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fiRNEST  ALFRED  VIZETELEV 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 
With  a  Frontispiece.    Demy  8vo,  cloth,  6s.  net, 

THE  COURT  OF  THE  TUILERIES 

1862-1870 

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MY  DAYS  OF  ADVENTURE 

THE  FALL  OP  FRANCE  1870-71 

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MY  ADVENTURES  IN  THE  COMMUNE 

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THE    SCORPION  :  A  Romance  of  Spain 
THE    LOVER'S    PROGRESS 

LONDON;  OHATTO  &  WINDUS 


IN   SEVEN    LANDS 


VERIFYING   THE    DEATH    OF    I'OPE    PIUS    IX 


IN    SEVEN    LANDS 

GERMANY— AUSTRIA— HUNGARY— BOHEMIA 
SPAIN— PORTUGAL— ITALY 

BY 

ERNEST  ALFRED  VIZETELLY 

«LE    PETIT   HOMME   ROUGE" 


WITH   SIXTEEN 
ILLUSTRATIONS 


LONDON 

CHATTO    ^    WINDUS 

1916 


^^ 


PEIKTED  BT 

WILLIAM  CLOWES  AND  SONS,  LIMITED 

LONDON  AND  BECCLES. 


All  rights  reserved 


TO  MY  GBANDDAUGHTEB 

RENEE  MYRIELLE  VIZETELLY 

Least  and  latest  of  my  race, 
Little  lassie,  fair  of  face, 
Fond  of  fun,  and  full  of  grace, 

Take  this  book  I  tender  thee  : 
Whatso'er  its  faults  may  be, 
Heed  them  not,  for  sake  of  me. 

Thou  wilt  read  of  days  long  past. 
Days  that  often  fled  too  fast, 
In  the  climes  where  I  was  cast. 

Now  with  an  unsparing  hand. 
Fierce  Bellona  shakes  her  brand, 
Spreading  War  o'er  sea  and  land. 

But  though  angry  drums  may  beat, 
Some  day  yet,  with  music  sweet, 
Will  the  lute  to  joy  entreat. 

When  from  kingship  Wrong  is  hurled, 
Leaving  Eight  to  rule  the  world, 
Freedom's  war-flags  will  be  furled. 

Aye,  at  last  all  strife  shall  cease, 
Pan  will  give  us  back  his  Peace, 
Piping  times,  and  love's  increase. 

All  the  stress  of  presen^j  woe. 
Thou,  my  derling,  dost  not  know- 
May  the  morrows  ksep^i^  'so  I   ••',••     •  •**, 

May  thy  life  expand  and  flow'r 
Brightly  through  each  coming  hour — 
Gladness  ever  be  thy  dow'r  ! 

Golden  days  from  turmoil  free, 
I,  perhaps,  will  never  see  ; 
Yet  I  may,  on  bended  knee, 
Pray  that  they  shall  dawn  for  thee. 

E.  A.  ^ 


357778 


# ,,  •     „  *     ■ 


,     *  '* 


PEEFACE 

The  opening  pages  of  this  book  connect  it  with  the 
previous  sections  of  my  reminiscences — "My  Days 
of  Adventure"  and  "My  Adventures  in  the  Com- 
mune"— ^but  it  is  a  distinct  work,  for  it  treats  of 
scenes  and  times  differing  from  those  which  I  re- 
called in  the  volumes  I  have  just  mentioned.  As 
the  reader  will  soon  perceive,  I  became  for  several 
years,  after  the  Franco-German  War  of  1870-71, 
the  constant  companion  and  assistant  of  my  father, 
Henry  Vizetelly.  We  travelled  together  in  all 
the  countries  enumerated  on  the  title-page  of  this 
volume,  excepting  Italy;  and  as  time  elapsed  my 
father  became  to  me  less  a  parent,  perhaps,  than 
an  elder  and  more  experienced  brother.  Instances 
of  literary  collaboration  between  brothers,  sisters, 
and  husband  and  wife,  have  often  occurred,  but 
collaboration  between  father  and  son  has  been,  I 
think,  much  less  frequent.  In  the  case  of  my  own 
father  and  myself  it  became  extremely  close  in  spite 
of  a  great  difference  in  our  ages,  for  I  was  a  younger 
son,  and  we  were  separated  by  a  period  of  three  and 
thirty  years.  Under  such  circumstances  a  consider- 
able diversity  of  views  might  have  been  anticipated ; 
but  such  was  not  the  case,  chiefly,  I  think,  because 
my  father's  mind  was  always  a  young  and  progres- 
sive one.  Born  in  the  reign  of  George  III,  he  sur- 
vived through  six-and-fifty  years  of  the  reign  of 


viii  PREFACE 

Queen  Victoria,  and,  brushing  old  days  aside— 
though  well  remembering  them,  as  was  shown  by 
his  autobiography,  **  Glances  back  through  Seventy 
Years" — ^he  invariably  kept  pace  with  the  new 
times.  Thus  years  did  not  create  so  great  a  differ- 
ence between  us. 

I  have  written  the  above  in  order  to  explain  why 
it  happens  that  my  father  is  so  often  mentioned 
in  this  volume,  which  is  based  in  part  on  my  own 
recollections  and  notes,  and  in  part  on  many  memo- 
randa and  other  materials  which  my  father  sent  me 
before  his  death,  leaving  me  to  deal  with  them  as  I 
might  think  fit,  thereafter.  I  recall  also,  and  at 
times  quote  from,  several  books  which  I  assisted  him 
to  write.  Two  or  three  times,  in  his  last  years,  he 
suggested  placing  my  name  as  well  as  his  own  on 
certain  title-pages,  but  for  various  reasons  I  de- 
murred. The  necessity  of  self-advertisement  in  an 
age  of  strenuous  competition  had  not  yet  been 
brought  home  to  me.  In  fact,  I  never  put  my  name 
to  any  of  the  numerous  compilations  and  transla- 
tions which  I  personally  prepared  for  my  father's 
publishing  business.  Nowadays,  it  interests  me  at 
times  to  see  that  several  of  those  books  are  still  on 
the  market,  in  cheap  editions,  after  the  lapse  of 
many  years. 

The  present  volume  will,  I  think,  speak  for  itself. 
Whilst  it  is  founded  on  the  joint  experiences  of  my 
father  and  myself,  I  have  now  and  again  inter- 
polated excursions  into  matters  of  legend  and 
history.  For  instance,  in  the  section  allotted  to 
Germany,  I  have  given  some  account  of  the  *'  saintly 
ancestor  "  of  the  HohenzoUerns,  and  have  referred 
to  the  latest  views  respecting  the  identity  of  the 
"  White  Lady  "  of  Berlin.     In  the  Austrian  section, 


PREFACE  ix 

apropos  of  the  house  at  Eger  where  Wallenstein 
was  assassinated,  I  have  enlarged  somewhat  on  the 
real  ckcumstances  of  that  famous  tragedy,  as  dis- 
closed by  the  most  recent  research.  Here  and  there, 
too,  I  have  glanced  at  the  history  of  the  countries 
described,  and  at  the  careers  of  some  of  their  pro- 
minent personages,  sovereigns,  statesmen  and  so 
forth.  The  result  is,  perhaps,  rather  a  medley,  but 
by  reason  of  the  great  variety  of  subjects  I  have 
touched  upon,  the  book  may  appeal  to  more  than 
one  class  of  reader.  As  a  rule  I  have  only  described 
scenery  when  it  is  that  of  regions  which  ordinary 
tourists  do  not  visit.  I  have  generally  preferred  to 
deal  with  people.  In  that  connection  I  have  sketched 
some  of  the  conditions  of  peasant-life  in  one  or 
another  country,  having  always  taken  a  real  interest 
in  the  peasant-class.  Allusions  to  the  present 
Great  War  will  be  found  scattered  here  and  there 
through  my  pages.  Some  critics  may  take  excep- 
tion to  them,  but  on  my  part  they  have  been  inten- 
tional, and  no  consideration  would  have  induced  me 
to  omit  them. 

The  illustrations  to  the  book  are  derived  chiefly 
from  the  pages  of  the  Illustrated  Londcm  News, 
and  on  behalf  of  the  publishers  and  myself  I  desire 
to  thank  the  proprietors  of  that  journal  for  their 
kindness  in  authorising  the  reproduction  of  these 
interesting  engravings. 

E.  A.  V. 

London,  1916. 


CONTENTS 

BOOK  I 
GERMANY 

FAOB 
I.      INTRODUCTORY —IN      ALSACE      LORRAINE— FIRST     IMPRESSIONS 

OF  GERMANY  3 

II.      IMPERIAL        BERLIN — A       GATHERING        OF  EMPERORS — THE 

WHITE  LADY  AND   THE  HOHENZOLLERN  SAINT                               24 

III.      BISMARCK,   ROON,   MOLTKE,   AND    OTHERS  48 

IV.      THE  PRUSSIAN  ARMY  AS  IT   WAS  74 

V.      AMONG   THE   BBRLINESB  88 

VI.      SOME  LIGHT  AND  DARK   SIDES  OF  BERLIN  108 

VII.      HERB  AND  THERE  IN   GERMANY  127 


BOOK  II 
AUSTRIA,   HUNGARY,  BOHEMIA 

I.     VIENNA  AND  THE  HAP8BURGS  166 

II.      FROM  HIGHBORN  TO  HUMBLE  FOLK  174 

III.  IN  SOUTHERN  AUSTRIA  197 

IV.  IN  HUNGARY  211 
V.      A  GLIMPSE   OF  BOHEMIA  284 


xii  CONTENTS 


BOOK  III 


SPAIN,   PORTUGAL,   ITALY 


PAGB 


I.      IN   ANDALUCIA  268 

II.      IN    MADRID — COSAS   DB    BSPANA  295 

III.  IN   PORTUGAL   {via  MADEIRA   AND    TENBRIFE)  318 

IV.  ROME   AND    THE   KING  352 
V.      ROME   AND    THE   POPE  366 

INDEX  385 


ILLUSTEATIONS 


FACING  PAGB 

VERIFYING   THE   DEATH   OF   POPE   PIUS   IX  FronttSjpiece 

CLOSE   OF   THE    ZAPFENSTRBICH   AT   BERLIN  32 

THE    WHITE   LADY  40 

WILLIAM   I,    FRANCIS-JOSEPH,   AND   ALEXANDER   II   AT   A      PARADE  84 

VANITY   FAIR   AT   THE    BERLIN    "  ZOO  "  104 

A   CHRISTMAS   FAIR   IN   BERLIN  120 

INAUGURATION    OF   THE    VIENNA   EXHIBITION  160 

CROWN   PRINCE    RUDOLPH    OF   AUSTRIA  168 

ALEXANDER   II   OF  RUSSIA  184 

THE    CORPUS  CHBISTI  PROCESSION   AT    VIENNA  192 

HUNGARIAN   GIPSIES   ON   THE   TRAMP  224 

A   STREET   SCENE   IN   MADRID  296 

MARRIAGE    OF  ALFONSO   XII   AND   DONA   MERCEDES  812 

TREADING   GRAPES   FOR  PORT  WINE  846 

VICTOR-EMMANUEL   U  361 

A   CONCLAVE    IN   THE    SISTINB    CHAPEL  876 


xiU 


BOOK  I— GERMANY 

"  The  Tartufife  of  the  nations  .  .  .  Prussia,  that  bigoted  and  gaitered 
hero,  so  boastful  and  so  greedy,  who  carries  a  corporal's  cane  steeped  in 
holy  water.  .  .  .  Whilst  others  boasted  liow  proudly  the  Prussian  eagle 
soared  towards  the  sun,  I  prudently  kept  my  eyes  fixed  upon  its  claws  !  " 

Heinrich  Heine. 


As  this  Book  is  in  fi^reat  demand, 
t  is  respectfully  requested  that  it  may 
be  returned  to  the  Library  as  soon  as 


read, 


I 


^ 


the 

mied 

and 

Her  children  had  been  residing  throughout  the  tur- 
moil of  war  and  insurrection.  My  father,  however, 
now  decided  to  give  up  the  house  which  he  tenanted 
at  St.  Servan,  near  St.  Malo,  and  on  his  return  with 
me  to  Paris  we  began  to  explore  the  environs  of  the 
city  in  order  to  find  a  house  suitable  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  whole  family.  But  both  on  the 
west  and  on  the  south,  and  again  on  the  east  also — 
the  northern  suburbs  did  not  appeal  to  us — we 
were  constantly  confronted  by  ruin  and  devastation. 
The  German  siege  and  the  siege  necessitated  by  the 
rising  of  the  Commune  were  jointly  responsible  for 
the  lamentable  spectacle  which  was  still  presented 
by  some  of  the  most  charming  localities  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Paris.  Here,  there  and  elsewhere 
German  or  French  bombardment  had  done  its  work, 
and  even  in  spots  which  had  not  suffered  particularly 
from  any  cannonade  so  much  damage  had  occurred 

3  B  2 


INTRODUCTORY — ^IN     ALSACE     LORRAINE — FIRST 
IMPRESSIONS   OF   GERMANY. 

Round  Paris  after  the  Sieges  of  1870-71 — Through  Southern  France — The 
Royalists  of  the  Rhone — Rivesaltes  and  Jofifre — In  Alsace-Lorraine — 
A  glance  at  the  History  of  the  Provinces — The  early  Rule  of  the 
Conquerors — On  the  Road  to  Berlin. 

In  the  summer  of  1871,  after  the  rebellion  of  the 
Paris  Commune  had  been  quelled,  I  accompanied 
my  father  to  Brittany  where  my  stepmother  and 
her  children  had  been  residing  throughout  the  tur- 
moil of  war  and  insurrection.  My  father,  however, 
now  decided  to  give  up  the  house  which  he  tenanted 
at  St.  Servan,  near  St.  Malo,  and  on  his  return  with 
me  to  Paris  we  began  to  explore  the  environs  of  the 
city  in  order  to  find  a  house  suitable  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  whole  family.  But  both  on  the 
west  and  on  the  south,  and  again  on  the  east  also — 
the  northern  suburbs  did  not  appeal  to  us — we 
were  constantly  confronted  by  ruin  and  devastation. 
The  German  siege  and  the  siege  necessitated  by  the 
rising  of  the  Commune  were  jointly  responsible  for 
the  lamentable  spectacle  which  was  still  presented 
by  some  of  the  most  charming  localities  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Paris.  Here,  there  and  elsewhere 
German  or  French  bombardment  had  done  its  work, 
and  even  in  spots  which  had  not  suffered  particularly 
from  any  cannonade  so  much  damage  had  occurred 

3  B  2 


4  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

that  the  great  majority  of  the  houses  were  unin- 
habitable. My  father  and  I  entered  hundreds  of 
them  which  had  almost  become  mere  shells,  nearly 
every  scrap  of  woodwork  having  been  taken  to  serve 
as  "  food  for  flames  "  during  the  last  bitter  months 
of  the  German  siege.  Doors,  floors,  panels,  wains- 
cotings,  window-shutters,  cupboards  and  what  not 
besides  had  been  appropriated  for  one  purpose — that 
of  procuring  some  warmth  for  the  German  or  the 
French  soldiery  (for  a  similar  state  of  affairs  prevailed 
along  both  lines),  amidst  the  frost  and  snow  of  one 
of  the  coldest  winters  which  the  nineteenth  century 
had  witnessed. 

On  certain  points,  as  already  indicated,  one  ob- 
served the  effects  of  bombardment.  There  had  been 
incendiarism  also  ;  and  in  many  places  the  destruc- 
tion was  as  great  as  may  be  seen  in  Northern  France 
during  this  present  year  of  war,  1916.  There  was, 
however,  this  difference :  In  1870-71  days,  if  not 
weeks,  were  generally  required  to  effect  the  same 
amount  of  havoc  as  that  which  may  be  brought 
about  now  in  half  an  hour — at  times,  even,  in  a 
few  minutes.  Some  melancholy  pictures  of  wreckage 
and  ruin  in  such  pretty  spots  as  Fontenay-aux- 
Roses,  Bourg-la-Reine,  Chatenay  and  Antony  still 
linger  before  my  mind's  eye.  We  turned  from  them, 
and  even  as  we  had  previously  ceased  exploring  the 
western  environs  so  we  quitted  the  southern  for  the 
eastern  ones,  and  finally,  at  Nogent-sur-Marne, 
within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  Bois  de  Vincennes,  we 
found  a  few  villas  or  pavilions  which  had  suffered 
less  extensively  than  others.  They  were  to  let — 
indeed  all  round  Paris,  and  whatever  might  be  the 
condition  of  the  property,  the  usual  bills,  maison  or 
pavilion  d  louer,  confronted  one  at  every  moment. 


GERMANY  5 

Repairs  had  seldom  been  started,  however,  for  land- 
lords were  often  short  of  money,  and  owing  to  the 
Commune  there  was  a  dearth  of  labom*.  Under  these 
circumstances  we  managed  to  secure  at  Nogent  a 
house  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  rooms  at  a  very  low  rental 
by  agreeing  with  the  landlord  (who  rejoiced  in  the 
historic  and  also  musical  name  of  Angot)  to  under- 
take some  of  the  decorative  repairs,  provided  that 
he  carried  out  the  others.  I  well  remember  that 
although  I  was  still  under  age  he  insisted  on  making 
me  a  co-lessee  with  my  father,  and  told  me  that  if 
his  only  daughter  had  not  already  been  married  he 
would  willingly  have  offered  her  to  me,  as  he  had 
been  favourably  struck  by  the  manner  in  which  I 
had  conducted  the  negotiations.  Not  to  be  thought 
wanting  in  politeness,  I  answered  that  I  the  more 
deeply  regretted  the  contretemps  to  which  he  referred, 
as  I  felt  sure  that  the  daughter  of  so  wealthy  and 
amiable  a  father  would  certainly  have  been  pro- 
vided with  a  dowry  as  handsome,  if  possible,  as  her 
person  itself.  That  made  him  laugh,  and  we  be- 
came quite  friendly.  Later  (after  the  production 
of  Charles  Lecocq's  famous  operetta)  we  exchanged 
many  a  little  joke  about  my  ill-luck  in  having  failed 
to  marry  "  La  Fille  de  Monsieur  Angot."  He,  by 
the  way,  had  nothing  to  do  with  any  fish-market,  he 
had  made  his  money  in  meat,  and  had  a  jovial  and 
very  appropriate  ribs-of-beef  kind  of  face. 

In  the  autumn  of  1871,  and  while  the  house  at 
Nogent  was  being  repaired,  my  father  and  I  went  to 
the  south  of  France,  in  accordance  with  an  arrange- 
ment made  with  Frederick  Greenwood  to  write  a 
series  of  articles  for  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  on  the 
wines  produced  in  that  part  of  the  country  and  the 
extensive  ravages   already   caused,   particularly   in 


6  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

the  Rh6ne  vineyards,  by  the  vine's  destructive  enemy 
the  phylloxera  vastatrix.  I  embodied  some  of  the 
observations  we  made  at  the  time  in  a  little  book 
published  some  years  ago.*  Here  I  will  only  mention 
that  I  was  greatly  struck  during  our  trip  by  the 
Royalist  fervour  which  was  displayed  in  the  Rhone 
region.  It  was  natural,  of  course,  to  find  the  Comte 
de  Sibens,  who  then  owned  the  Chateau  of  Ampuis 
(among  the  Cote-Rotie  vineyards),  and  who  claimed 
a  collateral  descent  from  Bayard,  the  chevalier  sans 
peur  et  sans  reproche,  it  was,  I  say,  natural  to  find 
a  nobleman  of  old  lineage  anticipating  the  speedy 
restoration  of  monarchy  in  France ;  but  when  I 
observed  the  same  hopes  and  aspirations  prevailing 
among  village  mayors  and  peasants  I  was  certainly 
surprised — that  is  until  I  remembered  that  these 
men  were  the  grandsons  or  grand-nephews  of  those 
who  would  have  torn  Napoleon  to  pieces  could  they 
have  laid  their  hands  on  him  when  he  was  on  his  way 
to  Elba,  and  who  at  least  succeeded  in  killing  one  of 
the  fallen  Emperor's  Marshals — Brune,  Alexandre 
Dumas'  godfather — and  who  organised,  moreover, 
the  notorious  White  Terror  of  the  Bourbon  Restora- 
tion. 

I  am  writing  here  of  views  which  were  held  in  the 
Rhone  country'-  forty-five  years  ago.  The  Comte  de 
Chambord,  otherwise  King  Henry  V  of  France  and 
Navarre,  then  certainly  counted  many  adherents  in 
the  region — in  fact,  I  witnessed  more  than  one  large 
Royalist  gathering  at  which  the  downfall  of  the  new 
Republic  was  confidently  prophesied ;  but  times  have 
altered,  the  Royalists  of  southern  France  are  nowa- 
days a  small  and  ever-dwindling  minority. 

Our  joiu-ney  carried  us  eventually  as  far  south  as 

*  "  The  Winea  of  France,"  Witherby  and  Co.,  1908. 


GERMANY  7 

the  most  eastern  limit  of  the  Pjo-enees,  that  is  past 
Perpignan  to  Port-Vendres  and  Banyuls.  English 
travellers  may  occasionally  pass  that  way,  but  I 
doubt  if  many  have  ever  stayed  as  I  did  at  a  little 
hourg  of  less  than  6000  souls  and  almost  Spanish 
in  aspect,  which  during  the  great  World  War  of  pre- 
sent times  has  become  famous  as  the  birthplace  of 
Joseph  Jacques  Cesaire  Joffre,  generalissimo  of  the 
French  armies.  We  repaired,  my  father  and  I,  to 
this  now  historic  spot,  the  hourg  of  Eivesaltes,  to 
sample  and  test  the  produce  of  its  vineyards,  notably 
its  white  Muscat,  so  called  from  the  grape  of  that 
name,  and  its  Rancio  or  "  rusty "  wine  which 
resembled  an  inferior  tawny  port.  I  find  in  an  old 
notebook  various  particulars  which  were  given  me  by 
the  local  mayor  whilst  he  sat  outside  the  mairie  in  his 
shirt-sleeves,  enjoying  the  cool  of  the  evening.  I 
have  no  record  of  his  name,  and  cannot  say  whether 
he  was  or  not  the  father  of  the  illustrious  French 
commander,  but  I  have  been  told  that  Joffre  pere 
was  at  one  or  another  time  mayor  of  Eivesaltes. 

Many  conflicting  statements  have  appeared  re- 
specting the  Joffre  family.  All  I  know  is  that  the 
general's  mother  presented  his  father  with  no  fewer 
than  fourteen  children,  of  whom  only  three  are  now 
alive — ^the  general,  a  brother  who  is  a  receiver  for 
the  treasury  in  a  southern  department  of  France, 
and  a  married  sister.  The  general's  first  schooling 
was  at  the  college  of  Perpignan,  but  in  his  sixteenth 
year  he  was  sent  to  Paris  to  prepare  for  the  famous 
lEcole  Polytechnique  which  has  given  France  so  many 
engineers  and  artillerists.  He  entered  this  school 
in  1869  when  he  was  seventeen,  but  took  only  the 
fourteenth  place  among  the  candidates  for  admission 
because,  although  he  could  speak  Catalan  and  Spanish 


8  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

he  failed  to  pass  in  elementary  German.  Mathe- 
matics were  his  forte.  He  spent  little  more  than  a 
year  at  the  Poly  technique,  for  in  1870  he  obtained 
a  lieutenancy  and  served  among  the  defenders  of 
besieged  Paris. 

It  has  been  said  that  if  Joffre  pere  was  able  to 
give  his  children  a  good  education,  it  was  because 
he  made  a  fortune  as  a  wine-grower.  His  means 
were  chiefly  derived,  however,  from  a  much  more 
lucrative  business  in  his  part  of  France,  where, 
leaving  aside  the  somewhat  superior  wines  formally 
classed  as  E-oussillon  and  such  growths  as  muscat 
and  rancio  (limited  in  quantity  and  in  no  great 
demand),  the  bulk  of  the  vinous  produce  has  always 
been  of  a  common  character  and  so  plentiful  (except 
in  phylloxera  days)  as  never  to  command  high  prices. 
In  fact,  I  have  known  seasons  in  this  region  when  one 
might  obtain  wine  merely  for  the  asking,  provided, 
however,  that  one  had  a  cask  to  lodge  it  in.  Now 
it  was  by  making  casks  (far  more  than  by  making 
wine  on  his  little  estate,  which  his  son,  the  future 
general,  showed  him  how  to  trench  and  drain),  and 
by  selling  those  casks  at  a  good  profit,  particularly 
when  there  was  a  scarcity  of  them  and  wine  was 
plentiful  and  of  too  good  a  quality  to  be  thrown  away, 
that  Joffre  fere  accumulated  a  little  fortune.  This 
enabled  him  to  give  good  educations  to  those  of  his 
offspring  who  survived  their  early  childhood,  and 
thereby  qualify  them  for  higher  positions  than  that 
which  he  himself  occupied  as  a  master-cooper. 
Let  me  add  that  my  authority  for  these  particulars 
respecting  the  Joffre  family  is  the  general's  sister, 
Mme.  Artus. 

Early  in  1872  I  found  myself  with  my  father  in 
Alsace-Lorraine.     The  two  provinces  had  been  in 


GERMANY  9 

the  possession  of  the  Germans  since  the  autumn  of 
1870.  Their  connection  with  the  old  Germanic 
empire  is,  of  course,  well  known.  Several  of  the 
"  Holy  Roman  "  emperors  were  dukes  or  landgraves 
of  Alsace.  But  on  going  back  to  ancient  times  it 
will  be  found  that  Alsace  was  then  a  Celtic  land, 
peopled  by  tribes  whom  the  Romans  called  Rauraci, 
Sequani,  and  Mediomatrici,  their  occupation  of  the 
region  being  attested  by  the  menhirs  and  dolmens 
which  still  exist.  The  Germans,  however,  notably  the 
Tribocci  tribe,  came  in  hordes  across  the  Rhine,  and 
largely  but  not  entirely  dispossessed  the  Celts. 

Later,  there  were  various  Burgundian  irruptions, 
and  the  population,  as  happens  in  most  frontier  states, 
liable  to  the  vicissitudes  of  conquest,  became  ex- 
tremely mixed.  In  Alsace  various  forms  of  the 
German  language  ended  by  prevailing.  Until  the 
annexation  in  1871  the  dialect  of  the  Sundgau  ap- 
proximated to  the  German  spoken  in  northern 
Switzerland,  and  differed  considerably  from  that 
current  at  Colmar  and  Strasbourg.  In  the  moun- 
tainous regions  adjoining  Lorraine,  and  also  at 
Orbey,  Belfort,  Ste.  Marie-aux-Mines  and  other 
localities  there  was  quite  a  variety  of  special  patois, 
compounded  of  Celtic,  Latin,  German,  and  French 
words ;  and  it  was  curious  to  note  that  the  variations 
often  accorded  with  the  religion  of  the  people,  the 
Catholics  inclining  to  French  and  the  Protestants 
to  German.  In  some  districts,  like  that  of  La 
Baroche,  the  language  was  almost  identical  with 
that  spoken  by  the  Walloons  of  Belgium.  On  one 
side  of  the  valley  of  Ste.  Marie-aux-Mines  (called 
Markirch  by  the  Germans)  the  inhabitants  spoke 
a  French,  and  on  the  other  a  Teutonic,  dialect. 
Numerous  place-names  in  Lorraine  attest  a  Celtic 


10  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

origin,  such,  for  instance,  as  Liverdun  and  Verdun. 
The  name  of  Ehine,  like  that  of  Ehone,  is  also  derived 
from  the  Celtic  folk  who  prevailed  on  both  sides  of  the 
Vosges  from  the  fourth  to  the  first  century  before 
Christ.  The  Romans  gave  names  to  many  localities. 
Saverne,  now  called  Zabern  by  the  Germans,  was 
originally  Tabernae.  Colmar  comes  from  Colum- 
barium ;  Lingenf  eld  is  simply  a  distortion  of  Longa- 
villa ;  Orbey,  now  known  as  Urbeis,  can  be  traced 
back  to  Urbs.*  Of  many  Latin  and  French  names 
the  Germans  have  made  havoc  during  the  last  five 
and  forty  years.  They  have  turned  Chavannes-sur- 
I'Etang  into  Schaffnat-am-Weiher,  Valdieu  into 
Gottesthal,  Eomagny  into  Willern,  and  La  Poulroie 
into  Schmerlach. 

It  was  largely  on  ethnographical  grounds,  as  well 
as  for  political  motives,  that  the  Germans  laid  claim 
to  Alsace-Lorraine  in  1870.  The  agitation,  fomented 
by  Bismarck,  had  begun  as  soon  as  the  North  German 
Confederation  was  constituted  after  the  defeat  of 
Austria  and  her  expulsion  from  Germany  in  1866. 
A  zealous  propaganda  was  carried  on  in  German 
schools  and  universities  by  means  of  geographies 
and  atlases  setting  forth  the  claims  of  the  Fatherland 
to  more  than  one  region  beyond  the  Rhine.  A  cer- 
tain Herr  Richard  Boeck  distinguished  himself  by 
the  ardour  of  his  Pangermanism.  Versifiers  were 
pressed  into  the  service  of  the  cause,  and  such  lines 
as  the  following  were  repeated  on  all  sides  : 

"  Doch  dort  an  den  Vogesen 
Liegt  ein  verlomes  Gut. 
Dort  gilt  es  Deutches  Blut 
Vom  HoUenjoch  zu  losen." 

*  In  like  way  Rambervillers  in  Lorraine  comes  from  Ramberti-villare  ; 
Remiremont  from  Romaria-mons ;  and  Gondreville  from  Gundulfi-villa, 
Rambert,  Romario,  etc.,  were  Frankish  names. 


GERMANY  11 

"  Yonder  near  the  Vosges  a  lost  treasure  lies. 
There  must  German  blood  be  freed  from  hellish 
sway." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Government  of 
Napoleon  III  tried  to  discourage  the  German  dialects 
in  Alsace,  and  to  diffuse  among  the  peasantry  a 
wider  knowledge  of  French,  such  as  prevailed  among 
the  educated  classes.  At  one  time,  in  certain 
districts,  a  fine  of  a  sou  was  imposed  on  village 
school-children  if  they  were  heard  talking  together 
in  German  patois.  Certain  members  of  the  clergy, 
both  Catholic  and  Protestant  ones,  were,  however, 
strongly  opposed  to  the  French  language.  A  Stras- 
bourg cure  named  Cazeaux  and  a  certain  Pastor 
Baum  united  in  condemning  it  as  being  that  of  the 
infidel  Voltaire  and  the  corrupt  Parisians.  In 
Lorraine  the  Imperial  Government  was  more  success- 
ful. In  fact,  the  Lorraine  patois  was  for  the  most 
part  simply  a  debased  form  of  French,  as  the  following 
example  will  show  : — 

Quand  j'dansions  chus  I'orm^ 
J'eun  motins  point  d'ce  grands  ch6pe 
Qu'etaient  si  bin  enjolivet, 
Que  develint  pus  bas  qu'eul  net. 

J'eun  motins  ni  bouff'  ni  bouffants, 
Et  ni  ceintur'  de  be  rubans. 
Nos  cotillons  et  nos  corsets 
Sont  CO  pus  be  que  ces  affiquets.* 

*  In  correct  French  the  above  would  be  written  as  follows : — 
Quand  nous  dansions  sous  I'ormeau 
Nous  ne  mettions  point  de  ces  grands  chapeaux 
Qui  etaient  si  bien  enjolives, 
Qui  descendaient  plus  bas  que  le  nez. 

Nous  ne  mettions  ni  bouffes,  ni  bouffants, 

Et  ni  ceintures  de  beaux  rubans, 

Nos  cotilbns  et  nos  corsets 

Sont  encore  plus  beaux  que  ces  affiquets. 


12  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

The  position  of  Lorraine  as  a  French  possession 
differed  considerably  from  that  of  Alsace.  Most  of 
the  latter  province  was  occupied  by  French  troops 
during  the  final  period  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and 
its  possession  was  confirmed  to  Lousis  XIV  by  the 
treaties  of  Westphalia  (1648),  Nimeguen  (1679),  and 
Ryswick  (1697).  Strasbourg,  which  retained  its 
autonomy  until  1681,  was  then  secured  by  some 
rather  dubious  proceedings  on  the  part  of  Louvois. 
Nevertheless  it  is  certain  that  however  much  the 
bishop  of  the  time  may  have  protested,  the  stett- 
meister  and  the  heads  of  the  local  guilds  were  prepared 
for  annexation  to  France.  Passing  by  the  earlier 
history  of  Lorraine,  which  was  repeatedly  invaded 
by  French,  Burgundians,  Germans,  and  Swedes,  it 
will  be  found  that  this  province  came  to  France  by 
diplomatic  arrangement.  The  last  Duke  Francis, 
the  husband  of  the  famous  Maria  Theresa,  relin- 
quished it  to  Stanislas  Leczinski,  ex-King  of  Poland,  in 
exchange  for  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Tuscany,  with  the 
proviso  that  at  the  death  of  Stanislas  it  should  pass 
to  the  crown  of  France.  He,  however,  covenanted 
with  Louis  XV  that  the  latter  should  levy  all  taxes 
in  the  duchy  on  condition  of  paying  him  an  allowance 
of  two  million  livres  per  annum.  The  administration 
under  the  old  French  regime  was  very  bad.  Three 
fourths  of  the  soil  then  belonged  to  the  nobility  and 
the  taxation  levied  on  the  remaining  fourth  was  most 
oppressive.  Parmentier  is  credited  with  having 
encouraged  the  cultivation  of  the  potato  in  France, 
but  that  vegetable  had  been  introduced  into  Lorraine 
by  the  Swedes  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  its 
cultivation  there  became  so  extensive  and  remunera- 
tive that  a  special  tax  was  levied  on  all  the  crops. 

The  contemned  bourgeois  and  the  down-trodden 


GERMANY  13 

peasantry  hailed  the  French  Revolution  with 
enthusiasm.  At  the  first  threat  of  Austro-German 
invasion  they  hastened  to  enrol  themselves  under  the 
French  flag.  The  department  of  the  Vosges  was 
asked  to  provide  2600  men.  In  three  days  it  gave 
6400.  The  comparatively  small  town  of  Neuf- 
chateau,  though  overburdened  with  taxes,  sub- 
scribed in  one  week  200,000  livres  towards  the  cost 
of  the  war.  Both  Lorraine  and  Alsace  gave  many 
famous  commanders  to  the  Republic  and  the  Empire 
(among  others  Ney,  Drouot,  Custine,  Kleber,  Lefebvre, 
Rapp,  Kellermann,  and  Schramm),  and  it  is  certain 
that  the  two  provinces  became  extremely  attached  to 
France.  In  1815,  however,  the  districts  of  Saarlouis, 
Saarbruck,  and  others  were  ceded  to  Prussia.  In 
1871  France  lost  two-thirds  of  the  department  of  the 
Moselle,  two  districts  of  the  Meurthe  and  more  than 
one  district  of  the  Vosges,  in  addition  to  the  entirety 
of  the  two  Alsatian  departments  of  the  Upper  and 
the  Lower  Rhine.  The  latter  were  then  inhabited 
by  1,120,000  people,  and  the  Lorraine  districts  had 
a  population  of  490,000. 

At  the  time  when  I  visited  the  provinces  with  my 
father  in  1872  the  situation  was  painfully  interesting. 
There  were  still  many  traces  of  the  recent  great 
conflict  and  the  people  were  depressed  and  appre- 
hensive. Many  Germans  had  already  flocked  into 
the  new  Reichsland,  and  the  work  of  Germanisation 
was  being  sedulously  prosecuted.  Before  the  war 
Alsace  had  been  called  das  geraubte  Land  and  the 
Alsatians  die  verlornen  Bruder,  but  under  the  sway 
of  the  first  two  German  governors — Bismarck-Bohlen 
and  Dr.  Moeller — ^robbery  in  regard  both  to  public 
and  to  private  interests  was  more  than  ever  the  order 
of  the  day,  and  the  *'  lost  brothers  "  received  the 


14  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

harshest  possible  treatment.     The  treaty  of  peace  had 
provided  that  they   should  have  the  privilege  of 
choosing  either  the  French  or  the  German  nationality ; 
but  it  was  afterwards  edicted  by  the  new  Government 
that,  in  the  former  event,  the  people  would  not  be 
allowed  to  remain  in  the  conquered  territory.     They 
must  abandon  their  little  possessions  (the  soil  was 
extremely   subdivided  *)    selling   their   fields  for   a 
trifle  to  German  immigrants,  and  then  go  forth  across 
the  new  frontier  into  France.     I  did  not  witness  that 
lamentable  exodus,  for  it  occurred  chiefly  during  the 
autumn  of  1872  when  I  was  in  Berlin,  but  distressing 
accounts  of  it  appeared  in  the  English  as  well  as  in  the 
French  Press.     I  found,  however,  at  the  time  of  my 
visit,  that  many  large  manufacturing  and  commercial 
houses  were  abeady  being  transferred  to  France. 
Colmar,  Mulhouse,  and  other  towns  lost,   at  least 
temporarily,  many  of  their  industries.     The  economic 
situation  was  bad,  moreover,  by  reason  of  the  sub- 
stitution  of  the  German  for  the  French  coinage. 
When  I  was  again  in  the  provinces  a  few  years  later 
the  substitution  of  the  mark  for  the  franc   as  a 
standard    coin    had    tended    to    make    everything 
proportionately  dearer.     The  provinces  were  ceded 
to  Germany  free  of  all  public  debts.     Eight  years 
later,  however,  an  average  of  £2  per  annum  was 
imposed  on  each  inhabitant  to  meet  debts  incurred 
by  the  German  administration.     The  French  lan- 
guage was  not  finally  abolished  in  legal  proceedings 
until  1888,  but  German  at  once  became  obligatory 
for  all  public  bodies,  municipal  councils  and  so  forth  ; 
and  even  although  for  some  years  an  advocate  might 
be  allowed  to  plead  in  French  in  a  court  of  law,  he 

*  In  Alsace  in  the  last  year  of  French  rule  1,160,000  acres  of  land  were 
divided  into  two  million  distinct  parcels. 


GERMANY  15 

found  the  Code  Napoleon,  with  which  he  was  familiar, 
abolished  and  German  enactments  substituted  in 
its  place.  The  French  Code,  such  as  it  still  existed 
under  Napoleon  III,  was  by  no  means  perfect,  on 
which  account  it  has  been  so  profoundly  modified 
by  the  Third  Republic  that  its  first  authors  would 
nowadays  fail  to  recognise  it.  Nevertheless  it  was 
far  more  just  and  liberal  than  the  legislation  which  the 
Prussians  brought  into  Alsace-Lorraine. 

All  signs  of  sympathy  with  France  were  severely 
punished  by  the  new  masters  of  the  provinces.  The 
most  trivial  offences  were  visited  with  hard  labour 
or  solitary  confinement.  No  parent  was  allowed  to 
give  a  French  Christian  name  to  a  newly-born  child. 
A  father  who  desired  to  call  his  boy  Rene  (a  familiar 
name  in  Lorraine)  was  severely  reprimanded,  but 
allowed  to  have  the  child  christened  Renatus,  it 
being  graciously  conceded  that  there  was  no  objection 
to  Latin.  Very  soon  after  the  annexation  all  the 
masonic  lodges  were  suppressed,  on  the  ground  that 
they  might  favour  intercourse  and  conspiracy  with 
France.  Fearing  a  great  emigration  of  young  Lor- 
rainers  and  Alsatians  the  Germans  used  every 
endeavour  to  incorporate  them  with  all  speed  in  their 
own  army.  I  find  among  my  notes  that  in  1878 
Alsace  was  liable  to  contribute  40,833  conscripts. 
Of  these,  however,  only  4822  came  forward  willingly, 
and  3981  were  sentenced  by  default  to  imprisonment 
for  having  emigrated  without  permission  to  France, 
Luxemburg  or  Switzerland.  To  give  an  idea  of  the 
state  of  affairs  before  Manteuffel  became  Governor 
in  1879  and  tried  a  more  conciliatory  policy,  I  may 
mention  that  the  Germans  erected  no  fewer  than 
seventy-six  new  prisons  to  accommodate  the  never- 
ending  victims  of  their  oppressive  rule. 


16  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

In  the  course  of  our  trip  in  1872  we  visited,  my 
father  and  I,  many  points  of  interest,  beginning  with 
Metz — ^where  we  were  almost  regarded  as  spies — 
and  the  battlefields  in  its  vicinity.  Then  we  went 
on  to  Saverne  and  afterwards  to  Strasbourg.  The 
famous  cathedral,  which  the  Germans  had  treated 
almost  as  badly  as  more  recently  they  treated  that  of 
Reims,  was  being  repaired.  Nevertheless  we  were 
allowed  to  climb  the  five  hundred  feet  or  so  of  the  great 
tower  which  was  then,  and  may  still  be,  the  highest 
building  in  Europe.  The  splendid  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  century  stained  glass  of  the  edifice  had 
been  shivered  to  pieces  by  the  German  bombardment. 
The  organs  were  half  destroyed,  columns  were  broken 
and  statues  decapitated,  but  the  fine  Gothic  pulpit 
had  remained  intact,  having  been  cased  in  iron 
during  the  siege  of  the  city.  The  latter' s  library, 
like  that  of  Louvain,  had  been  destroyed  by  the 
enemy,  and  all  the  western  district  still  presented 
a  lamentable  sight  with  its  scores  of  ruined  houses. 
At  Strasbourg  as  at  Metz  you  met  soldiers  at  every 
turn,  and  their  insolence  towards  the  inhabitants 
stirred  one's  blood.  The  few  officers  with  whom  I 
had  occasion  to  speak  were,  however,  fairly  courteous 
to  my  father  and  myself  directly  they  discovered  that 
we  were  Englishmen.  It  seemed  to  me  (how  times 
change  !)  that  they  desired  to  have  the  good  opinion 
of  England.  They  lived  like  pigs  in  clover.  It 
must  at  least  be  said  that  Strasbourg  had  never  done 
a  better  trade  in  its  famous  pates  defoie  gras. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  1872,  still  acting 
as  my  father's  assistant,  I  made  my  first  visit  to 
Germany  proper — as  distinct,  that  is,  from  its  new 
Reichsland.  Our  destination  was  Berlin,  where  the 
Russian  and  Austrian  Emperors  were  expected  on  a 


GERMANY  17 

state  visit  to  Kaiser  Wilhelm  I — Bismarck  having 
planned  an  alliance  of  the  three  imperial  houses  in 
order  to  secm'e  Germany  in  possession  of  her  new 
conquests.  This  journey  of  ours,  like  others  of  which 
I  shall  write  hereafter,  was  undertaken  chiefly  on 
behalf  of  the  Illustrated  London  News.  We  travelled 
from  Paris  by  way  of  Cologne,  where  we  were  held 
up  for  a  day  by  the  loss  of  some  luggage.  Then  we 
went  on  through  the  Black  Country  of  the  Rhine  to 
Oberhausen  and  Essen,  which  were  smoky  with 
the  works  of  Jacobi  and  Ejrupp. 

Around  the  latter  were  lofty  towered  walls  to 
keep  out  all  inquisitive  folks  who  might  seek  to 
pry  into  the  secrets  of  this  great  arsenal.  The  Herr 
Krupp,  to  whom  it  then  belonged,  was  the  son  of 
the  original  founder  of  the  works  and  the  grand- 
father of  the  Fraulein  Bertha,  who  in  1906  married 
Herr  von  Bohlen  und  Halbach.  The  establishment 
was  started  in  a  very  small  way  indeed,  but  in  the 
early  seventies  of  the  nineteenth  century  it  already 
spread  over  more  than  500  acres  of  ground,  and 
comprised  400  furnaces,  250  steam  engines,  some  of 
them  of  100  horse-power,  and  over  50  steam 
hammers,  one  of  which  weighed  50  tons  and  had 
cost  £100,000.  There  were  forges,  lathes,  planing, 
cutting,  shaping,  boring,  and  other  machines  in- 
numerable, and  the  staff  amounted  to  about  10,000 
hands.  In  1874  that  number  had  increased  to  16,000, 
and  65,000  tons  of  steel  were  produced  at  Essen  that 
same  year.  Krupp  had  his  own  ships  to  bring  raw 
materials  from  Spain  and  other  countries,  and  the 
greatest  care  was  taken  in  blending  the  metal  so 
as  to  produce  a  very  close  and  fine-grained  steel,  free 
from  all  flaws,  and  offering  a  much  greater  resistance 
than  Bessemer's.     Whilst  executing  orders  for  five 

o 


18  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

foreign  Powers  the  establishment  was  also  delivering 
a  hundred  guns  a  week  to  the  German  artillery  depots, 
as  though,  indeed,  a  new  war  were  speedily  expected. 
The  latest  novelty,  at  the  time  of  which  I  refer,  was 
a  gun  of  14*5  inch  bore,  throwing  a  shot  weighing 
330  lbs.,  which  could  penetrate  a  solid  iron  plate 
from  20  to  24  inches  in  thickness.  That  gun  repre- 
sented a  great  advance  on  the  first  pieces  of  artillery 
made  at  Essen,  for  these  (1846)  were  merely  three- 
pounders,  and  even  the  guns  exhibited  by  the  firm 
in  Hyde  Park  in  1851  were  six-pounders  only.  I 
remember,  however,  that  some  large  guns  (for  the 
period)  were  shown  at  the  Paris  Exhibition  of  1867, 
when,  by  reason  of  the  triumph  of  Prussia  over 
Austria  during  the  previous  year,  they  attracted  very 
great  attention.  Kj'upps  contributed  yet  more 
formidable  instruments  of  warfare  to  the  Vienna 
Weltaustellung  in  1873,  when  the  recent  triumph 
over  France  again  drew  thousands  of  spectators  to 
their  exhibits,  above  which  appeared,  I  recollect, 
in  huge  lettering  the  hackneyed  yet  none  the  less 
significant  inscription :  Si  vis  pacem,  para  helium. 
The  artillery  of  those  times  was,  however,  far  less 
formidable  than  that  of  to-day. 

I  have  already  given  some  indication  of  the  growth 
of  the  Krupp  establishment  down  to  the  middle 
"  seventies "  of  the  last  century.  Its  progress 
became  much  more  marked  after  an  amalgamation 
with  the  Asthower  and  Gruson  works  in  the  early 
nineties.  I  find  that  down  to  1894  25,000  pieces  of 
artillery  had  been  made  at  Essen,  and  supplied  to 
34  different  states.  In  1902  the  establishment's 
output  had  increased  to  over  40,000  cannon — ex- 
clusive, of  course,  of  quick-firers  and  machine-guns, 
the    manufacture    of    which   was    already    greatly 


GERMANY  19 

increasing.  In  the  last-named  year  the  parent 
establishment  covered  790  acres  of  ground.  The  firm 
owned  half  a  dozen  large  coal  mines  and  controlled 
500  iron  mines  ;  it  had  laid  down  110  kilometres  of 
private  railway  lines  and  had  a  rolling  stock  of  2000 
trucks.  There  were  1600  furnaces,  forges  or 
smithies  at  Essen,  with  5300  machines  of  various 
kinds,  140  steam  hammers,  representing  a  weight 
of  243,000  lbs.,  63  hydraulic  presses,  and  513  steam 
engines  including  some  of  3500  horse-power.  In  1892 
the  number  of  regular  hands  had  increased  to  over 
25,000.  Ten  years  later  they  exceeded  35,000  ;  and 
ever  and  ever  there  was  an  increase  in  acreage, 
machinery,  and  output  of  various  descriptions — ^the 
whole  tending  to  make  ICrupp's  the  greatest  arsenal 
the  world  had  ever  known.  Foreign  Governments 
were  well  aware  of  it,  and  complacently  procured 
their  armament  and  munitions  of  war  from  Essen 
and  its  branch  or  allied  establishments — at  Duisburg, 
Rheinhausen,  Neuwied,  Enger  and  elsewhere — care- 
less, apparently,  as  to  what  was  implied  by  the 
ceaseless  growth  of  that  formidable  and  many  ten- 
tacled  monster,  to  whose  development  their  gold 
contributed,  though  it  Avas  primarily  at  the  beck  and 
call  of  the  most  ambitious  and  unscrupulous  of 
military  Powers — one  which  was  only  too  pleased  to 
see  its  growth  and  power  for  evil  increase. 

Perhaps  I  have  lingered  too  long  over  this  subject 
of  Kjrupp's.  My  excuse  must  be  that  these  lines  are 
written  in  days  of  Armageddon,  after  the  reverses 
experienced  by  our  ally  Russia  owing  to  a  lack  of 
supplies,  and  when  we  ourselves  are  doing,  in  respect 
to  armament  and  munitions,  that  which  we  should 
have  done  long  ago,  had  our  leaders  only  fully  realised 
the  responsibilities  of  Empire.     Of  Essen  I  myself 


20  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

saw  but  the  shell.  There  could  be  no  question  of 
any  foreigner  obtaining  permission  to  visit  the  huge 
Factory  of  Death  and  Destruction.  We  went  on 
towards  Berlin  past  Dortmund  in  the  heart  of  the 
Westphalian  coal  and  iron  region  and,  with  its  count- 
less chimneys  and  clouds  of  smoke,  very  different 
from  what  it  had  been  in  the  days  when  the  Emperor 
Sigismund  was  affiliated  to  the  secret  fraternity  of 
the  Vehmgericht  under  its  ancient  and  umbrageous 
linden  trees.  At  Giitersloh  the  train  stopped  for  a  few 
minutes,  and  everybody  rushed  eagerly  into  the 
station's  refreshment-room.  I  had  formed  some  idea 
of  German  militarism  during  the  then  recent  war 
with  France,  but  I  was  not  prepared  to  find  it  so 
prominent  as  it  was  in  railway  regulations  and 
methods.  The  haughty  peremptoriness  of  the 
officials  conveyed  the  impression  that  they  regarded 
a  traveller  as  a  mere  prisoner  of  war  on  his  way  to 
some  suitable  place  of  internment  and  destitute  of 
any  rights  whatever.  One  day  on  a  train  stopping  at 
a  certain  station  some  official  of  the  railway  service 
was  heard  shouting  "  Herr  Schultz  !  Herr  Schultz  !  " 
in  a  stentorian  voice.  Forthwith  a  mild-mannered 
but  inquisitive  man  thrust  his  head  out  of  a  carriage 
window  and  was  at  once  accosted  with  the  words : 
"  Are  you  Herr  Schultz  ?  "  "  No,"  he  answered ; 
"  my  name  is  Miiller  ?  "  "In  that  case  why  are  you 
looking  out  ?  Nobody  asked  for  you.  The  matter 
does  not  concern  you.  Sit  down !  "  Foolishly 
enough,  the  inquisitive  traveller  tried  to  expostulate ; 
but  he  retired  from  the  window  with  more  precipita- 
tion than  dignity  when  he  had  suddenly  received  a 
very  smart  smack  on  the  face  for  failing  to  comply 
at  once  with  an  official  command. 

Going  our  way  we  passed  many  a  quiet  tree-girt 


GERMANY  21 

Westphalian  village.  Then  came  a  great  stretch 
of  barren-looking  plain  dotted  at  intervals  with 
dismal  stunted  trees  and  groups  of  black  and  white 
cattle.  Afterwards  came  a  hilly  district  ending  in  a 
defile,  beyond  which  was  Minden  with  "  its  wood- 
crowned  height,"  where  the  poet's  Eliza  stood 
"  spectatress  of  the  fight "  on  the  famous  occasion 
when,  although  Lord  George  Sackville  showed  the 
white  feather,  our  infantry  broke  through  three  lines 
of  French  cavalry  and,  as  Carlyle  put  it,  "  tumbled 
them  to  ruin." 

We  halted  for  a  day  at  Hanover,  once  so  closely 
connected  with  Great  Britain,  but  whence  some  six 
years  previously  the  last  Guelph  King,  poor  old 
blind  George  V,  had  been  driven  into  exile  by  the 
Prussian  arms.  He  ultimately  took  up  his  residence 
in  Paris,  where  I  occasionally  saw  him  attended  by 
his  devoted  daughter,  the  Princess  Frederika.  For 
some  years  the  "  lost  cause "  was  upheld  in  the 
German  Reichstag  by  a  small  body  of  particularist 
Hanoverian  deputies,  led  by  one  of  King  George's 
former  ministers,  Herr  Windthorst,  who,  in  parlia- 
mentary matters,  became  Bismarck's  particular 
hUe  noire,  and  returned  the  Chancellor's  animosity 
with  interest.  I  remember  seeing  that  now  forgotten 
Hanoverian  champion  more  than  once,  when  attend- 
ing some  of  the  Reichstag's  sittings.  He  was  very 
short,  and  had  a  habit  of  doubling  himself  up  in  his 
seat  with  his  bald  head  drawn  down  between  his 
shoulders  whilst  staring  strangely  with  glittering 
spectacled  eyes.  He  was  a  fine  debater,  however, 
swift  in  repartee,  and  unsparing  of  his  adversaries. 
His  religious  fervour  was  so  tinged  with  animosity 
towards  all  who  differed  from  him  that  his  opponents 
ended  by  nicknaming  him  *'the  wolf  in  monkish  garb." 


22  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  to  Hanover  the  people 
were  by  no  means  reconciled  to  Prussian  rule.  But 
time  brings  many  changes,  and  nowadays  a  Han- 
overian figures  as  the  most  conspicuous  of  all  the 
German  commanders.  I  refer  to  Field  Marshal 
von  Hindenburg,  who,  according  to  his  own  state- 
ments, as  chronicled  by  the  Teutonic  Press,  aspires, 
once  his  task  completed,  to  spend  "  the  autumn  of 
his  days  in  the  peaceful  quietude  of  his  beloved 
Hanover." 

Passing  through  an  undulating  country,  half 
fertile  fields  and  haK  wooded  hills,  we  came  at  last 
to  Brunswick,  where  the  prospect  was  less  pleasing, 
and  then,  after  entering  Prussian  Saxony  and  passing 
Magdeburg,  we  found  broad  sandy  plains  stretching 
for  miles  on  either  side  of  the  railway  line.  I  allude 
to  the  character  of  the  country  because  if  ever  a 
British  army  should  march  upon  Berlin,  it  would 
probably  have  to  cross  the  regions  I  have  mentioned. 
After  the  rolling  ground  of  Hanover  and  the  sandy 
plains  beyond  Magdeburg,  we  perceived  strips  of 
marshland,  and  then  yet  another  sandy  expanse 
dotted  with  clusters  of  pines,  well  nigh  the  only 
trees  to  grow  in  the  soil  of  the  desolate-looking 
Mark  of  Brandenburg.  Little  windmills  perched  on 
piles  of  stones  were  espied  here  and  there  as  we 
travelled  onward.  Now  and  again  lean  kine,  sug- 
gesting those  of  Pharaoh's  dream,  were  seen  drinking 
at  pools  of  greenish  water  ;  but  the  region  seemed  to 
be  very  scantily  populated,  there  being  only  a  few 
wretched-looking  little  villages  grouped  round  decay- 
ing churches.  At  last,  however,  came  some  large 
lakes  peopled  with  water-fowl,  and  after  passing 
a  pine  forest  and  yet  another  stretch  of  sand  we  were 
at  Potsdam,  with  its  score  of  palaces  standing  in 


GERMANY  23 

beautiful  gardens  and  picturesquely  surrounded  by 
plantations  which  spread  over  both  hill  and  vale. 
Half  an  hour  later  we  reached  Berlin,  and  on  alighting 
found  ourselves  in  a  little  wooden  station,  which 
seemed  a  very  contemptible  structure  for  the  as- 
piring capital  of  a  new  empire.  At  that  time, 
however,  the  huge  Potsdamer  terminus,  though 
virtually  completed,  had  not  been  opened  for  general 
traffic. 


II. 


IMPERIAL  BERLIN — A  GATHERING  OF  EMPERORS — 
THE  WHITE  LADY  AND  THE  HOHENZOLLERN 
SAINT. 

The  Alliance  of  the  Three  Emperors — ^Italy's  Delicate  Position — The  Czar 
and  the  Austrian  Kaiser  in  Berlin — Bismarck  at  a  Review — Some 
Imperial  Toasts — The  Zapfenstreich  Tragedy — "Berlin  under  the 
New  Empire  " — Attempts  on  the  old  Kaiser's  Life — His  Study  and 
his  Bedroom — The  Story  of  the  White  Lady,  Kunigunde  of  Orlamiinde 
— The  Legend  of  St.  Meinrad  of  Hohenzollem. 

Ever  since  the  close  of  the  Franco-German  War 
Berhn  had  been  living  in  a  state  of  moral  intoxication. 
It  had  resolved  to  be  the  Weltstadt — the  world- 
city — 'par  excellence,  and  scheme  after  scheme  was 
being  devised  to  enlarge  and  embellish  it  and  add 
to  its  so-called  amenities.  The  Viennese  con- 
temptuously referred  to  the  Prussian  capital  as  the 
sand-box  of  Germany ;  the  Berlinese  themselves 
styled  it  the  City  of  Intelligence,  the  Athens  of  the 
Spree.  Their  ambitious  feelings  were  certainly  grati- 
fied by  the  visit  which  the  Russian  and  Austrian 
Emperors  paid  to  their  sovereign  in  that  autumn  of 
1872.  This  visit  appeared  to  them  like  a  decisive 
consecration  of  the  new  Germanic  Empire,  a  formal 
recognition  of  the  high  position  to  which  that  Empire 
had  risen  as  the  foremost  Power  in  Europe.  There 
was  naturally  a  good  deal  of  speculation  respecting 
the  real  secret  object  of  the  visit.     According  to 

24 


GERMANY  25 

most  of  the  political  "  tipsters "  of  the  Berlinese 
Press,  the  Emperors  and  their  chief  ministers  were  to 
confer  and  come  to  an  agreement  on  the  maintenance 
of  the  status  quo  in  Em'ope,  particularly  with  regard 
to  any  designs  which  France  might  form  for  the 
recovery  of  Alsace-Lorraine  or  the  restoration  of 
the  temporal  power  of  the  Papacy.  It  may  be 
mentioned  that  the  Ultramontane  party  in  France 
was  already  protesting  against  the  annexation  of 
Rome  to  the  Kingdom  of  Italy,  and  seeking  to  embroil 
the  Republic  in  a  new  war,  although  it  had  by  no 
means  recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  recent  one. 
At  this  period,  moreover,  it  seemed  possible  that  a 
monarchy  might  soon  be  restored  in  France,  for  the 
position  of  Thiers  as  President  was  by  no  means  a 
stable  one,  and  the  Royalists  and  Bonapartists  were 
displaying  great  activity.  Such  being  the  case,  it 
was  undoubtedly  felt  in  German  official  quarters 
that  any  restoration  of  the  Bourbons  or  the  Bona- 
partes  might  well  lead  to  a  new  war,  if  only  for  the 
sake  of  prestige,  and  either  on  the  question  of  the 
conquered  provinces  or  that  of  the  Pope's  loss  of 
territorial  sovereignty. 

Apropos  of  the  latter  point,  I  must  also  mention 
that  King  Victor-Emmanuel — the  grandfather  of 
the  present  Italian  sovereign — had  been  invited  to 
Berlin  at  the  same  time  as  the  Russian  and  Austrian 
Emperors,  but  had  decided  to  stay  away,  leaving 
his  interests  with  respect  to  Rome  in  the  hands  of 
Prince  Bismarck,  at  whose  instigation  he  had  taken 
possession  of  the  city  in  1870.  Victor- Emmanuel's 
position  was,  indeed,  a  delicate  one.  It  was  for 
the  sake  of  Rome  that  he  had  remained  neutral 
during  the  Franco-German  war,  instead  of  going 
to  the  help  of  France.     Nevertheless  he  could  not 


26  IN  SEVEN  LANDvS 

forget  Magenta  and  Solferino,  and  provided  that  the 
French  Eepublic  would  leave  him  in  undisturbed 
possession  of  the  Eternal  City,  he  was  not  disposed 
to  enter  into  any  deliberately  hostile  league  against 
France.  The  Triple  Alliance — it  should  be  remem- 
bered— was  not  negotiated  until  the  time  of  his  son 
King  Humbert.  Further,  although  Francis-Joseph 
of  Austria  was  for  his  part  willing  to  meet  the  men 
by  whom  his  armies  had  been  beaten  in  1866, 
Victor-Emmanuel  was  not  willing  to  meet  Francis- 
Joseph,  by  whose  forces  his  own,  both  naval  and 
military,  had  been  defeated,  that  same  year,  at 
Lissa  and  Custozza.  Moreover,  Pope  Pius  IX,  feeling 
that  he  could  not  expect  any  advantage  from  the 
existing  Government  of  France,  was  now  looking 
towards  Austria  for  help,  and  the  Austrian  Emperor's 
religious  feelings  inclining  him  towards  the  Papal 
cause,  it  was  advisable  for  the  King  of  Italy  to  ab- 
stain from  meeting  him  and  his  advisers  at  Berlin, 
lest  some  inconvenient  question  should  be  raised. 

