinguished air. They dress badly ; they scarcely look like gentlemen, or else greatly exaggerate our fashions. The materials of their dress are usually much coarser than those which we use, and they seem altogether ignorant of the resources and refinements of the toilet. The women have bright complexions, white teeth, blue or gray eyes, and long fair hair ; but they are not graceful, in the Paris- ian sense of the word. They are economical in their dress, and we scarcely remember having seen ladies in silk dresses except at the theatre. The Danes are intelligent, as you may see by their features ; if you speak to them, you find them polite and affable. Instead of walking on, when a traveller stops them to ask for any infor- mation in a language which they do not understand, they make a thousand efforts to discover what he wants, and to assist him. They are always hospitable ; and even now, when a customer enters a shop, and it is clearly ascertained that he is not a Ger- man, the tradesmen, after a thousand friendly protestations, which are unfortunately in Danish, and before they show him any of their goods, offer him, on a waiter, a glass of Kirsch to 400 DENMARK. counteract the effects uf the fog. The Danes are well informed, and there is no country in Europe where public education receives more attention than in Denmark. The women are the angels of the house ; they know nothing but calm and peaceful home life. Their amusements in winter are family parties, and the theatre, to which they often go with- out escort ; and in the summer they take country walks. The young people marry early, and are engaged beforehand. The fiances enjoy privileges which might cause inconvenience among other people, — ourselves, for example, — but which are harmless among the Danes, who are calmer and less impression- able. It is very unusual for those who are contracted to each other to break their engagement, for the blame which they would both incur is sufficient to prevent their taking such a step. Their out-door pleasures possess but little variety, and l3ois- terous amusements are unknown ; their family and friendly meetings are not prolonged to a late hour. The theatres are closed at nine o'clock, the lights extinguished, the streets de- serted, the taverns empty, and every one is snugly ensconced under the bedclothes. The manners of Copenhagen have not always been so simple and exemplary. The examples of the court of Louis XV. of France were regarded at one time with great favor. We shall presently see what traces of this epoch have been left, in cer- tain quarters, in the dwellings constructed in the eighteenth century. Statistics prove that suicide is more prevalent in Denmark than in any other country in Europe. The cause of the devel- opment of this mental malady is unknown, but it is a proof of the love of the Danes for the family and for domestic life, that this madness prevails especially among the unmarried and wid- ows ; and it is by no means unusual for a woman to hang her- self when she is placed in one of these positions. By a contrast, whicli is difficult to explain, Brigham Young still gains the gi^eatest number of Mormon recruits among the COPENHAGEN. 401 Danes, and a new Cojjenhagen is now rising near Salt Lake City. Education is very general in Denmark ; it is obligatory, and the father of a family must send his children to school, under penalty of a fine. The students at the university are numerous, but so great a proportion of them study theology, that it is im- possible to find positions for all who seek for them; so that, while Avaiting for a cure, future pastors sometimes exercise a profession whose functions seem but little compatible with those w^hich they hope hereafter to fulfil. All the students of a col- lege unite in a club, where they find every opportunity for study and amusement : a library, a theatre, concert-rooms, and a tav- ern, which are always open to them ; they eat and drink there, and more especially smoke incessantly. The large dining-room is always filled, and between two lectures or repetitions there is a great consumption of rog-brod and of bocks of Bavarian beer. Those who frequent it are concealed by clouds of smoke issuing from large pipes which are never allowed to go out. The love of their country is strongly developed in all classes of society, and their hatred of Germany, far from being extin- guished, increases every day. To call a Dane a Prussian — a Berlin Prussian — is the greatest insult that you can offer to him. One day we went into a stationer's shop to buy a small sheet of drawing-board. While we pointed out to the shopkeeper the article that we wanted, as we knew not how to ask for it, he grumbled in a low voice, murmuring incessantly between his teeth certain words which we could not fail to understand as expressions of ill-humor. At last, wishing to eke out the dumb show which we found so ineffectual, we uttered a few words in French. The expression of his face instantly changed. "Not Prussian, French 1"^ he exclaimed, and, jumping over the coun- ter, he seized our hands, opened the door of the back shop, and 1 AVe cannot give, the exact Danish expressions corresponding with these words, as we are not able to depend on our memory. 402 DENMARK called out liis wife and children, crying out, " French : French ! Paris ! " AVe Avere obliged to shake hands with them all, to kiss the children, to drink a glass of Kirsch to the health of France and to the confusion of Prussia ; and at the close of the inter- view the stationer, seizing a hank of string, wound it round his neck, imitating the position of a man who was hanged, putting out his tongue like one at the last extremity, and cr}dng, " For the Prussians, for all the Prussians 1 " Compared with the Germans, the Danes are gay and excit- able. In the Xorth, they have the reputation of resembling the French. It is from Denmark that they procure recruits for the theatrical companies of Stockholm and Christiania, and the performers at the cafe concerts, so common in Scandinavian towns. There are but few manufactures in Denmark, their produc- tions being almost exclusively agricultural; but glove-making has increased lately. The Danish gloves are supple, strong, and well sewn ; they may even be washed, but they are very dear. Commerce carried on by sea is in a very flourishing state. Every one gains his living modestly by continued and incessant labor, in which there is nothing exaggerated. Our feverish am- bition is unknown, and no one desires or seeks to increase his store immoderately, or to make a rapid fortune at the expense of his neighbor. The Dane is excessively honest, loyal, and trustworthy, and robbery is almost unknown in the country. The shops and warehouses do not require to be protected by shutters of wood or iron; and the goods are exposed within reach of the hands without its being thought necessary to watch over them. Great fortunes are as rare as excessive poverty. It is true that at Copenhagen few people keep their carriage ; but, on the contrary, you never meet a beggar. AVe spoke of the cookery during our stay in Fun en ; it is sim- ilar in the other provinces, and is not always satisfactory to a French taste ; but the hotels and restaurants, when you can make vourself understood, are very excellent and exceedingly COPENHAGEN. 