180 

 GERMANY. 



FROM earliest infancy I had pictured Germany to myself as the region 

 of romance. I had read somewhere that the common sounds of her 

 cities were the loud breathings of military bands, the iron clatter of the 

 mustering squadron, or the measured tread of stately infantry, varied at 

 the soft hour of evening by the full deep chorus of the solemn hymn, or 

 among the assembled youth of either sex by the soft and undulating 

 movements of the mazy waltz. I was eager to study the character of a 

 people who, after the revolutions of twenty centuries, still preserve 

 many of those beautiful traits of character and manners, that, amid the 

 corruption and desolation of Imperial Rome, so charmed by their inno- 

 cence and freshness the historian Youtus. 



As our britscha rapidly approached the Prussian capital, one of those 

 pictures which the mind had so often painted in its hours of musing 

 suddenly burst upon us. The rays of the setting sun were brightly 

 reflected from the polished cuirasses of a regiment of heavy cavalry of 

 the guard, that were defiling in column of Zuge at half distance beneath 

 the arch of the Brandenburgh Gate. As I gazed on this splendid 

 cavalry, and on the magnificent arch beneath which they were passing, 

 the model of the Athenian Propylaeum, surmounted by its chariot of 

 victory, that rears high in the air the black eagle of Prussia, the pre- 

 diction of Guibert, that has since been so singularly verified, flashed 

 across my memory. " Si apres la mort de Frederic," said this celebrated 

 tactician, " dont le genie seul soutient 1'edifice imparfaite de sa consti- 

 tution, il survient un roi faible, on verra cette puissance ephemere 

 rentrer dans le sphere que ses moyens reels lui assignent, et peutetre 

 payer cher quelques annees de gloire." 



The external features of Berlin differ widely from those of most other 

 capital cities in Europe. There is a grandeur and majesty about it an 

 aristocratic tranquillity that contrasts so singularly with the commercial 

 and bustling activity of London and Paris. Except in the Koingstrasse, 

 \ve may wander through their spacious streets, and find them unte- 

 nanted, save by groups of military, lounging and twisting their mous- 

 taches with that listless air that so strikes the traveller in the garrison 

 towns of the continent, or spending the live-long day in the caffes, at 

 billiards, or dominos. The vie de caffe appears to be as much in vogue 

 in Berlin as at Paris. Wherever they went the French have left traces 

 of their manners, even among those by whom they were hated. 



Notwithstanding the dulness of its'outward aspect, no city affords to 

 the tourist more numerous or more varied sources of amusement and 

 instruction than Berlin. If fond of music, he has the Opera, perhaps 

 the first, considered in its ensemble, in Germany ; if ardent in the pur- 

 suit of science, he may, in the amphitheatres of her university, drink 

 deeply at her fount; if an antiquarian, the magnificent gallery of anti- 

 quities, formerly in the possession of the celebrated Passalacqua, will 

 open a wide field of interesting research. In justice to the government 

 of Prussia, it must be said, that it leaves public instruction perfectly 

 unfettered in its operations, and spares neither trouble or expense in 

 unfolding to the people the sources of knowledge. There is, in Berlin 

 alone, 120 primary schools, independent of the University and the 

 Lycees. Every village of importance has also its schools, and it is rare 

 indeed to meet with a Prussian peasant who cannot both read and write. 