A  few  German  newspapers  mentioned  another 
matter  as  likely  to  receive  consideration  at  the 
imperial  conference — namely  that  of  the  Near  East. 
During  the  Franco-German  War  Russia  had  torn  up 
the  Black  Sea  stipulations  of  the  Paris  Treaty  of 
1856,  and  Austria  was  already  glancing  covetously 
in  the  direction  of  the  Balkans,  though  another  six 
years  were  to  elapse  before  she  occupied  Bosnia. 
At  the  period  to  which  I  refer,  Germany  took  no 
interest  in  Balkan  questions.  Bismarck  said  some 
time  afterwards  that  he  was  unwilling  to  sacrifice 
even  a  button  off  the  tunic  of  a  Pomeranian  grenadier 
for  any  such  matters.  That  these  were  of  interest, 
however,  to  Russia  and  Austria  goes  without  saying  ; 
and  the  state  of  affairs  in  these  later  days  has  revived 


GERMANY  27 

in  my  mind  a  recollection  of  a  cartoon  which  ap- 
peared in  one  of  the  Berlinese  satirical  jom'nals  at 
the  time  when  the  conference  of  Emperors  ended  in 
1872.  Russia  and  Austria  were  then  shown  taking 
leave  of  Germany,  who  said  to  them  with  a  smile : 
"  Good-bye,  gentlemen.  A  pleasant  race  to — Con- 
stantinople !  " 

We  reached  Berlin,  my  father  and  I,  on  August 
31.  Two  days  later  we  found  the  whole  city  befiagged, 
for  it  was  the  second  anniversary  of  the  battle  of 
Sedan.  The  tricolor  of  the  new  empire,  the  black 
and  white  banner  of  Prussia,  and  occasionally  the 
black,  red  and  gold  standard  of  Barbarossa's  time, 
waved  from  a  forest  of  flagstaffs,  whilst  the  black 
eagle  escutcheons  were  innumerable.  Crowds  of 
townsfolk  and  peasantry  from  the  vicinity  thronged 
the  streets,  regiment  after  regiment  passed  along, 
and  so-called  "  battle  music  "  resounded  on  every 
square  and  in  every  beer  garden.  Three  days  after- 
wards the  Russian  Emperor  arrived,  and  provided 
with  a  special  permit  signed  by  Herr  von  Madai,  the 
President  of  Police,  we  witnessed  his  reception  at 
the  eastern  railway  terminus.  We  had  both  seen 
Alexander  II  of  Russia  previously,  notably  during 
his  visit  to  Paris  in  1867.*  Still  in  the  prime  of  life, 
he  looked  as  erect,  as  athletic  as  ever — in  fact,  a  fine 
specimen  of  manhood.  Quite  hearty  also  appeared  the 
German  Kaiser  though  he  limped  slightly  on  account 
of  an  injury  to  one  of  his  feet.  I  had  a  good  view 
of  him  whilst,  surrounded  by  numerous  princes  and 
dignitaries,  he  stood  awaiting  the  arrival  of  his  guest, 
in  compliment  to  whom  he  wore  a  Russian  uniform — 
dark  tunic  and  red  trousers  with  the  broad  blue 
riband  of  a  Russian  order.      William  I  was  very 

*  See  the  author's  work,  "  My  Days  of  Adventure." 


28  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

tall — ^in  fact,  few  men  in  all  his  army  exceeded  him  in 
stature — and  his  shoulders  and  chest  were  propor- 
tionately broad.  His  eyes — ^grey,  tinged  with  yellow, 
I  believe — shone  brightly  under  his  shaggy  brows, 
A  protuberance  above  the  temples  seemed  to  denote 
in  him  a  man  of  swift  resolutions.  His  thin  and 
compressed  lips  were  scarcely  visible  beneath  his 
bristling  moustache,  which  with  his  wiry  whiskers 
gave  him  a  somewhat  feline  appearance.  Neverthe- 
less, well-preserved  though  he  undoubtedly  was  for 
his  age  (seventy-five  years),  there  was  nothing 
particularly  distinguished  about  him.  His  voice  was 
quite  unpleasant,  suggesting  a  snuffle,  but  people 
pretended  to  admire  it  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
similar  to  the  voice  of  Frederick  the  Great. 

Near  him,  in  a  dark  green  and  silver  uniform,  was 
his  son,  the  Crown  Prince  Frederick  (father  of  the 
present  Kaiser),  whom  I  had  last  seen  on  the  day 
when  he  rode  down  the  Champs  Ely  sees  during  the 
brief  German  occupation  of  Paris.  He,  also,  looked 
tall  and  stalwart,  but  far  less  severe  than  the  Em- 
peror William.  His  blue  eyes  had  a  kindly  ex- 
pression, and  the  manner  in  which  he  smiled  whilst 
he  conversed  with  those  around  him,  bespoke  an 
affable  natiu'e.  As  yet  he  had  given  no  sign  of  the 
terrible  disease  which  ultimately  carried  him  off  to  the 
misfortune  of  Germany  and  probably  of  the  world  in 
general,  for  he  was  a  man  of  liberal  mind,  a  soldier 
only  by  force  of  circumstances,  a  prince  who  took  a 
keen  interest  in  art,  letters,  and  also  agriculture, 
frequently  showing  himself  anxious  for  the  well- 
being  of  those  over  whom  he  expected  some  day  to 
reign. 

I  cannot  say  whether  the  present  Kaiser,  then  a 
lad  of  thirteen  years,  was  with  his  father  on  the 


GERMANY  29 

occasion  to  which  I  refer.  In  the  previous  year  he 
had  ridden  on  a  dapple-grey  pony  beside  his  grand- 
father's charger  when  the  German  troops,  flushed 
with  their  victories  in  France,  made  their  triumphal 
return  to  Berlin  ;  and  it  may  be  that  he  was  among 
those  who  had  assembled  to  greet  the  Czar.  I 
did  not  see  him,  however,  though  I  caught  sight  of 
the  broad  shouldered  and  somewhat  haughty-looking 
Prince  Frederick  Charles,  father  of  the  Duchess  of 
Connaught.  The  Red  Prince,  as  people  called  him, 
was  certainly  an  able  man,  but  after  proving  very 
difficult  to  manage  in  his  youth,  he  developed,  like 
most  of  his  race,  exaggerated  notions  of  his  princely 
position. 

As  the  train  from  St.  Petersburg  *  stopped,  the 
Russian  Emperor  leapt  out  of  it  into  the  German 
monarch's  arms,  and  no  little  kissing  and  hugging 
followed.  Then  came  all  sorts  of  presentations, 
and  Bismarck,  looking  burly  and  bloated,  strode 
along,  with  hands  extended,  to  greet  his  confrere,  the 
little  spectacled,  almost  wizened  Russian  Chancellor, 
Prince  Gortschakoff.  Each  put  on  the  most  cordial 
of  diplomatic  smiles,  as  if  they  were  quite  delighted 
to  meet.  They  were  not,  however,  so  well  pleased 
with  one  another  at  a  certain  memorable  congress 
which  was  held  at  Berlin  six  years  afterwards. 

More  interesting  from  various  standpoints  than 
the  arrival  of  the  Czar  was  that  of  Francis-Joseph, 
on  the  evening  of  September  5.  I  doubt  whether 
the  Austrian  sovereign  had  met  Kaiser  William  since 
the  fateful  day  of  Koniggratz.  He  arrived  at  Berlin 
wearing,  in  the  usual  complimentary  fashion,  a 
Prussian  uniform,  and  in  like  manner  the  German 

♦This  was  of   course  long  before  the  Russian  capital  was  renamed 
Petrograd. 


30  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

Emperor  and  princes  were  arrayed  in  Austrian 
regimentals.  There  seemed  to  me  to  be  something 
comical  in  this  exchange  of  uniforms  between  victors 
and  vanquished.  The  visit  did  not  begin  auspiciously. 
The  train  stopped  at  the  wrong  spot,  and  for  a  minute 
or  two  there  was  very  great  confusion,  amidst  which 
the  old  German  Kaiser  was  seen  trying  to  run  to  the 
carriage  from  which  his  dear  brother  and  guest  was 
alighting.  An  old  man  of  five  and  seventy  cannot 
run  very  well,  however,  when  he  has  a  game  foot. 
When  the  two  monarchs  at  last  met  face  to  face, 
William  would  have  hugged  Francis-Joseph  even  as 
he  had  hugged  Alexander,  but  the  sovereign  who  had 
been  ignominiously  driven  out  of  Germany,  where  he 
had  long  held  the  first  place,  was  not  disposed  to 
embrace  his  successful  rival,  to  whom,  indeed,  he 
merely  offered  his  hand.  For  a  moment  both 
Emperors  seemed  to  be  equally  embarrassed.  I 
observed  also  that  Francis-Joseph  took  no  notice 
whatever  of  Moltke,  whom  perhaps  he  did  not  re- 
cognise, but  he  unbent  when  he  found  himself  in  the 
presence  of  Bismarck,  his  greeting  with  whom  was, 
to  all  appearance,  the  most  cordial  of  all. 

There  was,  however,  another  unpropitious  little 
incident.  All  paintings  and  monuments  referring 
to  the  war  of  1866  had  been  carefully  removed  from 
the  Berlin  palaces  and  other  places  which  the  Austrian 
Emperor  might  visit.  Nevertheless,  when  the  im- 
perial party  drove  from  the  railway  station  to  the 
old  Schloss,  the  carriages  proceeded  towards  Unter 
den  Linden  by  way  of  the  Koniggratzer-strasse,  so 
named  in  memory  of  Austria's  crushing  defeat  by  the 
Prussian  arms.  Further,  before  Francis-Joseph 
quitted  Berlin,  Kaiser  William  considerately  ap- 
pointed   him    Colonel-in-Chief    of    the    Schleswig- 


GERMANY  31 

Holstein  Hussars — another  name  which  must  have 
awakened  unpleasant  memories.  Those  little 
incidents  and  sundry  others  were  but  examples  of 
the  lack  of  tact  which  has  always  distinguished  the 
Hohenzollerns  and  which  is  conspicuous  also  in  their 
Prussian  subjects.     Like  master,  Hke  man. 

In  another  chapter  I  propose  to  say  something 
of  the  German  army  as  it  was  in  the  last  seventies. 
Here  I  will  only  mention  that  among  the  entertain- 
ment provided  for  the  Russian  and  Austrian  monarchs 
there  was  a  grand  review  on  the  sandy  Tempelhofer- 
feld,  followed  by  some  military  manoeuvres  in  the 
vicinity  of  Spandau,  in  whose  citadel  the  German 
war-chest,  formed  of  the  unexpended  residue  of  the 
French  indemnity,  was  then  carefully  stowed  away. 
At  the  Tempelhof  affair  Alexander  and  Francis- 
Joseph  led  their  respective  German  regiments  in  the 
march  past  the  Emperor  William,  whom  they  duly 
saluted  with  their  swords.  Once  again,  in  the 
Austrian  Kaiser's  case,  the  situation  was  full  of 
irony,  for  the  regiment  that  followed  him  had  fought 
victoriously  against  his  own  troops  in  the  defiles  of 
the  Erzegebirge.  Meantime,  Bismarck  was  on  the 
ground,  riding  hither  and  thither,  in  cuirassier 
uniform ;  and  at  one  moment  of  the  proceedings  he 
drew  up  beside  a  carriage  full  of  ladies — near  to  the 
droschke  occupied  by  my  father  and  myseM — and 
after  exchanging  compliments  with  his  fair  com- 
patriots he  inquired  if  they  had  such  a  thing  as  a 
sandwich  to  spare.  Butterbrode  and  sausage  were 
at  once  tendered  to  him  ;  but  when  he  inquired  for 
Chambertin — the  wine  which  agreed  with  him  better 
than  any  other,  said  he — it  had  to  be  procured  from 
another  equipage. 

Whilst  the  Chancellor  was  thus  refreshing  himself, 


32  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

a   poorly   clad   individual,    who    stood   beside   our 
droschke,  smoking  a  bad  cigar,  turned  to  me  and 
said :    "  He  looks  as  if  he  does  not   deny   himself 
the  good  things  of  this  world."     I  nodded  assent  (to 
have  spoken  might  have  been  imprudent)  and  the 
man  who  had  addressed  me,  feeling  highly  satisfied 
with  his  remark,  thereupon  blew  a  big  cloud  of  smoke 
from  between  his  lips.     Now  it  so  happened  that  the 
Crown  Princess  (later  Empress  Frederick)  was  seated 
in  her  carriage  only  a  few  yards  away,  and  although 
she  did  not  object  to  tobacco  "per  se  (her  husband's 
habits  precluded  it)  she  had  sensitive  nostrils,  and 
could  not  endure  the  aroma  of  so  foul  a  weed  as  that 
which  the  man  I  have  mentioned  was  smoking.     So 
she  spoke  to  a  lackey  who  conveyed  a  message  to  a 
policeman,  and  the  latter  at  once  seized  the  offender 
by  the  collar  and  hurried   him  away — perhaps  to 
durance — whilst  exclaiming :  "  How  dare  you  smoke 
your  bad  cigars  here  !  " 

That  evening  a  grand  banquet  was  given  in  the 
famous  Weisse  Saal  (White  Hall)  of  the  old  Schloss 
of  Berlin.  We  were  privileged  to  view  the  table 
prior  to  the  repast,  and  also  the  arrival  of  the  guests. 
Blue  and  white  satin  predominated  among  the  ladies, 
who  included  the  Empress  Augusta,  the  Crown 
Princess,  and  the  Grand  Duchess  of  Baden.  The 
first  named  was  then  a  good  featured  old  lady  of 
sixty-one  who,  in  her  youth,  had  been  as  noted  for 
her  beauty  as  for  her  wit.  She  belonged  to  the 
house  of  Weimar,  and  had  sat  at  the  feet  of  Herder 
and  Goethe,  and  patronised  many  artists,  scientists, 
and  men  of  letters.  But  although  she  was  averse  to 
warfare  and  distrustful  of  Bismarck,  she  had  few,  if 
any,  real  liberal  sympathies,  the  bent  of  her  nature 
being  decidedly  aristocratic. 


GERMANY  33 

At  the  close  of  the  banquet  in  the  Weisse  Saal 
the  Emperor  WiUiam  rose  from  his  seat  and  exclaimed 
rather  brusquely :  **  Animated  by  the  most  sincere 
feelings  of  gratitude,  I  drink  to  the  health  of  my 
imperial  guests."  Haydn's  hymn — the  Austrian 
anthem — then  sounded  and  Francis-Joseph  stood  up 
to  return  thanks.  "  From  the  bottom  of  my  heart," 
said  he,  "I  thank  his  Majesty  for  the  words  he  has 
spoken.  May  God  protect  and  preserve  his  Majesty 
the  Emperor-King  of  Prussia,  the  Empress  Augusta 
and  the  whole  Royal  House  of  Prussia  !  "  When  the 
Czar's  turn  arrived  he  contented  himself  with  saying  : 
"  I  drink  to  the  welfare  of  the  gallant  Prussian 
army ! "  The  point  which  struck  me  in  those 
repHes  was  that  the  word  "  German  "  was  not  once 
pronounced.  But,  of  course,  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  Germany  had  already  become  Prussia, 
and  the  Germans  Prussians. 

The  banquet  was  followed  by  a  ballet  performance 
at  the  opera  house;  but  the  great  feature  of  the  evening 
was  the  Zapfenstreich,  a  processional  performance  of 
twenty-two  military  bands  (1100  men),  who,  after 
assembling  on  the  Opern-platz,  formed  themselves 
into  three  columns  headed  by  some  hundreds  of 
guardsmen  carrying  tall  flaring  flambeaux.  A  gun 
was  fired  as  a  signal,  and  the  men  at  once  got  into 
motion  amidst  the  loud  strains  of  their  instruments. 
But  above  that  huge  volume  of  sound  those  who,  like 
my  father  and  myseK,  were  awaiting  the  procession 
on  the  terrace  below  the  Schloss,  suddenly  heard  the 
most  piercing  cries  of  distress.  The  police  had 
allowed  far  too  dense  a  crowd  to  assemble  in  the 
Schloss-freiheit  and  when  the  procession  of  bands- 
men came  up  there  was  no  room  for  it  to  pass.  But 
the  brave  mounted  Berlinese  police  did  not  hesitate. 


34  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

They  deliberately  charged  that  seething  mass  of 
unfortunate  men  and  women,  and  soldiers  came  to 
help  them  by  belabouring  the  helpless  crowd  with 
the  butt-ends  of  their  rifles.  When  eight  people 
had  been  killed  outright,  a  dozen  mortally  wounded, 
and  some  scores  injured  more  or  less  severely,  the 
representatives  of  law  and  order  condescended  to 
desist  from  their  efforts. 

I  must  acknowledge  that  however  severe  the  Prus- 
sian Press  regime  might  be  at  that  period,  the  Berlin 
papers  of  the  following  day  fearlessly  censured  the 
police,  casting  on  them  the  entire  blame  for  what 
had  happened.  One  caricaturist  represented  Herr 
von  Madai,  the  Police  President,  squeezing  the  people 
in  a  huge  screw  press,  whilst  another  showed  him 
riding  brutally  over  his  dead  and  dying  victims. 
It  was  afterwards  reported  that  the  Kaiser  had  given 
Madai  a  good  "  blowing-up,"  and  had  told  him  never 
to  do  such  a  thing  again.  Apart,  however,  from 
spending  a  mauvais  quart  d'heure  the  President 
received  no  punishment. 

This  tragical  affair  cast  a  cloud  over  the  imperial 
visit.  But  the  Russian  and  Austrian  guests  were 
speedily  whisked  away  to  the  military  manoeuvres,  of 
which  I  shall  speak  hereafter,  and  when  they  re- 
turned to  Berlin  it  was  time  for  them  to  depart  to 
their  respective  countries.  Francis-Joseph  was  the 
first  to  go  off  with  his  minister  Count  Andrassy ;  * 
the  Czar  and  Gortschakoff  remaining  a  day  longer 
in  order  to  have  "the  last  word"  with  the  Emperor 
WiUiam  and  Bismarck.  Then,  the  visit  over,  Berlin 
tried  to  settle  down  to  its  usual  life. 

My  father  and  I  remained  there  for  some  weeks 

*  I  shall  refer  to  both  of  them  more  particularly  in  the  section  of  this 
volume  dealing  with  Austria, 


GERMANY  35 

longer.  We  made  a  brief  visit  to  the  city  again  in 
1873,  and  a  much  longer  one  in  1874.  We  were  there 
again  on  two  other  occasions  down  to  1877  ;  and  the 
result  of  those  visits,  and  of  a  number  of  investiga- 
tions which  we  were  able  to  make  (having  at  one 
period  a  detective  placed  as  guide  at  our  disposal), 
was  that  my  father  produced,  in  1879,  a  couple  of 
volumes  (long  since  out  of  print),  entitled  :  "  Berlin 
under  the  New  Empire."  Several  chapters  of  the 
work  were  drafted  by  myseK,  and  there  was  to  have 
been  a  third  volume,  dealing  more  particularly  with 
the  dark  sides  of  the  city's  life.  Other  calls  on  my 
father  and  myseK  prevented  that  project  from  being 
carried  out.  Nevertheless  the  two  volumes  which 
were  published  contained  a  great  mass  of  information 
concerning  Berlin  and  its  inhabitants,  their  manners, 
customs,  and  peculiarities.  I  remember  that  when 
the  work  was  issued  a  reviewer  writing  a  signed 
article  on  it  in  an  English  weekly  journal,  remarked 
that  somewhere  in  north  Germany  the  author  had 
discovered  a  race  of  savages.  He  then  proceeded  to 
castigate  the  work  in  his  very  best  style,  freely 
abusing  the  writer,  and  holding  Berlin  and  the 
Berlinese  up  to  admiration  as  a  model  city  and  model 
people.  As  for  the  work's  alleged  unfairness,  I  can 
only  say  that  while  re-perusing  it  here  and  there 
recently  in  order  to  refresh  my  memory,  I  have  been 
struck  by  its  impartiality  and  restraint.  Virtually 
every  censorious  passage  contained  in  it  is  quoted 
from  a  German  writer — preferably  a  native  of  Berlin 
itself.  That  fact  was  overlooked  by  the  reviewer 
referred  to,  who,  by  the  way,  bore  one  of  the  most 
German  of  names. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  old  Emperor  William  and 
his  personal  appearance  in  1872.     I  saw  him  many 


36  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

times  during  my  various  stays  in  Berlin.  He  sur- 
vived until  1888  in  full  possession  of  his  mental 
faculties,  but  some  physical  decrepitude  became 
apparent  after  the  two  attempts  made  on  his  life, 
in  May  and  June,  1877,  by  the  Anarchist  tinsmith 
Hodel  and  the  Anarchist  Dr.  Nobiling,  both  of  whom 
fired  at  him  while  he  was  driving  along  Unter  den 
Linden.*  Hodel' s  shots  left  the  Kaiser  uninjured, 
but  Nobiling's  wounded  him  in  the  head,  the  face, 
the  back,  the  arms  and  the  hands,  and  at  the  first 
moment  it  was  thought  that  he  had  been  killed.  It 
became  necessary  to  remove  him  to  his  castle  of 
Babelsberg,  and  the  Crown  Prince  acted  for  him 
until  his  recovery,  when  he  made  a  triumphal  return 
to  Berlin,  whose  inhabitants  received  him  with 
enthusiasm. 

In  July,  1879,  he  and  the  Kaiserin  Augusta 
celebrated  their  "  golden  wedding  '*  with  a  great 
display  of  pomp,  which  included  a  state  defilicour,  or 
levee,  in  the  great  Weisse-saal  at  the  Schloss.  The 
Kaiser  did  not  actually  reside  at  that  palace,  which 
is  the  only  old  monument  of  any  importance  that 
Berlin  can  boast,  some  portions  of  it  having  been 
erected  by  Elector  Frederick  "Iron-teeth"  in  the 
fifteenth  centm^y.  The  Schloss  was  greatly  enlarged 
by  subsequent  HohenzoUerns.  Peter  the  Great 
came  there  as  a  guest,  Wallenstein  and  Napoleon 
as  conquerors,  and  ever  since  its  foundation  it  has 
been  closely  associated  with  the  history  of  Berlin. 
At  the  time  of  Kaiser  William  I  it  was  used  almost 
exclusively  for  state  functions,  festivals,  receptions, 
weddings  and  christenings,  the  Emperor  and  Empress 

*  Full  accounts  of  those  attempts  will  be  found  in  the  author's  book : 
"  The  Anarchists :  Their  Faith  and  their  Record,"  (Lane,  The  Bodley 
Head,  1911.) 


GERMANY  37 

residing  personally  in  a  small  unpretentious  stuccoed 
palace  in  the  Linden  avenue.  The  Kaiser's  rooms 
were  on  the  ground,  and  the  Kaiserin's  on  the  first, 
floor,  and  I  believe  that  these  apartments  have 
remained  in  the  same  state  as  they  were  when  those 
sovereigns  died.  I  visited  the  rooms  in  1874.  Some 
windows  of  the  Emperor's  study  faced  the  Opern- 
platz,  but  there  were  two  looking  out  on  the  Linden. 
Near  the  last  was  the  Emperor's  work-table  partially 
covered  with  photographs  and  miniatures  of  his 
children  and  grandchildren.  Busts,  statuettes  and 
medallions  of  various  Prussian,  Russian  and  Austrian 
monarchs  were  displayed  round  the  walls,  from  one 
of  which  hung  a  large  portrait  of  the  Empress 
Augusta.  There  were  very  few  books — I  only  saw 
a  Bible,  a  psalter,  a  court  almanack,  a  history  of  the 
different  regiments  of  the  Prussian  army,  a  volume 
of  army  regulations,  and  a  collection  of  Bismarck's 
speeches.  However,  on  a  couple  of  tables  in  the  centre 
of  the  room  there  were  newspapers,  petitions,  reports, 
telegrams,  and  maps.  I  also  perceived  a  large  map 
of  France  lying  open  on  a  sofa.  The  imperial 
bedchamber  was  furnished  in  the  simplest  manner, 
and,  even  as  in  the  days  of  his  youth,  the  old  monarch 
slept  (like  Wellington)  on  a  small  camp-bedstead.  It 
was  in  this  room  that  he  died  on  March  9,  1888, 
and  here,  according  to  tradition,  the  famous  White 
Lady  appeared  to  warn  him  of  his  approaching 
dissolution. 

A  good  deal  has  been  written  at  various  times 
about  this  family  ghost  of  the  HohenzoUerns,  and 
there  have  been  numerous  disputes  as  to  her  identity. 
This  seems  to  have  been  established,  however,  by 
the  latest  investigations,  according  to  which  the  lady 
was   originally   a  certain  Kunigunde,   daughter   of 


38  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

Landgrave  Ulrich  of  Leuchtenberg,  and  married  in 
1321  to  Otho  IV,  Count  of  Orlamiinde,  who  was 
connected  with  the  ancient  house  of  Meran,  with 
which  the  Hohenzollerns  became  allied  when  they 
were  merely  Burggraves  of  Nuremberg.  Previous 
identifications  with  other  women  of  the  Orlamiinde 
family — such,  for  instance,  as  a  certain  Agnes  and  a 
certain  Beatrice — have  been  discarded.  Kunigunde, 
it  is  said,  became  a  widow  whilst  she  was  still  young, 
and  forthwith  set  her  cap  at  Albert  the  Handsome 
of  HohenzoUern,  who  after  some  extensive  travels, 
which  included  journeys  to  England  and  the  Holy 
Land,  succeeded  one  of  his  elder  brothers  in  the 
Nuremberg  Burggrafschaft.  He  replied  to  Kuni- 
gunde's  overtures  by  saying  that  they  were  parted 
by  ''  four  eyes,"  and  she,  imagining  that  he  referred 
to  her  two  young  children  by  her  first  marriage — 
whereas  he  alluded  to  his  elder  brothers,  who  were 
then  still  alive,  and  who  took  precedence  of  him  in 
respect  to  the  family  claims  on  Nuremberg — she,  I 
say,  murdered  her  children,  and  then  wrote  to 
Albert  to  tell  him  that  the  obstacles  of  which  he 
had  spoken  had  been  removed. 

Horrified  by  what  she  had  done,  he  explained 
her  mistake  to  her,  whereupon,  overcome  with 
remorse,  she  sought  the  forgiveness  of  Heaven 
by  dedicating  her  remaining  years  to  religious 
observances.  After  purchasing  the  castle  and  village 
of  Grundlach,  she  founded  there  a  convent  which 
to  this  day  is  known  by  the  name  of  Himmelkron, 
which  she  gave  it.  She  remained  there,  leading 
a  life  of  severe  penance,  until  1350  when  she  died ; 
and  it  is  related  that  before  her  death  she  sought, 
as  a  sign  of  the  divine  forgiveness,  a  promise  that 
her  spirit  might  be  privileged  to  appear  to  all  members 


GERMANY  39 

of  the  house  of  HohenzoUern  in  order  to  warn  them 
of  their  impending  death,  so  that  they  might  have 
time  to  reconcile  themselves  with  God  before  being 
summoned  before  Him.* 

The  first  recorded  apparition  of  the  Weisse  Frau 
(she  was  called  the  Weisse  Klosterfrau  in  her  life- 
time) took  place  at  Plassenburg  in  the  fifteenth 
century.  Later  she  appeared  to  a  HohenzoUern  who 
died  at  Baireuth,  in  which  town,  it  is  alleged,  she  also 
showed  herself  to  Napoleon  when  he  was  on  his  way 
to  conduct  the  fateful  campaign  which  ended  so 
disastrously  in  the  retreat  from  Moscow.  Numerous 
apparitions  of  the  White  Lady  were  chronicled  at 
the  old  Schloss  of  Berlin  from  1598  onward,  these 
always  occurring  before  the  death  of  one  or  another 
member  of  the  HohenzoUern  family.  Coming  to  our 
own  times  the  Weisse  Frau  is  said  to  have  appeared 
to  Frederick  William  III  and  Frederick  William  IV 
of  Prussia.  She  showed  herself  occasionally  at 
Cleves  and  at  Ansbach  when  a  HohenzoUern  was 
lying  ill  there.  She  came  to  warn  Prince  Albert 
of  Prussia  in  1872,  Prince  Adalbert  in  the  ensuing 
summer,  the  widow  of  Frederick  WiUiam  IV  a  little 
later.  Princess  Carl  (grandmother  of  the  Duchess  of 
Connaught)  in  January,  1877,  and  Prince  Waldemar 
in  March,  1879.  The  Emperor  William  was  some- 
what disturbed  by  the  numerous  apparitions  which 
were  reported  to  him,  and,  as  the  more  recent  ones 
had  taken  place  at  the  old  Schloss,  he  ordered  each 
of  its  seven  hundred  rooms  to  be  carefully  searched. 
But  nothing  suspicious  was  discovered.  No  trace 
of  any  imposition  could  be  found.  All  remained 
mysterious,  save  that  one  or  another  sufferer,  nigh 

*  Albert  the  Handsome  married  Sophia  of  Henneberg  and  survived  till 
1361. 


40  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

unto  death,  affirmed  that  he  or  she  had  seen  a  woman 
of  waxen  countenance,  clad  in  white  robes  embroi- 
dered with  the  letters  H  and  O  (HohenzoUern  and 
Orlamiinde),  and  raising  with  a  warning  gesture 
a  slender  black-gloved  hand.  At  the  Eremitage 
palace  near  Baireuth  there  is  preserved  an  alleged 
portrait  of  the  Countess  Kunigunde,  attired  in  some 
such  style.  As  I  previously  indicated,  she  is  said 
to  have  shown  herself  to  the  old  Emperor  William 
as  he  lay  on  his  little  camp-bedstead  a  few  days 
before  his  death.  However,  I  do  not  find  it 
recorded  that  she  appeared  to  his  son,  the  Emperor 
Frederick. 

It  is  just  possible  that  the  legend  of  the  White 
Lady,  embracing  as  it  does  the  alleged  permission 
granted  to  her  by  Heaven  to  warn  the  Hohenzollerns 
of  impending  death  and  thereby  enable  them  to 
prepare  for  it,  may  have  been  one  of  the  factors 
conducing  to  the  marked  religiosity  displayed  by  so 
many  members  of  the  house.  They  have  long  re- 
garded themselves  as  being  under  the  special  pro- 
tection of  Providence,  and  no  sovereigns  have  ever 
been  more  emphatic  in  their  claims  to  rule  by  divine 
right  alone.  It  is  true,  of  course,  that  they  owe  their 
elevation  to  the  imperial  dignity  solely  to  the  more 
or  less  willing  votes  of  the  other  German  rulers,  who, 
in  January,  1871,  acclaimed  William  I  as  Emperor 
at  a  great  gathering  held  in  the  Hall  of  Mirrors  at 
Versailles — which  was  then  the  German  headquarters 
in  France.  There  was  no  imperial  coronation  at 
that  time,  nor  has  there  been  one  since.  As  Kings 
of  Prussia,  however  (whatever  history  may  say),  the 
Hohenzollerns  claim  to  derive  their  crown  direct  from 
God,  as  is  shown  by  the  formula  which  each  new 
King  repeats  at  the  Coronation  ceremony  held  in 


THK    WIIITK   LADY 

After  the  i-eputed  portrait  at  Baireuth 


•x 


'1  • 


GERMANY  41 

the  church  of  the  old  castle-palace  of  Konigsberg, 
where  the  Grand  Masters  of  the  Teutonic  Order  once 
resided.  In  presence  of  his  officers  of  state  and  the 
members  of  the  Prussian  Landtag  (which  only  dates 
from  the  revolutionary  period  of  1848)  the  new 
sovereign  takes  the  crown  from  off  the  simply  draped 
communion  table  and  sets  it  himself  upon  his  head, 
proclaiming  the  while  that  he  does  so  to  mark  that 
the  rulers  of  Prussia  derive  their  crowns  solely  from 
the  Divinity,  this  signifying  sovereignty  by  the 
grace  of  God  and  the  inviolable  sacredness  of  the 
royal  person.  Napoleon,  we  know,  also  crowned 
himself,  though  the  Pope  was  present,  and  further, 
he  crowned  his  consort  Josephine.  It  is  possible  that 
he  may  have  heard  of  the  Prussian  custom. 

The  religiosity  of  the  first  HohenzoUern  Kaiser 
was  very  marked  during  the  war  with  France  in 
1870-71,  when  he  was  for  ever  sending  pious  telegrams 
of  jubilation  to  the  Empress  Augusta.  His  display 
of  religious  sentiments  has  been  greatly  surpassed 
by  the  present  Emperor,  whose  invocations  of  the 
Deity,  both  in  peace  and  in  war,  have  been  innumer- 
able. Of  no  ruler  could  it  be  said  more  truly  that 
he  has  always  had  the  name  of  God  upon  his  lips, 
and  seldom  if  ever  the  fear  of  Him  before  his  eyes. 
I  have  suggested  that  the  Weisse  Frau  legend  may 
have  helped  to  develop  the  religiosity  of  the  Hohen- 
zoUerns,  but  it  should  also  be  remembered  that  they 
count  a  particularly  favoured  saint  among  the 
earlier  members  of  their  race.  Few  of  the  royal 
houses  of  Eiurope  are  without  a  family  saint.  There 
were  several  saints  among  the  Anglo-Saxon  prede- 
cessors of  King  George  V,  and  the  HohenzoUern  who 
was  beatified  belonged  to  the  same  distant  period. 
His  story  is  worth  recalling. 


42  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

The  first  HohenzoUerns  were,  of  course,  Catholics, 
and  one  branch  of  the  family  is  still  Catholic  to-day. 
Now,  in  the  ninth  century,  about  the  time  of 
Charlemagne  and  when  western  Germany  had  been 
Christianised,*  a  certain  Berchtold  of  HohenzoUern 
married  a  daughter  of  the  Lord  of  Siilchen,  some- 
where in  Swabia,  and  had  by  her  a  son  who  was 
christened  Meginrad,  signifying  "  good  counsel  " — 
a  name  afterwards  shortened  into  Meinrad.  His 
parents  sent  him  to  Switzerland  to  be  educated  at 
the  then  famous  Benedictine  abbey  of  Reichenau, 
on  the  Untersee,  a  branch  of  the  lake  of  Constance. 
While  Meinrad  pursued  his  studies  some  of  the  writ- 
ings of  Joannes  Cassianus  (the  author  of  the 
"  Monastic  Institutes"),  who  had  at  one  time  led  a 
hermit's  life  in  Egypt  and  the  Holy  Land,  inclined 
him  to  a  similar  existence,  and  he  ultimately  plunged 
into  the  Swiss  wilds,  dwelling  for  a  time  on  the 
Etzel  slopes,  and  afterwards  in  some  sequestered 
forest-land  below  the  Mythen  peaks  and  the  Glarnisch 
glaciers. 

The  young  hermit  differed  greatly  from  other  mem- 
bers of  his  race.  A  man  of  peace,  not  one  of  war, 
he  practised  the  Gospel  of  Love,  not  that  of  Fright- 
fulness,  and  so  well  did  he  justify  his  name  of  "  good 
counsel "  that  people  came  from  long  distances  to 

*  The  Englishman  Winfrid  of  Crediton  (Devon)  who,  under  the  name  of 
Boniface,  became  the  apostle  of  Germany  and  Archbishop  of  Mayence, 
belonged  to  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries.  During  the  present  war,  on 
the  occasion  of  St.  Boniface's  festival  (June  5),  the  German  Catholic  prelates 
assembled  at  his  shrine  in  the  crypt  of  the  cathedral  of  Fulda,  to  invoke 
(as  they  stated  in  a  telegram  to  the  ICaiser)  his  blessing  on  the  German 
arms.  If  their  prayers  included  the  familiar  "  Gott  strafe  England,"  the 
saint  from  Devonshire  may  well  have  turned  in  his  grave,  besides  deploring 
how  greatly  the  common  precepts  of  Christianity  had  been  discarded  by 
the  descendants  of  those  whom  he  strove  to  evangelise. 


GERMANY  43 

solicit  his  advice  as  well  as  his  prayers.  Before  long 
he  was  venerated  on  all  sides.  Hildegard,  a  daughter 
of  Louis  the  Germanic  and  Abbess  of  Zurich,  took 
great  interest  in  him  and  built,  beside  his  cell,  a 
little  chapel  for  his  use.  His  usual  companions  were 
two  ravens  (one  account  says  crows)  which  had  been 
taken  as  fledglings  from  their  nest.  But,  according 
to  the  legends,  Meinrad  was  frequently  favoured 
with  celestial  visitations.  A  monk  of  Reichenau 
stoutly  asserted  that,  on  peeping  into  the  hermitage 
one  night,  he  had  seen  Meinrad  kneeling  before  an 
angel  who  was  accompanying  him  in  his  prayers. 
Meinrad  himself  related  that  the  angel  had  appeared 
to  save  him  from  a  host  of  demons  by  whom  he  had 
been  assailed. 

Some  eighty-four  years  ago,  when  Fenimore 
Cooper  visited  Meinrad's  abode,  which  had  long  since 
become  the  abbey  of  Einsideln,  he  was  assured  that 
the  Redeemer  also  appeared  to  the  hermit,  held 
communion  with  him,  and  quenched  his  thirst  at  a 
spring  beside  the  hermitage — a  miracle-working 
spring  which  still  exists.  In  Cooper's  time,  how- 
ever, a  silver  vessel,  alleged  to  have  been  used  by 
the  Saviour  and  to  have  borne  the  imprint  of  his 
fingers,  had  disappeared. 

A  heavenly  warning — the  later  HohenzoUerns, 
as  particular  proteges  of  Providence,  lay  claim  to 
something  of  the  kind — is  said  to  have  been  given 
to  Meinrad  to  the  effect  that  he  was  predestined  to 
martyrdom.  Two  miscreants,  a  German  and  a 
Switzer  of  the  Grisons,  bethought  them  that  as  many 
precious  gifts  were  tendered  to  this  popular  hermit 
he  must  assuredly  be  possessed  of  considerable  wealth. 
They  therefore  plotted  to  kill  and  plunder  him. 
But,  unlike  the  hermit  of  Chambly,  who  in  our  own 


44  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

time  was  murdered  and  despoiled  by  Ravachol,  the 
famous  Anarchist  (whose  real  name  was  Konigstein, 
and  who  was  not  a  Frenchman  but  a  Bavarian), 
Meinrad  had  no  hoard  whatever,  for  he  invariably- 
rejected  valuable  offerings.  Nevertheless,  he  was 
murdered.  His  faithful  ravens  uttered  piercmg 
cries  when,  towards  daybreak  on  the  Feast  of  St. 
Agnes  in  the  year  861,  the  aforementioned  miscreants 
came  stealthily  through  the  snow  towards  the  little 
hermitage.  On  seeing  them  Meinrad  bade  them 
enter,  and  offered  them  food.  But  they  immediately 
felled  him  with  their  clubs,  and  then  searched  the 
place  for  valuables.  They  found  none,  and  becoming 
alarmed  when  a  candle  near  their  victim's  body  was 
(according  to  the  legend)  miraculously  lighted  by  a 
spark  from  heaven,  they  rushed  away,  pursued, 
however,  by  the  two  ravens  who,  croaking  loudly, 
endeavoured  to  peck  out  their  eyes.  The  murderers 
were  seen  by  a  carpenter,  who  discovered  their  crime, 
followed  their  track  across  the  snow  to  Zurich,  and 
there  found  them  at  an  inn,  in  front  of  which  the 
accusing  ravens  were  fluttering  wildly.  By  order 
of  a  certain  Adalbert,  then  Lord  of  Zurich,  they 
were  seized,  broken  on  the  wheel,  and  committed  to 
the  flames. 

Other  beatified  cenobites,  Bennon  of  Metz  and 
Eberhard  of  Strasbourg  (it  is  curious  to  find  Alsace^ 
Lorraine  associated  with  the  legend  of  the  Hohen- 
zollern  saint),  succeeded  Meinrad  at  his  hermitage ; 
and  under  the  protection  of  Otho  the  Great,  a 
Benedictine  abbey  known  as  that  of  "  Our  Lady  of  the 
Hermits  "  sprang  up  there.  Its  third  abbot  is  said 
to  have  been  a  certain  Prince  Edmund,  a  son  of 
our  much-married  King  Edward  the  Elder,  and  a 
stepbrother   of  the  Princess   Editha,  who  became 


GERMANY  45 

Otho  the  Great's  first  wife.  Edmund,  having  dis- 
appeared, was  long  sought  by  another  sister  named 
Angela,  who  eventually  found  him,  as  yet  a  mere 
monk,  at  the  abbey  of  the  Hermits.  I  have  long 
thought  that  in  that  story  lies  the  germ  of  Gold- 
smith's famous  ballad  of  "  The  Hermit,"  otherwise 
"  Edwin  and  Angelina."  He  was  accused  of  having 
borrowed  it  from  the  "  Friar  of  Orders  Grey,"  a 
charge  which  he  indignantly  denied.  It  is  known 
that  he  passed  through  Switzerland  during  his  travels, 
and  it  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that  he  heard  the  old 
monastic  tale  of  Prince  Edmund  and  Princess  Angela. 
With  literary  license  he  changed  their  names,  and 
made  them  lovers  instead  of  brother  and  sister.  The 
ballad  ends  with  a  suggestion  of  wedded  bliss,  but 
the  conclusion  of  the  Einsideln  story  is  such  as 
befits  a  Church  legend.  Having  found  her  long-lost 
brother,  the  Princess,  we  are  told,  established  a 
nunnery  near  the  abbey  where  he  dwelt. 

This  abbey  became  famous,  and  towards  the  close 
of  the  tenth  century  Meinrad's  original  little  chapel 
with  its  statue  of  the  Virgin  and  Child  was  incor- 
porated in  a  large  church  which  was  to  have  been 
consecrated  by  the  Constance  and  Augsburg  Bishops. 
But  these  prelates  on  reaching  Einsideln  were,  it  is 
asserted,  overcome  by  astonishment  on  seeing  the 
Redeemer  officiating  in  it,  attended  by  St.  Peter  and 
other  saints,  whilst,  facing  the  altar,  the  Blessed 
Virgin  sat  enthroned.  The  Bishops  reported  the 
miracle  to  Pope  Leo  VIII,  who  pronounced  it  to  be 
authentic,  a  decision  which  was  repeatedly  con- 
firmed by  the  Holy  See  down  to  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Among  many  later  saints  who 
prayed  at  the  shrine  of  St.  Meinrad  (he  was  canonised 
by  Benedict  VIII  in  the  eleventh  century)  were 


46  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

Elizabeth  of  Hungary  and  Charles  Borromeus. 
Philip  III  of  Spain  and  other  potentates  enriched  the 
abbey  with  precious  gifts,  and  although  the  buildings 
were  wrecked  during  the  Revolutionary  era,  St. 
Meinrad's  statue  of  the  Virgin  and  Child  was  saved 
and  may  still  be  seen  in  the  new  church  built  in  1817. 
Below  it  the  skull  of  the  HohenzoUern  saint  is  en- 
shrined in  a  reliquary  resting  on  an  altar  which  was 
given  by  Charles  Albert,  the  great-grandfather  of 
the  present  King  of  Italy. 

Before    the    Great    World    War    St.    Meinrad's 
shrine  was  visited  at  each  recurring  anniversary  of 
his  death  (January  21),  by  pilgrims  from  all  the 
Catholic  parts  of  Switzerland  and  by  many  from 
Germany,  the  Tyrol  and  Piedmont.     The  miracles 
performed  there,  notably  the  cures  effected  by  the 
spring  at  which  Christ  is  said  to  have  quenched  his 
thirst,  have  been  said  to  equal  those  of  Lourdes. 
That   the  present   German   Kaiser  remembers   his 
family  saint  is  certain,  for  he  paid  a  private  visit 
to  Einsideln  when  he  was  in  Switzerland  a  few  years 
before  the  war.     Officially,  of  course,  he  is  a  Lutheran, 
yet  he  can  but  have  felt  flattered  at  having  among 
his  collateral  ancestry  one  whom  the  Catholic  Church 
deemed  worthy  of  canonisation.     Meinrad's  life  of 
humility  and  good  deeds  can  scarcely  have  appealed 
to  him  ;  in  his  estimation  it  must  have  mattered  little 
that  the  hermit  of   Einsideln  gave  good  counsel, 
prayed   for    others,    comforted   the   sorrowful   and 
tended  the  sick.     But  one  can  well  imagine  the  vain- 
glorious War  Lord  of  Germany  being  struck  by  the 
marvels  which  legends  had  grafted  on  the  simple 
story  of  Meinrad's  career.     Here  was  a  man  of  his 
race  of  whom  wondrous  things  were  told,  a  Hohen- 
zoUern who  had  been  a  very  familiar  of  the  Deity. 


GERMANY  47 

That  must  have  appealed  to  the  imperial  pride, 
and  he,  William  II,  must  have  found  in  it  ample 
justification  for  the  familiarity  with  which  he  him- 
self had  so  often  referred  to  the  heavenly  Power  in 
his  speeches,  proclamations  and  telegrams.  Those, 
however,  who  try  to  persuade  themselves  that  they 
are  not  as  other  men,  finally  have  their  mistake 
brought  home  to  them.  Not  in  vain  was  it  written 
that  pride  goeth  before  destruction  and  a  haughty 
spirit  before  a  fall. 


III. 


BISMARCK,   ROON,   MOLTKE,   AND    OTHERS. 

The  War  Scare  of  1874 — An  Introduction  to  Bismarck  and  what  came  of 
it — The  Times  of  Germany — The  famous  Wilhelm-strasse  —  Bis- 
marck's Residence — A  surreptitious  Survey  of  his  Apartments — His 
Study  and  his  Knick-knacks — The  Table  and  the  Clock  of  the  Devil's 
Peace — The  Chancellor  in  the  Sulks  and  at  the  Reichstag — Moltke  at 
the  Reichstag  and  at  the  General  Staff  Offices — His  Reputation  as  a 
Strategist — Roon,  the  Organiser  of  the  Prussian  Army — Papa  Wrangel, 
the  Army's  Father — ^Treitschke,  the  Apostle  of  German  Unity — 
Lasker  and  some  early  Socialists. 

I  FIRST  saw  Bismarck  in  Paris  in  1867,  the  Great 
Exhibition  year,  when  he  accompanied  his  royal 
master  on  a  visit  to  Napoleon  III,  and  when  he 
danced  the  last  waltz  of  his  life  at  a  ball  given  at 
the  Tuileries,  his  partner  being  Mme.  Carette,  the 
Empress  Eugenie's  reader.  I  next  saw  him  at 
Versailles  dm^ing  the  siege  of  Paris,  as  mentioned 
in  the  book  which  I  called  "  My  Days  of  Adventure." 
During  my  stays  at  Berlin  I  again  saw  him  frequently, 
but  I  was  never  fortunate  enough  to  "  interview  " 
him,  an  opportunity  to  do  so  in  the  late  autumn  of 
1874  being  lost  owing  to  his  sudden  departure  from 
the  German  capital.  My  father  and  I  had  been 
visiting  the  vineyards  of  the  Moselle  and  the  Rhine, 
in  order  to  describe  them  and  their  produce  in  a 
series  of  articles  commissioned  by  Frederick  Green- 
wood for  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette.  We  passed  into 
the  Palatinate,  and  eventually  reached  the  wine- 
growing district  of  Deidesheim,  provided  by  Dein- 
hard  &  Co.,  the  well-known  shippers  of   Coblenz, 

48 


GERMANY  49 

with  an  introduction  to  one  of  the  principal  vineyard 
proprietors,  a  certain  Herr  Jordan,  who  had  previously 
been  a  partner  in  Deinhard's  house  and  had  become 
a  member  of  the  Reichstag.  There  was  a  steadily 
growing  war  scare  at  that  moment,  induced  by  Mac- 
Mahon's  reorganisation  of  the  French  army  ;  and 
in  many  places  people,  with  whom  we  became 
acquainted,  inquired,  on  hearing  that  we  had  come 
from  France,  whether  we  thought  that  an  early 
attack  might  be  expected.  Herr  Jordan  put  the 
same  question  to  us,  and  did  so,  I  am  convinced,  in 
all  good  faith,  arguing  that  the  large  increase  in 
the  French  army  boded  ill  for  the  continuance  of 
peace.  I  knew  something  of  the  question,  having 
had  occasion  to  study  it  and  write  about  it  before 
leaving  Paris,  and  I  pointed  out  that  in  reality  only 
a  small  increase  of  the  French  effective  was  intended, 
and  that  the  apprehensions  which  seemed  to  be 
current  in  Germany  were  due  to  a  misunderstanding, 
caused  by  the  erroneous  assertions  of  the  German 
Press. 

The  newspapers  of  the  new  empire  were  at  that 
time  so  completely  under  Bismarck's  thumb  that  the 
assertions  in  question  may  have  been  made  wilfully, 
with  the  deliberate  intention  of  misleading  German 
opinion.  On  the  other  hand,  the  papers  were  often 
so  very  badly  informed  that  then*  inaccurate  state- 
ments may  have  arisen  merely  from  a  misinter- 
pretation of  the  announcement  that  in  the  future 
all  the  French  infantry  regiments  were  to  be  com- 
posed of  three  instead  of  two  battalions,  as  had 
hitherto  been  the  case.  This  was  taken  as  meaning 
that  a  third  battalion  was  to  be  added  to  each 
regiment,  in  such  wise  that  the  effective  of  the 
French  infantry  would  be  increased   by  one-third. 

E 


50  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

I  replied  that  nothing  of  the  kind  was  intended, 
and  that  there  would  only  be  a  small  increase  in 
the  effectives,  as  the  chief  purpose  of  the  French 
War  Office  was  to  break  up  the  existing  battalions 
so  that  three  might  be  formed  out  of  two.  I  pointed 
out  that  the  Franco-German  war  had  left  France  with 
a  scarcity  of  officers,  in  such  wise  that  there  had  only 
been  sufficient  for  two  battalions  per  regiment. 
Time  had  changed  the  situation,  however,  and  an 
ample  supply  of  officers  now  being  available,  it  would 
be  possible  to  have  smaller  battalions  and  smaller 
companies,  in  which  the  men  would  be  more  under 
control,  to  the  greater  advantage  of  discipline  and 
efficiency.  The  previous  war,  said  I,  had  shown 
that  the  French  soldier  was  sometimes  inclined  to 
kick  over  the  traces,  and  as  a  mere  matter  of  organisa- 
tion, it  was  necessary  that  each  regiment  should  be 
well  and  fully  officered. 

Herr  Jordan  was  much  interested  in  those 
explanations,  and  a  few  days  later  he  announced 
that  he  had  invited  several  notabilities,  who  were 
suffering  more  or  less  from  war  scare,  to  meet  us. 
We  were  at  the  time  his  guests.  He  was,  I  think, 
the  tallest  man  I  have  ever  seen  save  in  a  giant's 
booth  at  a  country  fair  ;  and  he  had,  I  remember, 
two  equally  tall  daughters,  comely,  well  propor- 
tioned girls,  either  of  whom  might  have  posed  with 
credit  for  a  statue  of  Germania.  I  recollect  how 
very  small  I  felt,  with  my  paltry  five-feet-seven, 
when  I  was  first  introduced  to  them.  They  had 
pleasant  dispositions,  however,  and  soon  put  me  at 
my  ease,  though  I  still  felt  that  I  could  not  attempt 
even  the  slightest  flirtation  with  anything  so  very 
fine  and  large.  Now  the  compatriots  whom  Jordan 
had  invited,  arrived  one  evening  to  partake  of  what 


GERMANY  51 

was  rather  an  early  supper  than  a  dinner,  following 
which  there  was  to  be  a  kind  of  conversazione.  There 
were  perhaps  fifteen  or  sixteen  persons,  landowners, 
functionaries,  a  judge,  and  three  officers,  one  of 
whom  was  a  saturnine-looking  Bavarian  general  from 
Spires,  and  another  a  sturdy  Badener  colonel  from 
Mannheim.  I  much  regret  that  I  cannot  find  their 
names  among  my  notes.  The  great  subject  was 
broached  at  supper,  but  only  afterwards  did  we  really 
plunge  into  it.  A  few  of  those  present  knew  English, 
and  with  them  my  father  conversed.  The  others 
knew  French,  often  quite  as  well  as  I  did,  and  feeling 
that  my  German  was  too  weak  for  a  prolonged 
harangue,  it  was  in  French  that  I  spoke  to  them. 
Premising  that  the  opportunity  was  one  not  to  be 
missed,  I  endeavoured  to  rise  to  the  occasion,  and  I 
believe  that  I  spoke  fluently  and  without  nervousness. 
After  all,  if  one-and-twenty  lacks  confidence  in  self, 
what  age  can  hope  to  acquire  it  ?  Besides,  the 
wines  served  at  supper  had  been  excellent,  and  helped 
to  increase  my  assurance. 

All  these  people  desired  to  know  whether  they 
might  expect  the  French  across  the  frontier  in  another 
month  or  two.  I  repeated  to  them  all  that  I  had 
previously  told  Herr  Jordan.  I  said,  quite  frankly, 
that  the  idea  of  la  Revanche  undoubtedly  prevailed 
in  France,  and  that  another  war  would  probably, 
if  not  inevitably,  come  in  course  of  time  ;  but  I  told 
them  that  they  need  not  expect  it  that  year,  or  the 
next  year,  or  the  year  afterwards.  I  described  to 
them  the  internal  condition  of  France,  the  antagonism 
prevailing  there  between  Republicans  and  anti- 
Republicans,  and  thus  passed  in  review  all  the  cir- 
cumstances which  made  an  early  French  declaration 
of  war   not   only  unlikely  but  actually  impossible. 


52  IN   SEVEN  LANDS 

Both  the  general  and  the  colonel  put  numerous 
questions  to  me  respecting  the  reorganisation  of  the 
French  army,  and  I  answered  them  a§'I  had  answered 
Jordan.  They  seemed  as  little  aware  of  the  truth 
as  he  had  been.  I  dare  say  that  a  few  persons  went 
home  that  evening  still  harbouring  misgivings  as 
to  the  intentions  of  France,  but  I  believe  that  I 
persuaded  the  majority,  including  the  officers,  that 
there  was  no  occasion  for  any  war  scare. 

I  now  return  to  Bismarck.  We  intended  to  go 
to  Wlirzburg  on  quitting  Deidesheim,  and  then 
make  our  way  to  Berlin.  My  father  had  already 
decided  to  write  a  book  on  the  German  capital,  and 
this  was  mentioned  to  Herr  Jordan.  During  bur 
conversation  he  suggested  that  we  ought  to  see 
the  Chancellor,  and  offered  us  a  letter  of  introduc- 
tion, which,  said  he,  would  assuredly  procure  us 
an  audience.  As  a  member  of  the  Reichstag  he 
belonged  to  one  of  the  principal  parties  then  sup- 
porting the  Prince,  whom  he  also  knew  well  personally. 
It  appeared,  too,  that  he  occasionally  supplied 
Bismarck  with  wine,  for  although  the  Chancellor's 
preference  was  for  Burgundy  (notably  Chambertin, 
Napoleon's  favourite  wine),  which  he  procured 
through  a  French  wine  merchant  named  Cheberry,* 
he  did  not  disdain  at  times  such  German  growths  as 
Forster  auslese  and  Deidesheimer  Kirchenstiick. 
We  accepted  Herr  Jordan's  offer,  and  one  morn- 
ing soon  after  our  arrival  at  Berlin,  having  enclosed 
his  introductory  letter  in  another  one  which  duly 
solicited  an  interview,  we  betook  oiu-selves  to  the 

*  It  was  this  Ch6berry  who  tried  to  negotiate  a  meeting  between 
Bismarck  and  Gambetta,  and  who,  according  to  his  own  account,  conveyed 
certain  communications  from  one  to  the  other.  They  never  met,  owing, 
I  have  always  understood,  to  Gambetta's  fear  of  making  di,faux  pas. 


GERMANY  53 

Wilhelm-strasse  in  the  hope  of  bemg  able  to  deposit 
the  missive  with  some  secretary,  and  trusting  that 
we  might,  in  this  way,  secure  for  it  more  considera- 
tion than  if  it  had  been  consigned,  like  many  similar 
applications,  to  the  care  of  the  post  office. 

I  may  say  that  in  those  days  we  received  many 
facilities  from  Prussian  functionaries.  I  still  have 
a  bundle  of  permits,  official  returns,  and  other 
documents  signed  by  Talk,  Forckenbeck,  Camp- 
hausen,  Madai,  Caprivi,  Wartensleben  and  others. 
At  that  time  the  new  Empire  wanted  to  stand  well 
with  England,  and  Bismarck  himself,  however  great 
his  latent  dislike  of  us,  was — in  a  similar  fashion  to 
Napoleon  III — ^rather  partial  to  advertising  himself 
in  our  country.  He  even  financed  (out  of  secret 
service  funds)  *  a  journal  in  the  English  language 
which  was  issued  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main  and 
entitled  The  Times  of  Germany,  It  was  established 
ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of  cultivating  good  re- 
lations between  Germany  and  Great  Britain,  and  on 
the  strength  of  that  programme,  my  brother  Edward 
Vizetelly,  who,  by  the  way,  had  fought  with  the 
Garibaldians  against  the  Germans  in  1870-71, 
became  its  first  editor.  He  threw  up  his  appoint- 
ment in  disgust,  however,  on  discovering  that  the 
journal  was  to  be  one  of  the  "  reptile  "  description. 

At  the  period  of  which  I  am  writing,  Bismarck 
resided  at  No.  76  in  the  Wilhelm-strasse,  a  thorough- 
fare which  he  made  quite  as  famous  as  either  Downing 
Street  or  the  Quai  d' Or  say.  It  had  always  been 
regarded,  however,  as  one  of  the  most  prominent 

*  Presumably  out  of  the  £2,500,000  belonging  to  the  ex-King  of  Hanover 
and  other  money  of  the  Elector  of  Hesse's  estate.  These  funds  had  been 
sequestrated,  and  it  was  generally  understood  that  Bismarck  employed 
the  income  in  subsidising  or  bribing  newspapers  both  in  Germany  and 
abroad.    He  himself  called  the  money  the  Reptilien-Fonds. 


54  IN   SEVEN   LANDS 

parts  of  Berlin,  as  its  houses  comprised  several 
palaces  and  ministries.  Count  Stolberg-Wernigerode, 
Prince  Radziwill,  the  Prince  of  Pless,  and  Prince 
Charles  of  Prussia — ^father  of  the  "  Eed  Prince " 
Frederick  Charles — may  be  mentioned  among  past 
or  present  inhabitants  of  the  Wilhelm-strasse.  There 
also,  in  1873,  the  millionaire  Herr"  Pringsheim 
ventured  to  exhibit  his  wealth  by  erecting  a  wonder- 
ful palace  with  a  polychrome  fagade.  No.  70, 
moreover,  was,  and  may  still  be,  the  British  embassy, 
whilst  the  ministers  of  Justice  and  of  the  Household 
had  their  residences  close  by.  In  or  about  1877  the 
Radziwill  palace  was  purchased  and  fitted  up  for 
Bismarck's  accommodation  and  it  was  in  its  large 
circular  saloon  that  the  famous  Berlin  Congress  for 
the  settlement  of  the  Eastern  Question  assembled 
in  1878.  When  Bismarck  was  in  Berlin,  he  resided 
there  until  the  present  Kaiser  dropped  him  as  pilot. 
Previously,  however,  that  is  from  1862  onward,  he 
had  occupied  No.  76,  and  there  we  sought  him.  The 
house  was  one  of  seedy  aspect,  contrasting  unfavour- 
ably wiUi  those  in  its  vicinity.  Its  stuccoed  front, 
decorated  with  pilasters  and  a  commonplace  classic 
frieze,  was  rapidly  crumbling  into  decay.  Up  above 
was  a  high-pitched  tiled  roof  with  projecting  mansard 
windows. 