40: cheap. You get the same dishes as elsewhere, and you drink exquisite tea and good beer; but the wines, on the contrary, especially those from France, are shamefully adulterated, and are execrable. Danish literature is known to us only by certain translations of novels, the naivcM and simplicity of w^hich form their greatest charm. Hans Andersen is known throughout the w^hole w^orld by his popular tales, full of such acute observations and pro- found views, under a guise so simple and familiar. The the- atrical repertory is composed of pieces written by native authors, which are few in number, and, as ought to be the case, of trans- lations of our French literature. This evening we are going to the theatre. It is five o'clock ; we hasten in order to be there when the doors are opened. The price of seats is very moderate. They are going to give a translation or adaptation of Octave Feuillet's "Eomance of a Poor Young Man"; so we shall be able, by our remem- brance of it, to guess, if we cannot comprehend, something of the dialogue, and see what impression is made on the spec- tators. The house is very large, but very simply decorated. There are two tiers of open boxes, a gallery, some orchestral stalls, and at the bottom a large pit. The seats are not comfortable, they are rapidly filled, and not one is left empty. There are many children there who evidently could not be left at home alone. The spectators belong to all classes ; the women are predomi- nant, forming at least two thirds of the assembly. Their dress is very simple ; they are all, w^ith few exceptions, in woollen dresses or white muslin. They come wa^apped up in large Avaterproofs, in groups of tw^o or three, sometimes accompanied by a gentleman, but more frequently alone. 'Eo one, however, is astonished at this; it is a recognized thing, and, however young and pretty a woman may be, she may come to the theatre, remain there, and go away unattended, without any risk of enraging a jealous husband, or of being exposed to the annoy- 404 DENMARK ing attentions of a too gallant admirer. In the pit many per- sons place provisions by their side on the seats, even solid provisions, a bottle of beer, and slices of rog-brod. After some kind of overture the curtain rises, and at the same time the chandelier is entirely lowered, so that the house is left in complete darkness. The spectators have nothing to distract their attention, and must therefore, whether they will or no, look at the stage, which is very brilliantly lighted. The actors are pretentious, the actresses pretty, and their costumes very rich and elegant. The performers seem to speak too rap- idly, but this is always the impression produced on the ear by a dialogue uttered in an unknown language. The action of the men is monotonous and rapid, that of the women more correct and moderate ; that which we call stage business is exaggerated and false. Two innovations were introduced into the piece ; the first was to substitute for the hal chamj^etre, in the second act, a very outrageous cancan, in which all the company took part in the most serious manner; they called it the national French dance, accompanied by appropriate songs. There is no doubt tliat all these good Danes are fully convinced that our men and ladies of high rank are in the habit of indulging in these fantastic exhibitions of themselves. The second novelty consisted in bringing all the actors in front of the footlights, after each important scene, to chant a chorus, which was unin- telligible to us, but which seemed to connect the various parts of the piece together ; it reminded us of the ancient choruses. The darkness did not allow us to ascertain the effect produced upon the spectators, except by their applause, which occurred in the riglit place, and proved that a great impression had been made. The good feeling of the j^ortiere was much applauded, and the manifestations of the evil disposition of Mademoiselle Helion were received with prolonged hisses. After the scene in the tower, the actor who took the part of Maxime returned in a black coat to bow to the assembly, and assure them of his safety. The principal actor, indeed, always wears this dress- COPENHAGEN. 405 coat, wliich seems to be the privilege of his part, as the Italian tenors "di primo cartello " are allowed to come on the stao-e with cloaks over their shoulders. Between each act the gas is turned up, and all the spectators, both male and female, rush out at all the doors, invade the buffets, and return at the first sound of the bell with their hands and mouths full. All was. over by nine o'clock, and we returned to our hotel, with our overcoats buttoned to the chin, and shivering as we listened to the flapping of the flag on the Christianborg under the influence of the keen north-wind. A new theatre is to be built at Copenhagen ; the only infor- mation that we could obtain respecting it was that the expense w^ould amount to nearly 600 rix-dollars, about 40,000 /. This will be called the Theatre Eoyal, which will give to the artists the privilege of being appointed by the king, engaged for life, and considered as state functionaries. The first stone of this building has been laid, but when will they lay the last ? The next day was fine ; so, instead of going again to the thea- tre, we went to the Tivoli. The Tivoli is a place of amusement very similar to the Djugarten at Stockholm, though of much less importance ; w^e have nothing of the same character. All the inhabitants of Copenhagen congregate there, especially dur- ing the long summer evenings, wliich, in fact, are not evenings, as it is broad daylight. "We see at the Tivoli, boat-houses, cafe concerts, theatrical performances in the open air, balls, restaurants, games, and amusements of every kind. The crowd of people is very great, and composed of all classes; but, whatever may be said on the subject, it is not likely that mothers would take their young daughters there ; and they are quite in the right. The good people who are there go for the purpose of amusing themselves, and they attain their end conscientiously ; Avithout constraint, without scruple, and entirely at their ease. "We remember especially a fat young fellow with a merry face, — 406 DENMAEK, a student, no doubt ; he kept on waltzing for a long time quietly and peaceably, then on a sudden he sat down to a table with his partner on his knee, devoured rog-brod and drank beer, be- tween every two mouthfuls kissing his companion, who w^as as hungry as himself, and then both returned to the dance, coming back to eat again shortly afterwards ; and this w^as done with an eagerness and a regularity with w^hich nothing could interfere. Close by was a person in authority, a sort of a " Prud'homme," in a long blue coat ; awkward, but smiling, he swam round with a satisfied air, uttering? from time to time a sonorous laugh, a kind of clucking, much to the admiration of his partner, — a pretty girl, who, with her hand resting on his shoulder, looked at him beatifically, throwing round his neck her bare, round, white arms. And so with all the rest; and then, to com- plete the picture, some German couples with spectacles on and faded hair, looking ridiculously pretentious, and all outrageously ugly. What a difference between these silly and somewhat coarse amusements and the popular fetes of Provence and the Bay of Naples ! There the sky is deep blue, intensely blue, and transparent ; the sea is blue also, but of a paler tint. It is crowned with wavelets tipped with white foam; sometimes it sinks into a hollow, and utters a deep sigh, which dies away on the shore. Everywhere, as far as the eye can reach, in the sky and over the sea, are the same calm and the same color, broken only, at the edge of the horizon, by Ischia and Capri, enveloped in a slight mist. The intense lis^ht of the sun filters throuqh the branches of the orange-trees which perfume the air, and scatters over the ground minute luminous spots, on which the lazy liz- ards come and warm themselves. But, as the sun goes down, the evening breeze, so anxiously longed for all day, -begins to come in from the sea; the fishing- boats are drawm up, and the fishermen rest. Then come in, from the country, the peasants and the young girls with their COPENHAGEN. 