Madame de Stael's Ten Years Exile. 



BH 



courage to meet our enemy in the open 

 field*" This reply was equally modest 

 «nd ingenious. 



THE TYROL. 



/The aspect of the Tyrol reminds one 

 of Switzerland ; there is not, however 

 so much vigour and originality in the 

 landscape, nor have the villages the 

 same appearance of plenty; it is in 

 short a fine countrj', which has been 

 wisely governed, but never been free ; 

 and it is only as a mountaineer peo- 

 ple, that it has shown itself capable of 

 resistance. Very few instances of re- 

 markable men can be mentioned from 

 the Tyrol ; first, the Austrian govern- 

 ment is scarcely fit to develope genius ; 

 and, l)esides, the Tyrol, by its manners 

 as well as by its geographical position, 

 should have formed a part of the Swiss 

 confederation : its incorporation with 

 the Austrian monarchy not being con- 

 formable to its nature, it has only de- 

 veloped by that union the noble quali- 

 ties of mountaineers, courage and 

 fidelity. 



The postillion who drove us showed 

 us a rock on which the emperor Maxi- 

 milian, grandfather of Charles the Vth. 

 Lad nearly perished, the ardour of the 

 chace had stimulated him to such a 

 decree, that he had followed the cha- 

 mois to heights from which it was im- 

 possible to descend. This tradition is 

 still popular in the country, so neces- 

 sary <to nations is the admkatiou of the 

 past. The memoiy of the last war was 

 still quite alive in the bosoms of the 

 people; the peasants showed us the 

 summits of mountains on M'hich they 

 had entrenched themselves: their ima- 

 gination delighted in retracing the ef- 

 fect of their fine war-like music, when 

 it echoed from the tops of the hills into 

 the rallies. When we were shown the 

 palace of the prince-royal of Bavaria, 

 at Inspiuck, they told us that Hofer, 

 the courageous peasant and head of the 

 insurrection, had lived there ; they 

 gave us an instance of the intrepidity 

 of a female, when the French entered 

 into her cliateau : in shorf, every thing 

 displayed in them the desire of being a 

 nation, mucli more than personal at- 

 tachment to the house of Austria. 



loone of the churches at Inspruck is 

 the famous tomb of Maximilian. 1 

 went to see it, flaUering myself with 

 the certainty of not being recognized by 

 any person, in a place remote from the 

 ^capitals where the Frencli agents reside. 

 ■=>. The figure of Maximilian in bronze, 

 ^•Itneeling upon a sarcophagus, in the 



body of the church, and thirty statues 

 of the same metal ranged on each side 

 of the sanctuary represent the relations 

 and ancestors of the emperor. So much 

 past grandeur, so much of the ambition 

 formidable in its day, collected in a 

 family meeting round a tomb, formed 

 a spectacle which led one to profound 

 reflection: there you saw Philip the 

 Good, Charles the Rash, and Mary of 

 Burgundy ; and in the midst of these 

 historical personages Dietrich of Berne, 

 a fabulous hero ; the closed visor con- 

 cealed the countenances of the knights, 

 but when this visor was lifted up a 

 brazen countenance appeared under a 

 helmet of brass, and the features of 

 the knight were of bronze, like his ar- 

 mour. The vizor of Dietrich of Berne 

 is the only one which cannot be lifted 

 up, the artist meaning in that manner 

 to signify the mysterious veil which 

 covers the history of this warrior. 



We walked about tlie town of Salz- 

 burg, which contains many noble edi- 

 fices, but like the greater part of the 

 ecclesiastical principalities of Germany, 

 now presents a most dreai-y aspect. The 

 tranquil resources of that kind of go- 

 vernment have terminated with it. 

 The convents also were jireservers; 

 one is struck with the number of es- 

 tablishments and edifices which have 

 been erected by bachelor masters in 

 their residence : all these peaceable 

 sovereigns have benefited their people. 



RESIDENCE IN VIENNA. 



I arrived at Vienna on the 6th of 

 June very fortunately just two hours 

 before the departure of a courier whom 

 Count Stackelberg, the Russian ambas- 

 sador, was dispatching to Wilna, where 

 the emperor Alexander then was. 



The court was then at Dresden, at 

 the great meeting of all the German 

 princes, wiio came to present their 

 homage to the emperor of France. Na- 

 poleon had stopped at Dresden under 

 the pretext of still negociating there to 

 avoid the war with Russia, in other 

 words, to obtain by his policy the same 

 result as he could by his arms. He 

 would not at first admit the King of 

 Prussia to his banquet at Dresden; he 

 knew too mcU what repugnance the 

 heart of that unfortunate monarch must 

 liave to what he conceives himself 

 obliged to do. It is said that M. de 

 Metternich obtained this humiliating 

 favor for him. M. de Hardcnberg, 

 who accompanied him, made the re- 

 mark to the Emperor Narwleon, that 

 Prussia had paid one third more than 



the 