At  the  time  we  went  there  (1874)  the  Berlin 
Directory  stated  its  occupants  to  be  as  follows  : — 

Bade — coachman. 

von  Bismarck-Schonhausen,  Prince,  Chancellor  of  the  Empire, 

Engel — valet. 

Grams — house-servant. 

Lindstaedt — porter. 

Niedergesass — servant. 

Spitzenberg — house-servant. 

Zimmermann — gardener. 


GERMANY  55 

It  will  be  observed  that  no  mention  was  made  of 
the  Princess  or  the  Chancellor's  children.  His  sons 
were  already  in  the  army  and  may  not  have  lived 
with  him,  but  his  only  daughter  was  still  unmarried. 

He  himseK  complained  that  his  residence  was 
inconveniently  small.  It  was  also  very  poorly 
furnished  with  old  and  mostly  commonplace  things 
taken  over  when  the  house  itself  was  acquired  by 
the  Government.  On  entering  a  covered  passage 
leading  from  the  street  we  turned  to  the  door- 
porter's  quarters,  but  found  nobody  there.  It  had 
not  surprised  us  to  see  no  sentry  outside,  for  there 
had  never  been  one.  But  the  Herr  Lindstaedt 
mentioned  in  the  directory,  ought  certainly  to  have 
been  on  duty.  After  waiting  a  few  minutes,  thinking 
that  somebody  might  appear,  we  walked  to  the 
vestibule,  opened  a  glass-door  and  found  ourselves 
confronted  by  a  flight  of  steps,  guarded  by  a 
couple  of  stone  sphinxes,  which,  like  the  cat 
playing  with  a  mouse  emblazoned  on  the  armorial 
bearings  of  Bismarck's  great-great-grandmother, 
Sophia  Dorothea  von  Katte,  seemed  symbolical  of 
the  Chancellor's  policy.  We  ascended  the  steps, 
still  expecting  to  meet  some  one,  but  nobody  was 
to  be  seen,  and  on  opening  a  door  we  found  ourselves 
in  one  of  the  reception-rooms.  We  went  on  through 
another  room  and  yet  another  one,  still  without 
perceiving  a  living  soul.  The  silence  was  profound, 
the  stillness  complete.  Although,  plainly  enough, 
the  Chancellor  himself  was  absent,  we  had  at  least 
expected  to  find  some  attendant  or  secretary. 

I  remember  that  when  we  at  last  sat  down  in 
a  room  containing  a  billiard-table,  covered  up  and 
laden  with  innumerable  knick-knacks,  presents  of 
every  kind,   old  curios  and  specimens  of  modern 


56  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

German  art  in  metal,  wood,  glass,  and  porcelain, 
I  began  to  feel  rather  uncomfortable.  We  had  made 
our  way  almost  surreptitiously  into  the  home  of 
the  man  who  was  virtually  the  arbiter  of  Europe, 
and  if  somebody  should  suddenly  appear  and  find 
us  there  we  might  have  an  unpleasant  time  of  it. 
At  the  least  we  might  be  charged  with  burglary,  if 
not  with  a  plot  to  assassinate  the  Man  of  Blood  and 
Iron.  My  father,  however,  retained  his  usual 
imperturbable  demeanour,  rose  from  the  chair  on 
which  he  had  seated  himself,  examined  the  knick- 
knacks,  the  furniture,  the  hangings,  and  dictated 
to  me  sundry  notes  about  the  chief  characteristics  of 
one  or  another  apartment.  The  scantily  furnished 
dining-room  was  hung  with  old  figured  Chinese  silk, 
on  which  women  were  shown  sauntering  along  a 
river  margin  in  the  midst  of  birds  arrayed  in  gorgeous 
plumage.  To  the  billiard-room  I  have  referred 
already,  and  need  only  add  that  among  its  bric-a-brac 
we  noticed  a  bronze  model  of  Eauch's  statue  of  the 
great  Frederick  and  a  black  marble  inkstand  sur- 
mounted by  a  dying  lion.  This,  we  afterwards 
ascertained,  was  a  cheap  present  made  to  Bismarck 
by  the  Kaiser  at  a  time  when  he,  the  Chancellor, 
was  very  ill.  The  recipient,  who  rather  resented  it, 
afterwards  remarked  :  "  His  Majesty  thought  that 
I  looked  like  the  lion;  but,  thank  God,  I  am  well 
again,  as  he  shall  know,  for  he  is  not  yet  quits  with 
regard  to  some  other  presents  which  he  owes  me." 

We  entered  a  little  gallery  where  the  furniture 
was  upholstered  in  red  damask  and  the  walls  hung 
with  family  portraits,  and  we  penetrated  also  into 
the  sancta  sanctorum,  the  Chancellor's  study,  and 
inspected  the  large  but  plain  mahogany  writing- 
table  and  the  carved  revolving  armchair  beside  it. 


GERMANY  57 

In  front  hung  a  portrait  of  a  lady — the  Princess, 
showing  her  in  all  the  brunette  beauty  of  her  younger 
years.  There  was  a  great  rack  of  meerschaum  pipes, 
a  collection  of  military  caps,  a  small  arsenal  of 
swords  and  sabres,  and  several  pairs  of  buckskin 
gloves  lying  upon  the  articles  of  furniture,  which 
included  a  very  large  iron  couch  on  which  the 
Chancellor  occasionally  rested. 

One  of  my  wife's  deceased  kinsmen,  Victor  Tissot, 
mentions  in  a  popular  French  work  on  Germany, 
which  was  the  outcome  of  a  stay  he  made  there  after 
the  war  of  1870-71,  that  Bismarck  preserved  in 
one  of  his  rooms  in  the  Wilhelm-strasse  a  table 
purporting  to  be  the  very  one  on  which  he  and  Thiers 
signed  the  preliminaries  of  peace  *  at  Versailles  in 
1871.  Tissot  adds,  however,  that  the  French  owner 
of  the  house  where  this  took  place,  refused  to  let  the 
Chancellor  have  the  real  table,  and  he  mentions  a 
story  to  the  effect  that  Bismarck  had  another  one 
made  to  serve  as  a  substitute  for  the  original,  which 
last  he  left  behind  him.  I  cannot  say  what  truth 
there  may  be  in  that  assertion,  but  I  well  knew  the 
owner  of  the  house  in  question,  and  I  never  heard 
her  say  that  the  Chancellor  had  taken,  or  even  wished 
to  take,  one  of  her  tables  on  his  departure  from 
Versailles.  Mme.  de  Jesse,  as  she  was  named  (she 
was  the  widow  of  a  French  general  officer),  told 
me,  however,  the  story  of  a  certain  bronze  clock, 

*  These  should  not  be  confounded  with  the  final  Treaty  of  Frank- 
fort. They  were  ratified  by  546  members  of  the  National  Assembly  sitting 
at  Bordeaux,  but  as  they  ceded  Alsace-Lorraine  to  Germany,  107  members 
(including  all  the  Alsatian  and  Ix)rraine  representatives)  voted  against 
them.  I  forgot  to  mention  this  last  fact  when  glancing  at  the  question  of 
the  lost  provinces  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  present  volume.  I  believe 
that  M.  Clemenceau  and  M.  de  Freycinet  are  now  (1916)  the  only  survivors 
of  the  107  who  rejected  the  terms  of  peace. 


58  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

surmounted  by  a  figure  of  Satan,  in  front  of  which 
the  preliminaries  of  peace  were  signed.  I  have  given 
that  story  in  some  detail  elsewhere.*  Suffice  it  to 
say  here  that  Bismarck  (who  shared  the  German 
passion  for  clocks)  coveted  the  timepiece  I  have 
mentioned  and  wished  to  purchase  it.  Mme.  de  Jesse, 
however,  stubbornly  refused  to  part  with  this  me- 
mento of  what  she  appropriately  styled  the  "  Devil's 
Peace  " — in  reference  of  course  to  the  figure  of  Satan, 
in  whose  presence  it  had  been  signed.  Had  there 
been  any  question  of  a  table  I  am  confident  that  the 
vivacious  old  lady  would  have  mentioned  it.  I 
believe,  however,  that  the  Chancellor  accumulated 
a  variety  of  things,  obtained  in  all  sorts  of  ways, 
in  the  room  to  which  he  chiefly  confined  himseK 
during  his  stay  at  Versailles,  so  it  is  possible  that  the 
so-called  "  treaty  table  "  now  in  Berlin  was  not  Mme. 
de  Jesse's  property.  Otherwise  it  may  merely  be,  as 
Tissot  suggested,  a  spurious  historical  curiosity. 

When  my  father  and  I  had  examined  all  our 
surroundings  we  quitted  Bismarck's  rooms.  Had 
we  been  his  compatriots  we  might  have  slipped 
several  little  "  souvenirs "  into  our  pockets,  for 
there  was  an  abundance  of  pipes,  miniatures,  paper- 
weights, ash-trays,  and  other  portable  articles  within 
our  reach.  Not  being,  however,  even  New  Yorkers 
smitten  with  the  "  souvenir  "  craze,  we  abstained 
from  taking  anything,  and  closing  the  doors  behind 
us  we  made  our  way  out.  In  the  entrance  passage 
we  suddenly  perceived  the  "  Herr  portier,"  ap- 
proaching from  the  street.  He  wore  neither  livery 
nor  badge  of  office,  being  simply  dressed  in  ordinary 
civilian  clothes,  which  were  rather  the  worse  for 

*  In  an  historical  volume  entitled  :  "  Republican  France,  1870 — 1912." 
L  ondon,  Holden  &  Hardingham.) 


GERMANY  59 

wear.  As  he  approached  us  I  saw  him  wipe  his 
mouth  with  the  back  of  his  hand.  He  had  evidently 
just  returned  from  some  neighbouring  hier-lohale  or 
wein-stuhe.  Naturally  enough,  we  didn't  mention 
that  we  had  been  upstairs,  but  merely  inquired  if 
we  could  be  received  by  one  of  the  Prince's  secretaries. 
^'  Ach,  nein  !  "  was  the  reply.  "  There  is  nobody  here. 
His  serenity  left  suddenly  for  Varzin  this  morning." 
And  speaking  to  himself  rather  than  to  us,  he  added 
in  a  guttural  undertone  :   '^  Er  grolW 

That  expression,  meaning  "he  is  sulking,"  was 
a  current  one  in  Berlin  at  that  period,  being  often 
employed  when,  as  the  result  of  some  difference  with 
the  Kaiser,  the  Chancellor  hastily  departed  to  his 
Pomeranian  estate  and  shut  himself  up  there  until 
his  imperial  master  tendered  terms  of  peace.  On 
these  occasions  the  newspapers  usually  announced 
that  he  was  suffering  from  overwork  and  had  sought 
a  little  rest.  Few,  if  any,  people,  however,  were 
deceived  by  that  assertion. 

The  possibility  of  obtaining  an  interview  did  not 
occur  again,  for  the  Prince  remained  at  Varzin  until 
the  term  of  our  stay  at  Berlin  had  expired.  One  of 
the  best  and  longest  views  I  ever  had  of  him  was  on 
an  occasion  when  I  attended  a  sitting  of  the  Reichs- 
tag in  the  temporary  building  assigned  to  it  for  a 
time  on  the  site  of  the  Royal  Porcelain  Factory  in 
the  Leipziger-strasse.  Bismarck  came  in  through  a 
small  door  opening  on  to  the  kind  of  balcony  occupied 
by  members  of  the  Bundesrath,*  and  after  passing 
the  ushers,  who  at  once  drew  themselves  up  at  at- 
tention, he  sat  down  in  his  place,  to  which  a  couple 

*  I  write  that  word  as  it  was  written  then,  but  I  believe  that  the  terminal 
h  of  raih  has  nowadays  been  dropped.  In  the  same  way  thier  is  now  spelt 
tier.    These  alterations  were  made,  presumably,  for  phonetic  reasons. 


60  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

of  portfolios  were  speedily  carried.  He  unlocked 
them  with  a  little  key  attached  to  a  chain  under  his 
uniform,  took  out  a  number  of  papers  and  con- 
tinued examining,  annotating  or  signing  them 
while  the  debate,  one  of  no  great  moment,  was  pro- 
ceeding. In  1867  his  complexion  had  inclined  to 
pallor,  but  in  1872  he  had  become  florid  and  also 
somewhat  bloated.  His  ears  projected  and  were 
very  large.  Only  a  few  hairs  strayed  here  and  there 
over  his  massive  cranium — indeed  the  Berlin 
caricaturists  generally  depicted  him  with  but  three 
hairs  on  the  top  of  his  head.  There  was,  however, 
a  fringe  of  grey  hair  at  the  back  and  near  the  ears. 
His  brows  had  remained  quite  black  and  his  eyes, 
I  noticed,  were  bright  and  lively. 

He  intervened  in  the  debate  to  which  I  have 
referred,  but  it  was  only  for  a  few  minutes.  Rising 
abruptly  to  his  feet,  he  began  to  speak — softly  and 
pleasantly  enough,  yet  rather  awkwardly  it  seemed 
to  me — shifting  the  while  from  one  leg  to  another, 
occasionally  tugging  at  his  moustaches,  and  at  other 
moments  twisting  a  big  lead  pencil  between  his  fingers. 
That  was  a  kind  of  habit  with  him.  He  apparently 
needed  occupation  for  his  hands  while  he  was  speak- 
ing. At  other  times,  I  was  told,  he  would  twirl 
a  quill  pen,  or  take  a  sheet  of  paper,  roll  it  up  and 
brandish  it  like  a  field  marshal's  baton.  He  showed 
no  excitement  on  the  occasion  I  am  mentioning,  but 
whenever  he  was  provoked  he  warmed  up,  ceased 
to  hum  and  haw,  and  launched  into  cutting  sallies 
and  open  threats  of  the  most  unparUamentary 
description.  A  German  writer  compared  him  on  one 
such  occasion  to  a  volcano  belching  blocks  of  stone. 

At  the  Reichstag  I  also  saw  Moltke,  who  sat  quite 
still,  listening  with  the  utmost  attention  to  every 


GERMANY  61 

word  which  was  said  and  never  allowing  even  any 
slight  play  of  his  facial  muscles  to  indicate  what  his 
opinion  of  it  all  might  be.  He  remained  as  immov- 
able and  as  enigmatical  as  a  sphinx,  and  it  was  only 
when'  a  brief  pause  occurred  that  he  rose  and 
stretched  himseK,  afterwards  settling  down  again  for 
the  renewal  of  the  discussion.  It  was  a  question 
in  Berlin,  in  those  days  of  the  so-called  Grosse  Zeit — 
the  Great  Period  * — ^whether  Bismarck  or  Moltke 
was  Germany's  greatest  man.  Moltke  is  sometimes 
described  as  a  Dane,  but  though  his  father  was  a 
Danish  general,  the  family,  I  believe,  was  of  German 
stock,  and  the  eminent  strategist  certainly  had  a 
German  mother,  and  was  born  in  Mecklenburg.  It 
is  true  that  he  began  life  in  the  Danish  army,  which 
he  quitted,  however,  as  it  offered  him  but  little 
prospect  of  advancement.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  his  wife,  to  whom  he  was  deeply  attached,  was  an 
Englishwoman,  Mary  Burt,  whose  father  had  taken 
Moltke's  sister  as  his  second  wife.  Moltke  was 
responsible  for  the  strategy  of  the  Danish  and  the 
Austrian  wars,  and  it  was  in  1868  that  he  began  to 
plan  the  invasion  of  France.  He  certainly  had  no 
reason  to  love  the  French.  In  his  childhood  his 
home  at  Liibeck  was  pillaged  by  some  of  Napoleon's 
soldiers,  who  in  the  following  year  burnt  down  his 
father's  property  at  Augustenhof. 

Born  in  1800,  he  was  a  septuagenarian  when  I  saw 
him  at  Berlin,  where  he  might  often  be  met,  wearing 
an  undress  cap  and  a  plain  military  frock,  and 
hurrying,  perhaps,  along  Unter  den  Linden  as  fast 
as  his  years  permitted,  in  order  to  escape  recognition 

*  The  expression  always  reminds  me  of  our  similar  one,  the  "  Age  ol 
Queen  Anne,"  and  the  French  one,  the  "  Age  of  Louis  XIV."  The  Germans 
undoubtedly  used  it  in  much  the  same  sense. 


62  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

or  salutes,  whilst  at  other  times  you  perceived  him 
sauntering  more  composedly,  with  his  hands  behind 
his  slim  and  somewhat  bent  figure,  along  some 
secluded  path  in  the  Thiergarten.  His  general 
appearance  was  ascetic  and  somewhat  melancholy ; 
but  according  to  his  few  intimates  he  had  a  genuine 
sense  of  humour  and  could  tell  many  a  good  story. 
That  he  was  an  excellent  as  well  as  a  concise  letter- 
writer  is  well  known. 

For  years,  even  after  his  elevation  to  high  rank,  he 
resided  in  a  modest-looking  house  in  the  Behren- 
strasse,  where  he  led  a  life  of  Spartan  simplicity. 
Always  frugal,  he  became  in  his  last  years  inclined 
to  miserliness.  In  1871  he  transferred  his  quarters 
to  the  new  General  Staff  building,  a  somewhat 
imposing-looking  structure  outside  the  Brandenburg 
Gates  of  Berlin.  We  visited  his  apartments  there. 
His  sanctum  was  a  lofty  room  with  three  windows, 
the  walls  being  decorated  with  a  frieze  depicting 
the  growth  of  the  science  of  warfare  from  the  time 
of  the  catapult  to  that  of  the  mitrailleuse  or  machine 
gun,  the  latter  appearing  in  a  representation  of  an 
encounter  between  French  and  Germans  in  1870. 
There  was  a  table  in  front  of  each  window,  two 
covered  with  maps  and  plans,  the  one  at  which  the 
Marshal  usually  sat  being  bare  save  for  some  writing 
materials,  a  few  unopened  reports,  and  a  pair  of 
spectacles  which  had  been  left  there.  One  of  the 
plans  of  which  I  have  spoken,  was  that  of  the  forti- 
fications of  Strasbourg,  such  as  they  had  been  in 
1870,  and  we  noticed  that  it  was  kept  in  position 
by  some  bronze  paper-weights,  which  were  really 
fragments  of  French  and  Austrian  guns.  There 
was  a  book-case  containing  some  military  works, 
and  having  a  ledge  on  which  was  a  box  of  Havana 


GERMANY  63 

cigars — virtually  the  only  luxury  which  Moltke 
allowed  himself.  He  could  not  smoke  what  he  one 
day  described  as  the  "  Hamburg  abominations." 
On  being  allowed  to  peep  into  a  bedroom  near  the 
study  we  espied  a  camp  bedstead,  a  leather  kit-bag, 
and  a  tin  cylinder,  which,  we  were  told,  contained 
some  maps — ^perhaps  such  as  might  have  been 
needed  should  France  have  suddenly  declared  a 
war  of  revanche,  which  might  have  necessitated  the 
Marshal's  immediate  departure  for  the  front.  He 
had  an  estate  in  Silesia,  where  he  took  great  interest 
in  farming  and  led  an  extremely  active  life  as  long 
as  his  health  allowed.  In  Berlin,  even  in  the  quietest 
times  of  peace,  he  would  often  work  in  his  study  for 
nine  hours  a  day  with  just  a  brief  interval  for  a 
light  two  o'clock  dinner. 

In  the  war  of  1870-71  Moltke  was  virtually 
responsible  for  all  the  strategy  down  to  the  invest- 
ment of  Paris.  He  had  never  imagined  that  the 
French  capital  would  offer  any  serious  resistance, 
but  had  made  up  his  mind  that  its  investment  would 
virtually  imply  immediate  peace.  He  was  not 
prepared  for  what  ensued,  and  thus  he  afterwards 
made  numerous  mistakes,  which  were  remedied 
largely  by  the  old  Kaiser.  In  my  book  "  E/cpublican 
France,"  *  I  pointed  out  that  fact  on  the  authority 
of  many  German  military  writers.  In  my  Berlin 
days,  however,  Moltke  was  regarded  as  an  impeccable 
master  of  strategical  science,  and  it  would  then  have 
startled  his  admirers  had  publicists  hinted  that  "  the 
mistakes  of  1870-71  must  not  be  repeated."  Yet 
expressions  of  that  kind  were  used  by  more  than  one 
German  writer  at  the  advent  of  the  Great  War  in  1914. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  Moltke  did  not 

*  See  amie,  p.  58. 


64  IN   SEVEN  LANDS 

organise  the  armies  which  proved  victorious  in 
Denmark,  in  Austria,  and  in  France.  That  was  the 
work  of  Albert  Theodore  von  Roon,  who,  if  Moltke 
was  somewhat  a  Dane,  was  somewhat  a  Dutchman, 
being  the  last  representative  of  an  old  Netherlands 
family  settled  for  a  few  generations  in  Germany. 
Born  in  1803,  he  was  as  a  child  slightly  injiured  by 
a  French  projectile.  His  first  commission  was  given 
him  in  1821,  and  some  eleven  years  later  he  served 
with  the  Prussian  army  of  observation  which  was 
despatched  to  Crefeld  to  watch  the  progress  of 
revolution  by  which  the  Belgians  threw  off  the 
Dutch  rule.  Roon  was  struck  at  the  time  by  the 
great  lack  of  discipline  which  he  observed  among 
the  Prussian  forces.  The  men  did  not  obey  their 
officers.  On  one  occasion  (as  Roon  himself  recorded 
in  a  letter),  a  landwehr  commander  could  only  get 
his  men  along  by  ordering  the  inhabitants  to  place 
barrels  of  beer  ready  for  them  at  certain  points  on 
the  road.  There  were  frequent  excesses,  and,  briefly, 
insubordination  was  the  rule. 

Roon  afterwards  became  the  military  instructor 
of  the  Red  Prince  Frederick  Charles,  and  accom- 
panied him  on  his  travels,  but  it  was  only  in  1858  that 
he  at  last  took  up  what  may  be  called  his  life-work. 
Whilst  he  was  on  leave  at  Potsdam  he  waited  on  the 
Prince  Regent  of  Prussia,  as  the  first  Kaiser  then  was, 
his  elder  brother,  the  so-called  "  King  Clicquot," 
who  sometimes  washed  his  face  with  his  soup, 
having  become  hopelessly  mad.  On  seeing  Roon  the 
Prince  Regent,  who  was  on  the  point  of  returning  to 
Berlin,  asked  him  to  accompany  him,  and  they  set 
out  on  what  proved  to  be  a  very  memorable  ride,  for 
from  it  sprang  all  the  Prussian  victories  of  after- 
years.     Even  Moltke's  strategy  would  have  been  of 


GERMANY  65 

no  avail  had  the  material — the  men — needed  to 
ensm'e  its  success,  not  been  at  hand.  Briefly, 
during  this  ride,  Roon  expounded  his  views  on  army 
reorganisation  to  Prince  William,  who  instructed 
him  to  discuss  them  with  the  army  committee.  His 
scheme  was  to  create  a  standing  army  by  universal 
military  duty  with  a  three  years'  term  of  service, 
and  to  retain  the  landwehr  as  a  defensive  force  only, 
unless  circumstances  should  require  its  employment 
to  strengthen  the  army  in  the  field.  The  plan  was 
adopted,  and  in  1859  Roon  was  appointed  Minister 
of  War. 

He  had  to  face  a  host  of  difficulties.  However 
pliant  the  Prussians  in  general  may  now  prove  to  be 
in  submitting  to  the  behests  of  their  rulers,  such  was 
not  the  case  when  Roon  began  his  work.  The 
nation  did  not  see  the  necessity  of  it,  and  thus  the 
new  War  Minister  was  confronted  by  strenuous  op- 
position in  both  branches  of  the  Prussian  legislature. 
He  was  even  subjected  to  no  little  personal  insult ; 
but  he  kept  on  his  course  and  ended  by  enforcing 
his  views,  although  for  some  years  the  lower  house 
of  the  Landtag  steadily  refused  to  grant  him  sub- 
sidies, in  such  wise  that  the  reorganisation  of  the 
army  was  really  carried  out  in  an  unconstitutional 
manner,  that  is  in  defiance  of  the  votes  of  the  deputies. 
Although  the  Prussian  Crown,  however,  grudgingly 
granted  a  Constitution  after  the  revolutionary 
troubles  of  1848,  it  has  never  hesitated  to  brush  it 
aside  on  any  serious  opposition  being  offered  to  its 
more  important  projects. 

The  Schleswig-Holstein  War  of  1864  already 
showed  that  the  organisation  of  the  Prussian  forces 
was  much  superior  to  that  of  the  Austrian  army, 
and  this  was  demonstrated  yet  more  conclusively 


66  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

when  two  years  later  war  with  Austria  supervened. 
Roon  then,  for  the  first  time,  secured  popular 
recognition.  After  the  Franco-German  campaign 
he  was  created  both  a  Count  and  a  Field  Marshal, 
although,  like  Moltke,  he  had  never  actually  com- 
manded an  army.  In  1873,  when  Bismarck  decided 
to  limit  his  own  activities  to  the  Chancellorship, 
Roon  was  appointed  Prussian  Premier,  but  it  was 
little  more  than  a  nominal  post  as  he  greatly  disliked  it, 
and  was  also  in  failing  health,  suffering  from  chronic 
asthma  in  such  a  way  that  this  tall,  broad  shouldered, 
determined,  and  vigorous  looking  man  was  often 
quite  unable  to  discharge  any  parliamentary  duties. 
Yet  in  a  way  he  was  well  fitted  for  them,  for  of  all  the 
chief  men  around  William  I  during  the  Grosse  Zeit, 
he,  Roon,  in  his  days  of  good  health,  was  by  far  the 
most  eloquent  speaker.  By  the  way,  it  was  he  who 
employed  the  phrase  ''  Might  goes  before  Right," 
which  has  so  often  been  ascribed  to  Bismarck,  the 
occasion  being  a  Reichstag  debate.  Roon  lived  on 
until  February,  1879,  when  he  died  at  Berlin. 

One  of  the  most  curious  figures  of  the  Prussian 
army  in  those  days  was  its  "  father  " — the  so-called 
"  Papa  "  Wr angel,  who  when  I  first  saw  him  tottering 
in  a  cuirassier-colonel's  white  uniform  with  blue 
facings  towards  the  Kaiser's  palace,  followed  by  an 
escort  of  admiring  urchins,  was  already  eighty-eight 
years  old  and  lived  to  be  more  than  three  and  ninety. 
He  looked  little  more  than  a  skeleton,  and  his  eyes 
seemed  dim,  but  that  conveyed  a  false  impression. 
Deaf,  stone  deaf,  he  certainly  was,  but  he  could  see 
well  enough,  for  whenever  a  pretty  girl  happened  to 
pass  him  he  at  once  became  aware  of  it,  and  gallantly 
kissed  his  hand  to  her.  When  his  dotage  had  grown 
more  pronounced  he  would  sometimes  ride  out  of 


GERMANY  67 

his  house  on  the  Pariser-platz  in  his  field  marshal's 
full-dress  uniform,  and  scatter  pfennige  among  his 
urchin  admirers.  That,  said  the  Berlinese,  was 
a  sure  sign  that  "  Papa's  "  second  childhood  had  set 
in,  for  his  absolute  miserliness  had  been  proverbial 
during  many  years.  Curious  stories  were  related 
in  that  connection.  Although  Wrangel's  sordid 
economy  had  made  him  very  rich,  he  refused  on  one 
occasion,  so  it  was  said,  to  advance  his  only  son  the 
money  necessary  to  discharge  a  debt  of  honour. 
Thereupon  the  son,  in  despair,  blew  out  his  brains. 
It  was  also  asserted  that  when  Wrangel  in  his  dotage 
distributed  pfennige  among  the  street  urchins  of 
Berlin,  he  imagined  that  he  was  supplying  them  not 
with  money  but  with  bullets  to  return  the  fire  of  an 
imaginary  enemy.  That  is  rather  suggestive  of  the 
more  recent  "  silver  bullets  "  of  Mr.  Lloyd  George  ; 
but  Heaven  forbid  that  the  reader  should  draw  a 
wrong  inference  from  any  such  passing  remark  of 
mine. 

I  used  to  look  at  Wrangel  with  curiosity  and 
interest.  In  my  childhood  I  had  seen  a  few  English 
soldiers  who  had  fought  at  Waterloo ;  later,  in  my 
Parisian  days,  I  had  seen  the  relics  of  the  Grande 
Armee  doing  homage  before  the  Napoleonic  column 
on  the  Place  Vendome ;  and  now  here  was  one  of 
Bliicher's  hard-riders,  a  man  who  as  a  lieutenant  of 
cuirassiers  had  first  fleshed  his  sword  in  an  encounter 
with  some  of  Ney's  cavalry  in  1806,  and  who  had 
become  a  colonel  in  the  year  of  Waterloo.*  Field 
Marshal  General  Count  Frederick  von  Wrangel,  to 

*  Of  course  the  old  Kaiser  was  also  a  link  with  the  Napoleonic  period. 
He  had  his  "  baptism  of  fire  "  at  Mannheim  when  the  Allies  crossed  the 
Rhine  in  pursuit  of  the  French,  and  secured  his  Iron  Cross  at  the  Battle  of 
Bar-sur-Aube, 


68  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

give  him  his  full  style  and  title,  was  born  at  Stettin 
in  1784,  that  is  five  years  before  the  first  decisive 
events  of  the  French  Eevolution.  I  do  not  know 
whether  he  was  absolutely  of  German  origin,  but  the 
name  of  Wrangel  figures  not  unfrequently  in  Swedish 
history,  and  Stettin  certainly  belonged  to  the  Swedes 
from  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  to  the  earlier 
years  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Like  Moltke  and 
Roon,  therefore,  Wrangel  may  have  been  a  descen- 
dant of  foreigners.  He  entered  the  army  (first 
serving  with  some  dragoons)  when  he  was  only  twelve 
years  and  six  months  old,  and  as  he  remained  on 
the  "  list  "  down  to  the  hour  of  his  death,  his  record 
was  one  which  the  services  of  other  countries  would 
find  it  hard  to  beat.  He  was  already  eighty  when 
he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Austro- 
Prussian  forces  in  the  Schleswig-Holstein  war  of  '64, 
but  the  winter  campaign  proved  too  severe  for  him, 
and  he  had  to  relinquish  his  post  to  the  Red  Prince. 
In  '73  he  had  a  stroke  of  paralysis,  and  few  people 
expected  his  recovery,  but  he  rallied  in  a  remarkable 
fashion,  and  lived  on,  full  of  years  and  honours,  but 
with  declining  faculties,  until  November,  1877. 

A  name  which  may  well  be  linked  with  those  of 
Bismarck,  Moltke  and  Roon  is  that  of  Treitschke, 
respecting  whom  several  books  have  been  published 
in  Great  Britain  of  recent  times,  though  for  many 
years  he  remained  unknown  to  the  general  British 
public.  In  his  case,  as  in  others,  one  finds  a  man  of 
foreign  extraction  among  the  foremost  artisans  of 
Prussian  ascendancy.  Like  Nietzsche,  Treitschke  was 
on  his  father's  side  a  Slav — to  be  precise,  a  Czech, 
one  of  his  forebears  having  quitted  Bohemia  to  settle 
in  Saxony,  on  account  of  his  religious  belief,  soon 
after  the  famous  battle  of  the  White  Mountain  when 


GERMANY  69 

the  Bohemian  Protestants  suffered  an  overwhelming 
defeat.  Treitschke's  father  married  a  Saxon  lady, 
and  became  a  Saxon  general,  absolutely  devoted  to 
Saxon  interests.  Thus  it  was  a  blow  to  him  when 
he  found  his  son  becoming  the  apostle  of  Prussian 
predominance  in  Germany.  It  is  true  that  for  some 
years  the  son  remained  quite  opposed  to  Bismarck's 
home  policy  ;  nevertheless,  throughout  his  long  ad- 
vocacy of  German  unity,  he  invariably  laid  it  down 
that  this  had  to  be  effected  under  the  aegis  of  Prussia. 
He  was  one  of  the  most  active  partisans  of  the  Franco- 
German  War,  and  one  of  the  most  zealous  in  demand- 
ing the  annexation  of  Alsace-Lorraine. 

During  my  Berlin  days,  after  professing  politics 
and  history  at  various  German  universities,  he  at 
last  took  a  chair  at  that  of  the  Prussian  capital.  He 
also  sat  (for  a  Baden  constituency)  in  the  Beichstag, 
and  it  was  there  that  I  saw  him.  He  was  pointed 
out  to  me  by  a  friend  as  one  of  the  curiosities  of  the 
assembly,  for  he  was  as  stone  deaf  as  was  Papa 
Wr angel,  and  whereas  the  latter' s  loss  of  hearing 
had  simply  come  with  advancing  years,  Treitschke's 
had  begun  in  his  childhood  (after  an  attack  of  measles) 
developed  during  his  youth  and  early  manhood, 
and  become  total  by  the  time  he  was  three  and 
thirty  years  old.  He  was  a  tall,  broad-shouldered 
man,  with  black  hair  and  eyes  (the  latter  quick  and 
flashing),  a  fine  brow,  a  sharply  cut  nose,  and  a 
firm  mouth  overshadowed  by  a  full  black  moustache. 
One  of  his  biographers,  I  notice,  describes  his  ap- 
pearance as  being  distinctly  Slavonic.  To  me,  in 
1872-4,  he  suggested  the  Italian  type.  In  the 
Reichstag  he  might  be  seen  sitting  in  an  indolent, 
careless  manner  until,  from  time  to  time,  one  of  the 
official  shorthand  reporters,  near  whom  he  generally 


70  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

took  his  place,  handed  him  a  sheet  of  paper  which 
he  scanned  very  rapidly.  This  inspection  of  the 
shorthand  notes  acquainted  him  with  the  progress 
of  the  debate,  and  if  anything  of  particular  interest 
had  been  said  during  the  last  few  minutes  his  list- 
lessness  departed,  and  his  eyes  began  to  glow. 
Occasionally  I  noticed  him  trying  to  detect  a  speaker's 
words  by  watching  the  movement  of  his  lips ;  but  this 
exertion  seemed  to  fatigue  him,  and  he  relied  mostly 
on  the  shorthand  script.  As  is  the  case  with  many 
deaf  people  his  voice  was  very  loud,  quite  sonorous, 
and  would  have  been  audible  in  the  largest  hall ; 
but  as  his  words  no  longer  found  a  sympathetic 
echo  in  his  own  ear  his  intonation  tried  one's  patience 
by  its  unvarying  monotony. 

As  I  have  reverted  to  the  Reichstag,  I  will  here 
add  a  few  remarks  about  some  of  its  other  members. 
The  National  Liberals  were  then  the  most  numerous 
party,  whose  most  conspicuous  member  was  Edward 
Lasker,  the  son  of  a  Jewish  tradesman  of  the  province 
of  Posen.  He  was  of  faulty  build,  short  and  thin, 
with  a  big  head  covered  with  a  huge  crop  of  black 
frizzly  hair.  My  father  remarked  of  him  that  he 
suggested  Fagin.  His  ill-looks  did  not  shield  him 
from  the  shafts  of  Cupid.  He  sighed  at  the  feet  of 
a  large  number  of  beauties  of  his  own  religious 
persuasion  and  others,  but  invariably  with  the  same 
tragic  ill-success.  That  was  scarcely  remarkable, 
but  he  foolishly  made  his  unrequited  amours  con- 
spicuous by  publishing  a  book  containing  quite  a 
catalogue  of  them,  and  entitling  it  "  Confessions  of  a 
Manly  Soul!  "  The  Reichstag  then  counted  fifteen 
deputies  from  Alsace-Lorraine,  three  of  them.  Bishop 
Raess,  and  Abbes  Simonis  and  Winter,  being  the  most 
openly    declared   sympathisers   with    France.     The 


GERMANY  71 

Polish  members  and  a  Schleswig  Dane  named 
Kriiger  were  seldom  to  be  seen  at  the  sittings.  At 
one  moment,  in  fact,  they  issued  a  declaration  saying 
that  they  had  nothing  in  common  with  such  an 
assembly.  There  was  an  idea  of  punishing  them  for 
their  abstention,  but  the  majority  decided  to  treat 
it  with  contempt. 

The  Socialists  were  perhaps  the  most  interesting 
of  the  parliamentary  "groups."  There  were  just 
a  few  (allied  with  the  Progressist  party)  in  the  lower 
house  of  the  Prussian  Landtag,  but  in  1874  Berlin 
had  not  yet  retiu^ned  a  single  Socialist  candidate. 
Its  less  aristocratic  quarters  placed  confidence  in 
ordinary  democrats,  among  whom  Eugen  R-ichter 
was  already  prominent.  At  that  time  there  were 
only  nine  Socialists  even  in  the  Reichstag,  and 
though  the  election  of  1877  increased  the  number  to 
twelve,  that  of  '78  (following  a  dissolution)  reduced 
it  to  nme  again,  for  a  considerable  increase  in  the 
number  of  Socialist  votes  on  that  occasion  was  met 
by  quite  a  rally  of  electors  opposed  to  Socialism, 
due  in  part  to  the  attempts  made  on  the  old  Kaiser's 
life  by  the  anarchical  Hoedel  and  Dr.  Nobiling.  In 
later  years,  as  we  all  know,  the  Socialist  vote  in- 
creased by  leaps  and  bounds  in  various  parts  of  the 
Empire ;  and  we  are  also  aware  that,  as  a  body, 
the  Socialists,  in  spite  of  all  their  professions  of 
humanitarian  and  pacific  principles,  and  their  con- 
stantly increasing  numbers,  did  not  make  the  slightest 
protest  when  war  broke  out  in  1914.  Only  one  of 
their  leaders,  the  son  of  the  original  Liebknecht, 
ventured  to  raise  his  voice  against  the  Kaiser's 
policy,  and  he  was  speedily  shouted  down  by  his 
associates.  In  the  seventies  the  elder  Liebknecht 
was  already  a  member  of  the  Reichstag,  and  edited 


72  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

first  the  Leipzig  Volkstaat,  and  afterwards  the 
Vorwdrts.  He  was  a  native  of  Hesse-Darmstadt,  a 
university  man,  and  when  not  in  prison,  a  most 
zealous  and  persistent  agitator. 

The  foremost  German  Socialist  at  the  time  of 
which  I  am  writing  was,  however,  the  puny-looking 
little  Bebel.  A  turner  by  trade,  he  worked  as  a 
journeyman  in  a  Berlin  shop  during  the  Reichstag's 
sessions,  and  at  other  times  he  was  to  be  found  at  a 
shop  of  his  own  in  the  Peter-strasse  at  Leipzig.  At 
the  Reichstag  sittings  he  always  spoke  effectively, 
and  at  times  with  great  boldness,  braving  the  anger 
of  the  majority  with  the  most  perfect  composure,  and 
only  subsiding  when  he  was  censured  by  the  President. 
He  would  then  effect  a  dignified  exit,  and  from  the 
deference  with  which  one  of  the  attendants  (perhaps 
a  fellow  Socialist)  helped  him  on  with  his  overcoat, 
one  might  have  supposed  him  to  be  some  great  noble 
of  the  Empire.  A  couple  of  firebrands,  Hasenclever 
and  Hasselmann  (surnamed  the  German  Marat),  sat 
with  Bebel  and  Liebknecht  in  the  federal  parliament. 
The  party  also  included  Reimer,  a  journeyman 
cigarette-maker,  Valteich,  a  shoemaker,  and  Johann 
Most,  a  bookbinder.  The  last  named  came  to 
England  after  the  attempt  on  the  Kaiser's  life  in 
1878,  and  incurred  a  sentence  of  sixteen  months 
imprisonment  for  approving,  in  an  Anarchist 
journal  which  he  established  in  London,  the  assassi- 
nation of  Alexander  II  of  Russia.  He  subsequently 
went  to  the  United  States,  became  a  thorough-going 
Anarchist,  and  was  punished  with  a  year's  imprison- 
ment for  urging,  in  his  writings,  the  assassination  of 
the  heads  of  States.  That  occurred  about  the  time 
of  the  murder  of  President  MacKinley. 

A  final  impression  of  the  first  Reichstag  lingers 


GERMANY  73 

in  my  mind.  If  the  National  Assembly  of  Versailles 
was  the  baldest  assembly  I  ever  saw,  the  German 
Parliament  of  1872  was  the  most  hairy.  The  bald 
men  included  Bismarck,  Windthorst,  and  a  few 
others.  Nearly  all  the  rest,  let  me  say  350  members, 
displayed  huge  mops  of  ill-combed  hair,  black,  brown, 
red,  grey  and  white.  The  beards  were  equally 
numerous,  very  full,  and  of  corresponding  hues. 
They  were,  however,  better  tended,  pocket-mirrors 
and  pocket-combs  being  constantly  in  use  during 
even  the  most  absorbing  debates.  Picture  such  a 
practice  in  the  House  of  Commons ! 


IV. 


THE  PRUSSIAN  ARMY  AS   IT   WAS. 

Strength  of  the  Forces — Benefits  of  Universal  Service — ^The  Officers  and 
their  Training — The  Cadetten-Haus — The  "  Vons  "  and  the  "  non- 
Vons  " — A  Private's  Rations — The  Infantry — Troopers  and  Horses — 
The  Cavahyman's  Breviary — Some  Artillery  of  the  Time — Autumn 
Manoeuvres — Some  Work  of  the  Great  General  Staff. 

According  to  official  statements,  in  the  early 
seventies  of  the  last  century,  the  German  army,  when 
on  a  war  footing,  was  expected  to  number  1,325,000 
men  of  all  arms  and  ranks,  with  2740  guns.  The 
peace  footing  was  stated  at  about  400,000  men,  and 
it  was  calculated  that  the  others  could  be  mobilised 
in  eight  days.  When  war  broke  out  in  1914  the  peace 
footing  was  about  double  that  of  1874,  and  mobili- 
sation was  expected  to  bring  the  effectives  up  to 
nearly  five  millions  of  men.  Such  was  the  difference 
brought  about  by  forty  years  of  strenuous  military 
preparation,  assisted  by  the  great  increase  in 
Germany's  population.  In  '74  there  were  only 
18  army  corps,  of  which  Prussia  contributed  12  ;  in 
1914  there  were  (on  a  peace  footing)  25:  19  being 
supplied  by  Prussia,  3  by  Bavaria,  2  by  Saxony,  and 
one  by  Wiirtemberg.  Frederick  the  Great,  be  it 
noted,  never  had  more  than  172,000  men  under  his 
standard,  and  in  the  Napoleonic  period,  at  the  time 
of  Leipzig,  Prussia's  total  resources  were  under 
240,000.  The  figures  for  1874  already  showed  a 
vast  increase  over  those  of  the  early  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century  ;    and,  in  discussing  militarism 

74 


GERMANY  75 

generally  with  various  German  officers  to  whom  I 
was  introduced,  they  invariably  insisted  that,  quite 
apart  from  the  increase  of  strength  which  had  been 
given  to  the  country  by  compulsory  service,  the  latter 
benefited  the  nation  in  all  sorts  of  ways.  I  do  not 
wish  to  convey  that  I  endorse  all  the  arguments 
and  assertions  which  I  heard,  but  it  is  as  well  to  glance 
at  some  of  them.  I  was  told,  for  instance,  that  by 
universal  service  young  men  were  taken  out  of  the 
way  of  temptation  at  critical  moments  in  their 
lives ;  that,  to  the  great  advantage  of  their  health 
and  strength,  they  were  compelled  to  work  hard, 
and  live  frugally  and  soberly ;  that  their  lungs  and 
muscles  were  developed  by  constant  exercise;  and 
that  at  the  end  of  their  term  of  service  they  returned 
home  improved  in  every  way.  They  then,  for  the 
most  part,  married,  and  as  a  rule  begat  large  families. 

I  was  assured  that  the  levies  of  the  seventies  were 
physically  much  finer  men  than  those  who  fought 
at  Jena,  Leipzig,  or  Waterloo.  The  infantry  of  the 
Prussian  Guard  Corps  averaged  5  feet  9|  inches  in 
height,  many  men,  however,  having  a  stature  of 
over  six  feet.     The  average  weight  of  the  men  was 

II  stone  8  lbs.,  but  12  stone  was  easily  reached  in 
the  Brandenburg,  Pomeranian,  and  Westphalian 
regiments.  Even  among  the  men  coming  from  the 
poor  and  barren  districts  of  East  Prussia  and 
Prussian  Poland,  where  meat  was  seldom  eaten,  it 
had  become  rare  to  find  a  recruit  standing  under 
5  feet  6  inches. 

Frederick  the  Great  was  more  particular  respect- 
ing the  non-commissioned  than  the  commissioned 
officers  of  his  army,  and  indeed  he  generally  nomi- 
nated cadets  of  noble  families  to  fill  up  the 
vacancies  among  his  "  non-coms."     But  after  his 


76  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

days  caste  prejudice  became  much  greater,  and  it 
was  necessary  to  find  ''  non-coms  "  among  men  of 
so-called  "  lower  birth."  In  my  time  at  Berlin  there 
were  six  schools  for  the  express  training  of  non- 
commissioned officers.  Those  men  who  passed  the 
final  examinations  with  credit  were  at  once  appointed 
to  "  non-com."  rank,  whilst  the  others  joined  the 
service  as  privates  with  prospects  of  more  or  less 
early  promotion.  A  man  who  had  served  twelve  years 
and  had  held  the  rank  of  unter-offizier  for  three- 
quarters  of  that  term  was  assured  of  Government 
employment  afterwards,  but  many  preferred  to  enter 
private  employment,  some,  for  instance,  becoming 
bank-messengers  and  foreman-carriers,  and  others 
securing  from  railway  companies  situations  as 
station-masters  and  ticket-clerks. 

The  commissioned  officers  of  the  Prussian  army 
were  derived  from  two  sources,  first  the  Cadetten- 
haus,  and  secondly  the  so-called  "  advantageur " 
class.  The  Berlin  Cadetten-haus,  or  Cadet  School, 
supplied  about  two-thirds  of  the  number  of  officers 
required.  There  were  six  similar  establishments 
located  at  Potsdam,  Culm,  Wahlstatt,  Bensberg, 
Ploen,  and  Oranienstein,  the  whole  of  the  students 
constituting  the  Royal  Cadet  Corps.  In  addition 
to  the  ordinary  paying  cadets  there  were  others 
called  King's  cadets,  who  were  taken  at  reduced  fees, 
being  usually  the  sons  of  people  with  some  kind  of 
claim  upon  the  Government.  Foreigners  were  not 
debarred  from  being  trained  at  a  cadet  school,  but 
they  could  only  obtain  admission  with  the  royal 
sanction.  The  Berlin  Cadetten-haus  was  in  my  time 
an  eighteenth  century  building  in  the  Neue  Fried- 
richs-strasse  in  Berlin.  It  had  become,  however, 
much  too  small  for  its  purpose,  and  a  new  school 


GERMANY  77 

was  being  erected — at  Lichterfelde  in  the  suburbs 
of  Berlin — ^for  the  accommodation  of  cadets  from 
all  parts  of  the  Empire  excepting  Bavaria.  I  do 
not  know  what  the  young  men  who  were  at  Sand- 
hurst or  Woolwich  at  that  period  would  have  said  of 
the  regimen  prevailing  in  the  Berlin  Cadetten-haus 
when  I  visited  it  with  my  father.  From  eight  to  ten 
cadets  occupied  each  bedroom.  Three  meals  per 
day  were  provided.  Breakfast  consisted  purely  and 
simply  of  soup  and  bread.  This  was  followed  by 
a  trifling  lunch  of  bread  and  butter  only.  Next  came 
dinner,  consisting  of  soup,  meat  and  vegetables, 
with  pastry  on  Sundays  ;  and  finally,  just  before 
bed  time,  there  was  a  light  supper.  The  canteen 
only  sold  coffee,  fruit  and  confectionery.  No  wine 
or  beer  was  ever  allowed  in  the  establishment.  The 
only  beverage  supplied  by  the  State  was  water.  In 
summer  the  hour  of  rising  was  5.30,  in  winter  6  a.m. 
Prayers  in  the  chapel  followed  the  roll-call  after 
breakfast,  then  lessons  continued  until  nearly  dinner- 
time, with  a  brief  interval  for  the  little  lunch  to 
which  I  have  referred.  Shortly  before  dinner  there 
was  parade,  when  the  daily  orders  were  read  out.  In 
the  afternoon  there  was  fencing,  gymnastics,  and 
marching  exercise,  excepting  on  Wednesdays  and 
Saturdays  which,  although  nominally  half-holidays, 
were  usually  given  up  to  battalion  drill.  Leave  was 
often  given  on  Sundays,  or  parties  of  cadets  were 
then  taken  by  one  or  another  officer  to  visit  places 
of  interest.  Occasionally  large  parties  were  treated 
to  a  play  or  an  opera,  also  under  the  supervision  of 
oJ6&cer% 

The  number  of  cadets  lodged  in  the  Friedrichs- 
strasse  was  about  700 ;  but  when  the  establish- 
ment  was    transferred  to    Lichterfelde    there  was 


78  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

accommodation  for  many  more.  Other  schools  located 
in  seven  or  eight  towns  of  the  empire  were  chiefly  used 
for  training  the  young  men  of  the  "  advantageur  " 
class  to  which  I  previously  referred.*  A  candidate 
for  this  class  had  to  serve  for  six  months  as  a  private 
and  then  pass  an  examination  to  enable  him  to  enter 
a  training  school.  After  ten  months'  instruction 
and  a  second  examination  to  test  his  fitness  for  a 
commission,  he  returned  to  his  regiment  to  await 
a  vacancy,  but  before  he  was  recommended  for  pro- 
motion he  had  to  pass  through  a  further  ordeal — 
the  officers  of  the  regiment  meeting  to  decide 
whether  he  was  worthy  of  admission  among  them. 
Thus  class  spirit  asserted  itself  even  as  it  does  to-day, 
exercising  a  marked  influence  on  the  character  of 
the  German  officer. 

Before  finishing  with  this  section  of  my  subject  I 
should  add  that  would-be  artillery  and  engineer 
officers  had  a  special  school  in  Unter  den  Linden, 
and  obtained  practical  training  in  the  field  near 
Berlin  and  Spandau.  Above  all  these  training- 
schools  there  were  the  various  local  war-schools,  at 
the  head  of  which  was  the  Berlin  War  Academy. 
This  was  not  a  staff  institution  although  in  order  to 
obtain  a  staff  appointment  it  was  usually  necessary 
to  pass  through  it.  Its  declared  object  was  to  raise 
the  scientific  spirit  of  the  army  by  giving  extra 
instruction  to  really  talented  officers  of  all  arms  in 
order  to  fit  them  for  higher  rank  and  positions  of 
increased  responsibility,  f 

*  See  p.  76,  ante. 

t  Among  other  army  schools  should  be  mentioned  the  Gunnery  School, 
the  Central  Gymnastic  School,  the  important  and  of  more  recent  years 
much  developed  School  of  Pyrotechny  (laboratory  work,  study  of  high 
explosives,  poisonous  gases,  etc.),  and  various  medical  and  veterinary 
institutions. 


GERMANY  79 

At  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing  only  about 
half  the  German  officers  were  entitled  to  write  "  von  " 
before  their  names,  but  although  commoners  were 
plentiful  among  the  subalterns,  there  were  few  of 
them  among  the  colonels,  and  above  that  rank  the 
"  von  "  was  universal.  Nevertheless  this  did  not 
mean  that  every  general  was  of  noble  stock.  A 
good  many  had  been  ennobled  on  promotion  to  the 
rank  they  held,  this  being  a  constant  practice  in  the 
Prussian  service.  To  take  a  recent  instance,  Alex- 
ander von  Kluck,  who  figured  prominently  in  the 
campaign  of  1914,  was  born  a  commoner  and  was 
only  granted  the  "  von  "  after  he  had  been  made  a 
general.  As  many  commoner  officers  failed  to 
secure  field  rank,  it  was  generally  their  practice  to 
retire  after  a  certain  number  of  years,  and  to  secure 
some  civil  service  appointment,  this  being  a  recognised 
thing,  and  accounting  for  the  military  bent  to  be 
observed  in  so  many  German  officials.  When  an 
officer  found  himself  passed  over  two  or  three  times 
with  respect  to  promotion,  he  usually  took  it  as  a 
hint  to  retire  without  waiting  to  be  gazetted  out  of 
the  service.  Promotion,  it  should  be  added,  went  by 
seniority,  tempered  less  by  selection  than  by  rejection, 
based  on  a  man's  physical  or  mental  shortcomings. 
The  authorities  held  that  it  was  better  to  hurt  one 
particular  individual's  feelings  by  sternly  weeding  him 
out,  than  to  risk  in  wartime  the  loss  of  possibly 
a  large  number  of  men  owing  to  that  individual's 
lack  of  competency  in  any  manifest  respect. 

I  remember  visiting  a  few  of  the  Berlin  barracks, 
notably  one  occupied  by  a  fusilier  regiment.  The 
diet  allotted  to  the  men  would  not  have  appealed 
to  our  boys.  Breakfast  consisted  of  some  bread  and 
a  canf ul  of  coffee  or  gruel.     Lunch  (during  an  interval 


80  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

between  drill)  was  limited  to  dry  bread,  excepting 
when  the  men  had  the  money  to  buy  a  few  slices 
of  sausage.  At  dinner  meat  (never  more  than 
half  a  pound)  was  served  with  pea,  bean,  or  lentil 
porridge.  Occasionally  there  were  potatoes.* 
Supper  consisted  of  a  slice  of  bread  with  a  little  ham 
or  sausage,  and  one  glass  of  beer.  By  the  way,  if  I 
remember  rightly,  schnapps  was  served  with  the 
dry  bread  luncheon.  I  am  not  certain,  however, 
whether  this  was  at  the  expense  of  the  men  or  of 
the  Government.  The  above-mentioned  rations  and 
the  pay  given  to  privates — 4Jc?.  per  diem — out  of 
which  each  man  had  to  provide  quite  a  number  of 
things,  may  be  contrasted  with  the  allowances 
current  in  the  British  army.  With  respect  to  the 
various  army  funds  established  for  a  number  of 
purposes,  such  as  for  medical  attendance  and 
medicine  for  the  wives  and  offspring  of  soldiers,  also 
for  swimming-baths,  and  for  the  ornamentation  of 
soldiers'  graves,  each  was  administered  with  the  idea 
of  securing  the  very  best  value  for  the  outlay,  and 
the  accounts  were  looked  after  very  strictly.  Items 
were  always  disallowed  if  they  trenched  in  any  way 
upon  the  regulations.  After  the  Franco-German  War 
it  was  related  that  a  sum  of  one  thaler  ten  groschen 
had  been  charged  to  the  general  war  fund  for  a  pound 
of  snuff  forwarded  to  Moltke.  A  board  of  inquiry 
thereupon  wrote  to  the  great  strategist  informing  him 
that   the   State   could   not   sanction   this   expense, 

•  #^ 

*  It  should  be  remembered  that  in  peace  time  a  very  large  part  of  the 
German  potato  crop  (and  of  other  root  crops  also)  was  not  consumed  as  food 
but  employed  for  the  distillation  of  spirit.  Bismarck  largely  increased  his 
fortune  by  the  extensive  manner  in  which  he  distilled  potatoes,  etc.,  on  his 
country  estates,  and  on  one  occasion  he  was  pubHcly  charged  with  exporting 
the  crude  spirit  to  Africa  for  the  consumption  of  the  natives. 


GERMANY  81 

and  that  he  must  pay  the  amount  out  of  his  own 
pocket. 

One  thing  about  the  Prussian  infantryman  of  that 
time  which  particularly  struck  me,  was  his  excellent 
footgear.      Immediately  a  man  joined  the  army  he 
was    examined   and   tested   in   order   to   ascertain 
whether  his  feet  would  bear  the  strain  of  long  and 
rapid  marching.     Then  he  was  supplied  with  boots, 
and  every  care  was  taken  that  they  should  fit  him 
properly.     It  was  the  great  superiority  of  German 
over    French    marching    in    1870,    that    compelled 
MacMahon  to  give  battle  so  disastrously  at  Sedan. 
Of  their  cavalry  I  found  the  Prussians  particularly 
proud,  and  in  that  branch  of  the  service  the  old 
names  of   Ziethen,  Seydlitz,  and  Bliicher  still  re- 
mained household  words.     I  remember   an  officer 
asserting    that    Murat    and    Lassalle    had    merely 
plagiarised  the  cavalry  leaders  who  served  Frederick 
the  Great.     In  1866,  however,  the  Prussian  horse 
did  not   shine,   though   it  certainly   established   a 
reputation  four  years  later — ^particularly  with  respect 
to  the  venturesome  Uhlans,  who  served  as  the  eyes, 
ears,   and  feelers   of  the  armies  invading  France. 
Two  kinds  of  saddles  were  in  use  in  the  cavalry,  one 
of  a  very  simple  Hungarian  pattern  for  light  horse, 
such  as  the  Uhlans  and  the  Hussars,  and  the  other 
much  more  elaborate  and  of  a  German  model  for 
cuirassiers.     The    horses,    prociured    from    Govern- 
ment breeding-studs  and  by  purchase,  were   sound 
well-tended  animals  of  considerable  endurance.     At 
the  Government  stud-farms  the  mares  were  often 
served  by  carefully  selected  English  stallions.     The 
authorities  had  a  right  to  claim  the  foals  of  private 
people  whenever  these  foals  had  been  sired  at  an 
official  stud.     They  were  generally  bought  (at  about 

G 


82  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

150  thalers  apiece)  when  they  were  between  three  and 
four  years  old.  Not  until  they  had  completed  their 
sixth  year  did  they  take  their  places  in  a  regiment. 
There  were  fixed  standards  in  regard  to  height  and 
condition,  and  directly  a  horse  became  at  all  un- 
sound it  was  condemned  and  sold.  Nevertheless, 
I  seldom  saw  a  German  cavalry  horse  that  really 
came  up  to  our  old  English  standard. 

The  Prussian  trooper's  breviary  was  then  a  text- 
book written  by  General  von  Mirus,  in  which  it  was  laid 
down  that  a  soldier  should  always  imagine  during  his 
peace  studies  that  he  had  an  enemy  before  him.  In 
war  time  no  man  was  ever  to  siurender  as  a  prisoner 
unless  he  were  disabled  by  a  wound  or  had  lost  his 
horse.  If  the  latter  were  killed  it  was  the  trooper's 
duty  to  try  to  save  the  saddlery,  or  else  to  catch  a 
riderless  horse  and  appropriate  it.  In  cases  of  single 
combat  between  cavalrymen,  wrote  Mirus,  a  lancer 
should  strike  his  adversary's  horse  on  the  head  so  as 
to  make  it  shy.  As  for  a  swordsman-trooper,  his 
best  course  was  to  make  a  thrust  at  his  antagonist's 
stomach,  or  else  to  deliver  a  cut  over  the  back  of  his 
head,  or  on  his  bridle-hand.  The  General  sup- 
plemented his  practical  advice  with  some  curious 
instructions  on  all  sorts  of  matters.  He  wrote  for 
instance :  ^'  If  a  superior  should  offer  a  glass  of 
wine,  beer,  etc.,  to  a  trooper,  or  should  cause  the 
same  to  be  offered  him,  the  trooper  must  accept  it 
without  saying  a  word,  and  empty  it  at  a  draught(!). 
He  must  then  hand  the  glass  to  a  servant,  or  deposit 
it  on  a  window-ledge,  or  on  a  side-table — never  on  the 
table  at  which  his  superior  is  seated.'^' 

The  Prussian  artillery  of  those  days  was  not 
equal  to  that  of  the  present  time,  but  it  was  un- 
doubtedly   much    superior    to   the    French — that 


GERMANY  83 

superiority,  added  to  preponderance  of  numbers, 
having  been  a  decisive  factor  at  Sedan.  Four- 
and  six-pounder  steel  guns  from  Kjupp's  were 
chiefly  used  at  that  battle,  but  after  the  war  a  field 
gun  throwing  an  eleven-pound  shell,  and  yet  another 
discharging  a  seventeen-pound  shell  (shrapnel)  were 
introduced  into  the  service.  The  army  was  not 
entirely  dependent  on  Kxupp's  for  its  artillery,  the 
Government  having  a  cannon  foundry  at  Spandau. 
The  Engineer  Corps  was  very  competent.  On  one 
occasion  I  recollect  seeing  quite  a  number  of  shelter 
trenches  dug  in  little  more  than  ten  minutes.  This, 
it  is  true,  was  in  the  loose  sandy  soil  of  the  Berlin 
region.  Nevertheless  it  was  good  work.  I  was  also 
struck  by  the  efficiency  of  the  Railway  Corps,  which 
laid  down  a  line  from  Berlin  to  Zossen,  a  distance 
of  twenty-seven  miles,  in  a  remarkably  short  time. 
This  line  served  as  an  admirable  school  of  practice 
for  the  "  railway-men "  of  all  categories,  so  that, 
whenever  occasion  might  require,  a  line  might  be 
speedily  laid  down  or  repaired  and  worked  in  enemy 
country. 