407 bright eyes, and petticoats glistening with copper ornaments and sea-shells. An improvisator mounts on a platform, guitar in hand ; a circle forms around him, and his song commences, and with it the gay and loud laughter of the crowd. How well they all seize and understand his allusions^ and the various points of the recital ! How pleased they are with trifles ! how satisfied with their rags and their naked legs, even with the vermin which devour them ! and how readily they encourage and applaud him ! But they needs must sup ; so the songs cease, and, stretched on the sands still warm with the heat of the day, they try their beautiful teeth on tomatoes, and fruits that grow by the sea, quenching their thirst with a glass of water iced and flavored with anise-seed. Soon after, the dance begins ; the groups form, and pass through long slow rhythmic movements, to a melodious and well-marked air. What poses, what attitudes, these men of the people fall into, without being aware of it ! with their waistcoats turned back over the shoul- der, their long red caps hanging down, their shirts thrown back from their bronzed breasts. Their feet beat the ground with a strength and agility which scorn fatigue, while, with one arm, they support their strong and active partners. And these women ! how noble and elegant is their step, what simple grace is in their every movement ; how voluptuously they bend, show- ing the roundness of their forms beneath their coarse dress, and throwing back the tresses of their long black hair ! What eager- ness, what gayety, Avhat shouts of laughter, and what noise ! Close by are the morra-players.^ lighted by a smoking lamp with three burners, of antique form. What rapid movements of arms and shoulders ! what groups are formed around them ! w^hat shouts are heard, and how excited they become! The handle of the knife is sometimes drawn from the right-hand 1 The morra is a game played by tv\'o persons, each holding up the fingers of one hand, some being closed and the others open. Each player calls out a certain number, and if this is equal to the extended fingers of both persons, he scores a point. — Tk. 408 DENMARK. pocket, but their anger cools as rapidly as it breaks out; friendly words succeed to angry speeches, and soon — But a breeze springs up from the north. "We are not on the shores of the Mediterranean, but on those of the Sound. Xo one seems to notice the cold, but we shiver and go home as quickly as we can. COPENHAGEN. 409 COPENHAGEN, y. THE DWELLING-HOUSES. WE may easily guess, from what we have said of the calm and peaceful manners of the inhabitants of Copenhagen, of their retired life, and calm and tranquil existence, what their houses must be. How little they must resemble those of other countries, and how^, on the contrary, they must possess many peculiarities which our visit and the examination which we are about to make will render apparent. There are many lodging-houses in the old city. The fortifi- cations prevented the extension of the streets, and it was neces- sary to economize space. The houses have now, for the most part, lost the primitive character which they had when they were first built, and which they owed, more especially, to the quaintness of their gables. The tradition of these extravagant gables, of which we have already given an example when de- scribing the Kongens Nytorv (Fig. 170), has not died away, and certain proprietors still wish to reproduce them on the houses which they are now building. The modern gables (Fig. 198) are, however, less unreasonable than those of the last century. They seem to be subject to some conventional rule, and are divided into irregular compartments, separated by white bands which are thrown into relief by the red background of tlie bricks. The effect is always exaggerated; but under a sky which is so often gray, and, for months together, obscured by 410 DENMARK. thick mists, the more simple results, which would satisfy us, are evidently insufficient. They might, however, have recourse to less exaggerated plans ; and the remains of ancient gables, now half demolished, give proof of this. We give an example in Fig. 199, now in a very incomplete state, but easy to be understood. The two sloping rajujs^j:7^^yc^ Fig. 198. — Modem Gable. sides of the gable are very decided, and, except the central part, which is terminated by a square projection, follow wholly the lines of the roof. Perpendicular lines on the facades indicate the main and party walls; other bands, running parallel to these, strike the eye as they run upwards through all the sto- COPENHAGEN. 411 ries, and are connected by oblique bands with the sloping sides of the roof. The elevations show no great complication in their details. There are a few pieces of stone, and bricks of different colors to distinguish the projecting from the recessed parts; and the lintels, protected by relieving arches, sufficiently point out the mode of construction, and ornament it at the same time. The 10 Mti >0i2 » G 8 Fig. 199, —Elevation of a Lodging-house. shops are distinguished by large bays. At the top of the gables is a pole, serving to raise or lower, to and from the upper stories, heavy and cumbrous packages. Cellars are not in use m Copen- hagen; the soil, too damp and permeable, and too slightly 412 DENMARK. raised above the level of the sea, renders them quite insalu- brious. The basement story, which is reached by means of steps in the area, is usually occupied by tavern-keepers and dealers in Fig. 200.— Plan of the Grotmd-floor. 1. Entrance. 2. Area. 3. Hall. 4. Shops. 5. Back shops. 6. Sitting-rooms. 75 'i5^ff> Fig. 201. — Plan of First Floor. 7. Kitchens. 8. Bedrooms. 9. Dining-rooms. 10. Smaller " 11. Courtyard. 12. Closets. eatables. A large room for the shop, another for the back shop, and three or four rooms at the back, form the fflmost invariable distribution of this lowest story. On the ground-floor (Fig. 200) COPENHAGEN. 413 is a large passage ; then a hall, at the end of which is the stair- case leading to the various floors. The ascent from the street is by a flight of steps, a portion of which is within the house. The shops, placed to the right and left of this hall, have no direct opening to the street ; behind each are a second or back shop, and a kitchen and sitting-room placed in each wing. Be- tween the two wings is a courtyard of moderate size, at the end of which are closets. Each inhabitant has his own, situated not on the floor on which he lives, but in the courtyard ; and you may perceive from the street a row of little buildings of wood or brick, the doors of which are opening and shutting at all hours of the day or night. As the houses are rather lofty, it may be easily understood how much trouble and annoyance such a custom, which nobody seeks to infringe, must entail on those who live on the upper floors of a house; but, as it has always been so, no one thinks of adopting a better plan. Each of the upper stories (Fig. 201) comprises two sets of lodgings ; a large apartment fronting the street, and behind this, receiving light from the courtyard, the sitting-room and the kitchen, with sometimes a bedroom for children or servants. These apartments are intended for persons of the middle class. There is no drawing-room. The dining-room serves as a family sitting-room, and as a place where the meals are taken. The principal bedroom is lofty, being at