624 Reflections on a Ranihle in Germany. QDec. 



line which I have chosen as a rubric to the present paper, sang in joyous 

 chorus by a party of German students from the university of Bonn or 

 Heidelberg, who in the cabin were quaffing deep potations of lauben- 

 heimer, and vowing the political regeneration of Germany. 



What a singular race of beings are these same German students ! 

 There is to my mind something about them, with their high, though 

 often mistaken sense of honour, their lofty aspirations after patriotism 

 and freedom, and their fantastic notions of their own importance and 

 high vocation — their long-flowing hail', moustachoed lips, bare necks, 

 long pipes, their rakish air, and singularly wild and picturesque cos- 

 tume — that appeals powerfully to the imagination. Nothing can possibly 

 be more irregularly wild and stormy, or more opposite to studious 

 academic tranquillity, than the life of a German student during the three 

 years he passes at the university. A slave to the esprit de corps of the 

 Landmatinschaften and its fantastic Comments, he evinces on every occa- 

 sion a spirit of opposition to all regular discipline ; and, looking upon 

 himself as one of the future regenerators of Europe, and the true repre- 

 sentative of the free, high-minded youth of Germany, he oAvns no rank 

 superior to his own. The morning's dawn generally sees him engaged 

 either as principal or second in a duel ; for the point of honour and 

 fighting is the soul of the Landmannschaften and its Comments — a code 

 which arranges in what manner a quarrel shall be conducted. With the 

 most pedantic minuteness and affectation, it fixes a graduated scale of 

 offensive epithets, and the style and degree of satisfaction to be demanded 

 for each. The honour of the student is measured by the number of 

 duels he has fought. Utterly indifferent to the cause in which he 

 unsheaths his rapier, he fights not so much to resent insult, as he insults 

 to have a pretext for fighting and acquiring renown. From the ground 

 he passes to the lecture-room, tames down for a time his wild and haughty 

 nature, and drinks deep at the fountain of knowledge — his habits of labo- 

 rious investigation and profound study forming a pleasing and singular 

 contrast with the wild irregularity of his general life. The afternoon is 

 passed in the salle d' amies, or in renowning in the street, which consists 

 in making themselves remarkable by some mad freak, which none but a 

 student would imagine, much less execute. The night again is passed 

 in smoking and carousing in their commerz-houses, where the founda- 

 tion of more duels for the following day is generally laid, or in pouring 

 deep libations to freedom, or celebrating in song some mystical chival- 

 rous ceremony — an allusion even to which is not understood beyond the 

 precincts of the university. Did these youths carry back with them into 

 the world the same irregular habits and heated ideas that distinguish 

 their career at college, there would certainly exist strong grounds for 

 the fears entertained by the different governments of Germany, and the 

 jealous eye with which they watched the rapid spread of the Landmann- 

 schaften. But, on leaving the university, the German burchen awakens 

 as from a dream : his mind appears to undergo a complete revolution. 

 Calmer views, juster notions of man and society, succeed to and replace 

 the heated visions of college life. The world, he sees, is no longer to be 

 shaken from its solid basis by the force of individual will, or old-esta- 

 blished systems overthrown by a burst of enthusiasm. He discovers 

 that, while he considers himself as most free, he is chained down by a 

 thousand petty and almost invisible necessities — fettered in his very 