The  idea  of  autumn  manoeuvres  originated  with 
the  Prussians,  for  the  name  of  manoeuvres  could 
not  be  given  to  the  yearly  assemblage  of  French 
troops  on  the  plain  of  Chalons  which  was  initiated 
by  Napoleon  III.  The  visit  of  the  Russian  and 
Austrian  Emperors  to  Berlin  in  1872  was  marked  by 
some  manoeuvres  which  I  witnessed.  Those  which 
took  place  near  Spandau  were  of  a  more  or  less 
mock  character,  for  there  was  only  an  imaginary 
enemy,  who  was  supposed  to  be  besieging  the  fortress, 
whilst  the  Prussian  Guard  Corps  advanced  from  the 
line  of  the  Oder  in  order  to  relieve  it.  The  enemy 
was  then  supposed  to  fall  back  beyond  the  confluence 


84  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

of  the  Spree  and  the  Havel,  and  to  take  up  position 
on  the  heights  of  Staaken  and  Amalienhof,  where- 
upon the  Guard  Corps'  appointed  duty  was  to  attack 
his  right  wing  so  as  to  prevent  him  from  withdrawing 
his  siege  train  and  artillery.  This  implied  the 
favourite  outflanking  movement  of  the  Prussians. 
It  was  on  this  occasion  that  I  saw  trenches  dug  so 
rapidly.  All  the  "  Imperialities,"  including  the 
Empress  Augusta,  were  present  to  witness  the  show, 
which,  shortly  before  one  p.m.,  when  the  Guards 
had  taken  Amalienhof,  ended  in  a  theatrical  charge 
of  4000  troopers,  followed  by  infantry  whom  the 
old  Kaiser  led  onward,  waving  his  sword  the 
while. 

The  manoeuvres  on  the  morrow  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Doeberitz,  Beestow,  Dallgow,  and  Nauen 
were  intended  to  be  taken  more  seriously.  Two 
forces,  a  Western  one  under  General  von  Pape,  and 
an  Eastern  one  under  von  Budritzki,  were  in  pre- 
sence, and  the  former,  having  advanced  towards 
Spandau  and  halted' to  give  battle,  was  to  be  thrown 
back.  Pape's  infantry  equalled  Budritzki's  in 
strength,  and  included  four  Guard  regiments,  a 
fusilier  regiment,  and  a  jager  battalion.  His 
artillery,  however,  was  inferior  to  his  opponent's,  and 
he  disposed  of  only  one  cavalry  brigade,  whereas 
Budritzki  had  a  couple,  in  addition  to  four  grenadier 
regiments  and  a  large  share  of  the  Guard  artillery. 
The  system — employed  still  to-day — of  beginning  an 
action  with  an  overwhelming  cannonade,  and  fol- 
lowing this  up  with  a  violent  infantry  attack,  was 
employed  very  efficiently  by  Budritzki's  force.  I 
was  struck  by  the  manner  in  which  the  Grenadiers 
crossed  a  streamlet  by  hacking  down  some  boughs 
of  trees,  then  constructing  a  light  bridge  of  them, 


GERMANY  85 

and  crossing  over  one  by  one  in  rapid  succession  until 
they  formed  up  again  and  vigorously  assaulted  one 
of  the  supposed  enemy's  batteries. 

In  writing  of  Moltke  I  alluded  to  the  Prussian 
General  Staff,  of  which  he  was  the  head.  He  brought 
its  organisation  to  a  very  high  state  of  efficiency. 
Three  of  its  sections  were  charged  with  studying 
and  reporting  on  the  strength,  organisation,  recruiting, 
equipment,  drill  and  distribution  of  virtually  every 
army  in  the  world.  Section  I  dealt  with  the  north, 
the  east,  and  the  south-east,  that  is  with  such 
countries  as  Sweden,  Norway,  Denmark,  Russia, 
Austria,  Turkey,  and  Greece.  It  also  reported  on 
the  forces  of  Persia,  China,  etc.  The  sphere  allotted 
to  Section  II  included  Germany,  Switzerland,  and 
Italy  ;  whilst  that  of  Section  III  comprised  France, 
Belgium,  Holland,  Great  Britain,  Spain,  Portugal, 
and  the  states  of  North  and  South  America.  A 
minute  account  was  kept  of  the  effective  forces  of 
all  the  above-named  countries.  Their  systems  of 
reserve  and  reinforcement,  their  armament,  the 
time  their  troops  would  require  to  mobilise  and 
concentrate  on  different  points,  their  fortresses, 
magazines  and  lines  of  communication — all  those 
matters  received  the  most  careful  attention.  The 
question  of  foreign  lines  of  communication  was 
particularly  studied  both  from  the  strategical  stand- 
point and  from  that  of  the  transport  of  troops  and 
materiel. 

Among  the  numerous  duties  assigned  to  the 
particular  sub-section  entrusted  with  these  matters, 
was  that  of  preparing  and  correcting  to  date,  for  use 
in  war-time,  a  tableau  of  the  various  halting-places, 
which  were  preferably  to  be  selected  in  any  foreign 
country,  this  selection  being  regulated  in  part  by 


86  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

strategical  considerations,  and  in  part  by  both  the 
material  and  the  pecuniary  resources  of  the  different 
districts  and  towns.  Levies  of  money  might  in 
some  instances  be  imposed  in  addition  to  levies  of 
supplies,  and  it  might  also  be  necessary  to  fine  a 
town  if  any  of  its  inhabitants  should  assume  a  hostile 
attitude. 

To  obtain  or  perfect  all  the  information  officers 
were  despatched  to  foreign  countries  in  order  that 
they  might  travel  there  and  acquire  a  practical 
acquaintance  with  every  transport  facility  or 
difficulty  that  might  exist,  and  also  to  institute 
all  kinds  of  inquiries  that  might  place  the  General 
Staff  in  possession  of  the  latest  particulars  on  every 
subject  germane  to  its  purpose.  It  must  not  be 
supposed  that  the  Staff  kept  all  the  information 
which  it  gathered  together  locked  up  in  its  strong 
boxes.  From  time  to  time  secret  reports  on  foreign 
armies  were  issued  to  generals  and  certain  staff- 
officers  not  on  the  establishment,  in  order  that  they 
might  study  them  and  be  ready  whenever  occasion 
should  require.  Briefly,  spying  was  organised  on 
the  most  elaborate  scale  that  has  ever  been  known. 
Thus,  under  the  aegis  of  the  ever-toiling  Moltke, 
did  Germany  prepare  for  her  dreamt-of  Conquest  of 
the  World. 

One  can  but  admit  the  thoroughness  of  the  Ger- 
man military  system.  A  section  of  my  readers  may 
think,  perhaps,  that  I  have  referred  in  too  laudatory 
a  strain  to  some  of  its  features.  In  no  instance, 
however,  have  I  desired  to  bestow  undue  praise  upon 
an  enemy.  But  the  British  nation  has  long  suffered 
from  the  besetting  sin  of  belittling  and  under- 
rating its  antagonists.  The  consequences  of  this 
have  often  been  very  serious.     Such  was  the  case 


GERMANY  87 

in  the  Boer  War,  and  such  has  almost  been  the  case 
again  in  the  World  War  which  began  in  1914.  It  is 
well  that  a  man  should  have  confidence  in  himseK,  but 
he  should  also  bear  in  mind  that  some  proposition 
which  he  may  be  called  upon  to  face,  may  prove 
to  be  an  extremely  stiff  one,  and  necessitate  the 
employment  of  all  his  acumen,  energy,  and 
strength. 


V. 


AMONG   THE   BERLINESE. 


Berlin  in  the  Seventies — Its  People  and  their  Ambition — The  Financial 
Crash  of  1873 — Quistorp  and  Strousberg — Commerce  and  Industry — 
The  Berlinese  Generally — Betrothals,  Marriages,  Births,  and  Deaths — 
The  Jews— The  Students. 

At  the  period  I  am  dealing  with  in  this  volume, 
Berlin  was,  more  or  less,  in  a  transition  stage.  It 
contained  a  good  many  monumental-looking  palaces 
and  public  buildings,  and,  in  the  central  districts, 
the  streets  were  generally  broad,  straight,  and  con- 
venient. But  there  were  still  many  thoroughfares 
which  were  deficient  even  in  foot  pavements;  and 
in  the  summer  dry,  and  in  the  winter  wet,  sand  was 
to  be  found  all  over  the  place,  often  very  much  to 
one's  discomfort.  Before  the  Franco-German  war 
the  Berlinese  generally  were  a  modest  people,  who 
recognised  the  limitations  of  their  city.  After  the 
defeat  of  Austria,  at  Koniggratz,  they  began  to  raise 
their  heads  a  little,  but  they  were  not  particularly 
self-assertive  until  the  defeat  of  France  and  the 
elevation  of  King  William  to  the  Imperial  dignity. 
Then  ambition  burst  forth  in  a  hundred  guises. 
Berlin  was  to  be  a  "  World  City,"  and  the  words 
Ich  bin  Berliner  were  to  be  the  modern  equivalent 
of  Civis  Romanus  sum.  At  the  time  of  writing  these 
lines  I  read  of  the  elimination  of  all  English  words 
and   expressions  from   the   German   language.     In 


GERMANY  89 

1871-72  the  Berlinese  vowed  that  no  French  words 
or  expressions  should  in  future  be  used  by  them. 
They  decided,  moreover,  that  with  the  help  of  the 
commercial  clause  of  the  treaty  of  Frankfort  they 
would  capture  French  trade,  in  fact,  drive  France 
entirely  out  of  commercial  contests.  There  were  to 
be  no  more  Paris  fashions,  Berlin  was  to  become  the 
world's  arbiter  elegantarium,  and  flood  it  with  Moltke 
costumes  and  Bismarck  mantles.  Moreover,  a  period 
of  general  extravagance  set  in.  The  war  indemnity 
paid  by  France,  the  famous  five  milliards  of  francs 
(£200,000,000),  seemed  to  the  Berlinese  of  those  days 
a  fabulously  colossal  sum,  and  somehow  or  other 
everybody  deluded  himself  into  a  belief  that  he 
would  in  one  or  another  fashion  obtain  a  share  of  all 
that  French  gold.  Thus  a  time  of  hitherto  unknown 
extravagance,  accompanied  by  often  senseless 
financial,  commercial  and  building  speculations, 
to  which  I  shall  refer  by  and  by,  was  inaugurated 
upon  every  side.  It  brought  about  a  great  influx 
of  poor  folk  from  the  provinces — the  Mark  of 
Brandenburg,  Posen,  and  Pomerania — ^where  the 
conditions  of  Ufe  had  always  been  hard,  and  seemed 
more  bitter  than  ever  now  that  Berlin  was  reported 
to  have  become  a  veritable  Tom  Tiddler's  ground. 
Thousands  of  peasants  and  artisans  resolved  to 
betake  themselves  to  the  new  Weltstadt  in  full 
expectation  of  immediately  securing  good  lodgings, 
fine  clothes,  the  best  of  food,  and  wages  five  times 
as  considerable  as  they  had  ever  earned  in  their 
remote  country  districts. 

In  1870,  when  the  war  with  France  began,  the 
city  contained  763,000  inhabitants,  which  figure  rose 
to  910,000  in  1873,  and  to  965,000  in  1875.  Many 
disappointments  awaited  the  new  arrivals  in  the 


90  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

capital,  and  during  the  very  first  year  following 
the  war  the  Berlinese  municipality  had  to  disburse 
nearly  £200,000  in  relieving  the  necessities  of  new 
immigrants.  The  deficiency  of  house  accommoda- 
tion, already  existent  in  previous  years,  became 
greater  and  greater,  and  rents  went  up  by  leaps  and 
bounds.  So  tremendous,  indeed,  was  the  increase 
that  hundreds  of  families,  being  quite  unable  to  pay 
the  sums  demanded  of  them  by  voracious  landlords, 
had  to  camp  in  the  suburbs,  on  open  spaces,  in  stables, 
temporary  huts  and  so  forth.  This  led  to  the 
flotation  of  scores  of  building  companies,  which  were 
often  far  from  well  planned,  and  several  of  which 
came  to  grief  during  the  great  financial  crash  of 
1873.  By  that  time  there  had  been  a  wild  dance 
of  millions,  chiefly  paper  millions,  on  the  Bourse,  and 
it  still  continued  when,  in  the  year  I  have  mentioned, 
there  came  a  first  crash  at  Vienna,  where  I  was  then 
sojourning.  Austrian  finance  was  at  this  period 
shaken  almost  to  its  foundations,  and  I  remember 
that  the  shares  of  one  of  the  principal  Viennese  banks 
fell  abruptly  from  213  to  7  florins  only  ! 

There  had  already  been  signs  that  all  was  not 
well  with  many  of  the  speculative  enterprises  in 
which  Berlin  had  become  absorbed.  Early  in  the 
year  there  was  a  scandal  respecting  certain  state 
grants  of  railway  contracts  to  speculators,  and  the 
Prussian  Minister  of  Commerce,  Count  von  Itzenplitz, 
Privy-Councillor  Wagener,  Prince  Biron  and  Prince 
Putbus,  became  involved  in  serious  charges  of 
corruption  and  fraud.  The  Government  had  to 
institute  a  Committee  of  Inquiry,  and  although  a 
good  many  matters  were  hushed  up,  Itzenplitz, 
Wagener  and  others  had  to  retire  from  the  public 
service.     Nevertheless,    the    frenzy    of    speculation 


GERMANY  91 

continued  in  Berlin  for  a  few  months  after  the 
Viennese  disasters.  Then  the  shares  in  all  the  new 
building  and  commercial  companies  began  to  decline, 
at  first  slowly,  and  later  with  increasing  rapidity, 
until  they  stood  at  last  at  50,  and  even  60  per  cent, 
less  than  the  prices  which  they  had  previously  com- 
manded. One  of  the  very  first  institutions  to  go 
was  Quistorp's  Vereinsbank,  which  had  run  up  two 
new  districts  on  the  outskirts  of  Berlin,  named  "  West 
End  "  and  "  New  West  End."  These  were  moderately 
successful,  and  some  other  enterprises  initiated  by 
Quistorp  were  praiseworthy  ones,  but  he  had  over- 
done things  and  had  got  into  difficulties  by  investing 
large  sums  in  real  estate  in  the  provinces.  He  ended 
at  last  by  appealing  for  assistance.  The  Prussian 
Bank  realised  that  several  of  his  ventures  were  of 
public  utility,  and  made  him  certain  advances,  but 
they  were  insufficient  to  avert  his  failure.  Before 
that  he  turned  to  Camphausen,  the  Finance  Minister, 
representing  that  if  he  should  have  to  suspend  pay- 
ment, 15,000  people  in  his  employment  would  be 
thrown  out  of  work,  and  that  elections  being  im- 
minent the  Government  might  find  itself  in  an 
embarrassed  position.  Camphausen,  however,  re- 
fused to  help  him,  and  his  parent  company  and  all 
the  affiliated  ones  failed.  Shares  representing  nearly 
two  millions  sterling  were  held  by  the  public,  which, 
when  everything  had  been  straightened  out,  secured 
only  a  very  small  dividend  indeed.  Two  members  of 
the  reigning  house,  who  had  invested  money  with 
Quistorp,  lost  heavily,  the  Queen  Dowager  of 
Prussia,  widow  of  "  King  Clicquot,"  being  the 
poorer  by  over  £100,000. 

Quistorp's  failure,  however,  was  only  the  signal 
for   others.     They   came   down   upon  the  terrified 


92  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

Berlinese  like  swift  sledge-hammer  blows  ;  depression 
ensued  in  every  branch  of  commerce  and  industry, 
and  countless  families  were  ruined.  The  Prussians 
had  always  been  a  thrifty  race,  but  now  the  accumu- 
lated savings  of  years  were  swept  away.  Circum- 
stances had,  in  a  sense,  avenged  the  French.  Their 
five  milliards  had  proved  the  undoing  of  a  generation 
of  Berlinese,  whom  the  war  indemnity  had  infected 
with  "  swelled  head."  Forty-eight  old  banks,  which 
in  1872  were  paying  dividends  of  over  10  per  cent., 
were  paying  less  than  5^  in  1875.  Ninety-five  new 
banks,  established  after  the  war,  saw  their  dividends 
drop  in  that  same  period  from  lOJ  to  a  fraction  over 
2  per  cent.  Iron  and  coal  companies  floated  in 
Berlin  fell  to  1|  per  cent.,  and  225  trading  companies 
dating  from  1871  showed  in  '75  a  return  of  even 
less  than  1 J  on  their  capital. 

One  of  the  last  collapses,  but  also  the  greatest  of 
this  period  of  failure  and  ruin,  was  that  of  Baruch 
Hirsch  Straussberg,  a  Jew  of  Neudenberg  in  East 
Prussia,  who  when  twelve  years  old  went  to  live 
with  a  maternal  uncle  in  England,  throve  there 
fairly  well,  married  an  Englishwoman,  and  became 
at  one  moment  proprietor  of  Sharpens  London 
Magazine.  When  he  returned  to  Berlin  after  the 
lapse  of  a  score  of  years,  he  called  himself  Dr.  Bethel 
Henry  Strousberg,  and  professed  the  Christian 
religion.  After  working  for  a  time  as  an  insurance 
agent  he  turned  to  railway  making,  and  in  fourteen 
years  he  constructed  wholly,  or  in  part,  quite  a 
number  of  lines,  beginning  with  that  of  Tilsit-Inster- 
burg  and  ending  with  that  of  Paris-Narbonne.  He 
was  a  combination  of  Hudson,  Law,  and  Sidonia. 
He  lived  in  a  princely  style,  entertained  lavishly, 
wormed  his  way  into  every  Government  office  and 


GERMANY  93 

corporate  body,  started  newspapers,  bribed  con- 
tributors to  others,  and  became  among  the  Berlinese 
even  Bismarck's  rival  for  celebrity,  people  actually 
arguing  as  to  which  was  the  greater  man,  the  "  Iron 
Prince  "  or  the  "  Railway  King."  Popularly,  Strous- 
berg  was  known  as  the  "  Man  who  Buys  Everything," 
from  the  multiplicity  of  undertakings  which  he 
purchased  and  turned  into  public  companies. 

He  appeared  upon  the  scene  prior  to  the  Franco- 
German  War,  and  when  that  began  his  position 
appeared  to  be  very  flourishing.  But  not  only  did  the 
advent  of  hostilities  sweep  his  regiments  of  workmen 
into  the  army,  thus  compelling  him  to  close  several 
of  his  works,  but  for  a  time  many  markets  ceased  to 
exist,  and  much  capital  which  he  had  sunk  in  various 
enterprises  became  unproductive.  By  desperate 
exertions  he  managed  to  complete  some  of  his 
railway  lines  and  to  carry  on  others,  but  he  was  paid 
in  shares,  which  during  the  war  period  could  only  be 
disposed  of  at  heavy  loss.  When  peace  returned 
he  again  essayed  higher  flights,  embarking  in  under- 
takings which  necessitated  prodigious  expenditure, 
and  almost  unlimited  credit.  He  became  very 
heavily  involved  as  contractor  for  the  Roumanian 
railway  lines,  and  failed  to  pay  interest  on  several 
million  bonds  which  he  issued  in  that  respect  in 
conjunction  with  the  Duke  of  Ujest,  the  Duke  of 
Ratibor,  and  Count  von  Lehndorff.  Thousands  of 
people  who  had  taken  up  those  "  Roumanian  "  bonds 
were  ruined.  After  some  sharp  falls  in  the  quotations 
they  were  converted  in  an  ingenious  manner  which 
enabled  Strousberg  and  his  confederates  to  pocket 
some  millions  of  thalers ;  but  the  creditors  ultimately 
banded  themselves  together,  and  compelled  the 
rogues  to  disgorge  at  least  a  portion  of  their  plunder. 


94  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

In  1872,  Strousberg  was  already  in  considerable 
difficulties.  He  mortgaged  some  estates  which  he 
had  acquired  in  Bohemia,  and  mines  in  various 
parts  of  Germany,  sold  works  at  Dortmund,  Hanover 
and  Neustadt,  ceded  a  Hungarian  railway  line  for 
which  he  had  secured  a  contract,  and  forfeited  large 
deposits  with  respect  to  other  railway  undertakings 
which  he  could  not  carry  on.  His  work,  by  the  way, 
was  often  very  defective.  When  the  Russians 
invaded  the  Balkans  to  free  the  ungrateful  Bul- 
garians, they  passed  through  Roumania,  and  availed 
themselves  of  the  railway  lines  which  Strousberg  had 
constructed  there.  But  again  and  again  these  lines 
broke  down,  the  Russian  advance  was  greatly 
delayed,  and  the  Turks  were  thereby  enabled  to 
make  a  much  stouter  resistance  than  would  have 
been  possible  otherwise. 

The  "  Wonderful  Doctor,"  as  Strousberg  was 
called,  made  a  last  attempt  to  withstand  fate  by 
taking  over  some  more  mines  and  iron  and  steel 
works  in  Bohemia  and  Silesia.  He  also  carried  on 
various  undertakings  in  Russia,  and  in  1874  the 
Moscow  Commercial  Bank  advanced  him  quite  a 
large  sum  on  some  debentures  in  a  projected  Paris- 
Narbonne  railway  line.  But  Strousberg' s  difficulties 
increased,  he  failed  to  turn  his  Bohemian  mines  and 
ironworks  into  a  joint  stock  company  as  he  desired, 
and  proceedings  in  bankruptcy  were  at  last  instituted 
against  him.  At  this  moment  the  Russian  bank, 
which  was  in  a  desperate  position,  owing  to  his 
default  with  respect  to  the  advances  it  had  made  to 
him,  telegraphed  to  him  to  go  to  Moscow.  He  went, 
was  arrested  on  his  arrival,  and  lodged  in  the 
"  nobility  quarter  "  of  the  debtors'  prison,  whilst 
the  bank,  being  insolvent,  closed  its  doors.     Before 


GERMANY  95 

Strousberg's  final  collapse  he  had  sold  his  picture 
gallery,  which  contained  several  famous  works  of 
art,  for  £120,000.  The  personal  property  remaining 
to  him  of  all  his  former  splendour  was  valued  at  less 
than  £10,000.  There  was,  however,  all  the  real 
estate  in  Germany,  Bohemia,  etc.,  and  this  repre- 
sented £850,000,  but  it  was  mortgaged  for  nearly 
four-fifths  of  its  value.  Strousberg  and  two  fellow- 
Germans  ultimately  underwent  a  term  of  imprison- 
ment at  Moscow  for  "  cheating  honest  Russians." 
On  being  released  the  Wonderful  Doctor  returned  to 
Germany  and  attempted  to  launch  a  gigantic  scheme 
for  connecting  Berlin  with  the  Elbe  and  the  Oder, 
and  thereby  making  it  a  "  seaport."  But  he  had 
already  ruined  too  many  people  to  inspire  confidence, 
and  thus  his  plan — which  it  must  be  said,  seems  to 
have  been  a  feasible  one — came  to  nothing. 

The  foregoing  imperfect  sketch  of  the  financial 
crashes  of  1873  and  the  ensuing  years  suggests  a 
few  words  respecting  the  trade  and  industry  of 
Berlin.  These,  as  I  have  already  pointed  out,  were 
depressed  for  a  time  by  financial  causes,  but  subse- 
quently revived  and  acquired  great  expansion.  I 
remember  that  in  my  time  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Oranienburg  and  Hamburg  gates  was  called  the 
Feuerland  from  the  number  of  iron  works  located 
there.  By  far  the  most  important  establishment 
was  that  of  Herr  Borsig,  the  so-called  Locomotive 
King,  who  was  then  building  himself  a  new  residential 
"  palace  "  in  the  style  of  the  Italian  Renaissance, 
in  the  Voss-strasse.  The  original  Borsig  came  to 
Berlin  as  a  poor  workman,  and  the  factory  he  founded 
in  1836  was  at  first  merely  a  sawmill  in  which  horses 
supplied  the  motive  power.  In  1872,  however,  the 
works  were  turning   out  virtually   every   kind  of 


96  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

railway  plant — locomotives,  bridges,  turntables,  rails, 
axles,  etc.  Another  interesting  establishment  was 
the  Royal  Iron  Foundry  where  a  good  deal  of  work 
of  an  artistic  character,  though  much  inferior  to 
the  French,  was  produced.  Altogether  there  were 
some  fifty  foundries  and  kindred  establishments  for 
the  production  of  metal  work  in  or  near  Berlin  in 
1872.  I  may  also  mention  the  royal  porcelain 
manufactory,  the  many  cloth  and  woollen  factories, 
the  wool  market  held  every  year  being  the  most 
extensive  in  Germany,  and  also  the  numerous 
tanneries  and  leather-dressing  works.  Paper  and 
paperhangings,  pianos,  cigars,  and  chemicals  were 
among  the  other  Berlinese  articles  of  manufacture. 
The  city's  industry  had  increased  tenfold  before  the 
advent  of  the  Great  World  War,  but  in  my  time  it 
was,  as  I  have  indicated,  already  very  considerable, 
particularly  in  the  districts  known  as  Feuerland  and 
Moabit.  The  former  name  I  have  explained,  the 
latter,  signifying  land  of  Moab,  was  given  to  the  spot, 
on  account  of  its  sterile  sandy  soil,  by  some  French 
Huguenot  immigrants  (mostly  agriculturists)  to  whom 
it  was  allotted  by  Frederick  the  Great. 

As  a  rule  the  visitor  to  a  foreign  country  only 
sees  what  may  be  called  the  public,  outdoor  life  of 
the  people.  Their  home  life  remains  unknown  to 
him.  This  remark  m.ay  be  well  applied  to  the  Ber- 
linese, who  rank  as  the  most  inhospitable  community 
in  all  Germany.  In  various  respects,  however,  they 
largely  live  away  from  their  homes,  and  thus  one 
sees  a  good  deal  of  them,  and  their  characteristics 
can  be  noted  and  appraised.  In  my  time  class 
distinctions  were  evident  upon  all  sides.  The 
aristocracy  kept  itself  as  far  aloof  as  possible  from 
the  untitled  bureaucracy,  and  also  from  the  nouveaux 


GERMANY  97 

riches  who,  for  the  most  part,  belonged  to  the  Jewish 
persuasion.  The  miUtary  class,  moreover,  kept  itself 
equally  aloof  from  the  civilian  element,  just 
tolerating  such  officials  as  were  privy  counsellors 
or  first  secretaries,  but  regarding  all  underlings 
and  private  people  with  contempt. 

Now  it  happened  whilst  I  was  in  Berlin  that  a 
certain  young  Count  von  Eulenberg,  a  captain  in  the 
Uhlans  of  the  Prussian  Guard,  fell  head  over  heels  in 
love  with  a  certain  Fraulein  Schceffer,  the  daughter 
of  the  proprietor  of  a  journal  called  Der  Bazar,  She 
and  her  parents  accepted  him,  and  he  applied  to  his 
superiors,  as  the  regulations  required,  for  permission 
to  marry  the  young  lady.  Two  days  later  he  was 
visited  by  a  couple  of  officers  of  his  regiment,  who 
explained  to  him  that  the  traditions  of  the  Prussian 
Guard  did  not  allow  one  of  its  officers  to  marry  any 
young  person  whose  father  might  be  the  author  of 
his  own  fortunes,  and  who,  moreover,  was  not 
possessed  of  that  distinguishing  prefix,  "von."  This 
lecture  fired  Count  von  Eulenberg  with  indignation, 
and  he  at  once  challenged  his  visitors.  The  regula- 
tions, however,  required  that  Baron  von  Alvens- 
loeben,  then  commander  of  the  Guard,  should  give 
permission  for  the  duel.  Instead  of  doing  so, 
Alvensloeben  sent  for  Eulenberg  and  told  him  that 
the  two  officers  were  right,  and  had  acted  as  the 
representatives  of  the  whole  Guard  Corps,  as  a 
marriage  between  a  member  of  their  body  and  the 
daughter  of  a  newspaper  man  who  had  formerly 
been  a  bookbinder,  could  not  be  tolerated.  It 
mattered  little  that  Herr  Schceffer  had  since  accumu- 
lated a  fortune,  and  that  two  sons  of  his  had  become 
army  officers,  and  had  been  killed,  one  at  Koniggratz 
and  the  other  at  Sedan.     Eulenberg,  regarding  the 

H 


98  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

reproof  as  an  insult  to  his  intended  bride,  challenged 
Alvensloeben  also ;  but  the  latter,  far  from  consenting 
to  fight,  committed  the  young  Count  to  be  court- 
martialled  for  insufferable  presumption,  with  the 
result  that  the  unlucky  lover  was  sentenced  to  a 
year  and  a  half's  imprisonment  in  a  fortress. 

The  affair  would  probably  have  had  no  other 
aspect  in  the  eyes  of  such  an  exclusive  set  as  the 
officers  of  the  Guard  Corps,  even  if  Fraulein  Schoeffer's 
father  had  secured  letters  of  nobility,  like  Bleichroder, 
Krause,  Carstenn  and  other  financiers  and  speculators 
of  the  time.  Men  of  that  stamp  certainly  wormed 
their  way  into  some  of  the  upper  circles  of  Berlin 
society,  but  the  older  aristocracy  looked  with  ill- 
disguised  contempt  on  these  "  fresh-baked  "  nobles, 
particularly  as  they  were  mostly  of  Hebrew  origin. 
I  found  the  Prussian  nobility  not  a  whit  more  proud 
of  their  '*  vons  "  than  the  members  of  the  bureaucracy 
were  of  their  various  official  titles,  which  they  never 
set  aside  even  in  the  most  ordinary  circumstances 
of  private  life.  "  Councillors  "  and  ''  Directors  " 
were  to  be  met  on  every  side,  even  a  clerk  employed 
in  the  opera-house  offices  styling  himself  "  Theater- 
intendantur-rath,"  or  "Councillor  of  the  Adminis- 
tration of  the  Theatre."  It  was  (and  is)  also  the 
German  practice  to  bestow  on  every  official's  wife 
the  equivalent  of  her  husband's  title,  in  such  wise 
that  a  woman  may  be  styled  "  Mrs.  Inspectoress  of 
Sewers  Miiller,"  or  "  Mrs.  Consulting-Architectress 
Schultz."  Everybody,  moreover,  expects  to  be 
addressed  as  "  Well-born "  at  the  least.  I  may 
add  that  the  practice  of  referring  to  the  Kaiser  as 
"  All  Highest "  is  no  recent  innovation,  for  it  was 
current  at  the  time  of  the  present  Emperor's 
grandfather. 


GERMANY  99 

Count  von  Eulenberg's  misadventure  in  attempt- 
ing to  marry  a  plebeian  Fraulein  suggests  the  subject 
of  courtship  and  marriage  generally.  I  used  to 
notice  every  morning  quite  a  number  of  betrothal 
notices  in  the  newspapers.  Instead  of  the  English 
formula,  familiar  to  readers  of  The  Morning  Post 
and  The  Times :    "A  marriage  has  been  arranged 

between and ,  etc.,"  one  observed  such  a 

notification  as  the  following  :  "  We  hereby  have  the 
honour  to  announce  respectfully  the  betrothal  of 
our  eldest  daughter,  EHsabeth,  to  the  Ritterguts- 
besitzer  (Lord  of  the  Manor)  von  Bismarck-Kniephof , 
Lieutenant  in  the  First  Guard-Dragoon  Regiment. — 
(Signed)  Karl  von  der  Osten,  Marie  von  der  Osten, 
born  von  Kessel."  Then  came  a  similar  notice  from 
Bismarck-Kniephof  himself. 

In  my  time  there  were  already  many  matrimonial 
agencies  in  Berlin,  and  during  more  recent  years 
these  have  greatly  increased  in  number.  The  same 
may  be  said  respecting  the  newspaper  advertise- 
ments for  wives  and  husbands.  Occasionally,  too, 
one  would  come  upon  such  an  offer  as  the  following : 
"  I  have  an  excellent  daughter  to  marry,  who  refused 
several  good  proposals  when  she  was  younger.  She 
is  now  twenty-nine  years  old,  and  I  would  give  a 
reasonable  dowry  with  her  hand  to  a  suitable 
husband,  a  tradesman  if  possible,  who  must  be  pious 
and  abstemious  from  alcohol."  The  latter  qualifica- 
tion was  often,  and  the  former  seldom,  specified — 
Berlin,  from  a  general  standpoint,  being  probably 
the  least  religious  town  in  all  Germany.  I  may  add 
that  many  of  the  matrimonial  advertisements 
emanated  from  members  of  the  Jewish  persuasion, 
three-fourths  of  the  advertisers  of  this  category 
being,  curiously  enough,  women. 


100  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

The  marriage  announcements,  like  the  betrothal 
notices,  differed  very  much  from  ours.  You  might 
read,  for  instance :  "  Emil  Werner  and  Pauline 
Werner,  nee  Braumiiller,  announce  themselves  a 
Wedded  Pair  "  ;  or  else :  "  Oscar  Laasch  and  Clara 
Laasch,  nee  Bauerlin,  present  their  respects  as  newly 
married."  As  for  births,  one  found  them  published 
to  the  world  in  this  fashion :  "I  have  the  honour 
to  announce  the  happy  delivery  of  my  dearly  loved 
wife,  Lina,  of  a  stout  boy  at  5.15  this  afternoon." 
If  the  father  was  of  a  religious  turn  of  mind  the 
notice  would  take  some  such  form  as  this :  "  With 
God's  gracious  help,  my  tenderly  loved  wife  Sophie 
was  safely  delivered  at  4.30  this  morning  of  a 
fine,  healthy  girl.  Hallelujah  !  "  In  almost  every 
instance  one  observed  that  the  exact  time  at  which 
the  birth  took  place  was  specified — ^this  being 
apparently  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of 
German  Kultur. 

Whilst  walking  through  the  streets  of  Berlin 
I  was  often  struck  by  the  highly  ornate  coffins  which 
were  displayed  to  view  in  the  shops  of  the  under- 
takers. They  were  frequently  of  metal  with 
elaborate  gilt  or  bronze  ornamentation  ;  those  of  the 
poorer  classes,  however,  being  of  wood,  painted  in 
bright  colours.  The  death  announcements  appearing 
in  the  newspapers  were  often  extremely  fulsome, 
though  now  and  again  one  or  another  struck  a 
genuinely  pathetic  note.  Turning  to  the  present- 
day  advertisement  pages  of  the  Berlin  Tagehlatt, 
which  a  Dutch  friend  frequently  sends  me  from 
Holland,  I  find  many  notifications  respecting  the 
officers  and  men  killed  in  action.  These  notices 
have  thick  black  borders,  and  often  include  a  repre- 
sentation of  the  Iron  Cross.     The  following  kind 


GERMANY  101 

of  form  is  frequently  used :  "  Of  a  hero's  death  for 
the  Fatherland,  at  the  storming  of  a  height  in  the 
forest  of  Argonne,  on  July  26,  died  our  beloved  son, 
brother,  uncle  and  nephew,  Hellmut  Flohr,  Lieu- 
tenant of  Reserve  in  an  Uhlan  Regiment,  Knight  of 
the  Iron  Cross  " — ^this  being  followed  by  the  names 
of  a  number  of  relatives.  I  also  observe  similar 
notices  issued  by  business  firms  respecting  the  death 
in  the  field,  or  in  hospital,  of  some  partner  or  manager, 
and  the  expression,  "  a  hero's  death  for  the  Father- 
land," occurs  repeatedly. 

One  cannot  glance  through  those  numerous 
announcements  without  some  feeling.  I  do  not 
share  the  opinion  of  the  Emperor  Vitellius  that  the 
corpse  of  a  dead  enemy  smells  sweet.  Like  most 
other  people  I  regard  Death  as  the  great  Pacifier  and 
Reconciler.  Fragments  of  some  verses  which  I  read 
in  my  childhood — ^their  theme  was  either  the  battle- 
field of  Magenta  or  that  of  Solferino — have  often 
recurred  to  me  when  I  have  stood  on  some  battlefield 
of  more  recent  times  : 

"  Swathes  of  Death's  scythe  wielded  throughout  the  day, 

The  dead  lie  thick  and  still,  foes  all  at  peace  with  foes.  .  .  , 
So  many  nameless  dead  !    No  meed  of  glory, 

For  all  that  blood  so  freely  shed,  is  theirs  ; 
Yet  each  life  here  linked  many  in  its  story 

Of  hopes  and  loves  and  joys  and  woes  and  fears. 
Of  those  unhonoured  sleepers,  grim  and  gory. 

Who  knows,  out  of  the  world,  how  much  each  with  him  bears  ?  " 

Such  fines  as  those  come  back  to  me  when 
thinking  of  the  thousands  of  our  own  brave  lads  who 

*  The  poem  appeared  in  Once  a  Week  in  or  about  1859.  It  impressed 
me  strangely  in  my  childhood,  but  nowadays  I  only  remember  a  few 
snatches  of  its  four  or  five  stanzas.      I  do  not  recollect  whether  it  was 


102  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

now  lie  side  by  side  with  enemies  in  the  burial 
trenches  on  some  western  or  near-eastern  battle 
front ;  and  then  my  mind  reverts  to  the  gorgeous 
looking  coffins  of  the  Berlin  undertakers,  and  the 
pompous  funerals  which  I  used  to  see  parading  the 
streets  of  the  Prussian  capital.  Some  of  our  poorer 
classes  have  often  and  rightly  been  censured  for 
unduly  lavish  display  when  burying  their  dead,  but 
the  ostentation  to  be  observed  at  most  Berlin 
funerals  was  far  greater. 

I  alluded  previously  to  the  inhospitality  of  the 
BerUnese.  In  that  respect  they  may  have  changed 
somewhat  owing  to  their  increased  prosperity  during 
the  years  preceding  the  present  war.  In  the  mid- 
seventies,  however,  their  strictly  limited  means 
naturally  inclined  them  to  niggardliness.  I  find 
that  in  1874,  when  the  population  of  the  city  was 
about  950,000,  there  were  only  3000  families  (10  per 
cent,  of  the  inhabitants)  whose  incomes  exceeded 
£150  per  annum ;  whilst  no  fewer  than  104,000 
families  (or  52  per  cent.)  had  to  subsist  on  as  little 
as  £45  a  year.  Nearly  all  the  wealthy  people — 
apart  from  some  forty  or  fifty  families  of  the  older 
aristocracy — ^were  of  the  Jewish  race,  some  of  the 
richest  being  renegades,  though  the  majority  ad- 
hered to  the  religion  of  their  forefathers. 

It  was  after  the  war  of  '66  and  the  establishment 
of  the  North  German  Confederation  that  the  Jews 
began  to  come  to  the  front  in  any  marked  degree. 
In  previous  times  the  authorities  had  held  them  in 
check.  Until  about  1860,  indeed,  there  existed  a 
law  or  regulation  by  which  no  Jew  domiciled  in 
Prussia  might  even  marry  without  the  permission 
of  the  King,  the  object  of  this  provision  being  to 
prevent    the    chosen    race   from "    increasing    and 


GERMANY  103 

multiplying"  in  accordance  with  Old  Testament  in- 
structions, and  thereby  competing  unduly  with  the 
Christian  community.  Frederick  the  Great  used  to 
enforce  this  regulation  in  a  somewhat  amusing  fashion. 
After  he  had  purchased  the  Berlin  Porcelain  Manu- 
factory and  turned  it  into  a  royal  institution,  he  was 
worried  to  find  that  customers  were  not  so  plentiful 
as  he  had  expected.  He  therefore  made  it  a  rule, 
whenever  a  Jewish  couple  petitioned  him  for  per- 
mission to  marry,  to  refuse  his  consent  unless  the 
petitioners  were  willing  to  buy  of  him  a  certain 
quantity  of  china,  and,  according  to  Carlyle,  he 
himself  used  to  note  on  the  margin  of  each  petition 
the  quantity  that  should  be  purchased,  according 
to  the  assumed  means  of  the  petitioners. 

After  the  Berlin  Jews  came  to  the  fore,  they 
embarked  largely  in  land-purchase  and  building 
enterprises — becoming,  indeed,  prime  movers  in  all 
the  wild  speculation  which  ended  in  the  financial 
crash  to  which  I  previously  referred.  They  acquired, 
moreover,  a  great  hold  over  the  Press  by  estabKshing 
new  or  purchasing  existing  journals,  and  it  was  by 
reason  of  their  venality  that  Bismarck  found  it  so 
easy  to  convert  what  should  have  been  a  free  and 
independent  institution  into  a  "  reptile  press." 

In  the  seventies  there  was  only  one  Berlin  news- 
paper that  was  entirely  free  from  Jewish  influence — 
this  being  the  Neue  Preussische  Kreuz  Zeitung, 
Matters  are  very  much  the  same  to-day.  The  great 
bulk  of  the  Berlinese  newspaper  proprietors  and 
journaUsts  are  Jews.  I  found  the  Berlin  Jews  to  be 
of  a  somewhat  peculiar  type,  usually  short  in  statiu-e 
and  sharply  featured,  with  oblong  heads,  very 
sensual  lips,  extremely  prominent  noses,  and  scruta- 
tive  eyes  ever  on  the  move.     I  seldom  saw  a  really 


104  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

good-looking  Jewish  girl  in  Berlin,  though  in  Vienna 
I  noticed  many. 

Less  conspicuous  than  the  Jews  in  Berlin  were 
the  students  of  the  University,  for  although  they 
were  supposed  to  wear  caps  of  distinguishing  colours, 
according  to  the  province  whence  they  came,  the 
great  majority  of  them  never  did  so,  and  therefore, 
unless  they  bore  the  marks  of  duelling,  they  could 
not  be  identified  among  the  thousands  of  young  men 
thronging  the  city  streets.  Their  number,  moreover, 
was  temporarily  declining  owing  to  the  increased 
cost  of  living  in  Berlin  after  the  Franco-German  War. 
For  that  reason  many  who  wished  to  study  theology, 
law,  medicine,  or  philosophy — the  usual  faculties 
at  German  Universities — ^betook  themselves  in  pre- 
ference to  Leipzig  or  Halle,  both  of  them  much  older 
institutions.  The  Berlin  University  dates  no  further 
back  than  1809,  when  Fichte  was  so  strenuously 
advocating  education  as  a  means  of  regenerating 
the  Teutonic  race.  Among  its  more  distinguished 
professors  and  students  in  its  early  days  were 
numerous  descendants  of  the  French  Huguenots  who 
colonised  the  Moabit  district  of  Berlin  * — such  men 
as  Savigny,  Chamisso,  De  la  Motte-Fouque,  Baron 
de  Reumont,  Count  Brassier  de  Saint-Simon,  Count 
Renard,  and  later,  Du  Bois  Reymond,  who,  in  spite 
of  his  French  ancestry,  applied  himself  particularly 
to  expunging  all  French  words  and  expressions  out 
of  the  German  language. 

In  the  '70's  most  of  the  Berlin  professors  were 
very  badly  paid,  the  highest  salary  then  being  about 
£350  a  year,  whereas  the  university  of  Leipzig, 
being  the  richest  in  Germany,  paid  £600,  and  even 
£800.     The  famous  Mommsen  was  Rector  at  BerUn 

*  See  p.  96,  ante. 


VANITY    FAIR    AT   THE   BERLIN    "  ZOO ' 


t^^\J 


GERMANY  105 

in  my  time.  Lean  and  bilious  looking,  speaking  in  a 
dry,  harsh,  and  very  unpleasant  voice,  he  was  of 
Danish  origin.  He  had  given  Napoleon  III  some 
assistance  in  preparing  his  "  Life  of  Julias  Caesar," 
and  in  recognition  thereof,  the  French  Emperor 
made  him  a  very  acceptable  allowance  of  £400  a  year 
out  of  his  privy  ^urse.  That,  however,  by  no  means 
deterred  Momii.  ^en  from  strenuously  advocating  the 
bombardment  of  Paris  in  1870,  and  shouting  demands 
for  the  annexation  of  Alsace-Lorraine.  At  a 
ceremony  commemorative  of  the  Berlin  students 
who  were  killed  diu*ing  the  hostilities,  he  delivered  an 
oration  in  which  he  propounded  the  theory  that  the 
House  of  HohenzoUern  had  "  never  declared  an 
unjust  or  unworthy  war."  Were  he  still  alive  he 
would  probably  repeat  the  same  nonsense. 

Virchow,  the  distinguished  Pomeranian  scientist 
— the  discoverer  of  trichinosis,  which  for  a  time  so 
greatly  alarmed  the  pig-eating  German  race  * — ^was 
one  of  the  phalanx  of  professors  surrounding 
Mommsen — a  phalanx  which  then  also  included 
Buchner  the  Darwinian,  Gneist  the  professor  of 
Law  and  admirer  of  the  British  Constitution,  Curtius 
the  Greek  scholar,  Lepsius  the  Egyptologist,  Duncker 
the  historian,  Helmholtz  the  authority  on  physics, 
and  Treitschke  of  whom  I  previously  gave  some 
account,  t  Unlike  Mommsen,  Virchow  was  not 
carried  away  by  excessive  admiration  for  the  Hohen- 
zollerns.  Under  Bismarck  he  often  had  to  bridle 
his  caustic  tongue,  but  it  was  recorded  of  him  that 
during  the  revolutionary  turmoil  of  1848  he  summed 

*  We  are,  of  course,  excessive  pig-eaters  ourselves,  but  the  English 
passion  for  the  flesh  of  the  unclean  beast  is  less  intense  than  that  of 
the  Germans. 

t  See^p.  68,Jawfe. 


106  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

up  the  mentality  of  the  Prussian  reigning  house  in 
these  words  :  "I  know  a  family  in  which  the  grand- 
father [Frederick  William  II]  had  a  softening  of  the 
brain,  the  father  [Frederick  William  III]  a  hardening 
of  the  brain,  and  the  son  no  brain  at  all."  The  last 
reference  was,  of  course,  to  the  fourth  Frederick 
William,  otherwise  the  lunatic  Kin^  Clicquot.  It  is 
a  pity  that  Virchow  is  dead,  for  we  might  otherwise 
have  had  his  opinion  respecting  the  mentality  of  the 
present  All  Highest  head  of  the  HohenzoUern 
family. 

In  my  time  the  Berlin  students  resided  mostly 
on  the  upper  floors  of  more  or  less  dingy  houses  in  the 
Luisen,  Marien  and  Karl-strasse,  north  of  the  Spree, 
this  district  being  known  as  the  "  Quartier  Latin  " 
among  those  folk  who  did  not  object  to  use  a  French 
expression.  The  rental  for  an  attic  in  this  neighbour- 
hood had  risen  to  forty-five  shillings  a  month,  which 
will  help  to  explain  why  so  many  young  fellows  with 
very  small  allowances  betook  themselves  to  Leipzig, 
where  they  could  secure  decent  quarters  for  less  than 
half  the  above  amount,  besides  obtaining  food  much 
more  cheaply.  Bad  manners  were  conspicuous  in 
virtually  all  Berlinese  restaurants  in  those  days,  and 
in  those  frequented  by  the  students  they  were  con- 
siderably worse  than  elsewhere.  It  was  quite 
common  to  see  young  men  smoking  horrible  cigars 
at  their  meals — not  merely  between  the  courses,  but 
virtually  between  every  bite.  Billiards  were  freely 
patronised  by  the  student  class,  but  fencing  and 
shooting  took  the  pas.  In  winter  there  was  also 
skating,  but  otherwise  the  Berlin  student  indulged 
in  virtually  no  sport  at  all.  The  duels  must  have 
been  frequent,  judging  by  all  the  strips  of  black 
plaster  which  one  commonly  saw  on  the  faces  of 


GERMANY  107 

young  fellows  leaving  the  University  in  the  afternoon. 
The  reader  who  has  never  been  in  Germany  may  be 
reminded  that,  according  to  prescribed  rules,  the 
swish  of  the  schldger,  with  which  the  students  fight 
(often  merely  to  pass  away  the  time)  may  only  be 
delivered  on  the  face.  To  be  visibly  scarred  and 
seamed,  is,  however,  the  student's  especial  pride,  and 
this,  I  believe,  endears  him  to  the  better-looking 
sex. 

In  summer  the  Berlinese  were  seen  to  most 
advantage,  perhaps,  in  the  drives  and  paths  of  the 
Thiergarten,  the  city's  park,  where  in  former  cen- 
turies deer  and  other  animals  ran  wild,  the  um- 
brageous expanse  then  serving  as  a  hunting  and 
shooting  ground  for  the  Brandenburg  Electors. 
Kroll's  adjacent  establishment,  a  respectable  kind 
of  Cremorne  in  my  time,  was  then  much  patronised ; 
and  so  were  the  Zoological  Gardens,  across  a  narrow 
arm  of  the  Spree,  beyond  the  Thiergarten.  The  open- 
air  concerts  given  there  three  times  a  week  attracted 
most  of  the  Berlinese  beau  monde.  In  winter  the 
Christmas  Fair  was  one  of  the  city's  great  attrac- 
tions. However  irreligious  the  Berlinese  might  be, 
they  never  failed  to  celebrate  the  Feast  of  the 
Nativity  with  banquets,  balls,  Christmas  trees,  and 
other  forms  of  rejoicing ;  and,  as  with  us,  the  day 
was  one  to  which  children  looked  forward  eagerly, 
thinking  of  all  the  presents  they  would  receive. 


VI. 


SOME   LIGHT  AND   DARK   SIDES   OF  BERLIN. 

Furnished  Apartments — ^Family  Meals  and  Catering  at  Restaurants — 
The  Famous  Army  Sausage — Bibulous  Berliners — Bock-bier  and 
Weiss-bier — Winehouses — Devrient  the  Actor — The  Court  and  the 
Popular  Theatres — ^Music  and  Dancing  Halls — ^ImmoraUty  and 
Irreligion  in  Berlin — The  Press,  Serious  and  Humorous. 

When  my  father  and  I  were  in  Berlin  we  usually 
put  up  at  hotels,  but  on  one  occasion,  intending  to 
make  a  really  long  stay,  we  rented  some  rooms  in  the 
Dorotheen-strasse,  where  Hegel,  the  philosopher, 
died.  I  remember  to  this  day  the  hideous  wall- 
paper in  my  bedroom — ^paper  fit  to  fill  one's  slumbers 
with  the  most  horrid  nightmare  imaginable.  My 
bedstead  was  of  the  usual  barbaric  type,  a  kind  of 
box  too  short  to  allow  one  to  stretch  one's  self  out 
at  full  length,  and  provided  with  sheets  of  about 
the  same  size  as  towels,  whilst  the  place  of  blanket 
and  counterpane  was  taken  by  a  voluminous  bag  of 
feathers,  which  was  too  short  to  keep  one's  feet  warm, 
and  which  fell  upon  the  floor  invariably  every  night. 
By  staying,  however,  in  a  private  house  we  obtained 
some  glimpses  of  the  surroundings  and  the  domestic 
economy  of  middle-class  people.  Crochet-work, 
bead-work,  and  embroidery  of  a  kind  were  con- 
spicuous in  the  so-called  drawing-room,  which  was 
otherwise  bare  of  ornamentation  save  for  a  number 
of  family  photographs,  most  of    which  represented 

108 


GERMANY  109 

young  men  in  full  uniform.  The  dining-room  also 
was  very  plainly  furnished,  the  most  prominent  of 
its  contents  being  a  monumental  stove  of  clay  and 
gypsum  with  an  outer  glazing  of  white  porcelain. 
Our  landlady,  the  widow  of  a  "  Councillor  "  of  some 
description,  knew  nothing  of  comfort. 

I  never  saw  any  napery  whatever  on  the  dining- 
room  table,  which  was  merely  covered  with  some 
oilcloth.     At  dinner — the  hour  for  which  was  two 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon — extremely  little  fresh  meat 
was  served  unless  some  had  been  used  for  making  the 
soup.     A  slice  or  so  of  ham  or  sausage,  or  some  raw 
pickled  or  salted  herrings  followed  the  bouilli,  and 
there  was   a  great  frequency  of   sauerkraut,  greasy 
if  warm  and  reeking  of  vinegar  if  cold.     Berlinese 
cookery  was  indeed  compounded  of  three  kinds  of 
dishes,  the  salt,  the  greasy,  and  the  sour  ones.     Meat 
soup  was  not  always  provided  ;  what  was  supposed, 
I  fancy,  to  provide  a  pleasant — though  it  proved  a  very 
unpleasant — change,  was  supplied  in  the  form  of  some 
soup  made  chiefly  of  beer,  thickened  with  eggs  and 
sweetened  with  sugar.     The  puddings  were  generally 
heavy  and  always  odious,  whilst  the  preserves  had 
an  unnatural  stickiness  about  them.     Baked  goose 
was  the  best  dish  that  I  ever  tasted  at  dinner  in  the 
Dorotheen-strasse  ;  it  was,  by  the  way,  at  that  time 
a  favourite  one  among  the  Berlinese,  who,  I  dare  say, 
still  derive  a  fairly  plentiful  supply  of  this  particular 
bird  from  its  favourite  habitat,  Pomerania.     White 
wheaten  bread  was  provided,  but  the  Berlinese  of 
those  times  affected  more  particularly  rye-bread  full 
of  caraway  seeds,  which  latter,  they  asserted,  helped 
to  calm  the  nerves.     A  change  of  knife  and  fork  was 
most  unusual,  but  it  being  the  common  practice  to 
heap  half  a  dozen  things  of  the  most  conflicting 


no  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

flavours  upon  one  and  the  same  plate,  to  be  eaten  at 
one  and  the  same  time,  to  have  changed  the  imple- 
ments employed  for  conveying  different  viands  to  the 
mouth  would  have  been  a  superfluous  proceeding, 
entailing  unnecessary  labour  in  "  washing  up  "  on 
the  part  of  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  buxom,  bright- 
petticoated  girls  from  the  Spreewald,  who  acted  as 
our  landlady's  servants. 

However,  we  only  dined  in  the  Dorotheen-strasse 
on  the  days  when  writing  kept  us  busy  within  doors. 
At  other  times  we  patronised  the  restaurants  and 
hotels.  There  were  several  where  the  cookery  was 
really  good,  and  the  charges  seldom  exceeded  three 
shillings — without  wine,  of  course.  Meinhardt's 
table  d'hote  had  quite  a  reputation,  and  the  catering 
at  DresseFs  was  to  be  commended,  whilst  the 
Imperial  restaurant  in  the  Kaiser  Gallerie  (Unter 
den  Linden)  laid  itself  out — at  least  so  it  announced— 
for  supplying  the  favourite  dishes  of  any  nation  in 
the  world,  having  engaged,  it  alleged,  expert  cooks 
of  all  possible  nationalities.  When  we  went  from 
the  chief  hotels  and  restaurants  to  others  of  a  lower 
category  we  had  some  amusing  experiences.  A  huge 
Speisenkarte  was  always  presented,  but  there  were 
many  chances  that  when  you  had  decided  to  sample 
some  particular  dish,  the  waiter  would  respond : 
''  1st  nicht  mehr  da  f  My  father's  favourite  viand 
was  beef,  but  beef  was  seldom  to  be  obtained,  unless 
it  were  in  the  form  of  some  weird  stew.  It  was  as  if  a 
cattle  plague  were  raging  throughout  Germany. 
When  you  entered  a  restaurant  at  a  slightly  unusual 
hour  the  probabilities  were  that  you  would  secure 
little  or  nothing.  Nevertheless  the  waiter  imper- 
turbably  tendered  the  usual  Speisenkarte  on  which 
hundreds  of  items  were  enumerated.     You  would 


GERMANY  111 

think  perhaps  of  beginning  with  Gdnseleber,  otherwise 
goose's  liver.  "  1st  nicht  mehr  da  J  "  the  waiter 
would  reply.    "  And  junges  Huhn  (chicken)  ?  "     ''''1st 

nicht "     "  Well,  let  us  say  Hasenhraten    (roast 

hare)."  "  1st  nicht  mehr  da  l^'  At  last  you  asked  the 
man  what  there  was  left.  "  Swiss  cheese  and  butter," 
he  invariably  answered. 

In  these  war  days  the  Berlinese  have  apparently 
had  to  content  themselves  with  some  strange 
provender.  But  in  those  times  of  plenty  there  were 
already  some  fantastic  compounds.  Boiled  red 
cabbage,  for  instance,  would  be  soaked  in  vinegar 
sweetened  with  sugar,  flavoured  with  garlic  and 
served  surrounded  with  sardines  or  bristling. 
Geklopftes  Bindfleisch  (well-beaten  beef)  was  cooked 
with  lemon  peel,  cloves,  pepper,  onions,  sardines  and 
eggs.  After  being  well  browned  it  was  served  with  a 
sauce  composed  of  broth  and  wine,  to  which  grated 
nutmeg,  lemon  juice,  butter,  cayenne  pepper,  sugar 
and  yet  more  sardines  or  bristling  were  added. 
The  Berlinese  regarded  this  mess  as  particularly 
tasty,  and  so,  in  a  sense,  it  was.  Nowadays,  however, 
it  may  be  impossible  for  them  to  procure  some  of  its 
necessary  ingredients. 

Whilst  on  the  subject  of  food  I  may  well  mention 
the  famous  Erhswurst,  or  pea-sausage,  the  chief 
element  in  the  rations  which  are  served  out  to 
German  soldiers  in  the  field.  This  sausage  was 
the  invention  of  a  Berlin  cook  named  Griinberg, 
whose  recipe  was  purchased  by  the  Prussian  Govern- 
ment for  a  sum  of  over  £5000.  The  War  Office 
erected  an  establishment  capable  of  producing 
75,000  sausages  per  diem,  each  of  1  lb.  weight,  in 
accordance  with  Griinberg's  formula,  and  the  army 
was  largely  fed  upon  them — ^particularly  when  on 


112  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

the  march — during  the  Franco-German  War.  The 
ingredients  of  these  sausages  consisted  of  pea-fiour, 
chopped  beef-fat,  smoked  pigs'  breast,  onions, 
herbs  and  salt,  all  well  mixed  and  pressed  together 
by  means  of  cylindrical  moulds,  before  being 
enclosed  in  paper.  The  cooking  was  very  simple, 
each  sausage  being  cut  into  pieces,  which  were 
thrown  into  boiling  water  and  well  stirred  up,  with 
the  result  that  in  a  few  minutes  there  was  a  thick 
soup.  One  such  sausage  constituted  a  soldier's  daily 
ration. 

Apropos  of  sausages,  an  enterprising  Berlin 
caterer  of  the  "  popular  "  kind,  initiated  in  my  time 
a  so-called  "  Golden  Sausage  Dinner."  In  every 
thirtieth  sausage  with  which  his  customers  were 
served,  he  enclosed  (according  to  his  own  statement) 
a  small  gold  coin,  which  became  the  property  of  the 
lucky  individual  who  discovered  it  in  his  "  portion." 
It  was  a  study  to  observe  the  careful  manner  in  which 
the  diners  masticated  their  sausages  in  the  hope 
of  suddenly  finding  the  little  bit  of  gold  between  their 
teeth,  and  not  without  a  fear  that  if  they  should  eat 
too  fast  it  might  slip  unawares  down  their  throats. 
However,  I  never  met  a  man  who  admitted  having 
found  any  of  the  coins  in  question. 