least 13 feet high. Tlie floor is of deal ; there is a wainscoting of deal up to a certain height The ceilings are either bare or plastered; the paper- hangings are simple, not to say common. There is no gildiug or pie-criist decoration, so common in France, but instead of this they use varnished wood. There is no chimney, but large earthenware stoves, heated with turf, the only combustible in common use in Denmark. There is another remarkable domes- tic arrangement; instead of beds proportioned to the age and size of the children, which become useless in succession as years pass on, we find beds which grow at the same time as those for whom they are intended. Side-pieces, fastened by hooks, keep 414 DEXMARK. the whole together, aud lengthen or shorten them ; small mat- tresses are fitted in by the side of each other, or placed one on another as they may be required. The bed of a child may thus be adapted to a grown-up jjerson, and vice versa. The furniture resembles very much that to be found in our provincial towns thirty or forty years ago. Instead of chimney- pieces there are consoles, on which are usually displayed vases with artificial flowers covered with a glass shade, and sometimes a zinc timepiece of Parisian manufacture. There are no luxu- rious appliances, no great elegances or refinements for the sake of comfort, but an excessive neatness, and almost always natural flowers or green branches. The windows have double sashes, the frames being of wood ; and these do not open all together, with sash-fasteners {espayno- lettcs), but in small compartments of scarcely sufiicient size to allow the head to pass through. Between these two sashes flowers are placed, with a thick layer of fine sand, and paper cornets filled with salt to absorb the damp vapor, which would otherwise cover and obscure the panes of glass ; and oftentimes we may see there the profile of some fair young girl, with eyes fixed on the distance, and her mind still farther away. We had to present a letter of introduction to some one who resided in one of the avenues of Frederiksborg. ^Ye soon found the house to which we had been directed, — a charming place, surrounded by clumps of rose-bushes. Instead of an enclosure of walls, there were railings covered with climbing plants. Through a small open garden we could see the entrance door, and the facades of red and white bricks, with some parts filled in with granite. The window-panes were bright and glistening ; green creepers were clinging to the corners, and hanging down without restraint. The whole aspect was so gay and cheerful, that the passer-by would be tempted to push open the door and enter. We present ourselves ; a servant-girl, with a roguish look about the mouth, came to open the door to us. She had COPEXHAGEX 41i scarcely heard a few words of our language, when she ran ofl", with her hands resting on her hips, and shoutino- with lauohter! Fig. 202. — Ground-plan of Private Residence. ' • ■• ) h- '8 w i^ V4 M' Fig. 203. — Plan of First Floor. 1. Porch. 2. Hall. 3. Drawing-room. 4. Passage. 5. Kitchen. 6. Private room. 7. Covered gallery. 8. Bedrooms. 9. Sitting-room. 10. Closets. She returned, in a few moments, with a fellow-servant, who joined in her mirth; and there stood the two silly women, 416 DENMARK. pointiug at us with their fingers, and exchanging merry re- marks, of which we were evidently the subject, thus placing us in a somewhat undignified position. We were, indeed, look- ing rather foolish, not knowing whether to laugh or to be angry, when the master of the house appeared, and soon found, from the explanations of the servants and the letter which we pre- sented, how matters stood. The next instant we were in the drawing-room. Our host, who had some difiiculty in expressing himself in French, re- ceived us in the most jjolite and cordial manner, and begged us to consider the reception of which we had been victims, as a matter of course, justified by our strange Icuiguage. He intro- duced us to his family, insisted on our sitting down to table with them, and then offered us every facility to carry out the object of our visit, which was to see his house. He served as our guide, and, as we jjroceeded, made observations more adapted to give us an idea of the habitation which he had planned in his own mind, rather than that which the builder had realized. The small porch, which we have already mentioned, leads into a hall communicating with all the rooms (Figs. 202 and 203), similar to that in English houses, occupying the height of two stories, with a gallery on the first floor. From this hall we enter the drawing-room, a large apartment used as a family room, receiving light on one side from the front avenue, and, on the other, from the garden. In one of the sides there is a projecting bay with a fireplace ; this forms a smaller room within the larger one, and in winter, during severe weather, thick leather hangings close the entrance, protecting it from the draught which rushes towards the fire. The furniture and decoration of this room partake of that of a dining and drawing room. The walls are painted, the ceilings show the fir-wood beams, left exposed, and adorned with stripes of color. On the first floor (Fig. 204) a bedchamber is over this draw- inor-room, havinof the same form and dimensions, and decorated in the same style. A large square bed, raised high above the COPENHAGEN. 417 floor, occupies a part of the room. At the end of the projectiiK^ bay stands the traditional chest, always to be found in old pro- vincial Scandinavian mansions. In this chest are kept the family treasures, the old jewels, the bridal crown, the mother's wedding-dress, and the infant's baptismal robe, — precious relics which go down from generation to generation, and are never .■£. TQMXiZuJt/sliriC Fig. 204. — Interior of two Rooms. brought out except on grand family occasions. But they are now, alas! already despised by the young people, who prefer dresses made in the Parisian or London fashion. On the other side of the hall, on the ground-floor, are the staircase, the kitchen, with its offices, and a bedroom. On the first floor there are secondary bedrooms. On the garden side a veranda is built out, a useful shelter during the summer, for 418 DENMARK. we must not forget that, though the northern climates are rigor- ous during the long months of winter, the inhabitants are ex- posed, during the summer, to some days of intolerable heat. Fig. 205. — External View. The faqades of this house (Fig. 205) are bold and decided ; the lines of the building, carried round in a regular and distinct COPENHAGEN. 419 manner, give a clew to the scale of the whole ; no cement con- ceals the nature of the materials or the manner in which they are employed. Under a Northern climate, more than anywhere else, outer coatings of cement are unsuitable, and very expensive to keep in repair. There is nothing in the external appearance of this building which suggests ideas of false luxury or a vain desire of mere show. We must especially notice the manner in which the bricks are laid as far as the first floor. They are placed so that their joints intersect each other only at intervals of two rows, thus producing cubes with the angles levelled off, and giving them the appearance of polygons of eight sides, interrupted by a con- tinuous line of bricks of a different color. The effect thus pro- duced is original, and corresponds, much better than a level surface would, with the ornamental parts of the string-courses and of the upper cornice. This dwelling-house is agreeable in appearance, and comfort- able within. It would not satisfy our wants, or the require- ments of our worldly and out-door life, but it must be exactly suited to people accustomed to remain at home and enjoy them- selves there, and not to seek elsewhere amusements which they can find in the bosom of their family ; in fact, persons who think more of the conveniences and comfort of their dwelling than of making a grand appearance and dazzling others. There was a time when the Danes, being under the influence of French manners of that period, endeavored to copy them, and had succeeded in resembling us ; at least, so far as a Dane can resemble a Frenchman. The relics and the traces of that far distant time are still to be found in the large mansions of Bred- ijade or Amaliencjade, — rich dwelling-houses, habitations which required a large household of servants, and involved costly ar- rangements and expenses, such as people of fortune at the pres- ent day can with but few exceptions meet. These mansions, except some still possessed by great families who seldom inhabit 420 DENMAEK. them, have for the most part lost their original appearance. The facades have altered in character ; the interior arrangements have been modified and adapted to the necessities and require- ments of our more simple and moderate modern life. We may, however, even now ascertain what some of them formerly were, and sketch out, not the facades, the exaggerated rococo of which was their greatest defect, but the ground-plan, which will afford a curious study for an architect, not only in its general distribution, but in the details. We give, in Fig. 206, the plan of the ground-floor of one of these interiors. Two large carriage entrances open into the principal courtyard (1) ; the carriages pass under a porch before the door, which can be closed at each end, and then the coach or sledge, according as the season may be, leaves the court by a second door, and passes in a passage (23) leading to a covered space (25) where both horses and drivers are sheltered from the cold. The visitors enter the door of the vestibule, before which there are no steps, so that when they quit their carriage they pass into the house on the same level. When the guest comes on foot, or leaves his carriage in the street, he enters the door (2), goes through a cov- ered passage, where he is out of the way of the carriages, and, ascending a few steps, meets in the vestibule those who have driven. The servants assist their masters to take off their furs, and wait for them in a cloak-room (7), while the ladies arrange their toilet in a private dressing-room (8), furnished with wash- hand stands and conveniences (13). Two large doors open from the vestibule to the drawing-rooms (10). If there is a fete or a grand reception, the hosts remain in the first drawing-room to receive their guests, who enter this drawing-room and pass through the smaller one into the ball-room (9), at the farther end of which is a bay projecting into the garden, which senses for the orchestra, and is approached by a separate staircase. The dining-room (11) is close by the drawing-room used on ordinary occasions. These three apartments, — the dining-room COPENHAGEN. 421 and two drawing-rooms — communicate with each other, and with a conservatory opening to the garden, to which you' may ''■■'■' ft 5 10 20. M- Fig. 206. — Ground-plan of a Private Mansion. descend by an inner staircase. The grand staircase opens to the vestibule. By passing under the second flight you reach a pas- 422 DENMARK sage (14) separating the apartments destined for the use of the family from the part allotted to the servants^ Avhich comprise an office (18), a kitchen (21), with the scullery (19), and pantry (20), the lamp-room (17), the servants' haU (15), a room for J\f S ^0 J3 ^20 MV ng. 207. —Plan of First Floor. cleaning shoes and brushing clothes (16), as well as the back staircase leading to every stor}^ A door (22) leads from the kitchen to the stable-yard, so that tradesmen and servants do not use the principal entrance. The side building includes the porter's lodge (3), placed so as COPENHAGEN. 423 to command the principal courtyard and the stable-yard ; stab- ling for six horses (27), a coach-house (28), a harness-room (29), and closets (13) ; the garden is at the back. The first floor (Fig. 207) contains the upper part of the hall or vestibule (31), from which you gain access to the gallery of the ball-room (32) ; then comes a suite of apartments composed of a work-room (33), a bedroom (34), dressing-room (35), and a small room beyond ; an open gallery passing round the staircase leads to the bedrooms (34), with dressing-rooms (35). The upper story contains the still-rooms, the secondary apart- ments, and the servants' rooms. Fig. 208. — Interior of Drawing-room and Anteroom. It can easily be seen by these plans how well a mansion, con- structed in such a manner, is suited to the requirements of a wealthy and luxurious family, and how its resources would sat- isfy all the expensive tastes, and contribute to the enjoyments, of those who inhabit it. How many of our private hotels in Paris are less conveniently arranged, and how much more con- fined and insignificant they appear in comparison with it ! The decoration of these interiors is in keeping with the gen- eral arrangements w^hich we have described. Fig. 208 gives the view of a drawing-room and of its anteroom. The ceilings are formed of open rafters connected by transverse joists, so as to 424 DENMARK. form compartments, each having a centre-piece of carved wood touched up with gold and color. The walls are covered with tapestry, and on the floor there are rich carpets. All the out- lines and details are heavy ; the ornaments are deficient in grace and delicacy ; the w^ood, w^hich forms the principal part of the construction, is by no means stinted ; it is varied in a hundred ways. We find here the decorations of our Louis XY. archi- tecture, applied by those who strove to exaggerate their efiects. Other buildings at Copenhagen are worth visiting, but they are too often only souvenirs of foreign habits and forms, and we only wished to notice those whose internal arrangements and external appearance showed something different from our own, which it would be useful to particularize. There, as elsewhere, however, commonplace buildings are by no means rare, and we did not think it would be interesting to describe them. ELSINORE. 425 ELSINORE (HELSINGCER). THE COPENHAGEN STATION. -THE COUNTRY. -ELSINORE. -THE TOWN HALL- THE KROONBORG. WE scarcely looked at the Copenhagen station on the day of our arrival ; but to-day we had time to examine it, and we made great use of the opportunities that were afforded us to go in and out as we pleased, for before the hour of depart- ure unfortunate travellers are not obliged to spend some time cooped up within a waiting-room. The building is ninety-two feet long ; it is covered with large timber vaults resting on granite pillars, raised thirteen feet above the level of the ground; this arched roof is formed of many boards nailed round the arches on the flat, while other small bevelled planks forming voussoirs are fastened edgeways to these. This double combination of boards, both edgeways and on the flat, offers great resistance, which is still more in- creased by a succession of ties in the shape of a St. Andrew's cross, connecting the different parts so as to enable them to resist the force of the wind, and to bind them firmly together. Doors and windows give means of access to the various ofiices along the bays on each side. On the upper part of the roof is l^laced a lantern, resting on the spandrels of the arches, and affording at the same time suflicient light and ventilation; a narrow pathway