I  alluded  in  my  previous  chapter  to  the  bad 
manners  of  the  students  at  their  habitual  eating- 
houses.  Bad  manners  prevailed  also  at  many 
restaurants  of  a  much  higher  category,  for  the 
German  is  seldom,  if  ever,  a  clean  eater.  The  army 
officers  displayed  their  Kultur  (then,  by  the  way, 
written  Cultur,  for  h  had  not  then  virtually  expelled 
c  from  the  German  alphabet)  in  a  manner  peculiarly 
their  own.  At  that  time  they  were  for  the  most 
part   heavily   whiskered,   in    imitation   of   the   old 


GERMANY  113 

Kaiser,  or  full-bearded  like  the  Crown  Prince 
Frederick,  and  directly  they  entered  a  restaurant 
or  an  hotel  dining-room  they  would  produce  pocket 
combs  and  comb  out  what  the  writers  of  a  former 
day  might  have  called  "  their  hirsute  appendages." 
This  occurred  whilst  they  stood  in  front  of  the 
mirrors  in  the  room  before  sitting  down.  But  some 
of  them  were  so  greatly  enamoured  of  their  bristles, 
that  whilst  they  were  at  table  they  would  again 
produce  their  combs,  and  little  pocket-glasses  also, 
and  proceed  to  a  further  combing.  I  saw  captains 
and  colonels  of  the  Guard  behaving  in  this  fashion  at 
the  Hotel  du  Nord  and  the  Hotel  de  Saint  Peters- 
bourg,  two  leading  hostelries  of  those  times. 

I  found  the  Berlinese  to  be  a  bibulous  as  well  as  a 
voracious  race.  The  bier4okalen — both  above  and 
underground — and  the  bier-gdrten  were  innumerable. 
Most  of  the  beer  consumed  was  of  the  ordinary 
Munich  type,  for  in  previous  years  many  a  young 
Berliner  had  gone  to  the  Bavarian  capital  to  become  a 
brewer's  apprentice  there,  and  on  returning  home 
had  applied  himself  to  brewing  in  the  Munich  style. 
Bavaria  had  also  infected  the  Berlinese  with  a  passion 
for  hock'hier,  a  beverage  of  extra  strength  brewed 
in  the  spring  time  only,  and  requiring  to  be  drunk  at 
once.  It  was  principally  procured  at  DeibeFs  estab- 
lishment, a  large  building  in  park-like  grounds,  on 
the  south  side  of  Berlin ;  and  to  this  "  Bock  Berg," 
as  the  place  was  familiarly  called,  the  Berlinese 
repaired  in  thousands  from  the  latter  part  of  April 
until  the  first  week  or  so  in  May.  Men  and  women, 
soldiers,  bourgeois,  artisans,  cooks,  nursemaids, 
mothers  with  their  children,  all  betook  themselves 
thither  in  endless  processions  for  the  one  sole  purpose 
of  getting  "  gloriously  drunk."     The  scenes  which 

I 


114  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

ensued  may  be  left  to  the  imagination.  London, 
however  bibulously  inclined  it  may  have  been, 
never  witnessed  such  carousing  as  that  which  pre- 
vailed during  Berlin's  Bock-bier  Carnival. 

There  was  yet  another  kind  of  beer  affected  by 
the  Berlinese.  This  was  the  famous  weiss,  a  liquid 
as  pale  and  as  clear  as  Rhine  wine,  and  surmounted 
by  a  huge  crown  of  froth  suggestive  of  a  prize 
cauliflower.  A  quart  of  the  actual  liquor  filled  but  a 
third  of  the  glasses  in  which  it  was  served,  the  froth, 
however,  rising  to  the  top  and  foaming  over  the 
sides.  So  huge  were  the  glasses  that  they  might 
easily  have  fitted  a  head  of  ordinary  dimensions ; 
and  a  novice  could  only  raise  them  to  his  lips  with  the 
help  of  both  his  hands.  The  experienced  drinker, 
however,  had  a  knack  of  balancing  the  bottom  of 
the  receptacle  on  the  little  finger  of  his  right  hand, 
and  of  clutching  the  side  with  his  thumb  and  his 
remaining  fingers.  The  weiss-bier  appeared  to  be 
drank  largely  as  a  morning  "  refresher,"  when  a  man 
had  consumed  too  much  liquor  on  the  previous 
evening.  Before  imbibing  the  first  quart,  the 
habitual  weiss-bier  toper  sipped  a  little  kiimmel. 
Then  he  was  ready  for  the  attack,  and  three  or  four 
quarts  in  succession  would  disappear  into  his 
capacious  paunch.  I  tasted  weiss-bier  on  just  a  few 
occasions.  It  had  been  brewed,  perhaps,  two  or 
three  years  previously,  and  had  a  peculiar  sharp, 
dry  flavour.  Largely  impregnated  with  carbonic 
acid  gas,  it  was  to  the  Berliner  much  the  same  as 
brandy  and  soda  to  an  Englishman. 

I  also  visited  some  of  the  weinstuben  which  were 
mostly  old-fashioned  underground  places,  patronised 
by  those  who  preferred  grape  juice  to  the  produce 
of  malt  and  hops.     At  one  establishment  at  the 


GERMANY  115 

corner  of  the  Friedrichs-strasse  one  could  procure 
genuine  old  Cape  wine,  such  as  sweet  red  Constantia 
and  bitter  golden  Cape  Stein — ^the  last  named  pro- 
duced from  vines  which  had  been  sent  out  to  South 
Africa  from  Wiirzburg  in  Bavaria.  The  most  famous 
wein-stube  of  the  period  was,  however,  Lutter  and 
Wegener's  in  the  Gensd'armen-markt. 

It  had  been  the  chief  resort  of  Berlinese  actors 
from  time  immemorial,  and  I  was  shown  the  table 
at  which  Devrient,  a  famous  impersonator  of  classic 
characters,  used  to  sit  in  the  company  of  the  cele- 
brated Hoffmann,  the  fantastic  poet  who  in  ordinary 
life  was  a  civil  servant  with  the  title  of  Kammer- 
gerichtsrath.  Hoffmann's  criticisms,  often  of  a 
most  dictatorial  description,  were  the  only  ones  which 
Devrient  ever  tolerated.  One  story  of  the  latter  is 
worth  repeating.  On  a  certain  afternoon  he  was 
sitting  with  some  friends  in  the  wein-stube  I  have 
mentioned,  when  he  noticed  a  man  who,  with  mallet 
and  chisel,  was  engaged  in  some  repairs  at  the  theatre 
— ^the  Schauspiel-haus — opposite.  After  plying  his 
mallet  half  a  dozen  times,  this  man  invariably  laid 
down  his  tools,  took  out  his  snuff-box,  and  treated 
himself  to  a  pinch.  Devrient  maintained  that  the 
time  given  to  the  snuff -taking  was  exactly  equivalent 
to  that  in  which  the  six  mallet  blows  were  delivered, 
and  by  way  of  proving  this  assertion  he  offered  to 
bet  that  he  would  drink  a  bottle  of  champagne 
during  each  performance.  The  challenge  was  taken 
up,  and  after  imbibing  a  bottle  of  the  wine  during 
the  man's  snuff-taking,  Devrient  despatched  a  second 
one  during  the  mallet-strokes.  History  does  not  record 
whether  his  performance  at  the  Schauspiel-haus 
was  marked  by  more  than  his  usual  fire  that 
evening,  but  the  anecdote  shows  that  the  Berlin 


116  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

workman  of  that  time  was  occasionally  quite  as 
leisurely  in  his  ways  as  his  British  contemporary. 

This  reference  to  Devrient  brings  me  to  the 
theatres  of  the  Prussian  capital.*  Three  of  them,  the 
Opera-house,  the  Schauspiel-haus,  and  the  concert 
hall  in  the  latter  building,  were  then  under  Crown 
control,  the  General  Superintendent  being  Herr 
von  Hiilsen,  an  ex-officer  of  the  Guard  Corps,  who 
also  had  charge  of  the  "  annexed "  theatres  of 
Wiesbaden,  Cassel,  Hanover,  and  Frankfort-on-the- 
Main.  I  never  saw  him  attired  otherwise  than  in 
uniform,  or  heard  him  addressed  otherwise  than  as 
.Excellency,  and  I  soon  ascertained  that  he  invariably 
endeavoured  to  rule  the  performers  under  his  control 
in  an  absolutely  military  fashion.  He  reduced  the 
internal  decorations  and  comforts  of  the  royal 
theatres  to  a  minimum,  for  in  his  opinion,  all  such 
things  distrac"'^ed  the  attention  of  the  audience  from 
the  stage  ;  and  in  a  like  spirit  he  banished  orchestras 
from  the  houses  where  dramas  and  comedies  were 
performed,  as  music  between  the  acts  was,  he  held, 
incompatible  with  the  cult  of  either  Melpomene  or 
Thalia.  As  for  the  companies  which  he  got 
together,  he  usually  aimed  at  securing  a  standard 
of  level  mediocrity,  setting  his  face  as  much  as 
possible  against  "  stars " — ^who,  by  the  way,  were 
then  known  to  the  Berlinese  as  "  matadors." 

Although  I  have  always  had  quite  a  slim  figure 
I  never  found  any  seats  so  uncomfortably  narrow 
as  those  in  the  Berlin  Opera  House,  nor  did  I  ever 
sit  in  a  worse  ventilated  theatre,  for  the  temperature 
rose  to  that  of  the  hottest  chamber  of  a  Turkish 
bath,  and  the  atmosphere  was  generally  impregnated 

*  I  contributed  a  series  of  articles  on  them  to  the  Illustrated  Sporting 
and  Dramatic  News,  whose  Paris  correspondent  I  was  for  a  few  years. 


GERMANY  117 

with  odours  of  a  most  nauseous  kind.  There  were  no 
regulations  as  to  attire.  Among  the  male  spectators 
very  few  appeared  in  evening  dress,  though,  of  course, 
those  who  were  officers  (and  who,  by  the  way,  were 
only  allowed  on  the  second  tier)  wore  their  uniforms. 
As  for  the  women,  many  were  quite  dowdily  attired. 
The  audience  was  generally  credited  with  being 
highly  educated  with  regard  to  music,  nevertheless 
it  suffered  the  vocalists  to  indulge  in  all  kinds  of 
faults  without  protest.  It  came  to  pass,  however, 
that  Pauline  Lucca,  the  "prima  donna,  repeatedly  tried 
the  public  patience,  until  she  at  last  sinned  more 
egregiously  than  ever.  She  and  a  certain  Fraulein 
Mallinger  became  bitter  rivals  on  account  of  their 
respective  interpretations  of  the  role  of  *'  Marguerite  " 
in  Gounod's  "  Faust,"  and  this  rivalry  led  to  some 
extraordinary  scenes  at  the  Opera-house.  On  one 
occasion  the  partisans  of  the  two  vocalists  almost  came 
to  blows  and  had  to  be  turned  into  the  streets  by  a 
posse  of  police.  A  year  or  two  later,  during  a  per- 
formance of  "  Les  Huguenots,"  Lucca  without  waiting 
for  her  cue  walked  on  to  the  stage  and  started 
singing  before  another  air  was  finished.  This  proved 
too  much  for  even  the  patient  Berlin  public,  and  the 
capricious  prima  donna  was  loudly  hissed.  There- 
upon Herr  von  Hiilsen  stepped  up  to  the  footlights 
and  lectured  the  audience  on  its  rudeness. 

Lucca  at  first  refused  to  appear  again,  but  was 
pacified  by  an  engagement  for  life  with  enhanced 
emoluments  and  four  months'  leave  of  absence 
annually.  She  then  apparently  thought  that  she 
might  do  as  she  pleased,  and  repeatedly  behaved 
and  sang  in  a  most  outrageous  fashion.  This  led  to 
renewed  protests,  in  revenge  for  which  the  lady 
deliberately  treated  us  to  a  series  of  fainting  fits. 


118  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

The  first  time  I  heard  the  loud  thud  when  she  flopped 
down  upon  the  stage,  I  thought  she  must  have  injured 
herself,  but  a  companion  remarked  to  me  that  she 
was  far  too  fat  for  that,  and  so  it  proved.  Eventually 
she  flung  her  contract  at  Hiilsen's  feet  and  fled  across 
the  Atlantic,  to  the  chagrin  of  many  Berlinese  who, 
in  spite  of  her  capricious  ways,  could  not  forget  that 
in  earUer  years  she  had  made  herseK  very  popular 
among  them.  This  she  had  achieved  in  part  by 
learning  the  horrible  Berlinese  dialect,  compared 
with  which  the  Cockney  speech  of  some  parts  of 
London  is  almost  blameless. 

The  orchestra  at  the  Berlin  Opera-house  was  on 
the  whole  efficient.  Wagner's  "  Tannhauser  "  and 
"  Lohengrin "  were  favourite  operas,  but  his 
"  Tristan  und  Isolde  "  had  a  very  mixed  reception 
when  it  was  first  performed  in  1876.  Two  years 
previously  I  heard  Verdi's  "  Aida  "  at  Berlin,  it  being 
produced  there  long  before  it  was  given  in  Paris  or 
in  London.  The  repertoire  was  certainly  varied  and 
quite  cosmopolitan.  I  heard  several  of  the  composi- 
tions of  Mozart,  Rossini,  Meyerbeer,  Auber,  Ambroise 
Thomas,  and  Gounod,  as  well  as  Nicolai's  "  Merry 
Wives  of  Windsor  "  in  the  same  year  as  "  Aida." 
The  ballets,  which  old  Taglioni  planned  and  pro- 
duced during  fifty  years,  were  often  remarkably  well 
staged,  but  the  ladies  who  appeared  in  them  were 
mostly  antiques.  The  Berlinese  called  them  the 
"  Old  Guard,"  but  added,  sarcastically,  that  instead 
of  imitating  Napoleon's  men  at  Waterloo,  they  always 
surrendered  and  never  died. 

The  Konigliches  Schauspiel-haus  or  Royal  Play- 
house claimed  a  position  similar  to  that  of  the 
Comedie  Frangaise.  Shakespeare  was  often  staged 
there,  and  I  remember  seeing  performances  of  plays 


GERMANY  119 

by  Schiller,  Kotzebue,  Eudolf  and  Paul  Lindau — 
the  last  named  then  being  the  most  popular  of  the 
modern  German  playwrights.  There  was  a  house 
in  the  Friedrich-Wilhelmstadt  where  Offenbachian 
opera-bouffe  prevailed,  and  where  the  famous 
Meiningen  court-players  appeared  on  one  or  two 
occasions,  to  the  amazement  of  the  Berlinese,  who 
then  realised  how  much  their  own  court  theatres 
were  behind  the  times.  The  Wallner  Theatre,  which 
staged  local  comedy  and  farce,  was  one  of  the  most 
popular  houses  in  the  city.  Bismarck's  crony 
Helmerding — a  counterpart  in  some  respects  of  the 
EngUsh  Robson — here  became  the  idol  of  the  audience. 
French  f Series  like  "  La  Chatte  blanche  "  were  to  be 
seen  at  the  huge  Victoria  Theatre ;  the  Residenz 
gave  plays  by  Dumas  fils  and  Sardou  as  well  as  by 
native  authors ;  whilst  the  National  and  the  Stadt 
Theatres  were  homes  of  tragedy  and  melodrama. 
There  were  also  many  popular  houses  where  you 
might  smoke,  sip  kiimmel,  swill  beer  and  gorge 
on  kuchen  during  the  performances,  the  average 
entrance  fee  to  these  places  being  sixpence  or  little 
more.  Farce  and  melodrama  alternated  at  such 
establishments,  the  farces  often  partaking  of  the 
nature  of  revues — that  is  to  say,  topical  subjects  and 
topical  characters  (such  as  Bismarck,  Count  Arnim, 
Don  Carlos,  and  Deputy  Windthorst)  would  be 
introduced  into  them.  There  were  also  a  couple 
of  circuses — Renz's  and  Salamonsky's — as  well  as  the 
Walhalla  Theatre,  where  the  most  striking  novelties 
in  the  acrobatic  and  monstrosity  line  were  exhibited 
nightly. 

A  German  writer  of  the  time  roundly  denounced 
the  evil  influence  exercised  by  the  Berlin  "  popular  " 
houses  on  social  life.     "  Every  evening,"  said  he, 


120  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

"  marriage,  morality  and  religion  are  trampled  under 
foot  in  these  places,  amidst  the  fumes  of  tobacco  and 
alcohol,  and  the  laughter  of  the  spectators.  It  is 
scarcely  enough  to  say  that  the  greatest  city  in 
Germany  offers  up  twenty  millions  of  thaler  every 
year  on  the  altar  of  that  unclean  divinity,  Astarte." 
Those  remarks  applied  to  some  of  the  theatres  I 
have  mentioned,  and  also  to  the  many  music  and 
dancing  halls  dispersed  through  the  city. 

In  the  halls  singers  and  public  were  generally 
on  intimate  terms.  Fraulein  Irma  would  descend 
from  the  stage,  embrace  her  lover  who  was  among  the 
audience,  sit  on  his  knee  if  there  was  no  chair  vacant, 
and  then,  at  his  expense,  regale  herself  with  a  blade 
bone  and  pickled  cabbage,  in  partaking  of  which  she 
needed  the  assistance  of  three  successive  pints  of  beer. 
Then,  after  Fraulein  Alma  had  in  her  turn  warbled 
a  ditty  with  the  customary  refrain  of  "  Zum  Ting- 
lingling,  Zum  Tinglingling  !  "  (which  was  taken  up  by 
everybody  present),  she  likewise  descended  from  the 
stage  and,  after  collecting  a  number  of  silver  groschen, 
in  a  like  fashion  fed  upon  raw  herring  powdered  with 
yellow  sugar,  and  imbibed  some  kind  of  schnapps. 
Meanwhile  the  racket  in  the  auditorium  increased, 
and  when  somebody  had  imitated  the  bleating  of  a 
sheep,  another  followed  with  the  cackling  of  a  hen, 
until  there  arose  a  babel  of  sounds  compounded  of 
the  speech  of  every  known  animal  and  bird,  the  lights 
meantime  growing  quite  dim  amidst  the  ever- 
increasing  volume  of  tobacco  smoke.  Some  years 
later  much  the  same  scene  was  to  be  witnessed  in 
the  cdboulots  of  the  Butte  Montmartre,  and  Paris 
imagined  that  it  had  given  birth  to  something  novel. 
Not  at  all.  The  famous  Parisian  "  Chat  noir  "  and 
all  the  smaller  dens  of  that  category  were  purely 


GERMANY  121 

and  simply  imitations  of  what  had  long  existed  at 
Berlin,  and  had  merely  been  transplanted  from  the 
banks  of  the  Spree  to  those  of  the  Seine  by  the 
unceasing  migration  of  Germans,  who  as  "  Alsatians," 
"  Austrians  "  or  "  Switzers,"  betook  themselves  to 
France,  sometimes  to  spy  out  the  land,  and  sometimes 
to  better  their  positions. 

Dancing  was  a  passion  among  the  Berlinese  of 
those  days,  and  public  dancing-halls  were  as 
numerous  in  their  city  as  they  once  were  in  Paris 
also.  Nobody  could  say  that  the  Parisian  dancing 
places  were  ever  schools  of  morality,  but  in  my  young 
days  they  were  at  least  policed  by  Municipal  Guards, 
and  overt  acts  of  indecorum  were  promptly  checked. 
In  Berlin,  however,  I  found  the  greatest  license 
prevailing.  Scores  of  the  half-drunk  were  to  be  seen 
leaning  over  scores  of  the  half-dressed  at  such  places 
as  the  Orpheum,  the  Ball-haus,  the  Villa  Colonna, 
the  Flora  Saal  and  the  so-called  Vauxhall ;  and  many 
and  often  quite  shameless  were  the  endearments 
in  which  one  and  another  of  the  crowd  publicly 
indulged.  I  also  recollect  witnessing  an  extremely 
decollete  ballet  at  the  Orpheum,  and  on  my  com- 
menting on  its  impropriety  to  a  friend,  a  person 
who  sat  near  us  remarked :  "  Ah  !  but  that  is 
necessary  in  Berlin.  No  matter  how  low  one  may 
cut  the  bodices  of  the  ballet  girls  or  how  high  one 
may  cut  their  skirts,  the  Berlinese  are  never 
satisfied !  " 

The  prevalence  of  the  social  evil  was  evident  in  all 
parts  of  the  city,  and  the  coarser  manners  of  the 
Germans — compared  with  those  of  the  Parisians — 
made  it  appear  all  the  worse.  Figures  given  in  the 
statistical  annual  issued  by  the  municipality  showed 
what  a  cancer  was  gnawing  at  the  vitals  of  the  new 


122  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

Weltstadt.  The  Church  appeared  to  be  powerless. 
Prussian  Protestantism  had  been  undermined  by 
philosophic  speculation  and  scientific  rationalism, 
and  at  each  recurring  visit  which  I  paid  to  the  city, 
pure  atheism  seemed  to  be  more  and  more  in  the 
ascendant.  No  cathedral  as  yet  existed.  In  all 
Berlin,  towards  the  close  of  the  "  seventies,"  there 
were  but  fifty-eight  Lutheran  and  other  Protestant 
churches,  with  four  Eoman  Catholic  ones,  and  two 
synagogues.  Some  curious  things  might  be  observed. 
A  few  years  after  the  passing  of  a  Civil  Marriage  Law 
the  number  of  religious  marriages  had  declined  by 
one  half.  Out  of  an  annual  average  of  some  30,000 
burials,  ministers  of  religion  officiated  at  only  3000  ! 
As  for  the  church-goers,  these  (apart  from  the 
Catholics)  represented  only  about  0*5  of  the  popula- 
tion. The  church  of  a  certain  parish  inhabited  by 
7000  people  remained  absolutely  empty  Sunday  after 
Sunday.  The  Kaiser  at  last  ordered  all  shops  to  be 
closed  during  the  religious  services,  but  this  measure 
had  little  or  no  effect.  Indeed,  however  great  might 
be  the  personal  devotion  which  the  Berlinese  generally 
professed  for  the  victor  of  Sedan,  they  steadily 
refused  to  imitate  his  religious  observances.  On  the 
other  hand,  they  enthusiastically  supported  Bis- 
marck during  that  Culturkampf  with  the  Vatican, 
which  was  so  largely  brought  about  by  Catholic 
hostility  to  the  new  Empire,  and  which  Pius  IX  so 
greatly  envenomed  by  his  fulminations. 

The  Berlinese  Ultramontane  journals  suffered 
very  severely  during  these  hostilities,  being  fre- 
quently prosecuted,  fined,  suspended  and  suppressed. 
For  some  years  Abbe  Majunke,  editor  of  the  Germania, 
spent  most  of  his  time  in  prison.  Socialist  journalists 
had  a  similar  experience,  and  as  in  spite  of  this  the 


GERMANY  123 

attacks  on  the  Chancellor  became  more  and  more 
frequent,  he  had  a  special  form  of  prosecution  order 
lithographed  and  filled  it  in  whenever  occasion 
required,  that  is,  as  a  rule,  several  times  every  week. 
It  ran  as  follows  : — 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Empire  directs  the  attention  of  the  State  Attorney 

of  the  district  of to  No. of  the newspaper.    This  number 

contains  on  page ,  column ,  an  article  constituting  the  offence  of 

.    The  State  Attorney  is  therefore  directed  to  commence  proceedings 

in  accordance  with  paragraphs and of  the  Penal  Code  of  the 

Empire.    (Signed)  V.  Bismarck,  Chancellor, 

Under  this  system  Clericalist  and  Socialist  writers 
knew  no  respite  whatever.  In  six  weeks  no  fewer 
than  thirty-seven  warrants  were  issued  against  Herr 
Sonnemann,  the  Socialist  editor  of  the  Frankfurter 
Zeitung  ;  and  in  one  day  five  convictions,  each  carry- 
ing with  it  consecutive  imprisonment,  were  secured 
against  a  clericalist  scribe.  Dr.  Hager  of  the  Silesian 
Volks  Zeitung.  With  editors  belonging  to  other 
parties  Bismarck  had  less  trouble.  He  simply  pur- 
chased them  with  the  help  of  his  Reptile  Fund,  as  I 
mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter.  The  Press  Bureau 
was  then  already  an  institution  of  long  standing, 
having  been  placed  originally  under  the  direction  of 
a  Dr.  Ryno  Quehl,  who  was  succeeded  for  a  time 
by  two  men  named  Aegidi  and  Hahn,  until  in  1875 
a  certain  Herr  Carord  appeared  upon  the  scene  and 
perfected  the  machinery.  People  talk  nowadays 
of  the  Prussian  Press  Bureau  and  its  Wolff,  Bjornsen, 
and  other  agencies,  as  if  these  were  quite  novel  things. 
But  their  practices  are  simply  survivals  of  Carord's 
time.  He  did  not  merely  exercise  a  control  over  the 
German  Press,  he  also  inspired  many  Russian, 
Austrian,  Hungarian,  and  United  States  journals,  his 


124  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

influence  extending  even  to  German  periodicals 
issued  in  Australia. 

The  chief  Berlinese  papers  of  my  time  were  the 
old  Vossische  Zeitung,  which  already  then  hated  all 
things  English ;  the  National  Zeitung,  which  was 
reputed  to  "  devour  Great  Britain  raw  once  every 
week ; "  the  democratic  Volks  Zeitung ;  the  Social 
Demokrat,  a  predecessor  of  the  Vorwdrts  of  to-day  ; 
the  Junker  organ,  the  Kreuz  Zeitung ;  the  Nord- 
deutsche  Allgemeine  Zeitung,  which  was  Bismarck's 
favourite  mouthpiece ;  the  clericalist  Germania ; 
the  Tribune,  and  the  Tagehlatt,  the  last  named  then 
being  smaller  and  less  read  than  it  is  nowadays. 
The  most  extensively  circulated  journal  was,  how- 
ever, without  doubt  the  Intelligenz  Blatt,  which, 
contrary  to  its  appellation,  contained  very  little 
news  indeed  ;  its  score  of  pages  being  given  chiefly  to 
advertisements,  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  which 
were  for  domestic  servants,  clerks,  tutors,  governesses, 
apprentices,  journeymen,  and  so  forth.  Quack 
medicines  and  similar  articles  were  also  advertised 
throughout  the  Berlin  Press  in  a  far  more  extensive 
and  ambitious  manner  than  was  then  the  practice 
in  Great  Britain,  and  the  fortune-telling  announce- 
ments of  prophets  and  prophetesses  were  innumer- 
able. 

The  Kladderadtasch  was,  and,  I  suppose,  remains, 
Berlin's  leading  comic  journal.  For  many  years  a 
certain  David  Kalisch  acted  as  its  editor,  writing 
the  satirical  verses  which  usually  appeared  on  the 
front  page,  as  well  as  the  dialogues  between  "Schiiltz  " 
and  "  Miiller,"  two  typical  Berlinese  citizens  (one 
a  bourgeois  and  the  other  a  militarist),  which  were 
among  the  paper's  chief  features.  Kalisch,  however, 
was  succeeded  by  a  man  named  Dohm,  who  being  a 


GERMANY  125 

Professor  of  Theology  imparted  a  much  heavier  tone 
to  the  publication's  letterpress.  The  chief  draughts- 
man was  a  certain  Scholz,  whose  productions  no 
editor  of  Punch  would  ever  have  thought  worthy  of 
print  and  paper.  For  twenty  years  Scholz  carica- 
tured Napoleon  III  both  in  and  out  of  season,  and 
when  the  Emperor  died  he  made  the  inoffensive 
young  Prince  Imperial  his  favourite  butt.  The 
Wesfen,  whose  principal  draughtsman,  Heyl,  was  a 
better  artist,  appeared  as  a  supplement  to  the  Tribune, 
just  as  the  Ulk  was,  and  is,  a  supplement  to  the 
Tageblatt,  In  those  days  the  UlFs  cartoons  were 
perhaps  the  best  appearing  in  the  Berlin  satirical 
journals.  German  wit,  however,  is  usually  a  very 
heavy  affair,  lacking  the  sprightliness  of  French 
esprit  and  the  caustic  dryness  of  much  of  our  English 
humour.  Thus  one  seldom  found  anything  really 
"  smart  "  in  the  productions  of  the  Berlinese  writers 
and  artists. 

I  recall,  however,  a  significant  cartoon  which  the 
Ulk  published  apropos  of  some  pacific  declarations 
which  the  old  Kaiser  made  in  one  of  his  speeches  from 
the  throne.  Prussia  was  typified  as  a  female  carrying 
an  olive  branch,  and  reading  from  a  tablet,  whilst  in 
front  of  her  were  gathered  the  representatives  of 
various  countries,  among  them  being  France,  who 
was  peering  through  a  telescope  at  a  shadow  which 
rose  behind  the  peaceful  figure  of  Prussia — ^this 
shadow  taking  the  form  of  a  very  determined-looking 
infantryman,  in  marching  order,  with  rifle  raised 
and  bayonet  fixed.  There  was  also,  I  remember, 
a  clever  series  of  irreverent  caricatures  of  that  sacred 
institution,  the  army — ^privates,  non-coms.,  and 
officers,  all  figuring  as  cockchafers,  or,  as  the  artist 
put  it,  as  varieties  of  the  scarabeus  explodens  militaris. 


126  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

Bismarck  was  frequently  caricatured,  but,  as  a  rule, 
either  in  a  flattering  or  an  inoffensive  manner.  On 
one  occasion,  however,  when  he  had  retired  to 
Varzin  in  a  fit  of  pique,*  and  the  semi-official  journals 
announced  that  his  physician  had  been  summoned 
thither  by  telegraph  (although  his  illness  was  merely 
a  diplomatic  one),  the  Wespen  was  bold  enough  to 
portray  him  seated  in  a  room  with  two  friends  and  a 
pack  of  cards.  The  doctor  had  simply  been  sum- 
moned to  make  up  a  whist  party  !  Another  some- 
what humorous  caricature  depicted  the  Chancellor's 
"  Christmas  tree,"  from  which  hung  cages  full  of 
imprisoned  Clericalist  and  Socialist  editors.  These, 
by  the  way,  were  often  confined  in  adjoining  cells  at 
the  same  prison,  and  one  caricaturist  represented 
Abbe  Majunke  tendering  from  his  barred  window  an 
impressive  sermon  to  his  fellow  prisoner,  Sonnemann, 
who,  not  to  be  outdone  in  zealous  proselytism, 
responded  by  offering  the  Abbe  a  violent  Socialist 
manifesto.  Below  ran  the  legend :  "  They  will  end 
by  converting  one  another." 

*  See  p.  69,  ante. 


VII. 

HERE  AND  THERE  IN  GERMANY. 

The  Spreewald  and  the  Wends — A  Glimpse  of  Silesia :  Breslau — Ahr  and 
Moselle — Rhineland  and  Palatinate — ^Wiirtemberg  and  Bavaria — 
Their  Royal  Houses — The  Mad  King  and  his  Death. 

My  acquaintance  with  Germany  in  the  "  seventies  " 
and  afterwards  did  not  begin  and  end  with  my  visits 
to  Berlin.  Every  now  and  again  I  had  occasion 
to  travel  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  and  among 
my  most  interesting  experiences  were  a  couple  of 
sojourns  in  the  Spreewald  district,  which  was  a 
favourite  place  of  resort  among  the  Berlinese  during 
the  summer  months.  My  first  visit  was  made, 
however,  in  winter-time,  with  my  father.  The 
district  was  then  inhabited  almost  entirely  by  Wends, 
of  whom  there  were  said  to  be  180,000  in  Upper  and 
Lower  Lusatia,  which  the  Spreewald  fringes  on  the 
Northern  side.  I  also  came  upon  colonies  of  Wends 
in  various  parts  of  Austria — some  not  far  from  the 
more  western  reaches  of  the  Danube,  and  larger  ones 
to  the  south  of  Gratz,  a  region  which  I  visited  after 
going  to  Gorizia  to  attend  the  funeral  of  the  Comte  de 
Chambord.  These  Wends  are  Slavs,  and  claim  to  be 
remnants  of  that  ancient  race  of  the  Vandals,  whose 
principal  hordes  invaded  Gaul,  passed  thence  into 
Spain,  and  gave  their  name  to  Andalucia.*  Their 
first  known  habitat  was  the  region  spreading  between 

*  Previously  Vandalucia. 
127 


128  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

the  Oder  and  the  Vistula,  and  the  Spreewald  district 
is  at  no  great  distance  from  the  former  river. 

As  its  name  impUes,  it  was  originally  forest  land, 
but  has  been  largely  cleared  during  recent  centuries. 
The  Spree,  which  ends  by  joining  the  Havel  near 
Spandau,  rises  some  seventy  miles  away  in  the 
Lusatian  hills.  After  penetrating  a  range  of  heights 
known  as  the  Niederlausitzer  Grenzwall,  near 
Cottbus,  it  enters  a  broad  valley,  which  the  Wends 
call  the  Biota,  and  it  there  branches  out  into  two  or 
three  hundred  arms,  which  extend  hither  and  thither 
through  a  stretch  of  country  some  thirty  miles  in 
length  and  eight  in  breadth,  until  they  finally  unite 
again  near  the  little  town  of  Liibben.  In  my  time 
this  region  was  of  interest  from  the  fact  that  its 
inhabitants  retained  their  ancient  manners,  customs, 
language,  and  habilaments,  and  that,  intersected  as  it 
was  by  innumerable  water-courses,  it  formed,  as  it 
were,  a  rural  kind  of  Venice.  There  were  only  one 
or  two  roads ;  the  rivulets  served  as  highways  and 
byways,  along  which  you  travelled  in  flat-bottomed 
boats,  called  kahns,  which  were  navigated  by  means 
of  poles.  Cattle,  poultry,  corn,  hay,  and  vegetables 
were  all  conveyed  to  market  by  water.  It  was  in 
boats  that  the  children  went  to  school,  that  the  post- 
man made  his  round,  that  the  doctor  went  to  visit 
the  sick,  and  the  tax-gatherer  to  levy  the  imposts. 
Bride  and  bridegroom  travelled  to  church  in  a  kahn, 
and  the  same  means  of  transport  was  employed  to 
convey  the  dead  to  their  resting-place. 

The  journey  from  Berlin  is  one  of  less  than  fifty 
miles,  chiefly  across  sandy  plains  planted  here  and 
there  with  firs  and  larches,  and  watered  by  broad 
lakes  and  winding  streams.  Now  and  again  one 
sees  a  factory  chimney,  and  in  the  distance  are  some 


GERMANY  129 

low  hills  covered  with  pines.  On  the  way  one  passes 
Konigs-Wusterhausen,  where  stands  the  shooting 
lodge  in  which  the  first  Frederick  William  of  Prussia 
held  his  famous  "  Tobacco  Parliament."  Beyond 
Brand  the  Spreewald  begins,  but  we  found  it  best  to 
go  on  past  Liibben  to  the  station  of  Liibbenau,  whence 
the  driver  of  an  antique  droschke  conveyed  us  to 
Liibbenau  town,  skirting  on  his  way  a  sinuous 
rivulet  spanned  by  numerous  little  bridges  which 
were  invariably  raised  in  the  centre  to  allow  a 
fully  laden  boat  to  pass  under  them.  Liibbenau 
proved  to  be  a  quaint  little  place  with  a  schloss,  a 
church  and  an  inn  known  as  the  Brown  Horse. 
There  was  a  main  street  and  half  a  dozen  side  ones, 
with  rivulets  galore,  and  at  least  a  hundred  wooden 
bridges.  At  the  Brown  Horse  we  engaged  a  boatman 
who,  as  the  weather  was  very  cold,  and  ice  had 
formed  at  the  bottom  of  his  Tcahn,  spread  a  thick 
layer  of  straw  over  it  in  the  hope  of  thereby  keeping 
our  feet  warm.  We  jumped  into  the  little  craft  and 
were  soon  shooting  along  a  poplar  and  willow-fringed 
stream  on  our  way  towards  the  village  of  Lehde, 
which  was  to  be  our  first  halting-place. 

I  remember  being  overtaken  that  day  by  a  funeral 
procession,  composed  of  three  boats.  Raised  on  a 
stand  in  the  first  one  was  a  small  coffin — ^that  of  a 
child — decked  with  wreaths  of  greenery.  In  the 
second  hahn  were  the  male  and  in  the  third  the 
female  mourners.  The  men  wore  tall  fluffy  hats, 
and  the  women  white  coifs  falling  in  a  point  behind, 
together  with  white  kerchiefs  crossed  over  their 
breasts.  In  other  respects  one  and  all  were  dressed 
in  black.  We  drew  aside  to  let  the  party  pass,  then 
followed  in  the  same  direction,  for  at  some  little 
distance  ahead  there  was  a  small    quaint-looking 

K 


130  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

church  of  the  Russian  type,  and  near  it,  on  the  bank 
of  the  stream,  stood  a  pastor  gowned  in  black. 
These  Prussian  Wends  were  for  the  most  part 
Lutherans,  but  those  whom  I  found  in  Austria 
belonged  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  In  both 
instances,  however,  their  Christianity  was  tainted  by 
a  number  of  superstitions,  plainly  dating  from  Pagan 
times.  Near  the  pastor  whom  I  have  just  mentioned, 
stood  a  party  of  schoolchildren,  boys  and  girls, 
accompanied  by  their  master,  and  while  the  remains 
of  their  deceased  schoolmate  were  being  removed 
from  the  boat  to  the  river  bank  they  joined  in  singing 
a  doleful  Wendish  chant.  Some  of  the  Wendish 
superstitions  to  which  I  have  alluded  are  associated 
with  the  subject  of  death.  When,  for  instance,  a 
beekeeper  dies,  one  of  his  relatives  goes  to  the  hives, 
strikes  the  combs,  and  exclaims  :  "  Bees,  arise  and 
come  forth !  Your  master  is  dead !  "  Again,  if 
the  deceased  has  owned  a  few  cows,  a  relative  goes 
to  their  shed,  makes  them  stand  up  if  they  are  lying 
down,  places  some  cheese  made  from  their  own  milk 
before  them,  and  then  announces  that  their  master's 
body  is  about  to  be  removed  for  burial. 

When  I  visited  the  Spreewald  in  summer  I 
observed  that  a  great  deal  of  the  land  beyond 
Liibbenau  and  Lehde — a  monotonously  flat  stretch 
of  country — ^was  not  unlike  a  South  American 
savannah,  being  covered  with  a  thick  growth  of  long 
coarse  grass.  As  a  rule  this  provided  two  crops  of 
hay  every  year,  and  at  times,  after  the  first  one  had 
been  cut,  I  saw  a  few  sheep — infrequent  animals  in 
this  part  of  Germany — browsing  among  the  stubbles. 
However,  one  occasionally  came  upon  arable  land 
where  rye,  wheat,  and  vegetables  were  grown.  In 
the  late  autumn  and  winter  the  expanse  was  dotted 


GERMANY  131 

with  a  profusion  of  ricks,  and  hay  was  always  being 
carried  by  water  hither  and  thither — ^that  is,  to 
Liibben,  to  Liibbenau,  to  Cottbus,  and  even,  I  fancy, 
as  far  as  GorHtz  and  Bautzen.  The  hay  boats  went 
generally  in  couples,  lashed  together,  side  by  side — 
each  couple  being  guided  by  a  sturdy  Wend  wearing, 
as  a  rule,  a  round  fur  cap,  a  short  tight  jacket — 
somewhat  after  the  Spanish  pattern — and  boots 
reaching  to  his  knees.  For  the  cereals  there  were 
a  few  picturesque  watermills  near  which  flotillas  of 
grain  and  flour  boats  were  often  moored. 

In   summer   the  village   of   Lehde,  to   which   I 

previously  referred,  presented  an  aspect  which  might 

well  have  appealed  to  the  brush  of  Constable  or  that 

of  Theodore  Eousseau,  for  all  around  it  rose  lofty  and 

umbrageous    trees — ^relics    of    the    forest    primeval 

which  had  once  spread  over  the  entire  region.     If 

the  quaint  one-storeyed  timber  houses  sometimes 

looked     rickety    they    were    at    least     extremely 

picturesque.     In  the  late  autumn  and  the  winter 

their    high    thatched   roofs   with   projecting    eaves 

peered  above  huge  stacks  of  firewood.     Under  the 

eaves  stood  ladders  by  which  one  might  occasionally 

reach  a  string  of  tobacco  leaves,  hung  there  to  dry. 

At  either  end  of  each  house  the  apex  of  the  roof  was 

surmounted  by  a  couple  of  small  cocks'  heads,  of 

wood    roughly    carved,    and    often    coloured    red. 

Generally    speaking,    these    dwellings    suggested    a 

Slavonic  origin.     There  were  times,  indeed,  when 

they  closely  resembled  Russian  isbas.     A  box  was 

always  fixed  on  the  tree  nearest  to  each  house,  this 

provision  being  made  for  the  storks,  which  frequented 

the   district   in   the   warm   weather.     At   intervals 

one  came  upon  a  brick-built  house  which,  in  most 

instances,  was  a  schenke  or  tavern.     I  recollect  more 


132  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

than  once  regaling  a  boatman  with  krock,  otherwise 
grog,  at  one  of  these  houses,  where  the  buxom  hostess 
was  a  very  pleasant  and  comely  woman,  wearing  a 
bright  parti-coloured  scarf  in  turban  fashion  on  her 
head,  whilst  below  her  short  skirt,  gathered  into  many 
pleats  at  the  waist,  she  displayed  a  pair  of  very  bright 
scarlet  stockings. 

I  cannot  now  recall  the  particular  significance  of 
the  various  headgears  of  the  Wendish  girls  and 
women,  but  I  believe  that  each  coiffure  had  a  meaning 
attached  to  it — one  implying  a  certain  state  of  life. 
There  were  times  when  a  scarf  would  be  worn  merely 
in  turban  fashion,  as  already  indicated ;  but  in  other 
instances  it  would  be  tied  in  front  in  a  kind  of  bow, 
with  long  projecting  ends  or  wings,  suggestive  of  a 
pair  of  horns.  There  were  also  various  sorts  of 
white  coifs  of  different  sizes  and  shapes,  and  I  believe 
that  one  kind  was  assigned  to  unmarried  girls,  another 
to  recently  married  wives,  another  to  women  who 
were  both  wives  and  mothers,  and  a  fom'th  to 
widows.  Some  of  the  caps  were  of  quite  a  mediaeval 
type,  such  as  the  Wendish  women  must  have  worn 
in  the  old  days  when  their  race  came  under  the  sway 
of  the  Bohemian  Crown,  whose  possessions  stretched, 
at  one  time,  from  the  Baltic  to  the  Adriatic,  in  such 
wise  that  Shakespeare's  reputed  blunder  about  the 
"  coast  of  Bohemia  "  was  really  no  blunder  at  all. 
He  and  Bobert  Greene,  from  whom  he  borrowed  the 
idea  of  the  "  Winter's  Tale,"  knew  more  on  that 
subject  than  did  their  critics  of  a  later  day. 

Strong  and  well-developed  folk,  the  Wends  with 
whom  I  came  in  contact  appeared  to  be  inoffensive, 
good-hearted  and  honest.  Their  chief  pleasures  were 
music  and  dancing.  I  recollect  staying  at  an  inn 
at  Oldendorf,  and  witnessing   some  merry-making 


GERMANY  133 

there.  The  front  of  the  house  was  lighted  up  for  the 
occasion,  and  the  musicians,  whose  instruments 
comprised  a  violin,  a  guitar,  and  a  couple  of  horns, 
installed  themselves  on  a  raised  stand  at  one  end 
of  the  principal  room,  round  which  were  ranged  a 
number  of  forms  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
expected  company.  The  men,  clean  shaven  or 
wearing  small  moustaches,  displayed  as  a  rule  more 
cheek  and  less  brow  than  they  should  have  done ; 
but  the  sturdily  built  girls  were  often  quite  attractive 
with  their  healthy  complexions  and  their  bright  eyes. 
While  the  young  fellows  mingled  together,  smoking 
their  long  porcelain  pipes,  the  damsels  gathered 
apart  with  some  affected  coyness,  but  by  and  by,  after 
one  or  another  admirer  had  offered  a  seidel  of  beer 
or  a  sip  of  kiimmel,  they  became  less  demure  and 
exclusive.  I  was,  let  me  add,  much  astonished  to 
find  that  the  favourite  beer  in  the  Spreewald  was  the 
notorious  frothy  weiss  of  Berlin.  The  Wends,  how- 
ever, instead  of  drinking  it  from  huge  tumblers  as 
was  the  practice  in  the  Berlinese  stuben,  patronised 
narrow  glasses  about  a  foot  in  height. 

The  entertainment  which  I  witnessed  at  Olden- 
dorf  began  with  some  singing,  first  in  German  and 
then  in  Wendish — both  languages  then  being  taught 
in  the  Spreewald  schools,  though  all  that  may  well 
have  changed  under  the  Germanising  rule  of  the 
present  Kaiser.  After  a  few  songs  dancing  began,  at 
first  with  slow  and  measured  steps,  which  gradually 
increased  in  velocity,  and  ended  in  a  wild  whirl — 
youths  and  girls  then  linking  their  hands  above  their 
heads  whilst  their  toes  and  heels  clattered  loudly 
on  the  polished  floor.  I  recall  also  another  kind  of 
dance — a  kind  of  "  merry-go-round  "  affair — ^in  the 
graveyard  of  Burkow,  after  a  wedding  at  the  church 


134  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

there.  Weddings  and  christenings,  by  the  way, 
seemed  to  interest  the  entire  community,  every  such 
ceremony  supplying  a  pretext  for  a  holiday  of  some 
days'  duration. 

On  the  occasion  I  have  mentioned  I  set  out  by 
boat  from  Leipe,  going  thence  to  Reiga,  which  is  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  remaining  forest  land.  The 
many  rivulets  course  among  the  trees  and  lead  one 
to  the  deepest  recesses  of  the  sylvan  tract.  Every 
now  and  again  the  water,  which  is  perpetually 
washing  and  denuding  the  roots  of  these  centenarian 
growths,  ends  by  undermining  them  so  much  that 
one  or  another  forest  giant  suddenly  sways  and  falls 
with  a  crash  or  a  thud  across  the  startled  stream. 

The  bride  and  bridegroom  whose  wedding  I 
attended  belonged  to  the  village  of  Zehni-Kaupam, 
and  there,  early  on  the  morning  of  the  auspicious 
day,  a  singular  little  comedy  was  enacted.  When- 
ever a  Wendish  marriage  has  been  arranged,  the 
families  on  either  side  choose  a  friend  to  fill  a  peculiar 
kind  of  office,  in  which  the  duties  of  a  procuror 
and  those  of  a  master  of  the  ceremonies  appear  to 
be  imited.  This  official  is  styled  the  Probratrka, 
and  on  the  wedding  morning  to  which  I  have  referred 
he  presented  himself  at  the  house  of  the  bridegroom's 
father,  and  after  partaking  of  refreshments,  addressed 
the  old  gentleman  on  his  son's  behalf,  asking  forgive- 
ness for  all  the  trouble  and  sorrow  he  might  have 
caused  during  his  bachelor  days,  and  returning  thanks 
for  the  many  marks  of  affection  which  he  had  received. 
The  father  in  his  turn  addressed  a  pious  exhortation 
to  his  son  and  gave  him  his  blessing,  after  which, 
amidst  strains  of  music  and  the  discharge  of  fowling 
pieces  and  pistols,  the  whole  family  repaired  with 
the  Probratrka  to  the  dwelling  of  the  bride.     Some 


GERMANY  135 

pretended  negotiations  ensued  there,  the  Probratrka 
urging  the  young  man's  suit  and  offering  all  sorts 
of  gifts  for  the  purchase  of  the  blushing  damsel. 
These  matters  being  at  last  adjusted,  the  brides- 
maids adorned  the  young  men  with  flowers  and 
favours,  and  Mr.  Probratrka  addressed  the  bride's 
father  in  much  the  same  way  as  he  had  previously 
addressed  the  bridegroom's. 

The  journey  to  the  church  at  Burkow  was  made, 
of  course,  by  water,  and  people  congregated  along 
the  river  banks  and  on  the  many  tiny  bridges  in 
order  to  acclaim  the  party  and  discharge  firearms 
as  a  sign  of  joy.  The  little  chm-ch  was  so  incon- 
veniently crowded  that  I  did  not  see  much  of  the 
actual  ceremony,  but  directly  the  young  pair  had 
been  declared  man  and  wife,  we  all  had  to  defile 
before  the  altar  and  deposit  an  offering — a  silver 
groschen  or  something  similar — upon  it.  Then,  on 
reaching  the  chiu"ch  door  we  found  a  merry  party 
of  village  girls  holding  ribbons  across  it  in  order  to 
prevent  our  egress,  and  each  had  to  pay  a  small  toll 
before  being  allowed  to  depart.  When  I  at  last 
reached  the  cemetery  I  found  to  my  amazement  the 
bride  and  bridegroom  and  all  the  principal  members 
of  the  party,  including  Mr.  Probratrka,  dancing  in  a 
ring  round  some  of  the  tombs.  It  was  a  wild  and 
jubilant  dance,  and  also  a  symbolical  one.  There  lay 
the  dead,  but  here  was  life — ^lif e  attended  by  love  and 
marriage,  which  meant  a  renewal  of  life,  and  its 
triumph  over  death  yet  once  again. 

We  returned  to  Zehni-Kaupam  in  our  kahns 
amidst  more  music  and  incessant  detonations,  and 
on  approaching  the  house  where  the  bridal  pair  were 
to  reside,  there  came  another  al  fresco  dance.  This 
time,    however,   the   bride's   partner   was   not   her 


136  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

husband,  but  the  Probratrka — a  middle-aged  indi- 
vidual whose  badge  of  office  was  a  white  scarf. 
I  need  hardly  say  that  the  women  wore  their  very 
smartest  clothes.  Their  bodices  were  often  of  black 
velvet,  their  kerchiefs  and  aprons  were  embroidered 
with  flowers,  their  bright  skirts  had  borders  of  con- 
trasting hues.  Some  of  them  wore  large  ruffs 
suggestive  of  the  Tudor  period,  and  all  of  them  dis- 
played white  stockings,  these  being  de  rigueur  on  such 
an  occasion.  On  ordinary  days  in  summer  time 
bare  legs  and  feet  were  the  rule.  In  winter,  however, 
mauve  and  magenta  stockings  with  sabots  and 
occasionally  high  boots,  were  patronised ;  but  I 
noticed  that,  even  then,  the  girls  remained  bare 
legged  whilst  they  were  in  their  boats,  and  only  put 
on  their  stockings  after  landing.  In  summer  they 
usually  walked  to  church  barefooted,  carrying  their 
shoes  and  stockings  with  them,  and  sitting  down 
to  put  them  on  before  entering  the  building.  A  few 
years  later  I  observed  the  same  practice  in  my  wife's 
native  province  of  Savoy,  and  on  one  occasion  I 
asked  a  rather  comely  Savoisienne  the  why  and 
wherefore  of  the  practice.  "  Why  ?  "  she  vivaciously 
answered  in  patois,  tossing  her  head  the  while. 
"  Shoes  and  stockings  cost  money,  and  the  leather  of 
one's  feet  is  quite  good  enough  for  trudging  along  the 
roads !  " 

To  conclude  my  account  of  the  Wendish  wedding 
I  must  mention  that  most  of  us  sat  down  to  a  copious 
repast  whilst  others  had  food  given  them  to  take 
away.  No  second  "  helps  "  were  allowed,  however. 
Towards  the  evening  there  was  a  general  adjourn- 
ment to  the  village  schenhe  and  beer  and  kiimmel 
were  partaken  of  freely.  Then  the  whole  party 
escorted  the  bridegroom   and  bride  processionally 


GERMANY  137 

to  their  home  again,  and  the  young  person  was 
"  bedded  "  with  mucli  ceremony.  When  her  husband 
had  joined  her  some  curtains  disposed  in  front  of  the 
bed  were  drawn  by  Mr.  Probratrka  in  accordance 
with  old  time  custom.  The  joUification  lasted  two 
days  longer,  and  at  its  close  the  relatives  and  friends 
of  the  newly  married  pair  produced  their  wedding 
presents,  which  ranged  from  a  couple  of  cows  to 
various  small  articles  of  finery.  I  was  told  that  it 
was  invariably  the  usage  to  defer  the  presentation 
of  gifts  until  the  third  day  of  the  festivities,  but  I 
do  not  remember  whether  any  particular  reason 
was  assigned  for  this  practice.  Everything  being 
concluded,  Mr.  Probratrka  delivered  a  final  oration, 
in  which  he  praised  everybody  present,  and  libations 
were  offered  yet  once  again  to  Hymen  and  to  Eros. 
On  my  departure  the  bride  and  her  mother  shook 
hands  with  me  quite  a  VAnglaise,  but  at  the  outset 
of  our  acquaintance  they,  like  the  landlady  at  my 
inn,  had  merely  proferred  a  single  finger  of  the 
right  hand,  that  being  the  usual  custom  among  the 
Wendish  women  until  they  regard  you  as  a  friend. 
Indeed,  if  I  remember  rightly,  girls  never  offer  more 
than  a  finger,  even  to  their  lovers,  so  long  as  they  are 
not  married. 

After  one  of  my  Spreewald  trips  I  went  as  far 
eastward  as  Breslau,  breaking  the  journey  for  a  few 
hours  at  Frankfort-on-the-Oder,  which  was  founded 
by  the  Wends  and  was,  I  believe,  originally  their 
chief  town.  One  of  the  annual  fairs  was  then  being 
held  there,  and  as  I  found  the  place  too  crowded 
with  Jews  from  Posen  to  suit  my  fancy,  I  hastened 
my  departure  for  Breslau — the  capital  of  Silesia 
and  one  of  the  chief  eastern  bases  of  the  Prussian 
forces  in  1914.     Here  again  I  found  many  Jews  of 


138  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

the  poorer  classes,  but  the  city  proved  an  interesting 
one,  well  planned  and  laid  out,  yet  picturesque  in 
parts  with  its  old  houses,  late  Gothic  and  early 
Renaissance  churches  and  other  public  buildings, 
besides  a  number  of  bridges  connecting  the  little 
islands  on  the  Oder  with  the  mainland.  Religious 
and  political  feelings  were  running  high  in  Breslau 
at  that  time,  for  Bismarck's  contest  with  the  Vatican 
was  in  full  swing,  and  Forster,  the  Prince  Bishop  of 
Breslau,  like  Ledochowski,  the  Archbishop  of  Posen, 
had  openly  defied  the  Chancellor  and  the  new  laws 
which  so  largely  subordinated  the  Catholic  clergy 
to  the  control  of  the  civil  authorities.  On  Bishop 
Forster  refusing  to  pay  the  fines  imposed  upon  him 
by  a  so-called  ecclesiastical  court,  his  carriages,  plate, 
pictures,  f urnitiu-e,  and  wines  were  seized  and  carried 
away,  and  his  salary — a  matter  of  £2000  a  year — ^was 
suspended.  He  thereupon  went  to  Berlin  and 
ofiSciated  for  a  while  at  a  CathoKc  church  there,  but 
on  returning  to  Breslau  he  was  arrested  for  his 
opposition  to  the  appointment  by  Government  of  a 
certain  parish  priest,  and  was  eventually  deposed 
from  his  episcopal  authority. 

All  this  greatly  agitated  his  diocese,  the  Protestant 
and  Jewish  inhabitants  siding  with  the  Chancellor, 
whilst  most  of  the  Catholics,  including  many  nobles, 
supported  the  Bishop.  Some  of  the  Catholics, 
however,  were  on  the  side  of  the  State,  and  several 
riots  took  place  between  the  contending  factions, 
the  police  and  the  military  thereupon  intervening 
and  treating  all  and  sundry  in  the  same  brutally 
drastic  fashion.  The  struggle  was  not  without  its 
humorous  side,  however.  A  State  Catholic  of 
Frankenstein  (nothing  to  do  with  the  creator  of 
Mary  Shelley's  monster,  but  a  pretty  little  town  in 


GERMANY  139 

the  Breslau  diocese)  desired  to  have  a  son  of  his 
baptised  by  the  name  of  Bismarck.  Bm^sting  with 
indignation,  the  priest  to  whom  he  applied  flatly- 
refused  to  do  so,  declaring  that  Holy  Church  forbade 
the  bestowal  on  children  of  any  obscene  or  ridiculous 
names,  or  those  of  impious  pagans.  Quite  a  huUa- 
balloo  ensued,  and,  of  course,  the  conscientious 
ecclesiastic  was  committed  to  durance. 

In  the  end,  after  the  death  of  Pope  Pius  IX — 
who  pubUcly  called  old  Kaiser  William  "  the  modern 
Attila,"  *  thereby  anticipating  the  nickname  so 
generally  bestowed  nowadays  on  the  monarch's 
grandson — ^Bismarck,  in  alarm  at  the  great  progress 
of  SociaUsm  in  Germany,  gladly  came  to  a  compromise 
with  Leo  XIII,  who,  in  his  wily  way,  addressed  the 
German  Emperor  as  "  the  powerful  Sovereign  of  the 
glorious  Teutonic  nation."  Bishop  Forster  was  then 
restored  to  his  episcopal  position  and  emoluments, 
in  which  respect  he  was  more  fortunate  than  his 
colleague  Ledochowski  of  Posen,  whom  Pius  IX  had 
created  a  Cardinal,  and  who  had  to  remain  in  Eome 
until  the  end  of  his  days,  shorn  of  his  German  stipend 
and  his  personal  belongings,  and  reduced  to  the 
£1600  a  year  which  was  paid  to  him  as  a  Cardinal 
out  of  the  Peter's  Pence.  Not  that  Ledochowski 
grumbled  thereat,  for  he  was  a  man  of  grit,  had  borne 
imprisonment  without  complaint  though  not  without 
protest,  and  whilst  residing  in  Rome  continued  to 
annoy  the  German  Chancellor  by  formally  excom- 
municating every  priest  who  accepted  from  the  civil 
authorities  a  benefice  in  his  former  diocese. 

Apropos  of  Bismarck's  struggle  with  the  Catholic 

*  An  audacious  German  romance  writer  of  the  time,  named  Conrad 
von  Bolanden,  preferred  to  give  the  Kaiser  the  name  of  Diocletian  and 
Bismarck  that  of  Marcus  Trebonius. 


140  IN   SEVEN  LANDS 

Church,  Thiers  used  to  tell  a  story  which  will  bear 
repetition.  Towards  the  end  of  the  battle  of 
Waterloo,  when  Napoleon  reahsed  his  defeat,  Ouvrard, 
the  great  army  contractor,  said  to  him :  "  The 
English  have  lost  an  enormous  number  of  men, 
sire."  "  Yes,"  the  Emperor  replied ;  "  but  I  have  lost 
the  battle."  "  Some  day,"  added  Thiers,  "  Prince 
Bismarck  will  be  re-echoing  Napoleon's  words." 
That  prediction  was,  in  the  main,  fulfilled. 

When  previously  writing  of  the  Chancellor  *  I 
mentioned  that  late  in  1874  I  visited  the  Rhineland 
vineyards  with  my  father.  We  made  excursions, 
too,  along  the  Moselle  and  up  the  Ahr  valley  in 
connection  with  the  wines  vintaged  there  ;  and  I  also 
recall  a  later  visit  to  the  Ahr  region  for  the  purpose 
of  inspecting  the  spring  which  yields  the  well-known 
ApoUinaris  water.  We  went  there  by  the  desire  of 
Mr.  George  Smith,  who  was  then  proprietor  of  the 
Pall  Mall  Gazette,  and  had  a  large  interest  in  the 
Apollinaris  Company.  This,  I  believe,  has  been 
essentially  a  British  one  from  the  day  when  the 
spring  was  acquired  from  the  brothers  Kreuzberg. 
On  the  other  hand,  German  laboiu*  was  necessarily 
employed,  and  at  the  time  of  my  visit  one  of  the 
Kreuzbergs  was  acting  as  manager.  Every  year, 
in  connection  with  some  other  springs  in  the  vicinity, 
there  was  a  short  cure  season,  when  a  good  many 
people  visited  the  district,  which  is  remarkably 
picturesque,  the  Ahr  flowing  rapidly  into  the  Rhine 
along  a  narrow  and  sinuous  valley,  girt  with  steep 
heights  which  are  mostly  planted  with  vines  and  are 
occasionally  crowned  with  woods.  To  Herr  Kreuz- 
berg, however,  the  prospect  had  become  monotonous 

*  See  p.  48,  ante. 