running round the base of this lantern is con- venient for necessary repairs. The waiting-rooms, refreshment-buffets, ticket-offices, and cloak-rooms are entirely lined with varnished deal, touched up 426 DENMARK. with colored, stripes. The joists of the ceiling are exposed, and the whole building has an air of order and neatness, which it gives one pleasure to see. The travellers and their friends crowd on the platform ; the former take their seats, while the others, who remain behind, cling on to the doors and the steps. Scarcely can they make up their minds to get down, when the %va,m moves on, and even then they strive to keep up with it, rushing as fast as they can, and crying " Favel ! Favel ! " (a pleasant journey and good luck to you). When their breath fails, they stop, and we go on our way. In a few moments we notice that our presence excites the curiosity of our travelling companions. They had previously ascertained by our guide-books that we were not Prussians, but Frenchmen. Those who were next to us made known this dis- covery to the others at the farther end of the compartment. They addressed us in Danish, and seemed disappointed that they were not understood. Then 'they spoke to each other, and clubbed together their French to form the sentence that they wished to say; and at last the orator of the company, after having several times repeated his speech to himself in a low voice, said, with an expression which would have been laughable if it had manifested a feeling less flattering to us and less sincere on their part, " We Danes all like the French very much." " And we Frenchmen," we replied at once, " like the Danes very much." And then they began to shake hands with us, and to utter protestations of friendship aiid affection in Danish, the meaning of which our imagination enabled us to guess, though our ignorance forbade us to understand. These good people alighted, each in his turn bidding us the warmest and most touching farewells. The last who left us was a young officer, with a heavy and constrained gait and manner, perhaps a little shy, who understood a few Avords of French. He asked us what business brought us into his country. " Nothing," we replied, "but to see and know it." He made us repeat this ELSINORE. 427 answer, which seemed to surprise and flatter him. We asked him in our turn if he knew Paris, and if he would not soon visit it. The supposition that he would go to Paris made him laugh exceedingly, but he would not listen to such a proposal. " The French would laugh at me too much," he said more than once. It was impossible to divest him of this notion, and he left us with the conviction, alas I too often entertained, that we are all in France unmerciful quizzes. As we approached Elsinore, the landscape changed, and as- sumed a character of entire sadness and solitude. The plains of peat-bog, strangely intersected by narrow ditches cut for the sake of irrigation, and resembling lines of ink, and the naked and barren plains, give place to gloomy and mysterious forests of beech-trees. The first north-winds of autumn bring down the leaves from the trees, and drive them along the ground with a low rustling sound. Seen here and there among the scattered trunks is some peasant's cottage, either red or blue ; some char- coal-burner's hut, dark and smoky ; and in a hollow road, sunk deeply in the mud at the foot of an ash, a heavily loaded cart is struggling. The sunbeams penetrate through the branches; the rays brighten the tops of the trees, and gild the faded leaves heaped on the ground beneath. A few birds pass over our heads, uttering long shrill cries ; but in all this district there is no sonof, no human voice ; nothing- is heard but the wind among the trees and the waves on the shore. An indefinable sadness, a sweet melancholy, comes over us before we are aware, and we feel how profound must be the impression made by the continual sight of such scenes as these, — a feeling so true and so deep, that even the inhabitants themselves are not unaware of it, and the word veemocl, by which they express it, cannot be translated into any other language. We alighted from the railway before we reached Elsinore, that we might lose nothing of the scenes and landscapes that were passing before our eyes in a succession which is not fa- tiguing, in spite of its monotony. The distance was short, and 428 DENMARK. yet we were a long time in traversing it. At last there appeared before us a little town, looking bleak and silent, with glittering red roofs. It is almost entirely surrounded by water, and ter- minated in the distance, at the narrowest part of the strait, by the gloomy Kroonborg. Three things attract the traveller to Elsinore; the tomb of Hamlet, the river in which " Ophelia with her weedy trophies fell in the weeping brook," and the inscription scratched on a pane of glass by the unfortunate Caroline Matilda : " My God, let me be innocent, and others great." Hamlet's tomb is no longer in existence ; Ophelia's river is dry ; and Caroline Matilda's pane of glass is broken. Notwithstanding this threefold deception, perhaps on account of it, Elsinore has left recollections which it is pleasant for us to retrace. It consists of a large street parallel to the sea ; secondary roads lead on one side to the harbor, and on the other to the country. In one of the most important of these are the houses of the consuls. Large escutcheons fastened to the front of these buildings give them an unusual appearance ; you might almost imagine yourself to be in Spain. A little farther on the road widens, and forms a narrow square, in which is the Town Hall. There was not depth enough in the space allotted for it, so that it was necessary to extend the building lengthwise, so as not to encroach upon the square, and to preserve in front sufficient space and ventilation. The building has undergone modifications in many parts, though it appears never to have been completely finished ; but still we can easily understand its appearance and general plan (Fig. 209). It is built of bricks and red granite, the tone of which matches most happily that of the bricks. The external ar- rangement of the structure perfectly agrees with that of the interior, being clearly indicated by well-defined lines on the outside. There is considerable variety in the size of the win- Fig. 209. ELSINORE. 431 dows, which are small and narrow when intended to give light to a room of little importance, but large, high, and double when they open on a hall of greater dimensions. It is deficient in its details and in the ornamental portions, but it is an edifice in- tended to brave a severe climate, frost, snow, and frequent rains. Delicate sculptured ornaments would have had little chance of withstanding these, and it w^as wiser in the architect to give all his attention to the choice of materials, the method of employ- ing them, and the study of the due proportions of tlie different parts of the building. w=^ J^ yj 1 fi a. 10 11 1 ^ 5 B EBB ■ 1 kam^ m B 1 T* 9 7 8 tT' B=« [ 1. J J mm ■.ra:z.-.^--v. Fig. 210. — Ground-plan of Town Hall, Elsinore. AVe notice in the interior the same moderation and the same combinations quietly and wxll carried out. We have thought it best to preserve, in our description of the various apartments in this Town Hall, the same terms as are used among ourselves, instead of those common in Denmark, w^hich would not perhaps be equally intelligible. The principal entrance (Fig. 210) is under a porch (1) shel- tering two of the steps, the rest being within the vestibule. No. 2 is a large room serving for election meetings, for political assemblies, and markets of a special nature. A small staircase connects this room with the inner hall (4). The hall-keeper's apartments are in No. 3. No. 5 is the police-office, and in No. 432 DENMARK, 6 an office for the relief of the poor. There is a private entrance (7) for those who wish to transact business with the post-office and the telegraph ; a small waiting-room (7) is attached to it. On one side is the telegraph-office, ISTo. 8, and on the other the post-office, No. 9. No. 10 is for the clerks, and No. 11 for the director. A principal and a back staircase lead to the first floor (Fig. 211), on which is a robing-room (12) for the use of the communal councillors. -This is of large dimensions; for during the winter they hang up there their furred robes and long pelisses, which are used instead of our more moderate overcoats. Above this room is a gallery reserved for certain clerks whose 'p' ' ' ' -s ro ^15 M'=? Fig. 211. — Town Hall, Elsinore. First Floor. presence is necessary during the sittings in the council-chamber. This large room (13) is covered by a ceiling formed of planks of fir, the junctions of which are concealed by unions ; the ex- posed surfaces are varnished and surrounded by bands of color. By the side of this hall opens a smaller one (14), serving as an anteroom, in front of which is a balcony built over the entrance- door. This balcony is used for official addresses to the public, and as a speaker would lose much of his prestige if he were exposed to the sun or protected by an umbrella, a small pro- ELSINORE. 433 jecting roof screens him from the weather. The cabinet of the first minister is in 15, his secretary's office is in No. 16, the civil-service offices (17), and the tax-offices (18). A very long Fig. 212. — Interior. First Floor. and rather dark passage, although it receives borrowed light from each end, leads to the clerks' offices (No. 19), to those of the architect (No. 20), and to the muniment-room (No. 21). 434 DENMARK. This is the only public building within the town. The dwell- ing-chouses resemble those which we have already seen at Copen- hagen, and it would be of no use to describe them ; but there is one point to which we ought to allude, — the difficulty which a foreigner finds in making himself understood. As for our- selves, had it not been for a few English words which a sailor of that nation, who was sleeping off the effects of his gin in the corner of a tavern, was able to translate for us, we ran a great risk of dying of hunger, and of not being able to procure food and shelter in the Hotel du Xord, the French sign placed out- side of which is the cause of many a bitter deception to the unfortunate traveller who is compelled to knock at the door. An illusion, of which all Frenchmen are too readily the vic- tims, is to fancy that "our beautiful language" is everywhere spoken and understood. This is a great mistake. French is, in fact, in all countries, the language of men of the world, of diplo- macy, and of elegance ; and it is very rare for a Frenchman to find himself in any drawing-room, wherever he may chance to be, and not to meet with those who can converse with him ; but in a foreign country the traveller who wishes to see and to learn passes most of his time in the street among persons of an entirely different character. If, therefore, he cannot readily comprehend what is said by those about him, and if he cannot make his wishes known, he is liable to great inconvenience and unpleasant mistakes, and is often exposed to serious embarrass- ment if he can express himself only in his mother tongue. When we have passed along the long street which runs through the town, we reach the harbor, — that is to say, the point where the street is narrowest, and is, at its extremity on the Danish side, terminated by the Kroonborg. The navioation of the Sound is danf^erous. The coasts of Sweden and those of Denmark, on each side, bristle with reefs, and rocks at the water level, and abound in fearful shoals, which are difficult to avoid durinc^ foo-fry nio-hts, when the winds blow from the icy lands of Xorway. In order to prevent shipwrecks ELSINOKE. 435 and disasters, — formerly so commou here, — tlie Dauisli gov- ernment erected lightliouses on the coast at the most dangerous points ; and, to cover the expense of their first construction and of repairs, they demanded from all ships passing through the Sound a toll, which was paid till 1857, when the maritime powers united to redeem it. In order to compel the payment of these dues, Frederick II. built in 1574, at the narrowest part of the strait, a fort, whose guns might command the entrance of the Sound. This fort, surrounded by fortifications formerly very formida- ble, is the Kroonborg (the castle of the crown), Fig. 213. We enter the Kroonborg, which has some resemblance to an inn. The sentries allow us to go wherever we please, to look at the guns, to count the balls, to mount on the ramparts, and go down into the ditches. This fortress, formerly so formidable, is much changed in appearance, and no longer to be feared. An ironclad, armed with guns of long range, would easily silence it. The Danish government is so convinced of its weakness that it no longer pretends to conceal the fact. It prefers — a far wiser plan — to study the best means of remedying it. The Kroon- borg can never have been so formidable as it was said to be, for, being commanded by the neighboring hills on the land side, it could not have provided against a surprise ; and enemies who wished to take possession of it might, instead of attacking it by sea, have landed some troops a little farther to the westward, on the shores of the Cattegat, and thus carried it by assault in the rear. The Kroonborg, therefore, possesses no longer any interest except that which arises from its picturesque situation and its historical claims. We ascended to the top of the high tower. At the farther end of the Strait, lost in the fog, was Copenhagen ; somewhat nearer, the island of Hveen, where the illustrious astronomer, Tycho Brahe, built his observatory and passed twenty years of his life. Still closer, and resembling immense black spots, 436 DENMARK. almost lost in the horizon, are beech-forests, whose lofty branches are incessantly swaying hither and thither in the wind, with a grand, monotonous, and regular sound. Opposite are the coasts of Sweden, bordered by a fringe of white foam, which clearly defines their outlines ; the Sound, with its innu- merable ships, some surmounted by a crest of smoke, which loses itself in the clouds ; others, hidden under their sails swollen by the wind, reminding us of the wings of some gigantic bird. Close at hand, Elsinore, with its red houses scattered along the shore, its lively harbor, and the flags of the consuls flapping in the air ; and then, directly beneath us, the enormous dark-brown roof of the castle, and its innocent works, which Xelson braved, without danger, in 1801, when he went, with his fleet, to bom- bard Copenhagen. The sea^ is of a go'eenish blue ; the sky is gray, but the transparent and limpid gray of the Xorth. Xature has here impressed upon it a character of grandeur and severity that cannot be described. These Northern countries produce effects entirely different from those to which we are accustomed in the sky of the South. Everything is more calm, sweet, and sad. The contrasts are less striking ; they harmonize in tones less intense and more softened down; but the emotion which they cause is not less vivid, and leaves traces as lasting and deep as those produced by the aspect of a country more highly favored and more richly endowed. In the interior of the castle are a chapel, used for a long time as a store for hay, and some large rooms, for the most j^art in bad repair, in which Hamlet's ghost no longer wanders. One of these served as the prison of the beautiful Caroline Matilda. Here she was confined, after having been carried off, in the midst of a fete, from her palace of Christianborg ; and she remained a prisoner in this gloomy castle, exposed to the blasts of every wind, in front of that dark Northern sea covered with ice and snow ; and here she passed long months in the sad recollection that she had been a queen, and that, alas ! she had also been a woman. ) -if. ELSINORE. 