GERMANY  141 

and  dull,  and  he  knew  not  how  to  expend  the  hand- 
some income  which  he  had  acquired  by  selling  his 
share  in  the  ApolUnaris-brunnen.  The  visit  paid 
by  my  father  and  myself  came,  then,  as  a  kind  of 
Godsend  to  relieve  his  tcedium  vitce. 

Being  a  bachelor  he  had  but  a  small  establish- 
ment, so  we  took  rooms  at  the  local  hotel,  which,  the 
cure  season  being  over,  was  deserted.     During  our 
stay,  however,  Herr  Kreuzberg  invited  himself  to 
dinner  every  day,  and  expended  as  much  money  as 
he    possibly    could    in    ordering    champagne.      He 
appealed  to  us,  indeed,  to  assist  him  in  discriminating 
between  the  merits  of  every  procurable  brand  of  the 
wines  of  Reims  and  Epernay,  and  thus  every  day 
at  dinner  some  seven  or  eight  bottles  were  opened 
in  succession.     Very  little  was  actually  drunk,  except 
by  the  waiters,  who  appropriated  all  that  remained 
when  our  "  tasting  "  was  over  ;    nevertheless,  there 
were  times  when  Herr  Kreuzberg  failed  to  carry  what 
he  consumed  as  well  as  he  should  have  done.     Every 
evening  after  the  repast  it  was  his  practice  to  go  into 
a  neighbom*ing  orchard,  perch  himself  on  a  fruit  tree 
there,  armed  with  a  loaded  gun,  and  wait  for  the 
rabbits  to  come  out.     There  were  times,  however, 
when  he  dozed  off  during  the  interval,  and  when, 
turning  in  his  sleep,  he  overbalanced  himseK  and 
had  an  unpleasant  tumble.     On  one  such  occasion 
his  gun  went  off,  and  he  narrowly  escaped  a  nasty 
injury.     His  case  was  one  of  an  embarras  de  richesse. 
When  my  father  expostulated  with  him  one  day,  he 
replied :    "  But  I  do  not  know  how  to  spend  my 
money  !     I  am  condemned  to  live  here.     I  have  some 
fine  EngUsh  trotters,  for  which  I  gave  a  high  price, 
but  there  are  only  a  few  miles  of  flat  road  along 
which    I    can    drive    them.     There    is    no    society 


142  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

excepting  for  a  month  or  so  in  the  year,  and  I  get 
bored  to  death  during  the  rest  of  the  time." 

At  the  hotel  at  Altenahr,  not  far  from  the 
ApoUinaris  spring,  I  remember  coming  upon  an 
English  couple  who  were  virtually  in  hiding  there 
— a  tall,  athletic,  bearded  man  and  a  pretty,  fair 
and  slightly  built  woman,  who  seemed  to  be  rather 
sad.  One  night  there  was  a  violent  altercation 
between  the  pair,  and  in  the  morning  we  found  that 
the  man  had  gone,  and  that  the  woman  had  shut 
herself  in  her  room.  A  few  days  later  another  man, 
her  brother,  so  the  hotel  people  asserted,  came  to 
take  her  away.  She  had  stooped  to  folly — ^fled 
from  her  husband  and  her  only  child  with  a  British 
peer.  In  those  days  such  couples  were  to  be  met 
in  out-of-the-way  places  on  the  Continent  more 
frequently  than  one  might  imagine.  At  times,  too, 
I  have  met  solitary  Englishmen  who,  calling  them- 
selves Brown,  Smith,  or  Kobinson,  have  related  the 
most  singular  stories  to  account  for  their  presence 
in  some  locality  well  removed  from  the  beaten  track 
of  the  ordinary  tourist.  Probably  Scotland  Yard 
would  have  liked  to  discover  several  of  them. 

Dm'ing  our  trip  along  the  Moselle,  which  was 
made  mostly  on  foot,  we  visited  the  vineyards  of 
such  localities  as  Piesport,  Graach,  the  Brauneberg, 
Zeltingen,  and  Bernkastel — the  latter  being  cele- 
brated for  a  so-called  "  doctor  wine,"  the  origin  of 
which  name  is  legendary.  A  certain  knight,  it  is 
said,*  fell  very  ill,  and  on  being  told  that  he  could 
not  hope  to  recover,  resolved  to  treat  himself  to  a 
final  potation  of  some  wine  grown  on  the  slopes 
below  the  stronghold  of  Bernkastel.  He  did  so,  and 
instead  of  dying,  found  himself  restored  to  perfect 

*  Another  version  say8  a  priest,  which  some  may  think  more  likely. 


GERMANY  143 

health.  Whether  that  be  true  or  not,  "  Bernkastler 
Doctor  "  is  certainly  one  of  the  best  growths  of 
the  Moselle.  We  observed,  however,  that  various 
objectionable  practices  were  current  in  the  district, 
the  muscatel  perfume  of  sparkling  Moselle  being, 
for  instance,  produced  by  means  of  chemicals.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  muscatel  vine  is  seldom,  if  ever, 
cultivated  in  the  district  where  the  Elbling,  the 
Riesling,  and  the  red  Pineau  varieties  predominate. 
Looking  back  on  that  Moselle  excursion,  I  retain  the 
impression  of  a  rugged  country,  one  presenting  in 
parts  very  considerable  difficulties  from  a  military 
standpoint,  though  hostilities  were  certainly  waged 
there  during  both  the  Thirty  and  the  Seven  Years' 
War.  To  those  people,  however,  who  think  that 
Germany  might  be  invaded  easily  by  way  of  the  so- 
called  "  gap  of  Treves,"  I  would  answer — ^yes,  as 
far  as  Treves  ;  but  not  so  easily  farther. 

Among  the  many  spots  visited  by  my  father  and 
myself  during  our  rambles  among  the  Rhine  vine- 
yards, was  the  old  Bernardine  Abbey  of  Eberbach, 
which  Longfellow,  I  think,  introduced  into  his 
"  Golden  Legend."  The  Dukes  of  Nassau  had  turned 
the  remaining  buildings  into  presshouses  and  store- 
places  for  the  fine  Rhine  wines — such  as  Steinberger — 
vintaged  on  their  domains,  which  were  afterwards 
seized  by  the  Prussian  Crown  in  order  to  punish 
the  Duke  who  had  dared  to  support  Austria  against 
Prussia  in  the  war  of  1866.  I  believe  that  the  Duke 
was  allowed  to  retain  some  part  of  his  famous 
"  cabinet "  of  old  wines ;  but  when  we  reached 
Eberbach  we  found  an  old  white-whiskered  Prussian 
fxmetionary  in  command  there.  I  recollect  that  the 
buildings  were  entered  by  an  archway,  and  that  in  a 
niche  near  by  there  stood  a  statue  of  St.  Peter  holding 


144  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

the  keys  of  heaven  and  hell.  I  remarked  to  the 
manager  of  the  domains  that  it  seemed  rather 
irreverent  to  tm'n  the  apostle  into  a  master-cellarman 
(for  such  he  appeared  to  be)  standing  at  the  entry  of 
a  great  wine-store  with  those  keys  in  his  hand. 
"  No,  no  !  "  the  functionary  replied,  "  there  is  no 
irreverence.  The  statue  is  quite  appropriate.  Do 
you  not  remember  the  dictum  of  the  early  Church  that 
wine  was  the  gift  of  God,  but  that  drunkenness  came 
from  the  devil  ?  With  one  of  those  keys  St.  Peter 
admits  the  temperate  drinker  to  felicity,  with  the 
other  he  consigns  the  drunkard  to  perdition."  For 
a  German  the  jest  was  not,  perhaps,  a  bad  one. 

From  Eberbach  we  went  to  the  great  walled 
Steinberg  vineyard,  which  had  also  passed  into  the 
possession  of  the  Kaiser.  Its  wine  ranks  as  the 
second  growth  of  the  Rheingau,  though  in  some 
years  the  quality  even  excels  that  of  Schloss  Johan- 
nisberger,  the  premier  cru.  We  visited  both  the 
Schloss  and  the  vineyard  of  Johannisberg.  The 
latter,  planted  by  an  archbishop  of  Mayence  as 
early  as  the  ninth  century,  passed  into  the  possession 
of  some  Benedictines  and  became  at  last  the  property 
of  the  Princes  of  Orange  and  the  Dukes  of  Nassau. 
Napoleon,  however,  in  his  days  of  conquest,  gave 
the  estate  to  Marshal  Kellermann,  Due  de  Valmy — 
and  Kellermann' s  name  (cellarman)  *  made  the  gift 
somewhat  appropriate.  In  any  case,  the  Marshal 
lived  up  to  it  in  regard  to  Johannisberg,  for  he  re- 
planted the  land  (which  is  under  forty  acres  in  extent) 
with  French  vines,  and  employed  French  vine- 
dressers to  attend  to  them,  the  result  being  the 
modern  Schloss  Johannisberger  wine.  After  the 
Napoleonic   wars  the  Austrian  Emperor   bestowed 

*  He  was  an  Alsatian,  bom  at  Strasburg. 


GERMANY  145 

the  property  on  the  famous  Prince  Metternich,  and 
at  the  time  of  my  visit  it  belonged  to  his  descendant 
Prince  Richard,  the  husband  of  that  witty  singe  d  la 
mode,  Princess  PauHne,  the  friend  of  the  Empress 
Eugenie  and  one  of  the  Graces  of  the  Second  French 
Empire.* 

Only  the  wine  sealed  and  branded  with  the 
Metternich  crest  can  be  regarded  as  genuine  Schloss 
Johannisberger,  though  far  more  than  any  estate 
of  forty  acres  could  produce,  has  for  well  nigh  a 
hundred  years  been  palmed  off  upon  credulous  pur- 
chasers. The  same  has  happened  in  the  case  of 
many  other  German  wines.  The  most  unscrupulous 
frauds  have  been  currently  practised  by  the  trade, 
only  a  few  houses,  like  Deinhard's  of  Coblenz,  really 
being  dependable.  I  remember  the  little  Marcobrunn 
vineyard,  whose  extreme  annual  production  was  never 
more  than  10,000  bottles  of  wine,  whereas  half  a 
million  bottles  labelled  Marcobrunner  might  have 
been  found  on  the  market.  Again,  as  to  Liebfrauen- 
milch,  another  widely  consumed  wine,  produced  in 
the  outskirts  of  Worms,  the  total  area  in  which  the 
genuine  article  is  grown  does  not  exceed  eight  acres, 
though  millions  of  bottles  with  ''  Liebfrauenmilch  " 
on  their  labels  must  have  been  exported  throughout 
the  world. 

Germany  produces  very  few  good  red  wines,  f 
and  excepting  in  the  districts  where  they  are  vintaged 
the  red  growths  are  generally  retailed  under  French 
names,  two  favourite  ones  being  Chateau  Leoville 
and  Chateau  Larose.  I  have  drunk  so-called  Leoville 
even  in  the  Spreewald,  but  it  had  certainly  not  come 

*  See  the  author's  work :    "  The  Court  of  the  Tuileries,  1852-1870." 
(Chatto  &  Windus.) 

t  Those   of   Assmannshausen  on  the   Rhine   and   of   Walporzheim, 
Ahrweiler  and  Bodendorf  in  the  Ahr  valley. 

L 


146  IN  SEVEN  LANDS       . 

from  Medoc  or  from  anywhere  in  France.  My  father 
and  I  used  to  find  trickery  rampant  in  regard  to  wine 
in  the  German  hotels.  In  nineteen  cases  out  of 
twenty,  directly  you  applied  your  fingers  to  the  label 
on  the  bottle  which  had  been  ordered,  off  it  came, 
quite  moist,  having  simply  been  applied  during  the 
bottle's  transit  from  the  cellar  to  the  dining-room. 
At  the  same  time  it  may  be  admitted  that  a  good 
deal  of  the  best  Rhenish  and  Moselle  came  to  England 
before  our  wine  trade  began  seriously  to  decline, 
owing  to  the  competition  of  whisky  and  other  spirits. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  falling  off  in  our  imports  of 
the  better  German  wines  during  several  years  pre- 
ceding the  outbreak  of  war  in  1914,  would  not  appear 
to  have  affected  the  growers.  Time  was  when  they 
willingly  sent  us  wine  of  good  quality  because  we 
were  almost  the  only  people  who  could  afford  to  pay 
for  it ;  but  some  years  ago  I  was  struck  by  the  ex- 
tremely high  prices  which  first-class  vintages  were 
fetching  in  Germany  itself.  The  explanation  was 
that,  thanks  to  the  great  expansion  of  their  trade, 
German  merchants  had  been  waxing  wealthier  and 
wealthier,  and  virtually  fought  one  another  for 
possession  of  genuine  Johannisberger,  Steinberger, 
Riidesheimer,  and  other  expensive  wines,  the  com- 
petition becoming  in  some  instances  so  keen  as  to 
double  the  former  market  prices. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  during  our  sojoiu*ns 
in  Germany  we  visited,  my  father  and  I,  most  of  the 
chief  cities  and  show  places.  Like  most  visitors  to 
Dresden,  where  there  used  to  be  a  large  colony  of 
English  people  and  a  considerable  one  of  Americans, 
I  have  always  retained  a  favourable  impression  of 
the  Saxon  capital.  I  have  also  long  had  a  better 
opinion  of  the  Saxons  than  of  any  other  branch  of 


GERMANY  147 

the  German  race.  I  remember  Archibald  Forbes, 
the  famous  war  correspondent,  speaking  very 
positively  on  that  point  not  long  after  the  hostilities 
of  1870-71.  Subsequent  to  the  surrender  of  Metz, 
which  he  witnessed,  he  joined  the  Saxon  forces 
investing  the  eastern  side  of  Paris,  and  spoke 
extremely  well  of  their  behaviour  at  that  time. 
French  opinion  corroborated  his  view.  There  are 
perhaps,  comparatively  speaking,  more  Socialists 
in  Saxony  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  Empire ; 
but  whatever  may  be  the  political  views  of  the 
people,  the  latter,  broadly,  are  more  humane,  more 
polished,  and  less  inclined  to  excesses  than  other 
Germans.  In  warfare  the  Prussian  is  always  intent 
on  plunder,  whilst  the  Bavarian,  though  bred  on 
what  is  supposed  to  be  innocuous  lager  beer,  often 
gives  rein  to  bestial  passions.  During  the  war  of 
1870-71  more  outrages  were  committed  on  women 
by  Bavarians  than  by  any  other  element  in  the 
German  armies ;  and  I  believe  that  the  same  has  been 
the  case  of  recent  times. 

It  was  in  1873  that  I  first  passed  through 
Southern  Germany.  I  was  with  my  father  and  our 
friend  Jules  Pelcoq,  the  Illustrated  London  News 
artist,  and  our  destination  was  Vienna,  where  an 
international  exhibition  was  about  to  be  held.  We 
made  the  journey  by  easy  stages,  taking  Stuttgart, 
Munich,  and  other  places  on  our  way.  Pelcoq,  who 
was  a  Belgian  by  birth,  had  been  in  Paris  throughout 
the  German  siege,  and  I  remember  his  many  glances 
of  intense  dislike  and  his  extremely  caustic  comments 
when  he  found  himself  in  the  land  of  the  enemy. 
Happily  for  him  he  did  not  live  to  see  his  wrecked 
and  pillaged  country  under  the  brutal  invader's 
heel.     It  at  least  gave  him  some  little  satisfaction 


148  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

to  find  himseK  before  long  in  Wiirtemberg,  which 
seemed  to  him  to  be  a  less  guilty  state  than  Prussia  ; 
and  he  even  took  a  passing  interest  in  the  associations 
with  Schiller  which  were  found  in  the  vicinity  of 
Stuttgart.  That  pleasantly  situated  little  capital 
presented,  however,  a  very  dead-aUve  aspect,  and 
woke  up,  apparently,  only  to  imbibe  beer  and  to 
listen  to  military  music  for  an  horn*  or  two  in  the 
afternoon.  Kemembering  that  Wiirtemberg,  long 
ruled  by  mere  Counts  and  Dukes,  only  became  a 
kingdom  during  the  Napoleonic  period,  we  marvelled 
at  the  extreme  pretentiousness  of  the  royal  palace, 
which  was  capped,  we  found,  with  a  gilded  crown, 
and  contained  from  350  to  400  rooms.  The  King 
(Frederick  I)  was  reputed  to  be  poor,  yet  in  the 
private  royal  stables  there  were  as  many  horses 
as  Napoleon  III  usually  kept,  and  in  a  large  mews 
also  belonging  to  his  Majesty  there  were  as  many 
more.  They  appeared  to  be  "  eating  their  heads 
off,"  as  the  saying  goes,  for  the  petty  monarch 
seldom  displayed  himself  to  his  subjects,  some  of 
whom  hinted  that  his  reason  was  impaired.  Abso- 
lutely direct  succession  in  the  royal  house  has  now 
come  to  an  end,  William  II  having  had  but  a 
daughter,  Pauline — by  marriage  Princess  of  Wied — 
so  that  his  nephew  Duke  Albert  (born  in  1865  and 
commander  of  the  Wiirtemberger  contingent  of  the 
German  armies)  is  heir  to  the  throne. 

We  went  on  to  Munich,  where  in  attempting  to 
see  too  much  at  both  Pinakotheks,  the  Glyptothek 
and  other  museums,  we  contracted  unpleasant 
headaches  ;  but  I  recaU  that  we  were  impressed  by 
the  master-pieces  in  the  older  picture-gallery — the 
"Tempi  Madonna"  of  EaffaeUe,  the  "Beggar 
Boys"  of   Murillo,  the  "Mourning  for  Christ"  of 


GERMANY  149 

Poussin,  the  "  Descent  from  the  Cross "  of  Rem- 
brandt, and  all  the  examples  of  Diirer,  the 
Holbeins,  and  Rubens.  It  was  an  infliction  to  pass 
afterwards  to  the  crude  pretentious  paintings  of 
Kaulbach  and  Cornelius. 

The  Bavarian  throne  was  then  occupied  by  the 
second  Ludwig,  Wagner's  patron,  who  eventually 
met  his  death  in  the  Wiirmsee,  otherwise  the  lake  of 
Starnberg.  He  happened  to  come  to  Munich  for  a 
few  days  on  some  state  business  while  we  were  there, 
and  we  obtained  just  a  glimpse  of  him — ^well-built, 
broad-shouldered,  and  quite  handsome  facially.  There 
was  as  yet — so  far  as  I  am  aware — no  question  of  his 
sanity  or  insanity,  but  his  younger  brother,  Otho, 
had  been  in  confinement  for  some  years.  The  un- 
fortunate Empress  Elizabeth  of  Austria  always  con- 
tended that  her  cousin,  Ludwig  II,  was  not  insane, 
but  had  simply  been  shut  up  to  gratify  the  ambition 
of  his  relative.  Prince  Luitpold,  who  aspired  to  the 
regency.  Ludwig's  patronage  of  Wagner,  though 
attended  by  some  eccentric  features,  was  assuredly 
no  proof  of  insanity.  Like  his  grandfather,  Ludwig  I, 
and  his  father,  MaximiHan  II,  he  had  artistic  per- 
ceptions and  indulged  extravagantly  in  a  taste  for 
building  and  for  decorating  existing  buildings.  Some 
men,  however,  have  spent  money  in  far  more  fooHsh 
ways  without  being  declared  mad.  Ludwig  was 
responsible  for  some  of  the  embellishments  of  the 
castle  of  Hohenschwangau ;  but  the  paintings  there 
depicting  the  legend  of  Lohengrin  (to  whom,  without 
rhyme  or  reason,  the  king  was  often  likened)  were 
commissioned  by  his  father.  He  certainly  built 
the  castle  of  Neu-Schwanstein,  and  had  it  decorated 
with  paintings  of  various  German  legends  and  inci- 
dents in  the  lives  of  the  Minnesingers.     I  believe. 


160  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

too,  that  he  was  responsible  for  the  chateau  of 
Berg,  near  the  lake  in  which  he  perished.  He  also 
erected  Schloss  Linderhof  and  decorated  it  with 
statues  and  busts  of  Louis  XIV,  and  pictures  repre- 
sentative of  events  in  that  monarch's  reign.  More- 
over, before  he  was  seized  and  placed  in  confinement, 
he  completed  a  large  part  of  Schloss  Herrenchiemsee, 
there  again  giving  rein  to  his  admiration  for  the 
Grand  Monarque,  taking  Versailles  as  his  model, 
decorating  one  room  like  Louis'  bed-chamber,  and 
insisting  also  on  a  replica  of  the  famous  Galerie  des 
Glaces.  The  larger  part  of  all  this  work  having 
been  executed  after  the  Franco-German  war  it  may 
have  given  great  offence  in  Bavaria,  and  even  greater 
in  Prussia,  where  possibly  Bismarck  and  the  old 
Kaiser  interpreted  this  partiality  for  French  models 
as  an  intentional  protest  against  Prussianism.* 

King  Ludwig,  however,  had  other  peculiarities. 
He  not  only  cared  nothing  for  women,  but  absolutely 
shunned  them,  in  that  respect  imitating  his  grand- 
father's practice  in  his  later  years,  though,  earlier  in 
life,  Ludwig  I,  whose  connection  with  Lola  Months 
will  be  remembered,  had  shown  himself  a  very 
amorous  monarch.  Further,  Wagner's  patron  liked 
to  seclude  himself  altogether,  attending  little  to 
affairs  of  State,  and  preferring  by  far  his  various 
lake  and  mountain  castles  to  the  early  seventeenth 
century  Alte  Eesidenz,  and  the  modern  Konigsbau 
and  Festsaalbau  at  Munich.  Dislike  of  women, 
extravagance,  and  neglect  of  State  affairs  are  by  no 
means  sure  signs  of  madness,  though  the  latter 
faults  must  certainly  have  rendered  King  Ludwig  an 

*  After  all,  the  Bavarian  King  merely  followed  the  example  of  many 
German  princes  of  the  eighteenth  century,  who  freely  built  their  palaces 
and  laid  out  their  gardens  in  the  French  style. 


GERMANY  151 

undesirable  sovereign.  And  in  connection  with  his 
case  it  should  be  remembered  that  since  the  latter 
part  of  the  18th  century  at  least  twenty  members  of 
the  House  of  Wittelsbach  have  undoubtedly  become 
insane,  and  that  every  branch  of  the  family,  without 
exception,  has  given  more  or  less  proof  thereof. 
This  insanity  has  been  intermittent,  at  times  skipping 
a  generation,  and  afterwards  reappearing. 

The  present  King's  father.  Prince  Luitpold,  who 
became  Regent  as  soon  as  Ludwig  II  had  been 
placed  under  restraint,  was  supposed  to  be  free  from 
the  family  misfortune ;  but  a  few  years  ago  I  was 
told  by  more  than  one  Bavarian  that  the  old  man 
occasionally  evinced  signs  of  dementia.  He  certainly 
became  afflicted  with  St.  Vitus's  dance.  I  do  not 
say  that  an  epileptical  affection  necessarily  implies 
insanity ;  time  wiU  show,  however,  what  fate  is 
reserved  for  the  present  King,  Ludwig  III,  and  his 
son,  the  Crown  Prince  Rupert.  In  the  course  of  the 
Great  War  the  last-named  has  issued  orders  and 
indulged  in  utterances  which  seem  to  indicate  a 
predisposition  towards  the  family  complaint.  That 
said,  I  will  for  the  present  leave  the  subject,  though 
I  must  refer  to  it  again  in  connection  with  the 
Austrian  Empress.  She,  as  already  mentioned, 
claimed  that  King  Ludwig  II  was  quite  sane;  and 
only  a  few  years  back,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Lake  of 
Starnberg,  people  still  related  in  whispers  that  when 
the  unfortunate  man  was  drowned  with  Dr.  von 
Gudden,  in  June,  1886,  he  was  seeking  to  escape  from 
durance  with  the  intention  of  reasserting  his  rights, 
in  accordance  with  a  plot  in  which  the  Empress 
Elizabeth  and  sundry  high-placed  Bavarian  per- 
sonages, as  well  as  villagers  of  the  district,  were 
secretly  leagued  together. 


BOOK  II— AUSTEIA,   HUNGARY 
BOHEMIA. 

**  Bella  gerant  alii,  tu  felix  Austria  nube  ; 
Nam  quae  Mars  aliis,  dat  tibi  regna  Venus." 

Austrian  Conceit, 

"  Extra  Hungarian!  non  est  vita. 
Nullum  vinum,  nisi  Hungarioum." 

Hungarian  Boasts. 

"  Gone  are  the  days  of  Ottokar's  brief  reign, 
When  fair  Bohemia's  kingdom  reached  the  main.'* 

From  the  German, 


VIENNA  AND   THE   HAPSBURGS. 

To  Vienna  by  the  Danube — Durrenstein  and  Cceur-de-Lion — The  Pretty 
Jewesses  of  the  Leopoldstadt — My  Friend  Nevlinsky — ^The  Prince  of 
Wales  and  the  Viennese — A  Royal  Cigar  and  a  diffident  Colonial — 
The  Duke  of  Connaught  as  a  Dancer — The  opening  of  the  Welt- 
austellung — A  Reproof  from  an  Admiral — The  Career  of  the  Emperor 
Francis-Joseph — The  Empress  Elizabeth — Crown  Prince  Rudolph. 

Making  our  way  from  Munich  towards  the  Danube 
we  came  at  last  to  the  picturesque  town  of  Passau, 
near  the  Austrian  frontier,  it  being  our  intention  to 
reach  Vienna  by  the  river  steamboat  service.  Until 
we  arrived  at  Linz,  where  we  broke  our  journey, 
the  Danubian  scenery  was  for  the  most  part  very 
striking,  at  times  even  of  an  imposing  character,  the 
river  flowing  through  a  hilly  country,  past  rocks  or 
precipitous  wooded  cliffs  with  now  and  again  a 
stretch  of  lower  pasture  land.  Here  and  there  were 
old  towns  and  villages,  venerable  abbeys,  feudal 
castles  or  isolated  towers,  and  when  we  came  to 
Aschach  we  caught  a  distant  glimpse  of  some  snow- 
capped Alpine  heights  rising  to  the  south.  Here- 
abouts also,  as  the  river  took  its  course  through  a 
broad  plain,  islands  covered  with  underwood 
appeared  upon  its  bosom.  Then  its  bed  contracted 
once  more,  and  a  few  miles  farther  on  the  town  of 
Linz  was  jreached. 

155 


156  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

We  arrived  there  at  about  seven  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  and  stayed  the  night,  putting  up  at  the 
hotel  of  the  Archduke  Charles,  where  we  were 
waited  upon  with  great  alacrity  by  a  posse  of  bustling 
young  women  of  Upper  Austria — vivacious,  comely, 
short-skirted  creatures  with  bare  legs,  bright  eyes, 
gleaming  teeth  and  pink  and  white  complexions. 
Pelcoq's  artistic  feelings  were  aroused  at  the  sight, 
and  he  gave  a  smile  of  satisfaction.  "  Enfin,''  said  he, 
"  we  are  no  longer  in  Bismarck's  empire !  " 

Of  Linz  we  saw  little  or  nothing,  for  the  boat  to 
Vienna  started  early  the  next  day,  and  we  then 
found  ourselves  passing  less  picturesque  scenery 
than  before.  The  river's  left  bank  became  quite 
flat,  and  we  skirted  numerous  islands  until  we  left 
Ardagger  behind  us.  From  that  point  the  scenery 
again  became  hilly  and  wooded.  Beyond  Grein 
we  kept  close  to  an  island  in  order  to  avoid  some  once 
dangerous  rapids  and  a  whirlpool ;  then  we  went  our 
way  again  past  a  succession  of  towns,  villages,  ruined 
castles,  and  modern  chateaux.  When  the  afternoon 
arrived  I  examined  spot  after  spot  with  some  eager- 
ness, for  I  was  anxious  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  one 
closely  associated  with  our  English  history.  At  last, 
a  little  below  the  town  of  Rossatz,  it  was  pointed  out 
to  me.  There  on  a  rock,  as  it  were,  above  a  village 
with  a  conspicuous  church  and  a  lordly  pleasure- 
house,  was  all  that  remained  of  the  once  formidable 
stronghold  of  Durrenstein,  and  at  the  sight  of  it  I 
thought  of  our  Cceur-de-Lion  immured  there,  held 
to  ransom  by  the  Archduke  of  Austria,  and  of 
Blondel  singing  some  plaintive  song  under  the  castle 
wall. 

By  and  by  we  once  more  passed  through  some 
flat  country,  and  island  after  island  was  skirted. 


AUSTRIA  157 

Then  the  height  of  Klosterneuburg  with  its  ancient 
Augustinian  monastery  arose  on  our  left,  and  pre- 
sently, on  reaching  Nussdorf,  we  were  transferred 
to  a  smaller  steamer  which,  following  the  Danube 
canal,  deposited  us  at  last  on  the  Franz-Josefs  Quai 
at  Vienna.  We  at  first  installed  ourselves  at  an 
hotel,  but  as  we  intended  to  remain  in  the  city  for 
some  months,  and  terms  were  high  on  account  of  the 
approaching  Exhibition,  which  the  Viennese  (not 
anticipating  the  coming  financial  crash  and  the 
cholera  scare)  imagined  would  greatly  enrich  them, 
we  soon  took  some  rooms  in  a  private  house. 

It  was  very  near  Renz's  Circus  in  the  Leopold- 
stadt,  the  Jewish  quarter  of  Vienna,  which  we  selected 
by  reason  of  its  proximity  to  the  Prater,  where  the 
Exhibition  was  to  be  held.     We  lunched  and  dined 
at  restaurants — as  a  rule  either  in  the  Exhibition 
grounds  or  in  the  adjacent  Haupt  AUee  of  the  Prater 
— merely  taking  the  customary  matutinal  roll  and 
coffee  at  home.     The    people  of    the  house  were 
Jews,  the  husband  being  connected  with  a  bank,  and 
the  mother  devoting  most  of  her  time  to  eating, 
drinking  and  sleeping,  in  such  wise  that  she  had  very 
little  left  to  bestow  on  her  two  pretty  daughters, 
who  before  long  became  my  frequent  companions. 
My  father  had  supposed  that  I  should  improve  if  not 
perfect  my  knowledge  of  German  during  my  stay  at 
Vienna  ;    but  I  am  afraid  that  I  greatly  neglected 
that  matter,  as  my  friends,  the  young  Jewish  belles, 
set  their  hearts  on  learning  French  from  me.     The 
family  was  fairly  well  connected,  one  of  its  members 
being  a  prominent  contributor   to  that  well-known 
journal,  the  Neue  Freie  Presse,  whilst  Johann  Strauss, 
the    famous    composer    of     the    "  Beautiful    Blue 
Danube,"    "  Wiener    Blut,"    and    so    many    other 


158  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

popular  waltzes,  was  a  relation  by  marriage.  Before 
long  I  was  introduced  to  him,  and  heard  him  on 
several  occasions  play  his  own  compositions  en  petit 
comite. 

We  had  come  to  Vienna,  however,  with  intro- 
ductions to  various  official  personages,  and  in  that 
way  I  became  acquainted  with  a  young  attache  of 
the  Austrian  Foreign  Office,  named  Nevlinski.  He 
was  a  Pole  by  birth,  a  remarkably  good  linguist, 
handsome  and  capital  company.  We  speedily 
fraternised,  and  made  many  pleasant  excursions 
together  through  the  Viennese  environs,  taking  with 
us  occasionally  the  young  Jewish  beauties  whom  I 
have  mentioned.  For  some  years  after  leaving 
Vienna  I  corresponded  with  Nevlinski,  but  at  last  I 
heard  nothing  more  of  him  until  I  learnt  one  day 
that  he  had  quitted  the  Austrian  service  and  entered 
that  of  the  Turkish  Sultan,  otherwise  Abdul  the 
Damned,  who  employed  him  in  negotiating  loans 
from  which  he,  Nevlinski,  derived  substantial 
pickings. 

With  his  help  and  that  of  the  young  Jewesses  and 
their  relations,  life  at  Vienna  became  very  pleasant, 
though  there  was  a  great  deal  of  work  to  be  done  for 
the  Illustrated  London  News,  much  of  it  being  cast 
upon  me,  as  my  father  was  requested  to  act  for  Great 
Britain  on  the  international  jury  which  was  to 
determine  the  merits  of  all  the  specimens  of  wines 
sent  from  many  parts  of  the  world  to  the  exhibition. 
The  results  of  his  labours  in  that  respect  were 
embodied  in  a  report  which  was  presented  to  both 
Houses  of  Parliament,  and  subsequently  reprinted 
in  a  popular  form.  The  Prince  of  Wales  (Edward 
VII)  was  President  of  the  Eoyal  British  Com- 
mission, and  I  had  several  opportunities  of  seeing 


AUSTRIA  159 

him  and  even  of  speaking  with  him  dm*ing  his 
sojom^ns  in  Vienna.  He  became  extremely  popular 
there — as  he  did  wherever  he  went — but  the  Viennese 
marvelled  greatly  at  the  manner  in  which  he  so  often 
dispensed  with  State  and  ceremony.  He  might  be 
seen  at  times  driving  to  the  Exhibition  in  an  ordinary 
public  fiacre,  having  with  him  perhaps  just  one 
attendant ;  whereupon  the  habitues  of  the  Ring  or 
the  Prater-strasse  would  exclaim  in  astonishment : 
"  How  different  from  our  Archdukes  !  They  never 
ride  otherwise  than  in  their  own  carriages  and 
escorted  by  mounted  troopers  !  And  they  are  always 
in  uniform,  whereas  this  Prince  of  Wales  goes  about 
like  any  one  of  us  !  " 

I  remember  a  somewhat  amusing  incident  in 
connection  with  the  Prince's  stay  at  Vienna.  The 
Royal  Commission  held  a  reception  which  was 
attended  by  all  the  more  prominent  British  people 
connected  with  the  Exhibition.  On  arriving  at 
the  meeting-place,  the  Prince  retired  for  a  moment 
to  a  room  reserved  for  him,  and  when  he  emerged 
from  it  we  saw  that  he  was  smoking  a  cigar  and  was 
carrying  a  box  of  cigars  in  his  hand.  We  were  all 
drawn  up  in  somewhat  formal  fashion  around  a 
large  room,  and  as  the  Prince  went  by  he  tendered 
the  box  of  cigars  to  one  and  another  member  of  the 

company.     At  last  he  came  to  a  certain  Mr.  M ,  a 

gentleman  of  Dutch  ancestry,  who  represented  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  who  was  duly  presented 
by  the  Royal  Commissioners'  secretary,  Mi*. — after- 
wards   Sir — Philip    Cunliiie    Owen.       Mr.     M 

appeared  to  be  much  impressed  by  this  honour,  and 
although  he  helped  himself  in  a  hesitating  way  to  one 
of  the  Prince  of  Wales's  cigars,  he  stammered  that 
he  would  never  dare  to  smoke  it  in  his  royal  highness' s 


160  IN   SEVEN   LANDS 

presence,  but  should  preserve  it  for  his  posterity 
as  a  family  heirloom.  On  hearing  this,  the  Prince 
could  not  help  laughing.  "  I  am  afraid,"  said  he, 
"  that  keeping  will  spoil  it,  for  judging  by  the  one 
of  the  same  brand  which  I  am  smoking,  you  will  find 
it  to  be  now  in  prime  condition."  The  Cape  Town 
man  protested,  however,  that  he  could  not  think  of 
smoking  the  royal  cigar,  but  should  keep  and  treasure 
it  for  his  children  as  he  had  already  stated.  "I 
cannot  prevent  you  from  doing  so  if  you  wish  to," 
the  Prince  retorted,  "  but  you  may  just  as  well 
smoke  now.     Take  another  cigar  and  do  so."     After 

more  bowing   and   scraping  Mr.    M complied, 

and  although  a  little  later  he  repeatedly  protested 
his  bona  fides  during  the  incident  I  have  related,  he 
became  known  throughout  the  whole  period  of  the 
Exhibition  as  "  the  artful  dodger,"  who  had  cunningly 
contrived  to  extract  two  cigars  from  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  whereas  nobody  else  had  secm^ed  more  than 
one. 

When  the  Prince  came  to  Vienna  for  the  in- 
auguration of  the  Exhibition  he  was  accompanied 
by  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  Connaught,  who  was  then 
known  simply  as  Prince  Arthur,  and  who  won  golden 
opinions  among  the  young  Austrian  Archduchesses 
by  the  skill  he  showed  in  waltzing,  both  at  the 
Hofburg  and  at  the  British  Embassy,  where  our 
representative,  Sir  Andrew  Buchanan,  entertained  the 
court  with  a  ball.  Going  to  Pesth  a  little  later. 
Prince  Arthur  there  gave  a  further  display  of  his 
choregraphical  talents  by  taking  part  in  the  Hun- 
garian national  dance — ^the  csardds — ^like  one  to  the 
manner  born.  I  remember  also  that  when  I  was  in 
Rome  some  years  afterwards,  an  Italian  lady  some- 
what astonished  me  by  referring  to  the  young  Duke 


AUSTRIA  161 

of  Connaught's  proficiency  as  a  dancer.  It  appeared 
that  during  some  visit  paid  by  him  to  the  Eternal 
City  he  had  distinguished  himseK  in  this  respect  at  a 
masked  ball  given  by  one  of  the  Roman  princes. 
I  cannot  say  whether  he  afterwards  went  on  to  Naples 
and  participated  in  a  tarantella  there ;  but  had 
circumstances  required  it,  his  royal  highness  would 
doubtless  have  risen  to  the  occasion. 

Several  violent  showers  fell  on  the  morning  of 
May  1 — the  day  fixed  for  the  opening  of  the  Viennese 
Weltaustellung — and  spoilt  much  of  the  display 
intended  for  the  occasion.  Nevertheless,  a  very 
brilliant-looking  company — including  ladies  in  all 
the  colours  of  the  rainbow,  prelates  in  violet  cassocks, 
Hungarian  magnates  in  bright  velvet  tunics  and 
pelisses,  and  officers  and  diplomatists  in  full  uniform — 
assembled  in  the  great  rotunda,  where  the  inaugural 
ceremony  was  to  take  place.  This  rotunda,  which 
still  exists  and  which,  I  believe,  has  been  used  during 
the  present  war  as  a  military  magazine,  was  (apart 
from  its  decorations)  the  work  of  our  great  engineer, 
Scott  Russell,  and  ranked  at  the  time  of  its  erection — 
as  it  may  even  nowadays — as  the  largest  structure 
of  its  kind  ever  built.  Supported  by  thirty- two 
iron  columns  resting  on  foundations  of  cement, 
it  has  a  diameter  of  354  feet,  and  a  height  of  250,  its 
area  thus  being  more  than  treble  that  of  the  dome 
of  St.  Paul's,  and  more  than  double  that  of  St. 
Peter's — their  areas  being  respectively  111  and  156 
feet.  At  the  time  of  the  Vienna  Exhibition  the 
structure  was  surmounted  by  an  imperial  crown 
formed  of  coloured  and  gilded  metal  and  glass, 
the  height  of  this  *'  bauble  "  being  some  seventeen 
feet,  and  its  weight  a  couple  of  tons. 

Scott  Russell,  then  an  elderly  man,  short  and 

M 


162  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

lean,  with  clean-cut  features  and  an  expression  be- 
tokening high  talents,  was  good  enough  to  take  some 
notice  of  me — ^why,  I  do  not  know ;  but,  for  some 
reason  or  another,  I  have  been  treated  with  kindness 
by  distinguished  men  all  through  my  life,  and  have 
found  consolation  for  many  mishaps  in  friendships 
beyond  my  expectation.  A  few  evenings  before  the 
inauguration  of  the  Exhibition,  Scott  Eussell  took 
me  to  the  summit  of  the  rotunda,  the  ascent  being 
made  from  the  outside,  and  each  of  us  carrying  a 
lantern  to  light  us  on  our  way.  When  we  reached 
the  base  of  the  crown  we  seated  ourselves  and  looked 
down  on  Vienna,  which  spread  out  with  its  many 
lights  beyond  the  Prater  deer-park. 

We  could  plainly  trace  the  course  of  the  Danube 
canal,  and,  farther  away,  that  of  the  little  river 
Wien  from  which  the  Austrian  capital  takes  its  real 
modern  name ;  whilst,  more  to  the  right  and  yet 
more  distant,  the  tower  of  St.  Stephen's  cathedral 
shot  up  to  a  height  nearly  twice  as  great  as  that 
to  which  we  had  ascended.  I  believe  that  I  began 
to  think  of  the  siege  of  Vienna  by  the  Turkish  vizier, 
Kara  Mustapha  (whose  skull  I  had  already  seen  at 
one  of  the  arsenals),  and  of  the  relief  so  chivakously 
undertaken  by  Sobieski.  But  Scott  Eussell's  con- 
versation was  eminently  practical.  He  was  par- 
ticularly interested  in  the  Danube  improvement 
works,  and  spoke  of  all  the  possibilities  attaching 
to  that  great  water-way.  What  he  said  proved 
useful  knowledge  to  me  when,  somewhat  later,  I  had 
a  conversation  with  the  Archduke  Karl-Ludwig, 
father  of  the  Franz-Ferdinand  who  was  assassinated 
at  Sarajevo. 

On  reaching  Russell's  rotunda  on  the  morning  of 
the  inauguration  of  the  exhibition  my  father  secured 


AUSTRIA  163 

a  seat  in  a  kind  of  "  tribune  "  near  Edmund  Yates 
and  Beatty  Kingston  of  the  Daily  Telegraph.  But 
the  position  did  not  suit  Jules  Pelcoq,  who  had  to 
make  a  sketch  of  the  ceremony,  and  so,  after  a  Httle 
hesitation,  he  and  I  moved  into  the  pourtour  and 
gradually  made  our  way  nearer  to  the  raised  plat- 
form which  was  reserved  for  the  imperial  party.  We 
took  our  stand  in  front  of  some  partitioned  seats 
crowded  with  people,  and  whilst  we  were  talking 
together  in  French,  an  old  Austrian  naval  officer 
behind  us  leant  forward,  and  said  in  the  same 
language :  "I  am  surprised  that  Frenchmen  should 
be  so  impolite.  You  gentlemen  arrive  late  and  place 
yoiu'selves  in  front  of  my  wife  and  myself  to  block 
our  view,  when  we  have  already  been  waiting  quite 
forty  minutes  to  see  om*  Emperor  !  "  We — Pelcoq 
and  I — were  greatly  taken  aback  by  this  reproach ; 
but  I  mustered  sufficient  courage  to  answer :  ''A 
thousand  apologies,  monsieur  Vamiral  (that  was  a 
chance,  though,  as  it  proved,  an  accurate  shot),  but 
I  myself  have  been  waiting  all  my  life  to  see  his 
majesty  !  *  We  will  certainly  move,  however,  as 
we  inconvenience  you."  We  then  withdrew  a  few 
steps  into  an  adjacent  gangway.  In  rememorating 
the  incident  I  feel  rather  astonished  at  the  "  cheek  " 
I  showed  in  addressing  the  admiral  as  I  did.  It  was 
certainly  presumptuous  for  me  to  talk  of  "  all  my 
life  "  when  I  was  as  yet  only  in  my  twenty-first 
year.  The  admiral,  however,  took  everything  in 
good  part  and,  presently,  as  we  were  still  near  him, 
he  became  quite  affable  and  pointed  out  to  us  several 
Austrian  dignitaries  and  celebrities. 

At  last  the  imperial  procession  appeared.     The 
Emperor  walked  with  the  German  Crown  Princess 

*  As  a  matter  of  fact  I  had  seen  him  at  Berlin  in  1872, 


164  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

(Empress  Frederick  and  mother  of  the  present 
Kaiser),  and  the  Prince  of  Wales  with  the  Empress 
EHzabeth,  who,  though  living  most  of  the  time  apart 
from  her  husband,  had  come  to  Vienna  specially  for 
this  occasion.  She  was  then  in  her  thirty-sixth  year, 
beautiful,  slim,  and  queenly  in  all  her  movements. 
Among  the  other  royalties  present  were  the  future 
Emperor  Frederick,  the  Crown  Prince  (now  King) 
of  Denmark  and  his  wife,  the  Count  and  Countess  of 
Flanders,  parents  of  King  Albert  of  Belgium,  the 
Duke  of  Connaught,  and  a  handsome  lad  of  fifteen — 
the  ill-fated  Austrian  heir.  Crown  Prince  Rudolph. 
The  ceremony  was  compounded  of  speeches,  inter- 
spersed with  music,  Haydn's  famous  hymn  opening 
and  closing  the  proceedings.  Those  who  spoke  were 
the  Emperor,  his  brother,  Karl-Ludwig,  who  was 
styled  "  protector  " — ^we  should  say  "  patron  " — of  the 
Exhibition  ;  Dr.  Felder,  the  burgomaster  of  Vienna, 
and  Count  Julius  Andrassy,  the  Foreign  Minister. 
The  last  named,  dressed  as  a  Hungarian  magnate, 
carried  himself  right  jauntily,  making  a  great  show 
of  his  curly  locks,  several  of  which  fell  over  one  side 
of  his  forehead,  and  spending  most  of  his  time  (as 
was  his  habit)  in  ogling  all  the  good-looking  women  he 
could  see.  When  everything  was  over,  and  while 
the  imperial  party  was  driving  away  in  six-horse 
carriages  escorted  by  cavalry,  we  hurried,  my  father 
and  I,  to  the  telegraph  office,  where,  after  despatching 
a  couple  of  short  messages  on  our  own  account,  we 
held  a  wire  for  Edmund  Yates,  who  had  been  com- 
missioned to  send  a  cablegram  of  a  few  thousand 
words  to  the  New  York  Herald, 

At  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing  Francis- Joseph 
of  Austria  was  forty-three  years  old,  but  had  already 
reigned    some    five-and-twenty,    for    he    was    only 


AUSTRIA  166 

in  his  late  teens  when  he  ascended  the  throne  at  the 
beginning  of  December,  1848.  A  Hungarian  insur- 
rection and  other  revolutionary  troubles  had  led  to 
the  abdication  of  his  uncle  Ferdinand,  who  had  been 
reigning  vsince  1835,  and  his  father,  the  Archduke 
Francis-Charles,  having  refused  the  throne,  he  found 
himself  next  in  the  line  of  succession.  Old  Ferdinand, 
who  had  known  Napoleon  and  the  Duke  of  Reichstadt 
and  who  siu^vived  until  June,  1875,  lived  for  the  most 
part  in  retirement  at  Prague ;  but  he  came  to 
Vienna  during  the  Exhibition  season,  and  I  re- 
member noticing  that  his  appearance  was  suggestive 
of  senile  imbecility.  Moreover,  he  was  the  first 
member  of  the  imperial  house  whom  I  saw  clad 
otherwise  than  in  uniform,  and  I  was  struck  by 
the  extreme  shabbiness  of  his  civilian  garments, 
which  were  completed  by  as  dilapidated  a  hat  as  was 
ever  worn  either  by  Baron  James  de  Rothschild  or 
the  late  Marquis  of  Sahsbury.  Ferdinand's  one 
penchant  was  for  music,  and  since  abdicating  he  had 
taken  no  part  whatever  in  State  affairs. 

Francis-Joseph  was  confronted  by  quite  a  sea  of 
troubles  upon  ascending  the  throne.  The  Hungarian 
insurrection  was  not  quelled  until  the  following 
year,  when  Russia  came  to  Austria's  assistance,  it  then 
being  predicted  that  the  Hapsburg  empire  would 
before  long  astonish  the  world  by  its  ingratitude — 
which  it  displayed,  indeed,  directly  Russia  became 
involved  in  the  Crimean  War.  Prince  Schwarzen- 
berg,  Francis- Joseph's  first  chief  minister,  died  in 
1852,  when  only  in  mid-career,  and  from  that  time 
onward  the  Emperor  assumed  a  more  and  more 
preponderant  share  in  governing  his  heterogeneous 
states.  The  famous  Metternich  was  still  alive,  and 
Francis-Joseph   freely  imitated   his   methods.     He 


166  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

spoke  fair  words,  but  he  clung  as  long  as  possible 
to  authoritarian  rule  and  courses  of  duplicity.  Mis- 
fortunes fell  upon  him,  however :  he  had  to  surrender 
Lombardy  in  1859  and  Venetia  in  1866 ;  and 
Hungary  again  becoming  restive  and  there  being  no 
hope  of  further  foreign  help  to  keep  that  country  in 
subjection,  the  alarmed  Emperor  had  to  consent  to  a 
dual  system  of  Government. 

Whatever  may  be  the  case  now  that  Francis- 
Joseph  is  eighty-six  years  old,  most  of  the  statesmen 
whom  he  raised  to  the  highest  positions  during  the 
greater  part  of  his  reign  were  merely  pawns  in  his 
hands.  He  made  them,  broke  them,  cast  them  aside 
at  pleasure,  according  to  the  changes  of  policy  which 
he  himself  deemed  advisable.  Excepting  in  Hungary, 
where  he  encountered  too  much  opposition,  he  in- 
variably turned  constitutionalism  into  a  fiction, 
exercising  a  more  personal  rule  than  any  other 
sovereign  of  the  time.  Nicholas  I,  who  was  the 
last  really  autocratic  Kussian  Tsar,  died  in  1855,  but 
for  long  years  afterwards  Francis-Joseph  persisted 
in  despotic  courses,  never  conceding  anything  to  his 
subjects  gracefully,  but  virtually  compelling  them  to 
wring  from  him  every  little  liberty  and  right.  On 
the  whole,  given  the  heterogeneous  character  of  his 
empire,  he  showed  himself  very  ingenious,  an  adept 
in  playing  off  one  nationality  against  another,  in 
crippling  the  powers  of  the  aristocracy,  and  granting 
here  and  there  a  few  little  advantages  to  the  middle- 
class,  but  at  the  same  time  drawing  a  line  beyond 
which  it  might  not  pass,  and  invariably  keeping 
down  the  masses — sometimes  even  at  the  bayonet's 
point. 

When  I  first  saw  this  Austrian  Kaiser  he  certainly 
had  a  dignified  presence.     He  looked  what  he  was — 


AUSTRIA  167 

a  ruler  of  men.  His  face  could  scarcely  be  called 
handsome,  but  it  wore  a  firm  and  manly  expression. 
He  was  tall,  also,  well  built  and  vigorous,  and  showed 
to  advantage  in  a  field  marshal's  white  tunic.  His 
life  was  an  extremely  active  one.  He  used  to  rise 
at  daybreak,  and  those  to  whom  he  granted  private 
audiences  had  to  be  at  the  Hofburg  by  seven  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  His  personal  tastes  were  very  simple. 
He  seldom  partook  of  more  than  a  couple  of  dishes  at 
any  meal.  But  he  always  sat  down  to  table  alone. 
A  court  official  once  told  me  that  even  if  one  of  the 
Emperor's  brothers  happened  to  be  at  the  Burg  at 
lunch-time,  he  did  not  sit  with  the  Emperor,  but  was 
served  in  another  room.  Exceptions  were  only  made 
on  the  occasion  of  some  special  state  banquet.  I 
was  also  assured  that  the  Emperor  seldom  drank 
wine.  On  the  two  or  three  occasions  when  I  saw 
him  drinking — notably  at  a  great  reception  at 
Schoenbrunn — ^the  beverage  was  Pilsener  beer,  which 
he  affected,  and  I  noticed  that  he  smoked  one  of  those 
cheap  long,  narrow,  dark  cigars,  intersected  by  a 
straw,  which  the  Viennese  usually  call  "  Virginias." 
Close  by,  however,  were  boxes  of  choice  havannahs 
for  his  guests,  together  with  an  unlimited  supply  of 
imperial  Tokay  and  champagne. 

There  was  no  approach  to  family  life  at  the 
Viennese  Burg,  which  I  found  to  be  an  extensive 
medley  of  buildings  dating  from  various  periods, 
though,  owing  to  a  great  fire  which  occurred  in  1668, 
there  was  little  of  any  antiquity  to  be  seen.  The 
Emperor's  private  rooms  were  (and  I  suppose  still  are) 
on  the  first  floor  of  a  building  called  the  Reichs- 
Kanzlei  Palace,  where  the  State  archives  are  kept, 
and  where,  I  believe,  such  men  as  Kaunitz  and 
Metternich  actually  resided.     It  forms  the  northern 


168  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

side  of  the  Burg,  and  near  it,  on  the  north-west,  is 
a  smaller  building  called  the  Amalienhof,  where  the 
Empress  Elizabeth  had  her  private  apartments. 

The  story  of  her  marriage  has  often  been  told. 
I  had  occasion  to  say  something  about  it  in  a  previous 
book  of  mine.*  Here  it  will  suffice  to  mention  that 
Francis-Joseph  was  four  and  twenty,  and  that  she 
had  not  completed  her  seventeenth  year  when  their 
espousals  were  celebrated  in  April,  1854,  at  the  old 
Augustiner  Kirche  in  Vienna.  On  the  Emperor's 
side  the  marriage  was  an  affaire  passionnelle.  There 
had  been  some  expectation  that  he  would  propose 
to  Elizabeth's  elder  sister  Helen  (who  afterwards 
became  the  wife  of  the  Duke  of  Thurn  and  Taxis), 
but  he  preferred  the  fresh  and  charming  "  Rose  of 
Possenhofen,"  as  Elizabeth  was  called,f  and  there 
could  be  no  refusal  of  his  suit.  The  young  monarch 
was  far  from  being  an  innocent  at  this  time.  More 
than  one  grande  dame  of  the  Austrian  court  had 
previously  set  her  cap  at  him,  and  he  had  willingly 
taken  one  and  another  as  a  mistress  en  passant — 
abruptly  casting  them  aside  whenever  any  other 
fancy  gained  hold  of  him.  Briefly,  he  changed  his 
mistresses  much  as  he  changed  his  ministers. 

Nevertheless,  it  seemed  at  first  as  if  his  marriage 
would  prove  a  happy  one.  Popular  it  certainly 
was  at  the  outset,  for  hundreds  of  political  offenders 
were  pardoned,  and  notable  hospital  reforms  were 
carried  out,  in  addition  to  which,  at  the  young 
Empress's  intercession,  flogging  was  abolished  in  the 
Austrian  army — ^this  reform  preceding  ours  by  many 

*  "  The  Anarchists :  Thek  Faith  and  their  Record."    Lane,  1911. 

t  Possenhofen,  where  most  of  her  girlhood  was  spent,  is  on  the  western 
side  of  the  lake  of  Stamberg.  Almost  opposite  it,  on  the  eastern  bank,  is 
the  castle  of  Berg  where  Ludwig  of  Bavaria  was  being  detained  at  the  time 
when  he  was  drowned  in  the  lake. 


CROWN    PRINCE    RUDOLPH    OF   AUSTRIA 


AUSTEIA  169 

years.  In  July,  1856,  Elizabeth  gave  birth  to  her 
first  child,  the  Archduchess  Gisela,  who,  in  the  spring 
of  1873,  just  before  my  arrival  at  Vienna,  married 
Leopold  of  Bavaria,  second  son  of  the  Luitpold,  who 
became  Eegent  diu-ing  King  Ludwig's  insanity. 
I  saw  the  "  happy  pair "  not  long  afterwards. 
Neither  was  of  attractive  appearance.  Gisela, 
scarcely  older  at  her  marriage  than  Elizabeth  had 
been  at  hers,  had  a  fat  round  face  with  the  Hapsburg 
lip,  and  a  short  neck,  while  Leopold's  clean-shaven 
sensual  countenance  appeared  to  be  all  breadth.  The 
Empress's  next  child.  Crown  Prince  Rudolph,  was 
born  in  August,  1858,  and  nearly  ten  more  years 
elapsed  before  Elizabeth,  as  the  result  of  a  temporary 
reconciliation  with  her  husband,  gave  birth  at 
Budapest  to  the  last  of  her  offspring,  the  Archduchess 
Maria- Valeria,  who  in  1890,  when  two  and  thirty 
years  old,  became  the  wife  of  her  cousin  the  Archduke 
Francis-Salvator. 

From  1860  until  the  summer  of  1867,  when  the 
Empress  went  to  Budapest  with  her  husband  for 
his  long-deferred  coronation  as  King  of  Hungary, 
she  remained  completely  estranged  from  the  Emperor, 
whose  conduct,  in  her  estimation,  had  become  un- 
pardonable. Like  many  another  royal  consort  she 
had  tried  to  close  her  eyes  to  certain  amorous 
intrigues  in  court  circles ;  but  when  she  obtained 
indisputable  evidence  of  the  Emperor's  conduct 
during  the  shooting  and  hunting  expeditions  which 
took  him  now  to  the  Tyrol  and  now  to  Styria — he 
was  a  great  stalker  of  chamois — she  felt  outraged 
in  her  womanly  dignity.  Information  was  conveyed 
to  her  respecting  passades  in  which  strapping 
Tyrolean  and  Styrian  peasant  wenches  were  con- 
cerned, and  respecting  the  provision  made  more  or 


170  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

less  secretly  for  one  and  another  illegitimate  child 
born  in  some  obscure  mountain  hut  or  chalet.  Her 
feelings  revolting  at  the  thought  that  the  culprit  was 
the  husband  who  had  pretended  to  marry  her  for 
love,  she  forgot  even  her  children  who,  in  p^ccordance 
with  Austrian  etiquette,  had  been  largely  taken  out 
of  her  charge,  and  fled  from  Vienna  to  Trieste,  where 
she  embarked  on  her  yacht,  sailing  in  the  first 
instance  to  the  Ionian  islands. 

Francis-Joseph,  thunderstruck  by  this  flight,  at 
once  muzzled  the  Press  for  fear  of  a  terrible  scandal, 
and  then  took  ship  in  pursuit  of  his  runaway  consort. 
Curiously  enough  about  that  same  period  the 
Empress  Eugenie,  rendered  indignant  by  the  repeated 
infidelities  of  Napoleon  III,  fled  from  France  to 
England.*  She,  however,  was  soon  persuaded  to 
return  to  the  Tuileries,  whereas  Elizabeth  steadily 
refused  to  be  reconciled  to  Francis-Joseph.  She 
went  on  to  Minorca,  then  into  the  Atlantic,  and 
having  become  quite  ill,  eventually  repaired  for  a 
time  to  Madeira.  Some  years  were  spent  in  roaming, 
but  in  1865,  when  her  son  Rudolph  fell  very  ill,  she 
returned  for  a  while  to  Vienna.  The  imperial  mis- 
fortunes— the  defeats  of  1866,  and  the  tragic  death 
of  the  Emperor's  brother,  Maximilian  of  Mexico — led 
gradually  to  somewhat  better  relations  between 
wife  and  husband,  and  it  seemed  for  a  time  as  if 
the  reconciliation  effected  in  Hungary  might  be 
permanent.  But  Francis-Joseph  could  not  curb 
his  passions.  He  was  no  luxurious  sybarite  like 
Louis  XV,  but  a  man  of  very  strong  masculinity, 
and  various  incidents  led  to  further  estrangements. 
For  a  time  the  Empress  did  not  leave  Austria  but 
roamed   hither   and   thither   through   the   imperial 

*  See  our  "  Court  of  the  Tuileries,  1852-1870." 