439 On that day, say the chroniclers of the time, the sun had, for a few minutes, pierced through the chilly winter mist. The queen wished to go out, mounted on horseback in man's dress, as was her custom. She wore riding-boots, and a long pelisse, and had her beautiful hair hidden under a fur cap. Never had she looked so high-spirited or so charming. As usual, Struen- see attended her. When they passed the palace gates, a hand, the queen-mother's, raised a curtain, and pointed out to Chris- tian this gay, young, happy pair. Christian and his mother exchanged a dark glance. With- out a single word having been spoken, they understood each other. Struensee and his mistress, when once at liberty, dashed off at full gallop along the avenues of Frederiksborg. The hair of the queen, unfastened by the rsqDidity with which she rode, flowed down upon her shoulders. Struensee secured it again, and on the hardened snow, over which they were riding, there were to be seen, the next day, the traces of their horses' shoes close together confounded with each other. Then they returned, thinking only of their love, and paying no heed to the dark and angry looks of the common people whom they met in the way, who were enraged at the queen's disregard of appearances, and the favor which she lavished on a foreigner. In the evening there was a ball at the palace ; one of those fetes then given at the Northern courts, where the love of pleas- ure and sensual gratification knew neither restraint nor limit. Caroline Matilda was radiant with grace and beauty. Struen- see, always at her side, confident in her favor, saw on the fea- tures of the king no trace of the terrible passions which agitated his mind. The assembly came to an end. Then there was a great tumult, followed by a deep silence. The queen, dragged from her apartments, was hurried along the road to Elsinore, and shut up in the fortress. Struensee was arrested and carried be- fore his judges. Shortly after, a scaffold was raised on the esplanade of Tester- 440 DENMARK. bro. Sitruensee was beheaded, and the queeu went as an exile to Hanover, to die.^ The weather is so fine, and the air so pure, that we are about to make an excursion by sea. We embark at the extremity of a small fjord, near a house which can be distinguished from a dis- tance by a flag floating at the top of a mast. This is a life-boat station, where brave men are always at hand to carry assistance to vessels in peril on this coast, so dan- gerous during the foggy days of spring and autumn. Skilful fishermen and hardy sailors, they live here alone, w^ithout any other amusement than fishing, which is their main support. We find the house occupied by its usual inhabitants, who come forward eagerly to do the honors. A veranda serves as a place of shelter for the life-boat, with the rigging and their nets. The outer door opens on a large room (Fig. 214). All round it are low, wide seats, covered with furs; while hanging on the walls are fishing utensils and garments for daily use. In the middle is a large stove, open on all four sides, filled with blaz- ing turf, a good supply of which is stored without. In this hall the men meet before their expeditions, and hither they bring their fish and prepare it. In this room they pass those long days, when the storm roars without, and tells liiat their assist- ance may be needed. A man must, indeed, be vigorously con- stituted, both in body and mind, who can pass his life in such a solitude, without any other excitement than the remembrance of past dangers and the apprehension of those that are to come. From this hall — whose heioht extends throu£!;h the oround- floor, the first story, and a part of the roof — an inner open staircase leads to the story standing only over that portion of the house above the veranda. This contains two bedrooms. The occasional guests, who are brought hither by the storm, sleep in the large room, on camp-beds arranged there. 1 Caroline Matilda was sister to George III. of England. After her divorce the British Court gave her a residence at Celle, in Hanover, where she died in 1773. —Tr. ELSINORE 441 The building is solidly constructed. Blocks of granite, thrown up by the sea, form the masonry of the walls, the thickness of which defends the interior from the high winds so common on this coast, and the damp, w^hich, in these latitudes, is so danger- ous. On the roof are to be seen the traditional carved beams, with ends formed like the prows of a ship, a souvenir of those i. rojitAjz/xswyrz Fig. 214. — Life-boat Station, Elsinore. maritime people who w^ished to have,, even in their dw^elling on dry land, a remembrance of the vessels in which every day they risked their lives. We returned on foot, to pay a last farewell to the Zealand landscape ; and, wdien the evening came on, we found ourselves at the foot of the Kroonborg, at the end of the cape which pro- jects into the strait. The country all around w^as infinitely sad 442 DENMARK. and melancholy ; under our feet was a bed of fine, rose-colored sand, glittering with particles of mica as the stormy waves dashed over it, the crest of each sparkling in the rays of the set- ting sun. Fading in the distance, on the Swedish coast, were the moun- tains of Kiaden, formerly considered the extreme boundaries of the world; the nearest are low and verdant at their base, but soon become rough and craggy, defended by lofty crests of red granite. The Sound was covered with ships hastening to ac- complish their voyage before the approach of winter. The cold, white sky, streaked with sharp and strongly defined lines of brightly colored clouds, contrasted strongly with the greenish tints of the sea. Large birds were sporting on the waves, utter- ing sharp and shrill cries. Immensity opened before us; be- yond us was the new, the unknown, with the seduction, the attraction, the unrealizable dreams which arise in the imagina- tion of every traveller. Kight was coming on, — one of those strange Xorthem nights, full of soft splendor and indefinite forms. The coasts were streaked with tints graduated from the most intense violet to the softest opal. The sea alone was still bright, and its hoarse murmur silenced all sounds ujDon the shore. One by one the sails disappeared, and the sea-birds returned rapidly to their nests. The moment of our departure was come; and soon, standing on the deck of the vessel that was bearing us away, we watclied the last faint outlines fading into the darkness. The lighthouses shone out along the coast, and we soon lost sight of the Island of Zealand, the extreme point of Denmark, a land which we quitted with that indefinable impression of sad- ness, with which tlie heart of a man is always filled, when he is about to leave a country which, in all probability, he beholds for the last time. THE END. Cambridge : Electrotyped and Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co. THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. nRt;„ AFTER uCT 2 3 197 ) .OCT 3 1988 ^^>i ^ u u 1 ^ Series 9482 3 1205 00454 7269 ,,^C SOUTHERrj REGIONAL LIBRAPy FAr. A 000 647 574 3