AUSTRIA  171 

dominions.  Her  health,  however,  often  became  bad. 
Nervous  disorders  slowly  fixed  their  hold  upon  her, 
and  in  order  to  secure  some  relief  she  went  abroad 
again — to  England,  Ireland,  France,  and  elsewhere. 
When  Crown  Prince  Rudolph  and  his  mistress 
Maria  Vetsera  perished  at  Mayerling  at  the  end 
of  January,  1889,  the  Empress  was  sojourning  in 
seclusion  at  her  beautiful  semi-renaissance  castle  of 
Lainz,  south  of  Vienna,  and  it  has  been  said  that  the 
news  of  the  Mayerling  tragedy  was  first  conveyed  to 
her  by  Count  Hoyos,  who  had  been  at  Mayerling 
with  the  Crown  Prince,  and  that  she  was  the  first 
to  break  the  tidings  to  her  husband.  She  certainly 
stood  by  him  in  that  crisis  of  affliction.* 

Some  eight  years  later  another  misfortune  fell 
upon  her.  The  Duchesse  d'Alen9on,  her  youngest 
sister,  perished  in  the  conflagration  of  the  Paris 
Charity  Bazaar.  Elizabeth  then  drew  nearer  to  her 
remaining  sisters,  ex-Queen  Maria  of  Naples,  and 
Matilda,  Countess  of  Trani,  and  often  travelled  about 
with  them.  Her  health  became  worse  and  worse, 
however — ^rheumatism,  sciatica,  and  neuritis  preyed 
upon  her — and  no  treatment  gave  her  any  permanent 
relief.  At  last,  as  will  be  remembered,  she  went  to 
Switzerland  at  the  end  of  August,  1898,  and  on 
September  9  was  assassinated  by  the  Anarchist 
Luccheni  at  Geneva. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  this  woman  of  highly- 
strung  sensitive  nature,  was  more  or  less  insane 
during  her  last  years,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that 
physical    suffering,    following    her    other    troubles, 

*  I  do  not  propose  to  discuss  the  Mayerling  affair  here.  I  gave  the 
best  evidence  respecting  it  that  I  could  collect  in  that  section  of  my  book 
"The  Anarchists"  which  is  devoted  to  the  Empress  Elizabeth  and  her 
assassination. 


172  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

weakened  in  some  degree  her  mind.  Moreover,  even 
the  younger  branch  of  the  royal  house  of  Bavaria,  to 
which  she  belonged  through  her  father,  was  not  free 
from  the  hereditary  family  taint.  The  reason  of  her 
grandfather,  Pius- Augustus,  "  Duke  in  Bavaria," 
had  been  overclouded  for  several  years.  Further, 
her  mother  belonged  to  the  elder  branch,  in  which 
insanity  was  notorious.  On  the  other  hand,  her 
father,  Duke  Maximilian- Joseph — ^traveller,  musician, 
poet,  and  private  circus  manager — was  only  some- 
what eccentric,  like  many  other  men  of  artistic 
temperament.  My  own  view  is  that  whatever  may 
have  been  the  Empress's  condition  in  her  last  years, 
its  real  causa  causans  was  her  husband's  conduct. 
It  has  often  been  held  that  queens  and  empresses 
should  overlook  their  husbands'  infidelities.  At 
the  outset  EHzabeth  tried,  but  afterwards  failed  to 
do  so.  Her  nature  would  not  allow  it.  That  being 
the  case,  it  may  be  said  that  she  ought  not  to  have 
been  an  empress.  But  that  was  her  misfortune,  not 
her  fault,  for  Francis-Joseph  virtually  compelled 
her  to  become  his  wife.  Naturally,  he  was  deeply 
grieved  when  she  was  assassinated  ;  and  at  that  hour, 
perhaps,  on  recalling  his  faults,  he  may  have  regretted 
them. 

As  I  have  already  related,  the  first  time  that  I 
saw  the  empress  was  at  the  inauguration  of  the 
Vienna  Exhibition.  The  second  occasion  was  at  a 
grand  gathering  in  the  great  Rittersaal  at  the  Hof  burg. 
As  I  wrote  in  my  book  on  the  Anarchists,  she  then 
appeared  before  us,  *' imperial  in  her  bearing,  and 
efflulgent  like  an  idol  with  all  the  glitter  of  the 
diamonds  and  emeralds  which  she  wore  in  such 
profusion."  Beside  her  stood  a  tall  commanding 
figure,  that  of  Alexander  II,  Tsar  of  all  the  Russias. 


AUSTRIA  173 

We  all  knew  that  he  had  come  to  Vienna  closely 
guarded  in  an  iron-clad  railway  train,  and  day  by  day 
ran  the  risk  of  assassination.  But  who,  at  that  hour, 
could  have  imagined  that  the  beautiful  and  resplen- 
dent woman  who  entered  the  Rittersaal  by  his  side 
was  threatened,  or  ever  likely  to  be  threatened,  with 
a  similar  fate  ? 

Let  me  add  a  few  words  respecting  Crown  Prince 
Rudolph.  He  was  certainly  gifted  in  many  ways, 
possessed  of  artistic  perceptions  and  literary  talents, 
which  he  may  have  derived  from  his  Bavarian 
ancestry.  But  he  was  also  impulsive  and  self- 
willed.  There  being,  as  I  said  before,  no  family  life 
at  the  Austrian  court,  his  father  was  to  him  simply 
the  head  of  the  House  of  Hapsbiu*g  and  nothing 
more.  It  is  virtually  certain  that  they  were 
estranged  at  the  time  of  the  Mayerling  tragedy, 
though  one  cannot  say  positively  whether  it  was  on 
account  of  the  young  Prince's  connection  with  Maria 
Vetsera.  The  Emperor  undoubtedly  learnt  a  lesson 
from  that  tragedy  as  well  as  from  his  own  matri- 
monial troubles,  for  in  later  years  he  generally 
refrained  from  interfering  with  the  love-affairs  of 
members  of  his  house,  and  authorised  more  than  one 
morganatic  marriage. 


II. 


FROM   HIGHBORN  TO   HUMBLE   FOLK. 

Some  Austrian  "  Imperialities  " — Archduke  Albert  and  Marshal  Benedek 
— Rainer  and  Maria  Christina — The  Emperor's  Father  and  Mother — 
A  Dinner  with  Archduke  Karl-Ludwig — His  Enthusiasm  for  the 
Danube — His  Marriages  and  the  Austrian  Succession — Alexander  II 
of  Russia — ^The  Shah  of  Persia — King  Victor-Emmanuel — Princess 
Clementine  of  Saxe-Coburg — Laxenburg  and  Schoenbrunn — The 
Vault  of  the  Capuchins — Corpus  Christi  Day — Count  Andrassy — Sir 
Richard  Wallace — Baron  Schwarz-Senbom — The  Cholera  Scare- 
Viennese  Life — The  Graben — The  Stock-im-Eisen — The  Esterhazy 
Keller — The  Neue  Welt  and  Johann  Strauss — ^The  Danube  Baths — 
The  Prater — The  Ghetto  Jews — The  Neue  Freie  Presse — ^My  Yorkshire 
Post  Connection. 

Numerous  Archdukes  and  Archduchesses  were  to 
be  seen  in  Vienna  when  I  first  went  there ;  but  not 
SO  many  as  in  later  years,  for  the  Hapsburgs  are  a 
prohfic  race,  always  increasing  and  multiplying,  and 
as  a  French  scientist,  Dr.  Galippe,  pointed  out  in  a 
memoir  which  he  read  to  the  French  Academy  of 
Medicine  in  1905,  their  prepotency  is  so  great  that 
whether  they  be  male  or  female,  and  no  matter  whom 
they  may  marry,  the  Hapsburg  type  always  appears 
in  their  offspring.  In  that  respect  Dr.  Galippe  held 
that  the  Hapsburgs  even  surpassed  the  Bourbons, 
amongst  whom  a  family  likeness  was  formerly  so 
frequently  observed. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  Austrian 
princes  whom  I  saw  in  1873  was  the  veteran  Arch- 
duke Albert,  who,  like  the  ex-Emperor  Ferdinand, 

174 


AUSTRIA  175 

was  a  living  link  with  Napoleon's  son  the  unhappy 
Duke  of  Reichstadt — the  latter,  by  the  way,  a 
Bonaparte  on  whom  his  mother,  Marie-Louise, 
conferred  an  unmistakably  Hapsburg  face.  Arch- 
duke Albert  was  the  son  of  Napoleon's  adversary 
the  famous  Archduke  Charles,  and  was  supposed  to 
have  inherited  some  of  his  father's  military  genius. 
He  was,  however,  perhaps  less  popular  for  that 
reason  than  for  the  very  liberal  opinions  which  he 
openly  professed,  to  the  chagrin  of  the  Emperor  and 
his  other  conservative  relations.  Archduke  Albert's 
chief  miUtary  exploit  had  been  the  victory  of 
Custozza  over  the  Italians  in  1866 — the  Viennese 
striving  to  derive  from  that  success  some  consolation 
for  the  crushing  defeat  which  Prussia  at  the  same 
period  inflicted  on  Austria  at  Koniggratz. 

My  uncle  Frank  Vizetelly  *  used  to  tell  a  curious 
story  in  connection  with  those  battles.  In  1866  he 
was  with  Benedek,  who  commanded  the  Austrians 
at  Koniggratz,  and  the  marshal's  defeat,  said  he, 
was  not  surprising  as  he  had  known  little  or  nothing 
of  the  country  in  which  he  had  to  move  his  forces, 
having  only  recently  been  summoned  from  his 
command  in  Austria's  Italian  dominions,  with  which, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  had  in  the  course  of  years  made 
himself  extremely  familiar.  In  fact,  Benedek  had 
prepared  elaborate  plans  for  an  Italian  campaign  in 
the  event  of  King  Victor-Emmanuel  declaring  war, 
fully  anticipating  that  in  such  a  case  he,  Benedek, 
would  command  the  Austrians  in  that  direction. 
That  certainly  was  at  first  the  Emperor's  intention, 
but  at  the  eleventh  hour  the  Italian  command  was 
given  to  Archduke  Albert,  and  Benedek  was  sent 
to  face  the  Prussian  forces.     Profiting  by  Benedek's 

*  See  "  My  Days  of  Adventure." 


176  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

arrangements  and  following  his  plans,  the  Archduke 
defeated  the  Italians,  whereas  the  unfortunate 
Benedek,  transferred  without  any  time  for  prepara- 
tion to  a  sphere  in  which  he  found  himseK  almost 
lost,  reaped  only  defeat  and  obloquy.  The  inference 
drawn  by  my  uncle,  who,  I  understood,  had  the 
story  from  Benedek  himself,  was  that  the  Archduke's 
military  talents  were  less  considerable  than  people 
currently  supposed,  and  that  Benedek  had  been 
very  scurvily  used  by  his  sovereign.  On  the  other 
hand.  Archduke  Albert  afterwards  evinced  con- 
siderable gifts  as  an  organiser,  and  he  certainly 
acted  with  a  good  deal  of  common  sense  in  his 
negotiations  with  Napoleon  III,  shortly  before  the 
war  of  1870. 

The  mention  of  the  Austrian  dominions  in  Italy 
reminds  me  of  another  archduke  whom  I  saw  in 
1873 — ^the  younger  Rainer,  who  for  some  years  had 
governed  those  provinces,  having  been  specially 
selected  for  the  duty  as  his  mother  was  by  birth  a 
princess  of  the  House  of  Savoy,  and  he  himself  had 
first  seen  the  light  at  Milan — circumstances  which 
it  was  imagined  might  possibly  ingratiate  him  with 
Austria's  restless  Italian  subjects.  He  could  do 
little  good,  however,  in  that  respect,  as  his  powers 
were  strictly  limited;  and,  besides,  the  Italians  of 
Lombardy  and  Venetia  detested  the  Tedeschi  with- 
out exception,  and  hungered  for  union  with  the 
Motherland.  I  remember  my  friend  Nevlinski,  of 
the  Austrian  Foreign  Office,  pointing  out  to  me  at 
an  entertainment  at  Schoenbrunn  a  couple  of  young 
Archduchesses,  one  or  the  other  of  whom,  he 
facetiously  remarked,  I  might  well  desire  as  a 
wife,  as  I  appeared  to  be  an  inordinately  ambitious 
young  man.     I  declined  the  kind  suggestion  with 


AUSTEIA  177 

many  thanks,  for  both  ladies  appeared  to  be  extremely 
plain,  and  like  most  young  fellows  of  my  age  I  was 
on  the  look  out  for  beauty  and  not  for  a  Hapsburg 
face.  I  forget  the  name  of  one  of  the  Archduchesses 
in  question,  but  the  other  I  know  was  Maria-Christina, 
who  a  few  years  afterwards  married  Alfonso  XII 
of  Spain,  and  became  the  mother  of  that  country's 
present  sovereign. 

Francis-Joseph's  father,  the  Archduke  Francis- 
Charles,  who  had  refused  the  imperial  crown, 
survived  until  March,  1878,  but  his  consort,  the 
Archduchess  Sophia  {nee  of  Bavaria),  had  passed 
away  a  twelvemonth  before  I  arrived  in  Vienna. 
As  for  Francis-Charles,  I  cannot  remember  having 
ever  seen  him,  and  believe  that  he  was  then  living 
in  very  strict  retirement.  On  the  other  hand,  I 
was  presented  to  the  Emperor's  brother,  the  Arch- 
duke Karl-Ludwig,  and  had  quite  an  interesting 
conversation  with  him.  It  came  about  in  this 
fashion. 

The  Archduke,  as  Protector  of  the  Exhibition, 
gave  a  series  of  dinners  to  the  more  or  less  prominent 
people  connected  with  it,  and  on  one  such  occasion 
my  father  found  himself  invited.  The  honour  of 
attending  a  reception  which  was  to  follow  the  repast 
was  accorded  to  me,  and  I  therefore  betook  myself 
at  the  appointed  hour  to  the  Archduke's  palace.  I 
there  found  my  father  among  a  small  crowd  of 
people,  and  he  informed  me  that  the  dinner  (one  of 
about  five  and  twenty  covers)  had  been  a  most 
elaborate  affair,  that  there  had  been  a  profusion  of 
gold  and  silver  plate,  and  that  each  guest  had  been 
provided  with  three  servants  to  minister  to  his 
individual  requirements,  in  such  wise  that,  allowing 
for  special  maitres  d'hotel,  officiers  de  houche,  and  so 


178  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

forth,  quite  a  hundred  servants  had  been  mustered  in 
the  spacious  dining  hall.  On  repairing  to  the  re- 
ception rooms  the  Archduke  held  a  kind  of  levee 
there,  all  the  guests  who  were  strangers  to  him  then 
being  duly  presented  by  a  secretaire  des  commande- 
ments.  One  of  the  latter — there  were  two  or  three — 
eventually  came  up  to  my  father,  and  led  him  off 
to  be  presented,  whereupon  I  tinned  into  a  smaller 
room  and  sat  down  at  a  table  on  which  several 
books  and  albums  were  lying.  A  little  time  elapsed, 
I  saw  no  sign  of  my  father,  who,  his  presentation 
over,  had  been  buttonholed,  I  believe,  by  Mr. 
Cunliffe  Owen,  and  I  was  still  inspecting  the  albums, 
which  contained  views  of  Austrian  scenery,  when 
one  of  the  secretaries  approached  and  said  to  me : 
"  I  do  not  think  that  you  have  been  presented  to 
his  imperial  highness."  I  had  to  admit  that  he  was 
right,  but  added  that  I  was  nobody  of  consequence 
and  would  rather  be  spared  the  ordeal  of  any  pre- 
sentation. As  a  mere  lad  I  had  virtually  served  my 
apprenticeship  to  that  kind  of  thing  at  the  Tuileries 
and  at  Compifegne,  but  that  evening  at  the  arch- 
duke's palace  I  felt  unusually  diffident. 

There  was  no  escape,  however.  I  was  asked, 
like  all  other  foreigners,  in  what  language  I  would 
prefer  to  converse  with  the  Archduke,  who  appeared 
to  be  as  great  a  linguist  as  his  brother  the  Emperor. 
When  I  had  suggested  French,  I  was  led  into  the 
room  where  Karl-Ludwig  was  standing.  He  shook 
hands  with  me  very  cordially,  and  then  put  the 
questions  which  he  apparently  put  to  all  the  guests. 
What  did  I  think  of  the  Exhibition  ?— Did  I  like 
Vienna  ? — What  had  struck  me  most  since  my 
arrival  in  Austria  ? — and  so  on.  I  answered  as  well 
as  I  could,  and  by  some  chance  or  other  I  happened 


AUSTRIA  179 

to  mention  the  Danube  and  the  improvements  of 
which  Scott  Russell  had  spoken  to  me.  From  that 
moment  the  Archduke's  expression  and  manner 
changed.  His  demeanour  had  previously  been  that 
of  a  man  endeavouring  as  politely  as  possible  to 
conceal  the  boredom  attaching  to  the  discharge  of  a 
somewhat  tedious  duty;  but  now  his  face  became 
quite  animated,  and  expressing  himself  in  fluent 
French  he  began  to  sing  the  Danube's  praises : 
What  a  magnificent  river  it  was  !  How  it  had  been 
neglected :  what  fine  work  there  was  to  be  done,  and 
what  a  source  of  wealth  it  might  prove  when  that 
work  was  accomplished !  There  were  difficulties, 
certainly :  some  with  respect  to  navigation,  others  of 
a  political  character,  which  could  only  be  overcome 
by  agreement  between  different  states  ;  but  the  day 
might  arrive  when  there  would  be  properly  organised 
transport  services  across  the  Black  Sea,  and  when 
the  noble  river  would  become  a  great  highway  of 
commerce  between  Central  Europe  and  the  East, 
when  Vienna  would  flourish  as  an  emporium  for  all 
the  wealth  of  Ormuz  and  of  Ind,  and  as  a  port 
for  the  shipment  of  an  infinity  of  Continental 
merchandise  to  various  parts  of  Asia.  All  that 
would  require  much  time,  and  much  money  would 
have  to  be  expended,  but  what  a  harvest  would  be 
reaped  by  future  generations  !  Such,  briefly,  was 
the  dream  of  the  Archduke  Karl-Ludwig  in  the  year 
of  grace  1873. 

Great  Britain  had  not  then  secured  control  of 
the  Suez  Canal,  and  Austria  had  not  yet  thought  of 
extending  her  sway  across  the  Balkans  to  Salonica. 
To  me,  at  the  time,  the  Archduke's  idea  seemed  a 
generous  one,  from  which  several  states  might  reap 
advantage.     From  the  manner  in  which  he  spoke  I 


180  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

feel  sure  that  he  harboured  no  idea  of  undue  political 
aggrandisement.  His  mind  was  fixed  on  the  com- 
mercial advantages  of  the  scheme  and  the  prosperity 
which  would  accrue  to  Vienna. 

At  that  time  Karl-Ludwig  was  forty  years  of  age. 
He  had  a  Hapsburg  face  with  the  inevitable  "  lip," 
but  his  nose  differed  in  shape  from  the  Emperor's, 
and  his  whiskers  were  much  bushier.  He  seemed 
also  to  be  stouter,  perhaps,  more  massively  built 
than  Francis-Joseph.  He  had  already  been  twice 
married  when  I  first  met  him,  but  both  his  wives 
were  dead,  and  he  was  almost  on  the  eve  of  taking 
a  third  one.  The  first,  a  Saxon  princess,  who  had 
passed  away  in  1858,  had  given  him  no  children ;  but 
the  second  one.  Princess  Annunciata  of  Bourbon- 
Sicily,  had  presented  him  with  two  sons,  the  elder 
being  Francis-Ferdinand,  who  was  born  in  1863  and 
assassinated  in  1914,  and  the  younger,  Otho-Francis 
Joseph,  who  was  born  in  1865  and  died  in  1906. 
Francis-Ferdinand,  it  will  be  remembered,  con- 
tracted a  morganatic  marriage  with  Maria- Josephine, 
Countess  Chotek  of  Chotkova  (afterwards  created 
Duchess  of  Hohenberg),  and  had  by  her  a  daughter 
and  two  sons,  neither  of  whom  could  succeed  to  the 
Austrian  throne,  to  which  Francis-Ferdinand  had 
become  heir  apparent  at  the  death  of  Crown  Prince 
Rudolph.  It  follows  that  after  the  Sarajevo  affair 
the  succession  passed  to  the  son  of  Francis-Ferdi- 
nand's previously  deceased  brother,  Otho-Francis- 
Joseph,  this  son — Charles-Francis-Joseph,  born  in 
1887 — now  being  the  Austrian  heir  apparent.  His 
mother  was  a  Saxon  princess,  and  by  his  marriage 
with  the  Princess  Zita  of  Bourbon-Parma  he  already 
has  two  sons  and  a  daughter,  so  that  the  succession 
would  seem  to  be  assured  to  his  line.     I  may  add 


AUSTRIA  181 

that  Archduke  Karl-Ludwig's  third  marriage — 
contracted  in  1873  with  the  Princess  Maria-Theresa 
of  Braganza  (Dom  Miguel  branch) — ^resulted  only  in 
the  birth  of  two  daughters,  one  of  whom  is  now  an 
abbess  of  "  noble  ladies "  at  Prague,  whilst  the 
other  is  the  wife  of  Prince  Liechtenstein.* 

In  my  account  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth  I 
referred  to  the  presence  of  Alexander  II  of  Russia 
in  Vienna.  He  arrived  there  on  June  1st,  having 
travelled,  as  I  mentioned,  in  an  armoured  train,  of 
which  my  father  and  myself  were,  by  the  good 
offices  of  Nevlinski,  privileged  to  make  a  brief 
inspection.  It  was  an  elaborately  constructed  affair, 
supposed  to  be  absolutely  bomb-proof,  the  very 
windows  of  the  carriages  having  metal  shutters. 
Several  Cossacks  with  loaded  rifles  were  stationed 
in  front  of  it,  whilst  two  others  crouched  on  either 
side  of  the  doorway  of  the  Emperor's  special  saloon. 
Between  them  lay  three  formidable-looking  woK 
hounds,  who  served  as  further  protection  for  the 
menaced  sovereign.  His  stay  at  Vienna  was  ex- 
tremely brief,  but  for  several  days  before  his  arrival 
the  police  scoured  the  city  from  end  to  end,  arresting 
or  expelling  all  the  undesirables  they  found,  and 
notably  all  the  refugee  Poles.  So  overpowering 
became  the  Chief  of  Police's  anxiety  that  it  brought 
on  a  nervous  disorder,  and  he  took  to  his  bed  and 
actually  died  not  long  after  the  Russian  Emperor's 
departure.     On  the  day  when  the  Tsar  visited  the 

*  I  have  often  read  that  Karl- Lud wig  was  a  narrow-minded  bigot,  but 
that  statement  was  gross  exaggeration.  He  was  certainly  a  practising 
Catholic,  and  he  sided  with  the  Emperor  on  the  question  of  religious  and 
civil  marriages  and  divorce.  A  man  may  hold,  however,  very  strong 
views  on  such  matters  as  marriage  and  divorce,  and  yet  retain  an  open, 
liberal  mind  on  other  questions. 


182  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

Exhibition  with  Francis-Joseph  the  most  extra- 
ordinary precautions  were  taken  to  ensure  his  safety. 
Police  and  soldiers  thronged  both  the  building  and 
the  grounds,  and  before  the  Emperors  entered  any 
one  of  the  galleries  it  was  cleared  of  everybody 
excepting  the  officials  and  the  military,  not  a  single 
exhibitor  even  being  allowed  to  remain  at  his  stall. 
Thus,  if  the  Tsar  asked  any  questions  he  had  to  rest 
content  with  the  explanations  of  the  officials  who 
were  on  duty.  It  will  be  remembered  that  during 
the  ensuing  years  several  attempts  were  made  on 
his  life  in  his  own  dominions,  and  that  finally  on 
March  13th,  1881,  after  being  terribly  mangled  by 
the  bombs  of  a  gang  of  Nihilists,  he  died  at  the 
Winter  Palace  at  Petrograd.  As  I  had  witnessed 
Berezowski's  attempt  on  his  life  in  the  Bois  de 
Boulogne  in  1867,*  I  could  well  understand  the 
anxiety  of  the  Austrian  authorities  during  his  stay 
at  Vienna.  At  the  Hofburg  entertainment  I  certainly 
obtained  a  good  view  of  his  tall,  athletic,  martial 
figure ;  but  when  he  visited  the  Exhibition  I  saw 
him  only  from  a  distance,  yet  sufficiently  well  to 
notice  that,  in  spite  of  the  warmth  of  the  day,  he 
was  wearing  a  long  and  probably  bullet-proof  great 
coat,  which  fell  about  him  ponderously.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  henceforth  no  Russian  sovereign  will 
ever  be  condemned  to  live,  as  Alexander  II  had  to 
do  for  many  years,  under  an  unceasing  threat  of 
assassination. 

Nassr  Eddin,  Shah  of  Persia — another  potentate 
who  ultimately  came  to  a  violent  end — ^was,  I  think, 
the  next  notable  visitor  to  Vienna.  He  had  pre- 
viously been  in  other  capitals,  including  Berlin  and 
Paris,  and  his  extravagance  had  already  seriously 

*  See  "  My  Days  of  Adventure." 


AUSTRIA  183 

diminished  the  contents  of  a  once  well-filled  purse. 
Nevertheless,  his  Persian  majesty  made  no  small 
display  of  Oriental  magnificence  whilst  he  was  in 
Vienna,  and  he  at  least  evinced  some  shrewdness  in 
his  dealings  with  jewellers  there,  for  he  knew  good 
stones  when  he  saw  them,  and  was  not  to  be  put  off 
with  rubbish.  In  other  respects,  also,  notably  in 
regard  to  certain  inventions,  he  showed  intelligence, 
but  whenever  he  fixed  his  mind  on  obtaining  any- 
thing he  bought  it  regardless  of  its  price.  Thus  it 
came  to  pass  that  before  he  returned  home  he  had 
to  pledge  his  wonderful  diamond  aigrette  and  other 
adornments  with  some  Venetian  Shylocks. 

Less  importance  attached  to  the  Shah  than  to 
the  next  sovereign  who  came  to  Vienna,  for  this  was 
Victor-Emmanuel,  the  first  King  of  United  Italy.  I 
related  previously  that  he  had  declined  to  join  the 
three  Emperors  at  their  meeting  in  Berlin  in  1872,* 
but  he  had  since  visited  the  Prussian  capital,  and 
Bismarck  had  there  prevailed  on  him  to  go  and 
shake  hands  with  his  old  adversary  Francis-Joseph. 
There  were  serious  political  reasons  behind  the 
Viennese  visit.  The  relations  of  France  and  Italy 
were  not  good — owing  in  part  to  French  Boyalist 
intrigues  and  in  part  to  French  commercial  policy — 
and  Victor-Emmanuel's  advisers  deemed  it  necessary 
to  draw  closer  to  the  Emperors'  alliance.  The 
Italian  sovereign  roused  no  little  curiosity  among 
the  Viennese,  who  were  favourably  impressed  by 
his  very  manly  appearance.  Only  seven  years  or 
so  had  then  elapsed  since  Austria's  surrender  of 
Venetia  to  Italy,  and  as  she  retained  her  hold  on 
Trentino  and  Istria  there  were  still  many  Italians 
under  her  sway.     I  remember  that  the  officials  at 

*  See  p.  25,  ante. 


184  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

the  Viennese  post-offices  and  the  postmen  themselves 
generally  pronounced  my  name  in  the  correct 
Italian  fashion,  and  at  times  even  addressed  me  in 
the  Italian  language.  There  was  one  individual, 
however,  for  whom  I  was  always  Herr  "  von " 
Vizetelly. 

Whilst  I  was  at  Vienna  I  paid  a  visit  to  the 
Princess  Clementine  of  Saxe-Coburg,  to  whom  I  had 
been  presented  at  one  of  Thiers's  receptions  at  the 
Ely  see  Palace  in  Paris,  during  the  previous  year.* 
Third  daughter  of  Louis-Philippe,  King  of  the 
French,  by  Marie-Amelie  of  Bourbon-Naples,  the 
Princess  Clementine  was  at  this  time  in  her  fifty- 
sixth  year.  Her  father  had  created  her  Duchess  of 
Beaujolais  and  provided  her  with  a  husband  in  the 
person  of  Prince  Augustus  of  Saxe-Coburg,  the  head 
of  a  Catholic  branch  of  that  house  long  resident  in 
Austria.  For  several  years  there  was  no  issue  of 
the  marriage,  but  when  the  Princess  Clementine  was 
about  four  and  forty,  she  gave  birth  to  a  son  who 
was  christened  Ferdinand,  after  his  mother's  fondly 
loved  brother,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  who  was  killed 
in  a  carriage  accident  at  Neuilly,  just  outside  Paris. 
This  son  of  the  Princess  Clementine  is  now  King  of 
Bulgaria.  At  the  time  when  I  first  saw  him, 
lounging  about  the  huge  colonnaded  Coburg  palace 
in  the  Seilerstatte  at  Vienna,  he  was  a  pale  and 
thoughtful-looking  lad,  some  twelve  years  old.  The 
manner  in  which  he  and  his  mother  bore  themselves 
when  they  were  together  showed  how  deep  was 
their  reciprocal  attachment. 

Fine  featured,  witty  and  affable,  the  Princess 
Clementine  was  the  most  astute  woman-politician 
I  ever  met — a  born  plotter,  always  intent  on  one  or 

*  See  the  author's  work  "  Republican  France,  1870-1912." 


ALEXANDER    II    OF    RUSSIA 


AUSTRIA  185 

another  big  scheme.  Returning  to  France  after 
the  war  of  1870-71,  she  worked  zealously  for  the 
restoration  of  the  monarchy.  Carefully  avoiding 
plain  speech  whenever  that  might  have  been  in  any 
way  compromising,  she  nevertheless  had  a  way 
which  allowed  certain  things  to  be  inferred — that  is, 
the  things  she  wished  one  to  infer,  and  no  others. 
No  professional  diplomatist  could  have  been  more 
expert  in  that  respect,  and  I  was  not  surprised  when 
I  one  day  heard  her  called  a  "  Talleyrand  in  petti- 
coats." As  a  young  girl  she  had  virtually  sat  at 
the  feet  of  that  very  unscrupulous  diplomat. 
Working  behind  the  scenes  in  France,  she  partici- 
pated in  the  overthrow  of  Thiers  and  the  accession 
of  MacMahon  to  the  Presidency  of  the  Republic,  as 
those  steps  seemed  likely  to  conduce  to  a  monarchical 
restoration.  Before  then  she  had  helped  to  promote 
a  reconciliation  between  the  rival  royal  houses  as 
represented  by  the  Count  de  Chambord  and  the 
Count  de  Paris.  She  was  the  only  member  of  the 
Orleans  family  with  whom  the  Count  de  Chambord 
had  had  any  intercourse  since  the  downfall  of  his 
grandfather  Charles  X  and  the  accession  of  Louis- 
Philippe.  Even  the  bigoted  Countess  de  Chambord, 
nee  Este-Modena,  tolerated  the  Princess  Clementine, 
and  this  prepared  the  way  for  what  was  called  at 
the  time  the  French  Royalist  Fusion. 

When  in  August,  1872,  the  Count  de  Paris  repaired 
to  Austria  to  make  his  submission  to  the  Count  de 
Chambord  and  acknowledge  him  as  head  of  the 
*'  House  of  France,"  he  at  first  took  up  his  residence 
with  his  aunt.  Princess  Clementine,  and  was  schooled 
by  her  as  to  how  he  should  approach  his  august 
relative,  and  what  words  he  should  employ  in 
addressing  him.     There  was  quite  a  negotiation  on 


186  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

that  subject,  and  a  hitch  which  occurred  in  the  first 
instance  was  overcome  by  Princess  Clementine's 
suggestions.  There  was  one  thing,  however,  which 
she  could  not  effect,  and  that  was  to  induce  the  Count 
de  Chambord  to  give  up  his  White  Flag  for  the 
Tricolour,  and  this,  as  it  will  be  remembered,  led  to 
the  collapse  of  all  the  monarchical  schemes. 

At  the  time  when  I  waited  on  her  at  Vienna, 
after  first  writing  to  soHcit  an  audience  which  she 
readily  granted,  the  Royalist  reconciliation  seemed 
to  be  complete,  and  there  was  even  a  prospect  that 
the  Count  de  Chambord  would  end  by  renouncing 
his  "  napkin,"  as  Pope  Pius  IX  derisively  styled  the 
White  Flag.  Thus  I  found  the  Princess  in  excellent 
spirits  and  already  picturing  a  Bourbon  installed 
once  more  on  the  throne  of  France.  A  few  months 
later,  however,  all  her  hopes  were  frustrated,  and 
from  that  time  onward  she  devoted  herself  chiefly  to 
the  education  of  her  son.  She  reared  him  in  the 
expectation  of  being  some  day  a  ruler.  She  set  her 
heart  on  his  elevation  to  some  royal  position — as  a 
Prince  Consort,  for  instance,  if  not  actually  as  a 
King.  The  mihtary  side,  which  some  deem  so 
essential  to  kingship,  was  neglected,  however,  in 
Ferdinand's  education,  in  order  that  he  might  be 
schooled  more  particularly  in  tortuous  arts  of 
intrigue.  However  strong  his  frame  might  be  he 
never  excelled  in  physical  accomplishments.  Talley- 
rand and  Metternich  were  chosen  as  his  models,  and 
being  essentially  his  mother's  son  and  gifted  with  a 
precocious  intelligence,  he  became  a  quick  as  well 
as  a  docile  pupil.  The  result  of  his  education  is 
known.  His  mother  grasped  for  him  the  chance  of 
the  Bulgarian  throne,  and  down  to  her  last  years — 
she  passed  away  in  1906,  when  she  was  eighty-nine 


AUSTRIA  187 

— she  continued  to  watch  over  his  welfare  with  the 
utmost  solicitude. 

Whilst  I  was  living  in  Vienna  I  often  made  a 
trip  with  my  friend  NevUnski  to  Laxenburg  on  the 
south  side  of  the  city.  We  once  went  over  the  old 
castle  together  and  inspected  all  the  Hapsburg 
family  portraits  there,  and  at  other  times  we  rowed 
about  the  lake  and  through  its  grotto  as  far  as  the 
Marianen  island,  where  we  found  an  old  pavilion 
containing  some  interesting  Roman  mosaic  pave- 
ment. I  remember  that  on  one  occasion  when  we 
were  very  merry  and  had  my  two  young  Jewish 
friends  with  us,  we  all  sang  the  Marseillaise  together 
whilst  we  crossed  the  lake.  I  doubt  if  the  famous 
French  war  song  had  ever  been  heard  in  that 
neighbourhood  since  the  days  of  Napoleon  I. 

I  was  also  several  times  at  Schoenbrunn,  on  some 
occasions  attending  receptions  there,  and  I  remember 
visiting  the  room  in  which  Napoleon  slept  when  he 
made  the  palace  his  headquarters  in  1804,  and  in  which 
also  his  son  expired  in  1832.  There  are  mementoes 
of  both  of  them  in  some  of  the  Viennese  galleries. 
At  the  Imperial  Treasury,  for  instance,  you  are 
shown  Napoleon's  insignia  as  King  of  Italy,  and  his 
son's  cradle,  formed  of  some  5  cwt.  of  gilded  silver. 
The  Austrian  regalia  is  there  also,  with  many  and 
many  other  articles  in  gold  or  silver  and  precious 
stones — ^the  latter  including  the  famous  diamond 
(more  than  130  carats  in  weight)  which  once  belonged 
to  Charles  the  Bold  of  Burgundy.  If  old  Bliicher 
had  ever  set  eyes  on  all  the  diamonds,  rubies,  and 
emeralds  stored  away  in  the  Hofburg  Treasury  he 
would  assuredly  have  deemed  it  a  fit  place  to 
plunder.  In  that  respect  the  Hapsburg  wealth 
equals  that  of  one  of  the  great  Moguls ;    and  in 


188  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

default  of  money  it  might  provide  a  very  substantial 
contribution  towards  a  war  indemnity.  One  of 
these  days,  perhaps,  the  Florentine  brilliant  and  the 
Frankfort  solitaire  will  be  found  in  the  possession  of 
one  of  our  millionaire  American  cousins. 

But  quit  the  Hofburg  Treasury  and  go  to  the 
paltry-looking,  rococo  Capuchin  Church  which  is 
at  no  great  distance.  There,  instead  of  the  symbols 
of  the  world's  pomp,  vanity  and  wealth,  you  will 
find  the  nothingness  in  which  all  such  things  invari- 
ably end.  A  monk  takes  you  down  into  a  vault 
where  in  addition  to  a  few  sarcophagi — in  one  of 
which,  a  large  double  one,  Maria-Theresa  and  her 
husband  repose — ^you  see  quite  a  number  of  coffins, 
mostly  fashioned  of  copper  and  of  a  uniform  type, 
so  that  they  are  only  distinguishable  one  from 
another  by  the  plates  affixed  to  them.  Here,  with 
some  silver  wreaths  lying  on  it,  is  the  coffin  of 
Maximilian,  sometime  Emperor  of  Mexico  but  shot 
at  Queretaro  by  the  partisans  of  Juarez  ;  here  also, 
at  rest  at  last,  lies  the  once  restless  and  unhappy 
Elizabeth,  assassinated  by  the  Anarchist  Luccheni ; 
and  beside  her  are  the  remains  of  her  son  Rudolph 
who  so  passionately  loved  the  beautiful  Maria 
Vetsera. 

A  little  farther  on,  yet  another  mother  and 
her  son  repose  close  together.  She  entered  the 
world  as  an  Archduchess  of  Austria,  became  for  a 
few  years  Empress  of  the  French,  and  ended  as 
Duchess  of  Parma  and  Guastalla.  He  was  born 
King  of  Eome,  and  died  an  Austrian  colonel.  On 
three  occasions  attempts  have  been  made  to  procure 
the  removal  of  the  Duke  of  Reichstadt's  remains 
from  the  Capuchins  in  order  that  they  might  be  laid 
beside  those  of  his  father  imder  the  dome  of  the 


AUSTRIA  189 

Invalides.  Twice  did  the  third  Napoleon  apply  to 
the  Emperor  Francis-Joseph  to  that  effect,  and 
subsequently  the  French  Republic  made  a  similar 
suggestion ;  but  the  Austrian  Kaiser  always  refused 
the  requisite  permission.  After  all,  it  is  perhaps  as 
well  that  this  throneless  Prince  should  still  remain 
beside  his  mother  at  Vienna.  France  saw  little 
of  him :  his  life  was  essentially  an  Austrian 
tragedy. 

The  Hapsburgs  have  been  laid  to  rest  in  the 
vault  of  the  Capuchin  Church  during  the  last  two 
hundred  years.     Previously  they  were  buried  in  St. 
Stephen's  cathedral.     The  chuich  generally  attended 
by  the  Court  has,  however,  long  been  the  Augustiner 
Kirche,  and  it  was  there  on  each  recurring  Maundy 
Thursday,  during  the  greater  part  of  his  life,  that 
Francis-Joseph  used  to  make  profession  of  humility 
by  washing  the  feet  of  twelve  poor  men,  who,  in 
advance,  had  taken  particular  care  to  cleanse  them- 
selves.    I  believe  that  the  Emperor  has  ceased  to 
perform  this  duty,  since  advancing  age  has  rendered 
it  difficult  for  him  to  stoop  and  kneel.     Unless,  how- 
ever, his  health  happens  to  be  very  bad  he  still  walks 
in  the  Holy  Sepulchre  and  Corpus  Christi  processions, 
following  the  Archbishop  of  Vienna  with  a  lighted 
candle  in  his  hand.     I  recollect  witnessing  one  of 
the    Corpus    Christi    celebrations.      All    the    male 
members  of  the  Court  took  part  in  it.     The  Arch- 
bishop walked  under  a  canopy  preceded  by  ecclesi- 
astics   swaying    censers.     The    Emperor    followed, 
with  Archdukes  and  Princes  in  his  wake — all  of 
them   attired  in  gala   uniforms   and   bearing   long 
candles.     That   day   again  I   observed  the  jaunty 
bearing    of    Count    Andrassy,   the    chief    minister, 
who  carried  his  candle   over   his   arm   and   often 


190  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

carelessly  thrust  it  in  the  face  of  a  guard  or  a  spec- 
tator, whilst  he  ogled  the  beauties  of  Vienna  and 
complacently  ran  his  fingers  through  his  curly  locks. 
There  was  a  great  concourse  of  sightseers  that  day, 
and  a  brave  show  of  the  military,  conspicuous 
among  whom  were  the  Hungarian  hussars  with  their 
leopard  skins  over  their  shoulders. 

In  spite  of  a  financial  crash  and  a  cholera  scare 
which  was  scarcely  justified,  for  there  were  com- 
paratively few  cases  of  the  horrible  malady  and  not 
more  than  seven  or  eight  fatal  ones,  numerous 
public  dinners  were  given  during  the  Exhibition 
year.  At  one  offered,  if  I  remember  rightly,  by  our 
exhibitors  to  their  Royal  Commission,  I  was 
delighted  to  find  myself  seated  beside  Sir  Richard 
Wallace,  whose  connection  with  the  Hertford  family 
is  well  known.  I  had  seen  him  in  Paris  more  than 
once  before — first  during  the  German  siege,  when  he 
did  so  much  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the  Parisian 
poor.  He  had  the  unobtrusive  and  quietly  genial 
manners  of  a  well-bred  man,  and  although  his 
knowledge  of  art  was  undoubtedly  very  extensive,  I 
have  heard  him  speak  quite  diffidently  on  artistic 
subjects  when  they  were  mooted  in  the  course  of 
conversation.  For  the  rest.  Sir  Richard  always 
expressed  himself  in  polished  language.  Now,  at 
the  dinner  to  which  I  have  referred,  a  speech  (or 
rather  what  was  supposed  to  be  one)  was  delivered 
by  a  financial  magnate,  who,  however  distinguished 
he  might  be  in  his  own  particular  line,  was  as  clumsy 
an  orator  as  I  ever  heard.  He  seemed  to  be  entirely 
at  a  loss  for  adjectives,  and  referred  again  and  again 
to  the  Exhibition  and  to  Scott  Russell's  wonderful 
rotunda  as  this  or  that  "  big  "  building.  To  him 
"  big "    seemed   to   sum    up    everything,    he   could 


AUSTRIA  191 

think  of  no  other  word.  That  sempiternal  "  big  " 
ended  by  jarring  the  nerves  of  Sir  Richard  Wallace. 
I  could  see  him  frowning,  but  presently,  on  glancing 
across  the  table  he  perceived  Beatty  Kingston  of 
The  Daily  Telegraph  seated  there  with  his  face 
wreathed  in  smiles.  The  sight  of  Kingston — who, 
by  the  way,  was  acquainted  with  nearly  all  the 
royalties  and  statesmen  of  Europe,  and  who  once, 
I  think,  wrote  a  book  on  the  many  monarchs  and 
other  high-placed  personages  with  whom  he  had 
hobnobbed — inspired  Sir  Richard  Wallace  with  an 
idea.  The  "  young  lions "  of  The  Daily  Telegraph 
were  renowned  in  those  days  for  their  flowery 
language,  and  this  prompted  Sir  Richard  to  write  a 
few  words  on  a  menu  card  which  he  passed  over  to 
Kingston  whilst  the  great  financier  was  still  speaking. 
Kingston  scribbled  a  brief  reply,  and  I  saw  the  card 
when  it  had  been  returned  to  Wallace.  He  had 
written  to  this  effect :  "  Cannot  you  supply  the 
orator  with  a  few  adjectives  out  of  your  illimitable 
store  ?  "  And  the  reply  ran  :  "  What  will  he  pay 
if  I  do  ?  Millionaires  are  scarce."  The  allusion, 
of  course,  was  to  the  story  of  the  king  who,  while 
on  his  travels,  was  charged  an  exorbitant  price  for 
some  eggs,  whereupon  he  surmised  that  eggs  must 
be  remarkably  scarce  in  that  part  of  the  world. 
"  No,  your  majesty,"  was  the  answer,  *'  but  kings 
are." 

The  cholera  scare,  which  deterred  thousands  of 
people  from  visiting  Vienna,  and  the  money  market 
trouble,  which  ruined  many  financiers,  contributed 
to  make  the  Exhibition  a  pecuniary  failure.  There 
was  no  little  bad  management  also  on  the  part  of 
the  general  director,  Schwarz-Senborn,  a  fussy  white- 
whiskered  little  man  whom  the  Emperor  had  created 


192  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

a  Baron  without  the  "  von."  Nevertheless,  to  what- 
ever straits  some  people  might  be  reduced,  the 
ordinary  life  of  Vienna  remained  fairly  gay  until  far 
into  the  autumn,  and  the  cafes,  restaurants  and 
conditoreien  never  seemed  to  be  in  want  of  customers. 
Briefly,  the  Viennese  appeared  to  take  misfortunes 
very  lightly.  My  father  and  I  often  patronised 
Pfob's  cafe  in  the  Graben  (which  was  then  still  very 
old  fashioned  in  appearance),  as  few  English  people 
went  there,  and  we  thus  had  a  better  chance  of 
speedily  securing  The  Times,  Punch,  or  one  of  the 
other  English  journals  which  were  then  to  be  found 
in  most  Viennese  cafes.  At  the  corner  of  the 
Graben — ^which  was  once  the  moat  of  the  city's 
fortifications — there  was  a  curious  relic  of  bygone 
times.  It  was  called  the  "  Stock-im-Eisen,"  and 
consisted  of  the  stump  of  an  ancient  pine  tree, 
bound  with  cramps  and  closely  studded  with  nails. 
There  was  also  a  sixteenth  century  inscription. 

I  was  told  by  a  Viennese  friend  that  the  nails 
had  been  driven  into  this  tree  by  students  and  young 
fellows  just  out  of  their  apprenticeship  when  they 
reached  Vienna  during  their  Wanderjdhre ;  but  the 
why  and  wherefore  of  the  practice  was  not  explained 
to  me.  One  story  runs  that  this  pine  tree  originally 
marked  the  extremity  of  the  ancient  Viennese 
forest,  and  that  some  particular  sanctity  or  super- 
stition attached  to  it.  I  never  came  upon  anything 
similar  in  Northern  Germany,  but  the  reader  will  be 
aware  that  during  the  Great  War  the  nail-driving 
practice  has  been  applied  at  Berlin  and  Hamburg 
to  huge  wooden  effigies  of  Marshal  von  Hindenbiu*g 
and  Admiral  von  Tirpitz.  The  custom,  whatever 
its  origin,  at  least  appears  to  be  singularly  at  variance 
with  that  kind  of  sorcery  known  in  old-time  France 


AUSTRIA  193 

as  envoutement,  for  when  that  was  practised  and  a 
wound  was  inflicted  on  any  waxen  or  wooden  effigy, 
it  was  with  the  idea  of  compassing  the  misfortune  or 
death  of  the  person  whom  the  effigy  represented ; 
whereas  no  German  of  the  present  time  can  have 
desired  to  inflict  injury  on  either  Tirpitz  or  Hinden- 
burg.  Why,  then,  drive  nails  into  their  statues  ? 
Is  it  to  protect  them  by  casing  them,  as  it  were,  with 
gold,  silver,  and  iron  mail  from  head  to  foot  ?  The 
Viennese  Stoch-im-eisen,  however,  was  no  effigy  but 
merely  the  stump  of  a  tree,  and  students  and  appren- 
tices may  have  driven  nails  into  it  simply  to  mark 
that  they  had  passed  that  way. 

I  remember  going  now  and  then  to  the  Esterhazy 
Keller  in  the  Haarhof,  a  dark  kind  of  vault  where 
Prince  Esterhazy' s  Hungarian  wines  were  sold  "  from 
the  wood  "  at  very  low  prices.  The  place  was  only 
open  for  two  hours  in  the  middle  of  the  day  and  two 
hours  in  the  evening,  but  it  was  then  invariably 
thronged  with  customers  of  all  classes  intent  on 
drinking  Ruster,  Nesmelyer,  and  other  vintages. 
The  poorer  customers  often  brought  provisions  with 
them,  and  lunched  in  one  or  another  corner,  an 
odour  of  Hungarian  salami  frequently  mingling 
with  the  vinous  fumes  which  permeated  the  cellar. 
At  the  Vienna  restaurants,  by  the  way,  the  popular 
dishes  were  somewhat  less  barbarous  than  those  of 
Berlin.  Nevertheless  anchovy  paste  did  not  seem 
an  appropriate  adjunct  to  veal  cutlet  or  schnitzel, 
nor  did  juniper  berries  appeal  to  me  with  roast  pork. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  cookery  at  some  of  the  better 
class  restaurants  was  excellent,  and  I  treated  myself 
in  those  days  to  more  caviar  than  I  have  ever  since 
partaken  of.  There  were  numerous  popular  restau- 
rants and  shows  in  the  so-called  Wurstel-Prater, 

o 


194  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

which  was  crowded  with  the  poorer  classes  on  high- 
days  and  hoHdays.  Music  abounded  throughout 
the  city  and  its  suburbs.  There  was  good  singing 
and  orchestration  at  the  handsome  Opera  House, 
then  quite  a  young  building  ;  and  the  acting  at  the 
Hofburg,  Stadt,  and  An  der  Wien  theatres  was  often 
extremely  clever.  Sometimes,  on  Sunday  afternoons, 
I  betook  myself  to  the  Neue  Welt  at  Hietzing, 
where  Johann  Strauss's  orchestra  then  performed, 
he  himself  conducting  it  and  at  the  same  time  taking 
the  part  of  first  violin.  He  got  some  remarkable 
effects  out  of  his  musicians,  and  the  energy,  the 
bravura,  or  the  grace  which  he  himself  displayed,  as 
occasion  might  require,  left  a  lasting  impression  on 
one. 

There  was  one  other  feature  of  Viennese  life  to 
which  I  may  just  allude.  The  houses  were  then 
seldom  provided  with  bathrooms,  but  there  were  a 
number  of  public  baths,  deriving  their  water  from 
the  Danube,  and  in  some  of  these  establishments 
masked  balls  were  given  at  winter-time,  the  large 
swimming  baths  being  boarded  over  for  the  occasion. 
From  the  very  extensive  patronage  which  was 
bestowed  on  the  pubHc  baths  one  could  but  infer 
that  the  Viennese  were  a  more  cleanly  race  than 
the  people  of  Berlin.  That  remark,  however,  does 
not  apply  to  the  poorer  class  of  Jews,  who  coming 
from  Galicia  or  Roumania  positively  infected  some 
parts  of  the  Leopoldstadt,  the  one  district  where 
they  were  ofScially  allowed  to  reside.  You  met 
them  there  clad  in  long  soiled  and  well-worn  talars, 
or  gaberdines,  and  phenomenal  hats  which  were 
almost  as  bad  as  those  of  the  ex-Emperor  Ferdinand ; 
and  on  either  side  of  their  faces  dangled  long  cork- 
screw ringlets — so  called  pejes,  which  were  intended. 


AUSTRIA  195 

I  was  told,  to  indicate  the  owners'  orthodoxy  by 
being  worn  before  instead  of  behind  the  ears.  With 
those  curls  and  their  frowsy  matted  beards,  their 
wondrously  hooked  noses,  their  long,  bony,  clutching 
hands,  their  stooping  shoulders  and  their  shuffling 
gait,  these  men  seemed  to  represent  the  lowest 
stratum  of  the  "  chosen  people,"  degraded  by  long 
centuries  of  ill-usage  and  neglect. 

On  becoming  acquainted  with  a  few  writers  of 
the  Neue  Freie  Presse,  I  found  that  they  also  were 
Jews — the  great  Viennese  journal  being  essentially 
a  Jewish  organ.  From  a  literary  standpoint  it 
certainly  had  its  merits,  but  as  was  the  case  with  all 
other  Viennese  periodical  prints  its  news  was  often 
very  unreliable.  Whatever  the  city's  attractions 
might  be  it  displayed  one  serious  blemish.  Every 
English  newspaper  correspondent  who  has  lived  in 
Vienna  will  agree  with  me,  I  think,  in  pronouncing 
the  Austrian  capital  to  be  essentially  a  city  of  lies — 
a  city  where  at  times  the  most  circumstantial 
reports,  and  at  others  the  most  mysterious  rumours 
are  constantly  being  circulated,  and  whence  the 
telegraph  has  carried  them  all  over  the  world  in 
order  to  bamboozle  other  nations,  for  they  have 
often  contained  few  elements  of  truth,  and,  more 
often  still,  no  such  element  at  all.  I  do  not  think 
there  is  any  other  capital  city  where  such  an  atmo- 
sphere of  uiventive  mendacity  could  be  found.  To 
Vienna,  in  that  respect,  even  Berlin  in  war-time 
must  yield  the  palm. 

As  I  am  referring  to  journalism,  I  may  add 
that  my  first  stay  at  Vienna  brought  me  a  news- 
paper connection  which  lasted  for  eleven  years.  I 
was  asked  to  supply  a  few  articles  on  the  Exhibition 
to  The  Yorkshire  Post,  and  until  1884  I  continued 


196  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

writing  for  that  journal  from  various  parts  of  the 
Continent,  most  of  my  letters,  however,  being  dated 
from  Paris,  which  was  really  my  headquarters, 
Dm-ing  nine  of  the  eleven  years  I  have  mentioned 
the  editor  of  The  Yorkshire  Post  was  Mr.  John 
Ralph,  who  did  much  to  increase  the  paper's  in- 
fluence and  popularity.  In  a  letter  which  he  wrote 
to  me,  explaining  the  reasons  for  his  retirement  in 
1882,  he  was  good  enough  to  call  me  a  "  most  able 
and  valued  "  contributor  ;  but  I  find  in  other  letters 
from  him  certain  passages  in  which  he  criticised 
some  of  my  work  and  cautioned  me  respecting 
failings.  Like  Frederick  Greenwood,  too,  he  im- 
pressed on  me  the  necessity  of  working  hard  and 
carefully  if  I  wished  to  rise  to  any  standing  in  my 
profession.  I  doubt  if  present-day  editors  take  as 
much  trouble  with  contributors  as  some  of  mine 
took  with  me.  Looking  back,  I  have  no  doubt  that 
I  profited  in  some  degree  by  their  teaching,  though 
not  nearly  so  much  as  I  ought  to  have  done. 


III. 


IN  SOUTHERN  AUSTRIA. 

Viennese  Wines — The  Semmering  Railway — The  Foolish  Motto  of  Frederick 
III — The  Shrine  of  Mariazell — Styria  and  its  Wines — Wends  and 
Germans — ^The  Last  Illness  of  the  Comte  de  Chambord — His  Abode 
near  Grorizia — The  Comtesse  de  Chambord — A  Childless  Marriage — 
The  Comte  de  Paris  at  Gorizia — Mme.  de  Chambord' s  Vindictiveness — 
Gorizia  and  the  Obsequies  of  "  King  Henry  V  " — The  Duke  d' Orleans 
and  the  Order  of  the  Holy  Ghost — Gorizia  in  War  Time. 

Among  several  interesting  spots  in  the  vicinity  of 
Vienna  which  I  visited  with  my  father,  was  the  old 
palatial  Augustinian  monastery  of  Klosterneuburg 
to  which  two-thirds  of  the  city's  environs  were 
supposed  to  belong.  The  monks  were  great  wine- 
growers, and  in  their  vast  three-storeyed  cellars  we 
found  numerous  quaintly  carved  mediaeval  tuns 
containing  vintages  from  all  the  neighbouring 
districts.  Attached  to  the  monastery  was  a  school 
for  instruction  in  the  cultivation  of  the  vine  and 
cellar-management,  this  being  a  State  foundation 
which  was  then  in  the  charge  of  Baron  von  Babo, 
one  of  the  most  learned  oenologists  in  Europe,  and 
one  who  by  scientific  methods  of  cultivation  and 
treatment  did  much  to  improve  the  quality  of  various 
Austrian  wines.  The  best  growths  produced  near 
Vienna — and  indeed  in  the  whole  of  the  original 
Austrian  archduchy — are  those  of  Voslau  and  Gum- 
poldskirchen,  two  localities  near  the  summer  spa 

197 


198  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

of  Baden  on  the  southern  side  of  Vienna.  Eed 
Voslauer  is  a  full  bodied,  deep  coloured  wine  with  a 
fruity  bouquet,  and  in  order  that  it  may  develop 
properly  it  should  be  kept  for  four  years  in  cask  and 
afterwards  for  a  like  period  in  bottle  before  being 
consumed.  It  improves  with  age,  and  when  it 
is  a  score  of  years  old  it  possesses  no  little  delicacy. 
A  small  quantity  of  white  wine  is  also  produced  at 
Voslau,  but  the  red  variety,  particularly  that  known 
as  Oberkirchner,  is  the  most  popular ;  and  as 
happens  in  the  case  of  many  hocks  and  moselles, 
far  more  wine  is  sold  as  real  Voslauer  than  the  local 
vineyards  could  possibly  produce.  The  same  occurs 
with  the  wine  of  Gumpoldskirchen,  which  is  ex- 
clusively a  white  growth,  the  finer  qualities  equalling 
the  best  Sauternes,  though,  as  a  rule,  Gumpolds- 
kirchner  is  simply  a  delicate  pleasant  wine  of  no 
particularly  high  character. 

Among  other  excursions  which  I  made  with  my 
father  was  one  along  the  Semmering  railway  line — 
the  oldest  mountain  railway  in  Europe  and  also  a 
remarkably  fine  piece  of  work,  for  it  is  carried  in  an 
audacious  fashion,  with  the  help  of  numerous 
bridges  and  tunnels,  along  the  face  of  precipices  over 
a  distance  of  some  five  and  twenty  miles.  On  the 
way  to  the  Semmering  range — which,  by  the  way, 
marks  the  boundary  between  the  archduchy  of 
Austria  and  Styria — one  passes  a  little  town  called 
Wiener  Neustadt,  which  claims  to  have  been  the 
birthplace  of  that  Emperor  Maximilian  of  whom 
there  is  a  very  famous  monument  in  the  church  of 
the  Franciscans  at  Innsbruck.  He  was  not  interred 
there,  however,  but  in  the  chapel  of  an  ancient 
castle  of  the  house  of  Babenberg  near  Neustadt. 
This  castle  came  into  the  possession  of  the  fifteenth 


AUSTRIA  199 

century  Emperor,  Frederick  III,  and  he  altered  it 
considerably.  Maria  Theresa  subsequently  estab- 
lished there  one  of  the  chief  military  academies  in 
Austria.  The  pile  presents  one  curious  feature. 
On  various  parts  of  the  walls  encompassing  the 
courtyard  the  visitor  sees  the  vowels — A.E.I.O.U. — 
inscribed  in  large  letters,  and  may  well  wonder  why 
they  appear  there.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  were 
taken  as  a  motto  by  Frederick  III,  and  admit  of  at 
least  three  interpretations.  One  of  these  is  that  the 
letters  stand  for  the  words :  Austria  erit  in  orbe 
ultima,  while  another  gives  the  much  more  bombastic 
reading :  Austria  est  imperare  orbi  universo.  The 
third  rendering  is  a  German  one :  Aller  Ehren  ist 
Oesterreich  volL  Imperial  pride  could  go  no  farther, 
but  nobody  nowadays  would  be  willing  to  admit 
either  that  the  empire  of  the  whole  world  belongs  to 
Austria,  or  that  Austria  is  full  of  all  honours.  Such, 
however,  were  the  extravagant  pretensions  of  the 
Hapsburgs  in  olden  time. 

We  travelled,  my  father  and  I,  by  the  Semmering 
railway  on  the  occasion  when  we  visited  the  famous 
shrine  of  Mariazell,  the  most  frequented  of  all  such 
places  in  the  Austrian  Empire.  There  is  nowadays, 
I  believe,  a  branch  railway  line  covering  a  consider- 
able part  of  the  distance  from  Miirzzuschlag,  at  which 
station  the  Semmering  range  is  left  behind.  In 
1873,  however,  we  had  to  make  the  entire  journey 
from  Miirzzuschlag  by  diligence.  On  the  way  we 
passed  through  Neuberg  where,  during  the  shooting 
season,  the  Emperor  Francis-Joseph  often  took  up 
his  quarters  in  some  abbey  buildings.  More  than 
once,  too,  on  the  road,  among  the  mountains,  which 
rose  around  the  picturesque  and  gradually  con- 
tracting   valley,    high-perched     imperial     shooting 


200  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

boxes  were  pointed  out  to  us.  The  scenery  was 
often  striking  and  agreeably  diversified  by  river 
and  forest,  pine  clad  mountain,  pleasant  dale  and 
wild  and  rugged  ravine.  It  was,  I  think,  about  the 
29th  of  June  when  we  arrived  at  Mariazell,  it  being 
our  desire  to  witness  the  great  pilgrimage  from  Vienna 
on  the  1st  of  July,  and  to  reach  our  destination  in 
good  time  to  secure  proper  board  and  lodging.  We 
found  no  difficulty  in  that  respect,  however,  for 
Mariazell  contained  almost  as  many  inns  and  taverns 
as  Canterbury,  where,  of  course,  most  of  the  hostelries 
also  owed  their  origin  to  a  famous  pilgrimage.  It  is 
recorded  that  the  Canterbury  jubilee  of  1420  drew 
no  fewer  than  100,000  people  to  the  shrine  of  St. 
Thomas  a  Becket,  and  this  must  have  been  a  vast 
number  for  the  period.  Mariazell,  however,  is  said 
to  attract  quite  as  many  pilgrims  every  year,  but 
they  do  not  repair  thither  all  together,  for  there  is 
a  succession  of  pilgrimages — that  from  Vienna  in 
July  being  followed  by  one  from  Styria  in  August, 
and  so  on.  The  object  of  adoration  at  Mariazell  is 
a  small  wooden  image  of  the  Virgin  and  Child,  which 
is  said  to  date  from  the  tweKth  century.  One  of 
the  Margraves  of  Moravia  built  a  chapel  in  which  it 
was  placed ;  but  in  the  fourteenth  century,  after  a 
battle  in  which  Louis  the  Great  of  Hungary  defeated 
the  Turks,  he  erected  a  large  Gothic  church  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  Mariazell  Virgin,  to  whose 
intervention  (as  auxilium  Christianorum)  he  attri- 
buted his  hard-won  victory.  A  part  of  the  edifice 
in  question — notably  a  large  tower  with  sculptured 
representations  of  the  Hungarian  monarch's  success 
— existed  at  the  time  of  our  visit ;  but  most  of  the 
pile  had  given  place  to  a  lofty  building  of  much  later 
date. 


AUSTRIA  201 

I  had  previously  seen  pilgrimages  in  Brittany. 
I  had  also,  whilst  in  southern  France  in  1871,*  visited 
the  then  comparatively  obscure  shrine  of  Lourdes ; 
and  excepting  that  there  were  more  people  at 
Mariazell,  and  that  the  majority  of  them  waxed 
merrier  and  far  less  quarrelsome  over  their  Styrian 
wine,  than  the  Bretons  did  over  their  tart  cyder 
and  the  Pyreneans  over  the  bad  beer  which  they 
insisted  on  drinking  instead  of  wine,  I  noticed  no 
great  difference  from  what  I  had  observed  in  western 
and  southern  France.  There  were  the  usual  cures, 
miraculous  or  reputed  to  be  such,  the  usual  prayers, 
processions,  offerings  and  consumption  of  candles ; 
and  on  the  other  hand,  as  the  great  majority  of  the 
pilgrims  had  come  from  Vienna,  there  was  nothing 
approaching  the  novelty  and  variety  of  peasant 
costume  which,  I  was  told,  usually  imparted  so 
much  picturesqueness  to  the  scene  during  the 
Styrian  pilgrimage  in  August. 

I  passed  through  Styria  in  after  years,  when 
going  as  far  south  as  Gorizia  to  attend  the  funeral  of 
the  Comte  de  Chambord,  and  I  found  it  to  be  a 
striking  region,  with  a  very  varied  climate,  due  to 
the  constant  alternation  of  mountain  land  and 
valley.  Some  of  the  best  wines  of  the  Austrian 
dominions  are  vintaged  in  Styria,  which  is  not 
surprising,  as  they  are  often  the  produce  of  the  same 
variety  of  vine  as  that  which  is  cultivated  at  Tokay 
in  Hungary.  Luttenberger,  rich  and  syrupy  but 
with  a  somewhat  spirituous  and  sub-acidulous  flavour, 
may  be  mistaken  at  times  for  genuine  Tokay, 
and  I  can  imagine  it  being  occasionally  palmed  off 
as  such  in  foreign  countries,  though  in  Austria  it 
enjoys  a  sufficiently   high  reputation  of  its  own. 

*  See  p.  5,  ante. 


202  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

Most  of  the  Styrian  wines,  certainly  the  finer  ones, 
are  white ;  and  there  are  also  some  muscats  which 
fetch  high  prices.  The  best  red  growths  are  those 
of  Marburg,  Gonobitz,  and  the  Sausal  mountains. 
These  heights,  situated  beyond  Gratz  on  the  way  to 
Marburg,  are  covered  with  vines,  and  very  picturesque 
in  autumn  is  the  appearance  of  the  hillside  village 
houses,  whose  walls  and  even  roofs,  at  times,  are 
covered  with  the  dense  foliage  and  the  clustering 
fruit  of  the  rambling  blue  Wildbacher.  Again,  at 
Gonobitz,  a  pleasant  little  town  not  far  from  Cilli 
and  the  Sannthal  Alps,  the  vines  climb  a  mountain 
height  known  as  the  Vinarie,  and  whereas  the 
produce  of  the  Sausal  slopes  resembles  an  ordinary 
Bordeaux  claret,  that  of  the  Vinarie,  where  a  little 
black  grape  called  the  Kauka  is  chiefly  grown,  is 
quite  a  distinct  vintage — ^rather  sweet  and  with  a 
peculiar  spicy  flavour.  The  chief  wine  grower  here- 
abouts in  my  father's  time  was  Prince  Windischgratz, 
whose  name  reminded  one  that  the  people  of  the 
surrounding  region  were  mainly  Wends.  The  best 
Styrian  red  wine  I  ever  tasted  was  probably  that  of 
Marbiu'g,  which  has  long  been  the  centre  of  the 
province's  trade  both  in  wine  and  in  fruit. 

At  the  time  of  my  tour  the  actual  wine  growers 
were  seldom  proprietors  of  the  soil,  which  belonged 
for  the  most  part  to  one  or  another  family  of  the 
Austrian  aristocracy.  The  system  usually  in  vogue 
was  for  the  landlord  to  provide  his  tenant  with  a 
house,  a  piece  of  ground  for  his  own  needs,  a  few 
cows,  a  supply  of  fuel,  and  perhaps  a  very  small 
sum  of  money  ;  the  tenant  in  return  performing  all 
needful  work  in  the  vineyards  excepting  the  digging 
and  the  vintaging.  Half  of  the  manure  yielded  by 
the  cows  was  used  for  the  vineyards  and  the  remainder 


AUSTRIA  203 

for  the  tenant's  "  allotment."  The  grapes  when 
vintaged  were  usually  thrown  into  vats  and  trodden 
in  them  by  bare-legged  labourers,  hired  for  the 
vintage  season. 

Marburg,  which  I  previously  mentioned,  ranks 
as  the  second  town  in  Styria,  and  when  I  visited  it 
the  inhabitants  particularly  prided  themselves  on 
the  fact  that  Admiral  Tegetthoff  had  come  into  the 
world  there — he  having  for  many  years  held  the 
record  as  the  last  naval  commander  to  win  a  battle 
in  European  waters — the  engagement  in  question 
being  that  fought  off  the  Dalmatian  island  of  Lissa 
in  1866,  when  the  Italian  fleet  was  defeated.  Tegett- 
hoff's  Slavonic  name  suggests  the  possibility  of  a 
Wendish  extraction.  In  any  case,  on  going  fmrther 
southward  until  I  reached  the  Italian  region,  I 
observed  that  the  bulk  of  the  inhabitants  were  not 
Germans,  but  Slavs.  On  the  other  hand,  I  certainly 
found  Gratz,  the  Styrian  capital,  to  be  a  German 
town,  and  one  where  many  retired  Austrian  officers 
resided  on  account  of  the  cheapness  of  the  excellent 
living  which  was  to  be  obtained  there.  Styria,  by 
the  way,  is  famous  for  poultry,  and  turkeys  are 
plentiful.  In  the  more  mountainous  parts  the 
inhabitants  appeared  to  me  to  be  a  finely  developed 
race,  muscular  and  active,  with  bright,  clear, 
healthy  looking  faces.  It  used  to  be  said  that  the 
Styrian  women  were  in  the  habit  of  taking  some 
preparation  of  arsenic  in  order  to  improve  their 
complexions.  But  I  believe  that  to  be  a  fable. 
Their  native  climate  and  the  simple  life  which  they 
led  would  have  sufficed  to  account  for  their  healthy 
appearance. 

It  was  on  my  return  from  the  Comte  de  Cham- 
bord's  funeral  at  Gorizia  that  I  loitered  for  a  short 


204  IN   SEVEN  LANDS 

time  in  the  old  Styrian  duchy.  On  my  way  from 
Vienna  toGorizia  I  travelled  chiefly  through  Carinthia. 
The  titular  King  of  France,  the  last  heir  of  the  senior 
line  of  the  Bourbons,  had  been  ill  since  the  end  of 
June  that  year — 1883 — and  a  fortnight  later  it  had 
been  reported  in  what  some  journalists  call  "  well- 
informed  circles "  that  there  was  no  hope  at  all  of 
his  recovery.  Born  at  the  Tuileries,  subsequent  to 
the  assassination  of  his  father  the  Due  de  Berri,  on 
which  account  Victor  Hugo  called  him  "  the  child 
of  the  miracle,"  the  Count,  at  the  time  of  his  last 
illness,  had  not  completed  his  sixty-third  year,  and 
in  spite  of  his  lameness  (due  to  a  fall  from  a  horse) 
he  had  always  appeared  to  be  so  strong  and  robust 
that  the  prediction  of  his  approaching  death  was 
not  generally  credited.  For  many  years  he  had 
resided  in  Austria,  chiefly  on  the  estate  of  Frosch- 
dorf,  near  the  Leytha  mountains  which  form  the 
Hungarian  boundary;  but  he  eventually  installed 
himself  at  the  so-called  Villa  Bachmann,  a  far 
from  commodious  little  place  situated  about  half 
a  mile  from  Gorizia  and  now  perhaps  destroyed  by 
the  havoc  of  war.  The  Count  took  this  step  for  the 
sake  of  his  wife's  health  which  required  a  mild 
climate,  but  the  change  proved  fatal  to  his  own. 
Except  at  the  times  when  the  wind  known  as  the 
Bora  blew  from  the  north-east,  he  felt  (so  he 
frequently  complained)  as  though  he  were  half- 
stifled.  Shut  in  as  it  is  on  most  sides  by  great 
heights  and  ridges,  Gorizia  may  claim  to  be  a  sheltered 
spot,  but  although  its  climate  is  usually  said  to  be 
dry,  such  is  not  exactly  the  case  by  reason  of  the 
comparative  proximity  of  the  Adriatic.  Thus  the 
still  and  at  times  humid  atmosphere  of  the  region 
gradually   undermined  the   Count   de   Chambord's 


AUSTRIA  205 

health,  whilst,  in  the  meantime,  his  wife's  seemed 
to  be  improving. 

She  was  the  eldest  daughter  of  Duke  Francis  IV 
of  Modena,  a  petty  sovereign,  notorious  for  his 
despotism  and  bigotry,  and  one  who  had  been  kept 
upon  his  throne  by  the  help  of  Austrian  bayonets. 
His  daughter,  trained  in  views  akin  to  his  own, 
brought  no  progressive  influence  to  bear  upon  her 
husband.  Moreover,  there  was  never  any  issue  of 
their  marriage.  I  heard  it  said  more  than  once  by 
prominent  French  Royalists,  both  in  Paris  and  in 
Vienna,  that  if  a  son  had  been  born  to  the  legitimate 
heir  of  the  monarchy  the  latter  might  have  proved 
a  different  man,  less  obstinately  attached  to  anti- 
quated principles,  for  in  such  a  case  he  would  have 
desired  to  ensure  his  son's  succession  to  the  throne, 
and  with  that  object  might  well  have  taken  the 
path  of  compromise  which,  as  it  happened,  he 
scarcely  ever  approached.  Throughout  the  eight 
and  thirty  years  of  his  married  life,  however,  his 
heart  was  not  once  gladdened  by  the  prattle  of  a 
little  child.  Disappointed  he  certainly  was,  but  he 
bravely  called  it  the  will  of  God,  and  proved  a  most 
devoted  husband  to  his  wife,  who,  perhaps,  was  even 
more  disappointed  than  himseK.  In  fact,  much  of 
her  bitterness  may  have  sprung  from  her  childless 
life. 

The  Comte  de  Paris,  being  better  informed  than 
others,  had  no  reason  to  doubt  the  serious  character 
of  the  illness  which  had  fallen  on  his  cousin  Chambord. 
They  had  been  reconciled,*  and  the  Comte  de 
Chambord  had  virtual^  acknowledged  the  senior 
Orleans  Prince  as  the  next  heir  to  the  French  throne. 
Thus  it  was  only  natural  that  the  Comte  de  Paris 

*  See  p.  186,  ante. 


206  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

should  decide  on  a  visit  to  Gorizia ;  but  on  hearing 
that  such  was  his  intention,  Mme.  de  Chambord, 
who  hated  all  the  Orleans  Princes,  and  who  was 
particularly  furious  at  the  idea  of  one  of  them 
succeeding  her  husband  as  Head  of  the  House  of 
France,  telegraphed  to  ex-King  Francis  II  of  Naples, 
then  residing  in  Paris,  to  do  all  he  possibly  could 
in  order  to  prevent  the  Comte  de  Paris  from  making 
the  journey.  Francis  of  Naples  acted  as  he  was 
requested,  but  the  Comte  de  Paris  would  not  change 
his  intentions,  and  thus  it  happened  that  during  the 
first  week  in  July  (1883)  he  arrived  at  Gorizia. 
Mme.  de  Chambord  found  it  impossible  to  deny  him 
admission  to  the  patient's  bedroom,  and  so  there 
was  a  brief  and  painful  interview,  at  which  the 
chief  of  the  Orleans  Princes  renewed  his  professions 
of  allegiance. 

The  Comtesse  de  Chambord  had  resolved,  how- 
ever, upon  a  means  of  gratifying  her  vindictiveness. 
As  a  first  step  she  prevailed  on  her  husband  to 
disinherit  the  Comte  de  Paris  entirely  so  far  as  all 
personal  possessions  were  concerned ;  and  as  soon 
as  the  Comte  de  Chambord  had  passed  away  on 
August  23,  she  threw  off  the  mask  and  denied  to 
the  Orleans  Prince  the  place  of  honour  *  at  the 
obsequies — ^giving  it  instead  to  the  Comte  de  Bardi, 
one  of  the  exiled  Italian  Bourbons,  to  whom  also 
most  of  the  deceased's  personal  estate  had  been 
devised.  When  I  quitted  Paris  en  route  to  Gorizia 
via  Vienna,  the  general  impression  in  the  French 
capital  was  that  the  funeral  would  supply  an  occasion 
for  a  great  demonstration  at  which  all  the  partisans 
of  a  monarchy  in  France  would  acclaim  the  Comte 
de  Paris   as  heir   to    the   throne.     But    Mme.    de 

*  That  of  chief  mourner. 


AUSTRIA  207 

Chambord,  by  the  course  she  took,  prevented  any- 
thing of  the  kind  happening.  The  Comte  de  Paris  and 
all  the  other  Orleans  Princes  refused  to  participate 
in  the  obsequies  directly  they  heard  of  the  position 
which  the  Comte  de  Bardi  was  to  assume.  Thus 
the  only  members  of  the  house  of  Bourbon  whom 
I  found  at  Gorizia  were  the  aforesaid  Comte  de 
Bardi,  Duke  Robert  of  Parma,  and  Don  Carlos, 
Don  Juan  and  Don  Alfonso  of  Spain — the  two  last 
named  being  respectively  the  son  and  the  brother 
of  Don  Carlos. 

Nor  were  any  members  of  the  Orleanist  nobility 
present.  Only  strict  Legitimists  were  to  be  seen — 
conspicuous  among  them  being  General  de  Charette 
and  some  of  his  former  Pontifical  Zouaves  who  had 
brought  with  them  that  same  banner  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  of  Jesus  which  they  had  carried  right  gallantly 
through  the  latter  part  of  the  Franco-German  war, 
whilst  fighting  beside  the  regular  troops  of  the  Loire 
Army.  Gorizia,  a  town  of  steep  streets  and  spacious 
squares,  was  then  to  all  intents  and  purposes  Italian. 
Even  now  its  Italian  name  prevails  in  spite  of  the 
many  German  attempts  to  alter  it  to  Gorz.  I 
heard  an  Italian  dialect  spoken  all  around  me.  The 
buildings  were  chiefly  of  an  Italian  style.  The  white 
churches  and  convents  bore  Italian  names — Sant' 
Antonio,  Monte  Santo,  Castagnavizza  and  so  forth. 
The  public  garden,  shaded  by  pine  and  palm  and 
laurel,  and  bright  with  roses  and  asters,  was  called 
the  Giardino  pubblico  and  the  principal  square,  the 
Piazza.  The  hotel  where  I  lodged  was  known  as  the 
Posta.  Briefly,  I  immediately  realised  that  I  found 
myseK  in  a  corner  of  "  unredeemed  Italy." 

It  was  in  the  convent  of  Castagnavizza  that  the 
remains    of    the    uncrowned    monarch,    His    Most 


208  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

Christian  Majesty  Henry  *  V,  by  Divine  Right 
King  of  France  and  Navarre,  were  laid  to  rest  with 
all  due  ceremony.  I  remember  that  whilst  gazing 
on  the  strange  scene  I  wondered  whether  some  of 
the  old  Legitimist  noblemen  who  were  present,  felt 
as  a  Jacobite  might  have  felt  on  witnessing  the 
obsequies  of  the  last  Stuart.  The  procession  was 
interminably  long,  though  there  was  only  one  vehicle 
— the  hearse.  Drawn  by  eight  horses  it  was  sur- 
mounted by  a  gold  crown  and  its  panels  were 
emblazoned  with  golden  lilies.  The  Legitimists 
who  followed  it — behind  the  Bourbon  Princes — ^were 
certainly  numerous,  but  the  great  length  of  the 
procession  was  due  to  the  surprising  concourse  of 
monks  and  friars,  belonging  to  all  sorts  of  orders, 
who  passed  slowly  in  double  files.  All  the  monasteries 
in  the  region  must  have  sent  contingents  to  swell 
that  army  of  "  regulars." 

Among  the  personages  figuring  in  the  procession 
I  remarked  the  Comte  de  Blacas,  who  had  long  been 
at  the  head  of  the  deceased  prince's  household.  He 
carried  a  velvet  cushion  upon  which  lay  a  collar  of 
the  old  Order  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  death  of  the 
Comte  de  Chambord  left  only  one  surviving  member 
of  that  all  but  forgotten  order  of  chivalry — the 
Orleanist  Due  de  Nemours,  who  had  received  it  in 
his  childhood  from  Charles  X.  Thus,  when  Ferdi- 
nand of  Bulgaria  plunged  into  the  Great  War  in  the 
autumn  of  1915,  I  was  rather  surprised  to  find  the 
present  Due  d' Orleans  writing  to  him  and  virtually 
expelling  him  from  the  Order  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Since  the  fall  of  Charles  X  of  France  no  Court  in 
Europe  has  officially  recognised  such  an  order.     It 

*  Like  Henri  Quatre  the  Comte  de  Chambord  always  spelt  his  name 
*'  Henry  "  in  accordance  with  the  original  French  custom. 


AUSTRIA  209 

does  not  appear  that  even  the  Comte  de  Chambord 
ever  claimed  the  privilege  of  conferring  it  upon 
anybody — he  himseK  had  derived  it  from  a  reigning 
king,  his  grandfather.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  as 
if  the  Due  d' Orleans  (as  King  of  France  in  partihus) 
had  revived  and  bestowed  it  at  some  time  or  other 
on  the  Bulgarian  sovereign.  The  proceeding  reminds 
one  of  the  titles  which  James  II  was  pleased  to  confer 
on  favoured  partisans  after  he  had  lost  the  British 
crown.  A  few  such  titles,  having  been  formally 
recognised  by  Louis  XIV,  may  have  had  some 
validity  in  France  and  elsewhere ;  but,  as  I  pre- 
viously indicated,  no  European  sovereign  has 
formally  recognised  the  Order  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
since  the  day  when  Charles  X  brought  about  his 
own  downfall.  In  the  days  of  Bourbon  rule  the 
*'  Holy  Ghost  "  ranked  as  the  premier  French  order, 
though  having  been  established  only  in  1578,  it  was 
less  ancient  than  the  order  of  St.  Michael  which 
dated  from  1469.  At  one  period,  however,  the 
latter  was  relegated  to  the  second  place,*  the  third 
eventually  being  taken  by  the  order  of  St.  Louis, 
which  was  founded  in  1693.  When  a  nobleman  had 
secured  each  of  those  forms  of  knighthood  he  was 
styled  "Chevalier  des  ordres  du  Roy."  Sky-blue, 
black,  and  red  were  the  colours  of  the  respective 
ribands. 

The  above  digression,  into  which  I  was  tempted 
by  the  action  of  the  Due  d' Orleans,  has  carried  me 
away  from  Gorizia,  which  I  can  still  picture  hushed 
and  impressed  amidst  the  solemn  tolling  of  bells 
and  the  mournful  chanting  of  monks,  whilst  the 
Comte  de  Chambord  was  being  carried  to  his  rest. 
Since  then  war   has   burst   upon   the  little  town, 

*  Probably  because  its  chosen  patron  was  only  an  archangel. 

P 


210  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

which  appears  to  have  taken  both  bombardment 
and  destruction  in  a  far  more  cheerful  manner  than 
is  usual.  In  1915  the  newspapers  chronicled  the 
conflagration  of  the  convent  of  Monte  Santo,  the 
damage  done  to  Sant'  Antonio,  the  Ursulines, 
Castagnavizza  and  many  other  buildings,  both 
public  and  private.  Yet  it  was  added  that  amidst 
each  successive  disaster  the  inhabitants — some 
20,000  all  told — endeavoured  to  continue  leading 
much  the  same  lives  as  they  led  in  peaceful  days ; 
the  barbers  shaving  as  usual,  the  flower  shops 
remaining  open,  the  cafes  catering  for  their  customers, 
and  the  children  running  to  and  fro  in  the  streets, 
although  every  now  and  again  a  shell  exploded 
with  terrible  consequences.  Possibly  one  reason  of 
the  composure  shown  by  a  population  so  largely  of 
Italian  stock  was  a  consciousness  of  deliverance 
impending  even  in  the  midst  of  death  and  destruction. 
While  I  pen  these  lines  the  Italian  attack  con- 
tinues, and  up  at  Castagnavizza,  the  uncrowned 
King,  the  last  of  the  French  Henrys,  sleeps  on.  He 
cannot  hear  the  thunder  of  the  guns  even  though 
their  projectiles  have  rent  the  roof  above  his  tomb. 
What  would  he,  the  upholder  of  so  many  olden 
things,  have  thought  of  a  war  by  which  assuredly 
the  old  order  must  definitely  depart,  giving  place 
to  new  ? 


IV. 


IN   HUNGARY. 

The  Magyars  and  other  Inhabitants — The  Huns  and  Magyar  Character- 
istics— Mr.  John  Paget's  Views  of  them — Their  Supposed  Indolence — 
From  Vienna  to  Budapest  by  the  Danube — Pressburg  and  Francis 
Joseph's  Cioronation — Komom  and  "  Come  To-morrow  !  " — Gran  and 
its  Wealthy  See — ^Visegrad  and  the  Story  of  Clara  Zacs—  Budapest 
and  its  Municipal  Hospitality — A  Toast  to  the  Prince  of  Wales 
(Edward  VII) — Former  Popularity  of  the  British  in  Hungary — 
Magyar  Pride  and  Dislike  of  the  German  Race — The  Great  Hungarian 
Plain — The  Peasantry — The  National  Dance — ^Tokay  and  its  Famous 
Wine— The  Er-Mellek. 

The  Magyars  are  one  of  the  dwindling  races  of 
Europe.  They  did  not  await  the  coming  of  Malthus 
to  put  into  practice  such  theories  as  he  expounded. 
They  had  acted  upon  similar  ones  long  previously. 
It  is  doubtful,  perhaps,  whether  they  ever  occupied 
the  whole  of  the  territory  of  the  modern  Kingdom 
of  Hungary.  At  all  events,  centuries  ago  other 
races  obtained  a  footing  there,  and  nowadays  form 
a  large  proportion  of  the  population.  Hungary,  in 
fact,  is  peopled  by  a  medley  of  folk,  as  happens  in 
most  countries  which  have  figured  in  history  as 
frontier  or  buffer  states.  To  talk  of  a  Hungarian 
people  is  absurd,  though  one  may  find  at  Budapest 
and  elsewhere  thousands  of  people  who  claim  to  be 
Hungarians  simply  because  they  were  born  on 
Hungarian  soil.  The  same  kind  of  thing  often 
occurs  in  England,  and  according  to  political  and 

211 


212  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

diplomatic  laws  anybody  born  in  this  country  is 
accounted  a  Britisher,  although  he  may  not  have  in 
his  veins  a  single  drop  of  blood  derived  from  any  of 
the  nations  which  in  former  times  overran  the 
greater  part  of  our  island.  With  respect  to  Hungary 
it  may  be  said  that  something  approaching  an 
amalgamation  of  races  may  be  noticed  in  the  capital 
and  a  few  other  centres  of  population,  but  otherwise 
the  different  breeds  largely  keep  apart. 

They  are  numerous — the  principal  elements  of  the 
population  (in  addition  to  the  Magyars,  who  may 
be  called  the  Hungarians  proper)  consisting  of  the 
German  settlers,  the  Slovacks,  the  Ruthenians,  the 
Wallachs  or  Roumanians,  the  Croatians,  Slovenes, 
and  Serbs.  The  Slovacks  are  kinsmen  of  the  Czechs 
or  Bohemians,  the  Ruthenians  of  the  Russians,  the 
Roumanians  are  really  descendants  of  the  ancient 
Dacians  with  a  slight  admixture  of  old  Roman 
blood,  which,  in  a  vainglorious  spirit,  they  declare 
predominates  among  them.  The  Magyars  inhabit 
principally  the  west-central  and  western  parts  of 
the  kingdom.  The  Germans  are  conspicuous  in 
the  extreme  west  and  on  a  number  of  isolated  points 
where  they  have  established  colonies.  There  are 
also  Saxon  settlements  in  Transylvania  on  the  east, 
but  in  that  direction  one  finds  a  great  many  so-called 
Wallachs  or  Roumanians — in  which  connection  it 
may  be  pointed  out  that  Roumania  is  simply  a 
modern  name  for  the  united  provinces  of  Wallachia 
and  Moldavia  which  were  formerly  subject  to  the 
Turks.  On  turning  to  a  map  of  Eiu*ope  as  it  was  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  one  cannot  fail  to  observe 
how  great  was  then  the  extent  of  Turkey's  Emropean 
Empire.  It  included  all  the  central  part  of  Hungary 
and  all  the  west  excepting  a  narrow  band  of  territory 


HUNGARY  213 

which  Austria  had  managed  to  retain.  Both  the 
great  lake  Balaton  and  the  huge  Bakony  forest  then 
belonged  to  the  Turks.  On  the  north  and  the  east 
they  held  the  Carpathians  as  far  as  the  spurs  extend- 
ing into  the  Kingdom  of  Poland.  Moldavia  and 
Wallachia  were  tributary  states,  and  so  was  Tran- 
sylvania, whose  area  was  three  times  as  considerable 
as  that  which  is  assigned  to  it  to-day. 

Any  visitor  to  Hungary  who  has  previously 
travelled  in  Turkey  will  be  struck  by  several  lingering 
signs  of  the  former  Turkish  domination.  Hungarian 
writers  will  not  admit  this  to  be  the  case,  but  my  own 
view  is  that  a  considerable  amount  of  Turkish  and 
also  Tartar  blood  is  blended  with  that  of  the  Mag- 
yars and  of  some  of  the  other  elements  in  the 
population.  The  main  facts  of  Hungarian  history 
tend  to  confirm  that  view. 

I  believe  the  Magyar  to  be  a  descendant  of  the 
historical  Hun.  Present-day  British  jomrnalists, 
however,  have  assigned  the  name  of  Hun  to  the 
north  Germans,  on  account,  no  doubt,  of  the  latter's 
Hunnish  practices.  But  there  surely  is  no  racial 
affinity  corroborating  such  a  designation.  If  the 
north  Germans  may  be  compared  to  one  of  the 
ancient  migratory  and  predatory  races  it  should 
be  to  the  Vandals,  a  remnant  of  whom — the  Wends — 
still  exists  in  Prussia  proper  and  eastern  Brandenburg, 
whilst  kindred  groups,  as  previously  pointed  out  in 
this  volume,  may  also  be  found  in  certain  parts  of 
Austria.  No  Huns,  however,  are  to  be  met  either 
there  or  in  the  Prussian  dominions.  They  are 
confined  to  Hungary  and  Transylvania  and  are 
simply  the  folk  who  on  one  side  call  themselves 
Magyars  and  on  the  other  Szeklers. 

Recalling  the  Hunnish  invasions  under  Attila, 


214  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

it  will  be  remembered  that  great  trains  of  waggons 
accompanied  his  armies  on  their  marches,  and  that 
with  the  help  of  all  those  vehicles  the  Huns  formed, 
as  it  were,  zareebas  or  lagers  whenever  they  were 
attacked  in  force.  Now,  until  the  development  of 
the  railway  system,  travellers  in  modern  Hungary 
were  always  struck  by  the  infinity  of  waggons, 
generally  of  a  light  character,  which  were  found  there. 
It  was  a  mistaken  idea  that  the  Magyar  was  a  born 
horseman.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  few  of  his  race  can 
ride  at  all,  and  then  only  indifferently  well.  The 
greater  part  of  the  light  cavalry  of  the  old-time 
Austrian  armies  was  formed  not  of  Hungarians,  but 
of  Croats.  It  was  they  who  in  the  seventeenth  and 
the  eighteenth  century  wars  chiefly  took  the  part 
which  the  Russian  Tsars  on  their  side  assigned  to 
the  Cossacks. 

The  Magyar  was  formerly  accounted  a  very 
indolent  individual,  and  the  comparative  isolation 
of  Hungary  and  its  backwardness  in  education  and 
civilisation  certainly  tended  to  a  lack  of  energy  on 
the  part  of  a  race  which  had  for  a  considerable 
period  succumbed  to  the  Turkish  yoke,  and  which, 
although  freed  from  it,  had  not  yet  found  itself 
again,  and  only  retained  a  rather  vague  legendary 
knowledge  of  the  aspirations  of  its  ancestors.  To- 
wards the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  standard 
work  on  Hungary  in  this  country  was  one  written 
by  Mr.  John  Paget,  a  member  of  a  junior  branch 
of  the  Anglesey  family,  who  ended  by  settling 
in  Transylvania,  where  he  acquired  considerable 
property.  I  met  Mr.  Paget  at  Vienna  in  1873,  when, 
like  my  father,  he  was  serving  on  the  international 
wine  jury  connected  with  the  Exhibition.  Curiously 
enough,   most  of  the  wood  engravings  illustrating 


HUNGARY  215 

Mr.  Paget's  book  on  Hungary  had  been  cut  by  my 
father  in  his  early  days  when,  like  Linton  and  others, 
he  was  a  pupil  of  Orrin  Smith.  Of  course  the 
latter's  name  alone  appears  in  the  work,  in  accordance 
with  the  general  custom  in  such  cases.  However, 
it  so  happened  that  my  father,  who  naturally 
retained  a  lively  recollection  of  the  first  engraving 
work  entrusted  to  him  by  his  master,  made  the 
facts  known  to  Mr.  Paget  at  Vienna,  and  the  most 
cordial  intercourse  ensued. 

Mr.  Paget's  book  was  written  before  the  great 
Hungarian  insurrection  of  1848-9,  which,  as  he 
admitted  in  conversation,  considerably  modified 
some  of  his  estimates  of  the  Magyar  character.  He 
had  previously  been  a  great  believer  in  the  innate 
indolence  of  the  race,  and  the  latter's  vigorous 
rising  against  Austrian  tyranny  had  really  surprised 
him.  We  know,  however,  that  other  races — seem- 
ingly slow,  plodding  and  narrow-minded — ^rouse 
themselves  at  times  and  evince  the  greatest  energy. 
We  have  only  to  think  of  the  South  African  Boers 
for  an  example  of  the  kind.  When  occasion  requires 
it,  the  Magyar  peasant  becomes  a  vigorous  fighter, 
although  in  peace  time  he  may  seem  as  supine  as  it 
is  possible  for  man  to  be.  It  has  been  said  of  him  that 
he  prefers  to  sit  rather  than  to  move,  and  that  if 
motion  becomes  necessary,  instead  of  using  his  legs 
or  even  riding,  he  harnesses  four  horses  to  his  little 
waggon,  and  then  sets  out  on  a  journey  of  merely  a 
few  miles.  Briefly,  he  is  opposed  to  physical 
exertion  when  it  can  be  avoided.  Another  point  is 
that  although  he  has  his  moments  of  great  excite- 
ment and  enthusiasm  he  lacks  doggedness,  tenacity. 
If  an  enterprise  does  not  speedily  succeed  he  prefers 
to  relinquish  it. 


216  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

My  first  trip  to  Budapest  was  made  with  my 
father  and  others  by  way  of  the  Danube,  on  board 
one  of  the  steamboats  plying  between  Vienna  and 
the  Himgarian  capital.     The  title  of  Johann  Strauss's 
famous  waltz  might  incline  the  reader  to  picture  the 
great   river's   water    as    beautifully    blue,    but    its 
habitual  colour  is  really  a  dingy  grey.     At  sunset, 
however,    a   pinkish    glow    sometimes    suffuses    its 
surface.     My  steamboat  trip  must  have  lasted  some 
fourteen  hours,  that  is  from  early   morning  until 
dusk,    so    that    there   was    ample    opportunity    to 
observe  the  river  under  every  aspect.     The  left  bank 
was  at  first  monotonously  flat,  but  the  right  one 
was  hilly  and  occasionally  picturesque,  particularly 
at  Haini3urg,  a  little  place  which  has  some  legendary 
associations  with  Attila.     Then,  for  a  short  distance, 
several  lofty   heights — spurs   of   the   Little   Carpa- 
thians— arose  on  the  left,  and  we  passed  the  mouth 
of  the  March  or  Morava,  whose  junction-point  with 
the   Danube   below   the   ruined   castle   of   Theben 
marked  the  Hungarian  frontier.     Soon  afterwards 
we    reached    Pressburg,   which    the    Magyars    call 
Pozsony,  and  which  was  originally  their  capital  and 
the  spot  where  their  Kings  were  crowned.     There, 
indeed,  in  1867  was  performed    the    long-deferred 
coronation  of  Francis-Joseph,  who,  with  the  crown 
on  his  head  and  his  robes  of  state  waving  around 
him,  rode,  sword  in   hand,  up   a  terraced   incline 
overlooking  the  Danube,  and  lunged  with  his  weapon 
towards  the  four  points  of  the  compass  to  indicate 
that  he  promised  to    defend  the  kingdom   against 
all  enemies,  no  matter  whence  they  might  come. 
This  had  been  a  customary  feature  of  the  olden 
Hungarian  coronations. 

After  we  had  left  Pressburg  behind  us,  the  river 


HUNGARY  217 

banks  became,  for  some  hours,  uniformly  flat  on 
either  hand.  Nevertheless  there  were  features  of 
interest  in  the  scenery.  Curious  looking  water-mills 
appeared  on  the  river  banks,  the  two  extensive 
Schiitt  islands  were  dotted  with  little  white  houses 
standing  in  garden  ground,  beyond  which  were 
tracts  of  marshy  land,  where  cattle  and  sheep 
could  be  perceived.  And  presently  the  ancient 
fortified  town  of  Komorn  rose  up  on  the  left  at  a 
point  where  the  Waag  falls  into  the  Danube.  Ko- 
morn is  a  maiden  fortress,  having  always  successfully 
withstood  besiegers  ;  and  at  one  point  of  the  ram- 
parts there  is  a  figure  of  the  Virgin  with  the  in- 
scription Kom  morn  !  signifying  "  Come  to-morrow  !  " 
That  is  a  German  pun — a  play  upon  the  words 
Komm  morgen.  The  Magyars  themselves  call  the 
old  fortress  Komdrom. 

A  couple  of  hours  after  quitting  Komorn  we 
were  ojff  Gran,  a  town  of  legends  and  miracles,  with 
an  imposing  domed  cathedral  rising  boldly  against 
the  pale  sky.  Here  St.  Stephen,  Hungary's  first 
Christian  king,  was  born  and  baptised,  here  also 
Kaiser  Frederick  Barbarossa  and  the  Hungarian 
monarch  Bela  met  in  crusading  days.  Gran  was 
once  a  city  of  splendour,  boasting  many  marble 
palaces  and  counting  its  great  merchants  by  the 
score.  But  sweeping  across  the  Hungarian  plain 
from  Transylvania  there  came  a  horde  of  Tartars, 
who  put  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword  and  wrecked 
every  edifice.  The  cathedral  is  quite  modern — in 
fact  not  yet  a  hundred  years  old.  The  archiepiscopal 
see,  however,  has  long  been  that  of  the  Hungarian 
Primate,  who  is  always  entitled  Prince  and  takes 
rank  immediately  after  the  King  and  the  Archduke- 
Palatine,  otherwise  royal  deputy  and  commander. 


218  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

Gran  is  also  an  extremely  wealthy  see,  its  revenue, 
comparatively  few  years  ago,  amounting  to  no  less 
than  £60,000  per  annum. 

From  this  point  the  Danube's  bed  contracted, 

steep  hills  arose  on  either  side,  and  beyond  a  bend 

in  the  river's  course,  Visegrad  the  "  lofty  fortress  " 

rose  on  a  rocky  crag.     The  Arpad  race  of    kings 

made  this  town  their  abode.     King  Matthias  Corvinus 

is  said  to  have  converted  the  barren  site  into  an 

earthly  paradise.     But  other  kings  were  imprisoned 

there,  and  horrible  stories  are  still  told  of  dark  deeds 

in  its  grim  dungeons.     The  tragic  muse,  moreover, 

has  been  evoked  by  more  than  one  poet  to  celebrate 

the  awful  fate  of  the  unfortunate  Clara  Zacs,  who  in 

the  days  of  King  Charles  Robert  of  Hungary  ranked 

as  the  greatest  beauty  of  the  Court  of  Visegrd,d. 

Charles  Eobert  married  the  sister  of  King  Casimir 

of  Poland,  and  in  or  about   1330  the  last  named 

came  to  Visegrdd  on  a  visit.     He  then  set  eyes  on 

Clara,  and  inflamed  with  an  insensate  passion  he 

carried    her    off    and    made    her    his    victim.     She 

escaped  at  last,  and  on  reaching  her  home  told  her 

father  what  had  happened.     On  hearing  that  his 

own  sovereign,  Charles  Robert,  had  been  privy  to 

the  abduction,  Zacs,  in  a  fury,  hurried  to  the  royal 

abode,  sword  in  hand,  and  burst  in  upon  the  King 

and   Queen   whilst   they   and   their   children   were 

seated  at  a  meal.     He  struck  the  King  down  with 

a  fierce  blow  of  his  weapon,  and  then  turned  upon  the 

Queen,  who  raised  her  arm  to  defend  herself.     With 

a  sweep  of  his  sword,  however,  Zacs  cut  off  her 

fingers.     The  next  moment  the  royal  guards  rushed 

into  the  room,  and  slew  him  without  ceremony. 

Terrible  reprisals  were  at  once  ordered  by  the 
wounded  King.     Clara  and  her  young  brother  were 


HUNGARY  219 

seized,  their  hands,  their  noses,  their  ears,  their  Hps 
were  cut  off,  and  when  they  had  been  exhibited  to 
the  people  as  examples  of  the  royal  punishment, 
they  were  bound  to  horses'  tails  and  finally  cast  to 
the  dogs.  Even  that,  however,  did  not  satisfy 
Charles  Robert.  Every  member  and  connection 
of  the  Zacs  family  was  apprehended,  tortured  and 
put  to  death,  more  than  thirty  innocent  people 
thus  becoming  victims  of  the  royal  vengeance.  Such 
was  Hungary  in  some  of  the  good  old  times. 

Beyond  Visegrd,d  is  Waitzen,  a  town  of  many 
churches  and  diverse  forms  of  religion.  Then,  after 
skirting  the  long  Andreas  isle,  the  combined  cities 
of  Budapest  appear — Pest  spreading  out  on  the 
flat  ground  lying  on  the  left  of  the  river,  whilst  on 
the  other  hand  Buda  with  its  fortress  climbs  aloft. 
On  the  occasion  of  that  first  visit  to  the  Hungarian 
capital,  we,  my  father  and  myself,  belonged  to  a 
large  party  of  people  of  various  nationalities  con- 
nected with  the  Vienna  Exhibition.  We  were  the 
guests  of  the  municipality  of  Budapest,  which 
entertained  us  all  with  the  most  lavish  hospitality. 
There  was  quite  a  succession  of  banquets,  at  each  of 
which  covers  were  provided  for  some  hundreds  of 
guests.  The  toasts  were  endless,  and  in  connection 
with  them  speeches  were  made  in  numerous  languages, 
though  French  was  used  by  all  who  could  express 
themselves  in  that  tongue.  The  leader  of  our 
party,  a  captain  in  the  British  army  attached  to  the 
Royal  Commission,  preferred,  however,  to  speak  in 
English,  with  which  language  the  mayor  of  Budapest 
was  fortunately  acquainted.  I  well  remember  an 
occasion  when  the  mayor  toasted  the  Prince  of 
Wales  (Edward  VII).  It  was  a  toast  honoured  by 
bumpers.     The    whole    company    sprang    up,    and 


220  IN   SEVEN  LANDS 

again  and  again,  through  the  vast  hall  in  which  we 
were  assembled,  the  Hungarian  vivat :  "  Eljen  ! 
Eljen  !  "  resounded.  I  do  not  think  that  I  ever 
witnessed  such  another  outburst  of  enthusiasm. 
The  British  were  in  those  days  intensely  popular 
throughout  Hungary,  and  the  Magyars — our  alien 
enemies  in  present  times — ^were  regarded  by  us  as 
fine  fellows,  who  had  made 'a  brave  stand  to  secure 
national  independence.  It  cannot  be  said,  how- 
ever, that  after  gaining  rights  for  themselves  they 
showed  any  solicitude  for  the  rights  of  others.  For 
several  years  prior  to  the  Great  War  the  Magyar 
ascendancy  in  Hungary  was  largely  utiUsed  to 
oppress  the  other  races  established  in  the  kingdom. 
Magyar  ambition,  moreover,  has  expanded  to  a 
degree  which  few  people  anticipated,  for  it  aims 
nowadays  at  predominance  throughout  the  whole 
Austrian  Empire. 

The  Magyar  is  an  intensely  proud  individual  and 
deems  his  race  and  his  country  to  be  the  first  in  the 
world.  Extra  Hungariam  non  est  vita  has  long  been 
one  of  his  sayings.  The  Latin  tongue,  I  may 
mention,  has  been  cultivated  in  Hungary  for  centuries. 
Less  than  a  hundred  years  ago  it  was  still  the 
language  used  at  the  meetings  of  the  Diet.  I  my- 
self heard  it  spoken  even  by  peasant  farmers. 
German,  on  the  other  hand,  was  held  in  contempt. 
A  settler  of  German  birth  was  always  called  a 
Schwab,  or  Suabian,  instead  of  by  the  generic  name 
of  his  race.  Such  settlers,  by  the  way,  were  often 
anxious  to  pass  as  Hungarians,  but  gave  themselves 
away  sometimes  by  their  appearance  and  at  others 
by  the  faulty  manner  in  which  they  spoke  the 
Magyar  language.  There  is  an  old  story  that  on  a 
certain  occasion  one  of  these  folk,  trying  to  ape  the 


HUNGARY  221 

real  Magyar  manner,  said  to  some  luggage-porter 
at  a  town  on  the  borders  of  Hungary  and  Austria, 
"  Here,  German  !  Carry  this  bag  !  "  The  porter, 
who  detected  the  truth  by  the  manner  in  which  the 
other  spoke  Magyar,  looked  him  up  and  down,  and 
then  retorted  :    "  German  yourself  !  " 

The  Magyar  language  has  certain  peculiarities. 
For  instance,  the  pronoun  follows  the  substantive 
and  the  preposition  the  pronoun  in  such  a  case  as 
this  :  Kalap,  a  hat ;  kalap  am,  my  hat ;  kalap  am 
ha,  in  my  hat.  That  custom  may  well  seem  strange 
to  Western  people.  Mr.  Paget,  to  whom  I  previously 
referred,  used  to  relate  that  the  Protestant  or 
Calvinistic  Magyar  was  convinced  that  his  language 
(however  peculiar  it  might  be)  was  the  only  one 
that  found  favour  in  heaven ;  this  view,  of  course, 
being  utterly  at  variance  with  that  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Mag3^ar,  who  offered  up  his  prayers  in 
Latin.  One  of  Paget' s  stories  was  to  the  effect  that 
on  a  certain  occasion  a  Calvinist  Magyar  heard  a 
German  woman  complaining  :  *'  Ach  Gott,  ach  Gott  I  " 
Forthwith  he  turned  on  her  exclaiming :  ''  How 
can  you  expect  Heaven  to  help  you  when  you  pray 
in  a  language  which  is  not  understood  there  ?  " 

The  development  of  the  Hungarian  railway 
system  during  more  recent  years  may  well  have 
modified  the  aspect  of  much  of  the  great  plain  known 
as  the  Puszta  or  the  AKold.  Extending  from  as 
far  south  as  Belgrade  to  the  Hegyallja  heights  on 
the  north-east,  it  spreads  westward  from  the 
Transylvanian  border  to  Budapest.  In  some  parts 
the  soil  is  sandy,  in  others  of  a  rich  black  loam,  and 
in  others  again  of  a  boggy  nature.  Soda  lakes  may 
be  found  here  and  there  excepting  in  summer,  when 
they  dry  up,  leaving  soda  incrusted  in  the  earth. 


222  IN   SEVEN  LANDS 

It  has  been  held  that  in  prehistoric  times  the  plain 
was  really  the  bed  of  a  succession  of  huge  lakes  or 
inland  seas ;  and  it  is  certain  that  three  of  the  principal 
rivers,  the  Danube,  the  Theiss  (or  Tisza),  and  the 
Maros,  have  repeatedly  shifted  their  beds — ^the 
Danube,  for  instance,  now  flowing  over  towns  and 
castles  which  were  once  well  known. 

It  used  to  be  held  that  the  great  Hungarian  plain 
was  the  only  spot  in  Europe  where  the  traveller 
could  experience  an  impression  of  utter  solitude  and 
immensity,  such  as  that  which  Fenimore  Cooper 
strove  to  convey  in  describing  the  original  aspect  of 
the  American  prairies.  In  the  Puszta  no  stone,  wood 
or  other  material  existed  for  proper  road-making. 
Thus  there  were  only  occasional  rough  tracks,  all 
sand  in  summer,  and  in  winter  streams  of  mud.  The 
expanse  sometimes  offered  the  appearance  of  a 
steppe  and  sometimes  that  of  a  savannah  covered 
with  thick  grass.  On  the  south-western  confines  of 
Hungary,  that  is  towards  Croatia,  you  would  find 
broad  fields  of  the  Indian  corn  and  the  tobacco 
plants  introduced  there  by  the  Turks,  and  straggling 
camp-like  villages  of  white  mud- walled,  one-storeyed 
houses,  buried  at  times  in  vegetation,  for  hereabouts 
there  were  woods  of  oak  trees  under  which  the  herds- 
men rested  whilst  their  swine  went  hither  and  thither, 
nosing  for  acorns.  In  the  loamy  part  of  the  Puszta 
appeared  solitary  farm-houses  standing  amidst  far 
stretches  of  grain-bearing  land,  where  now  and 
again  there  would  be  a  tall  wooden  crane  or  ciga  for 
the  purpose  of  drawing  water  from  a  primitive  well. 
The  semi-Asiatic  nature  of  the  people  was  shown 
by  their  practice  of  storing  their  grain  in  bottle- 
shaped  holes  dug  in  the  ground.  Elsewhere  spread 
pastinre,  sometimes  of  sparse  vegetation  and  at  others 


HUNGARY  223 

offering  an  abundance  of  grass  by  reason  of  the 
waters  lurking  beneath  the  siu-faee.  Storks  fre- 
quented some  of  the  swamps.  Herons  and  plovers 
might  also  be  occasionally  espied,  but  there  were 
few  small  birds  owing  to  the  predatory  hawks  which 
were  often  to  be  seen  overhead.  The  soil  harboured 
a  little  burrowing  marmot,  not  unlike  a  squirrel  in 
appearance  save  that  it  was  earless.  For  the  rest 
one  found  the  Puszta  peopled  only  by  huge  herds  of 
cattle  and  great  flocks  of  sheep  with  their  attendant 
guardians. 

Each  herdsman  had  in  his  charge  some  hundreds 
of  beasts,  who  all  knew  him  but  fled  from  strangers. 
Very  picturesque  looked  Miska,*  the  gulyds,  with  his 
huge  broad-brimmed  hat  (often  used  for  drinking 
purposes)  from  under  which  fell  his  long  oily  hair 
which  was  plaited  and  crossed  over  his  chest,  whilst 
from  his  shoulders  hung  his  ample  white  cloak 
embroidered  with  flowers.  His  belt  was  likewise  em- 
broidered, and  so  was  the  large  tobacco  pouch 
attached  to  it  in  front.  Again,  there  would  be  em- 
broidery on  his  waistcoat  or  his  jacket,  and  even 
on  the  front  of  his  short  shirt.  Tall  and  generally 
spare  of  figure,  but  none  the  less  athletic  and  robust, 
he  had  brilliant  dark  eyes  set  in  a  bronzed  face.  In 
summer  the  sun  beats  down  fiercely  on  the  Puszta ; 
but  even  then  the  nights  may  be  quite  cold,  bleak 
winds  often  sweeping  across  the  great  expanse. 
To  warm  themselves  at  such  times  the  herdsmen 
made  fixes  with  bricks  formed  of  straw  and  cow-dung. 
In  winter  one  found  both  men  and  women  wearing 
sheepskin  jackets  with  the  wool  inside ;  and  their 
bundas  or  cloaks,  falling  from  their  necks  to  their 

*  Just  as  the  Irishman  is  called  Paddy  and  the  Scotsman  Sandy,  so 
is  the  Magyar  currently  called  Miska,  otherwise  Mike, 


224  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

ankles,  were  formed  of  sheepskins  also.  It  has  been 
said  that  the  hunda  is  house  and  bed  to  the  Hungarian 
peasant.  He  utilises  it  even  in  the  summer,  for  it 
then  serves  him  as  a  kind  of  screen  against  the 
fierce  noontide  heat.  When  a  shepherd  sets  out  on 
a  mild  morning  a  solitary  donkey  will  be  seen  in 
the  midst  of  his  great  flock.  The  animal  is  carrying 
his  master's  pelisse  ;  but  at  night  when  the  flock 
returns  home  the  donkey  has  no  burden,  for  the 
shepherd  has  then  put  on  his  cloak  to  guard  against 
a  chill. 

The  sheep  are  often  of  the  merino  breed  and  some 
of  the  great  territorial  magnates  used  to  have  flocks 
of  20,000  animals.  Merinos  are  somewhat  diflicult 
to  rear,  however,  and  at  times  thousands  have  been 
carried  off  by  disease,  resulting  usually  from  faulty 
feeding.  Kept  under  cover  in  as  equable  a  tem- 
perature as  possible  during  the  four  winter  months, 
the  practice  has  been  to  feed  them  at  that  time  on 
corn,  straw,  potatoes,  and  hay,  or,  as  a  substitute 
for  the  last  named,  dried  leaves.  The  sheep  were 
formerly  bred  almost  exclusively  for  their  wool, 
their  coarse  flesh  finding  little  favour  in  Hungary. 
But  the  scanty  days  of  war  bring  changes ;  and  of 
recent  times  Budapest,  Vienna,  and  Berlin  may  well 
have  welcomed  supplies  of  the  once  despised  mutton 
of  the  Puszta.  The  Hungarian  sheep-dog  should 
also  be  mentioned  here.  He  is  a  somewhat  curious 
looking  animal,  about  the  size  of  a  Newfoundland, 
but  having  a  sharp,  almost  pointed,  nose,  short 
erect  ears,  and  a  bushy  tail.  When  he  is  white  you 
readily  identify  him  as  a  dog,  but  when  he  is  brown 
or  brownish  he  might  be  mistaken  for  a  wolf.  Paget 
recalled  instances  in  which  Hungarians  had  actually 
taken  a  wolf  to  be  one  of  their  own  dogs. 


hWiiv.(i\v.-,'u">^ — TirirrsxTT 


^•^7'/; 


'U'i 


HUNGARY  225 

The  Csdrdds  dance,  which  is  to  the  Magyars 
what  the  waltz  is  to  the  Viennese,  ranks  among  the 
chief  character  dances  of  Europe.  I  regard  it  as 
being  of  gipsy  origin,  Hke  most  of  the  dances  of  Spain. 
The  figures  may  differ,  but  the  themes  are  identical 
— ^love,  desire,  coquetry,  surrender.  Though  the 
dancers  whom  I  saw  in  Hungary  were  generally  true 
Magyars  I  never  heard  the  music  of  the  Csd,rdd,s 
played  there  otherwise  than  by  gipsies.  Generally 
speaking,  the  Magyar  is  not  a  musician.  At  Buda- 
pest when  waltzes  and  quadrilles  were  danced  the 
orchestra,  I  found,  was  usually  composed  of  Czechs 
— Bohemians ;  but  the  Csardas  required  to  be  played 
by  Czegd-ny  musicians.*  There  are  some  permanent 
settlements  of  gipsies  in  Hungary,  and  yet  more  in 
Transylvania.  In  Paget's  time  some  colonies  were 
engaged  in  gold-washing  in  the  auriferous  streams 
of  the  Carpathians ;  but  in  Hungary  as  elsewhere 
certain  bands  have  always  led  a  more  or  less  no- 
madic life,  practising  in  their  wanderings  the  callings 
customary  to  their  race  all  Europe  over.  In 
Hungary,  as  afterwards  in  Spain,  I  found  them 
acting  as  horse-dealers  and  doctors,  farriers,  fortune- 
tellers, thieves,  and  itinerant  musicians.  In  the  last 
respect,  however,  the  violin  was  their  usual  instru- 
ment in  Hungary,  whereas  in  Spain  the  guitar  and 
the  tamburine  prevailed. 

To  form  an  idea  of  the  Csardas  as  I  saw  it  danced 
occasionally  in  a  Hungarian  inn,  with  a  black, 
smoky  and  heavily  beamed  ceiling  and  mud  walls 
covered  with  a  kind  of  glaze,  the  reader  should 
picture  a  young,  tall,  lithe  Hungarian  peasant  in 
all  the  glory  of  attire  embroidered  with  coloured 

*  Czegdny  is  the  Hungarian  name  for  a  gipsy.    The  French  have 
changed  it  into  Tzigane,  and  in  Spain  it  becomes  Gitano. 

Q 


226  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

silks,  and  a  peasant  girl  with  a  suppleness  of  motion 
which  no  weight  of  petticoats  could  possibly  hamper. 
The  measure  is  at  first  a  slow  and  somewhat  melan- 
choly one.  The  two  dancers,  each  on  his  or  her  side, 
take  a  few  turns  up  and  down,  occasionally  clicking 
their  heels  together.  But  all  at  once  the  youth 
clasps  the  girl  by  the  waist  and  twirls  her  round  as  by 
right  of  conquest.  For  a  brief  interval  they  pirouette 
together,  and  then  abruptly  separate.  It  is  as  if 
there  had  been  a  quarrel,  as  if,  for  instance,  the  youth 
had  been  too  pressing  in  his  suit  on  such  slight 
acquaintance,  and  as  though  the  girl  had  resented  his 
presumption.  But  she  has  no  mind  to  let  him  leave 
her  for  another.  A  few  more  turns  are  taken  as 
before,  and  then  she  brings  all  the  resources  of 
coquetry  into  play.  She  advances  encouragingly, 
hesitates,  retreats ;  then  again  she  comes  forward, 
fanning  her  admirer's  passion  with  alluring  motions, 
and  as  her  abandon  increases  his  excitement  grows 
until,  carried  away  by  it,  he  strikes  the  back  of 
his  neck  with  both  hands,  giving  utterance  the  while 
to  guttural  cries  of  ecstasy.  And  suddenly  he  once 
more  clasps  his  charmer  round  the  waist,  and  they 
whirl  away  together  in  a  rapturous  transport. 

It  was  only  in  almost  wild  neighbourhoods  that 
I  saw  the  Csardas  danced  as  it  should  be  danced. 
At  balls  at  Budapest  I  found  but  a  pale  imitation 
of  it.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  city  was  already  more 
German  than  Magyar ;  the  Germans  constituting  at 
least  half  of  the  population  and  the  remaining  in- 
habitants consisting  of  Magyars,  Slovacks,  Serbs, 
and  Jews.  The  last  named  were  increasing  and 
multiplying  rapidly,  and  of  later  years  the  laws 
against  the  Jews  in  Roumania,  and  the  emigration 
of  many   members  of  the  chosen  race  from   that 


HUNGARY  227 

country,  further  augmented  the  number  of  Jews  in 
the  Hungarian  capital.  Reverting  to  the  Csardas, 
I  remember  seeing  it  danced  at  a  ball  given  at  the 
Redoute  Buildings  in  Pest,  but  the  great  ladies  who 
then  figured  in  it  evinced  none  of  the  laisser-aller  of 
the  Magyar  peasant  girls.  Among  those  who  were 
present  on  that  occasion  was  the  famous  Princess 
Pauline  Mettemich,  who  had  been  so  conspicuous 
in  the  Parisian  society  of  the  Second  Empire.  She 
was  of  Hungarian  birth,  being  the  daughter  of  a 
nobleman  well-known  for  his  daring  horsemanship. 
Often  had  she  figured  in  a  quadrille  d^honneur  at  the 
Tuileries,  and  waltzed  at  the  petits  Lundis  of  the 
Empress  Eugenie;  but  when  I  again  saw  her  at 
Budapest,  her  dancing  days  were  evidently  over, 
for  in  a  few  years  she,  once  so  slim,  had  become 
extremely  stout.  She  therefore  contented  herself 
with  promenading  about  the  great  hall  at  the 
Redoute,  escorted  the  while  by  quite  a  flock  of  young 
fellows,  whom  she  entertained  from  time  to  time 
with  some  of  the  pointed  witticisms  for  which  she 
was  famous. 

It  was  the  last  time  I  ever  saw  her ;  but  some 
years  later,  at  a  charity  f^te  in  the  garden  of  the 
vanished  Tuileries,  I  came  upon  the  two  ladies — 
the  Marquise  de  Galliffet  and  the  Comtesse  de 
Pourtales — ^who  had  been  her  rivals  and  intimates 
in  the  days  of  Napoleon  III.  Still  charming  and 
exquisitely  gowned,  they  were  in  charge  of  some 
stalls,  and  I  remember  obtaining  their  smiling 
permission  to  sketch  them,  or  rather  their  frocks,  for 
one  of  the  fashions'  supplements  which,  at  my 
father's  suggestion,  Frederick  Greenwood  decided 
to  issue  from  time  to  time  with  the  then  recently 
founded   St,    Jameses   Gazette.     Those   supplements 


228  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

were  the  forerunners  of  the  "  Ladies'  Pages,"  which 
have  more  recently  constituted  a  recognised  feature 
of  the  British  daily  Press. 

As  the  guests  of  Count  Francis  Zichy,  we — my 
father  and  I — spent  some  days  on  an  estate  of  his 
in  the  extreme  east  of  Hungary,  that  is  in  the  region 
where  the  Carpathian  spurs  descending  from 
Transylvania  unite  with  the  great  Hungarian  plain. 
On  the  outskirts  of  the  latter  at  this  point  there  is  a 
ringlike  chain  of  hills,  known  as  the  Er-Mellek.  For 
a  considerable  distance  the  slopes  are  gentle  and  the 
summits  nearly  level,  in  such  wise  that  both  sides 
and  plateaux  are  well  suited  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  vine.  Several  pretty  villages  and  small  towns 
are  scattered  over  the  Er  valley,  and  at  the  time  of 
our  visit  the  bulk  of  the  inhabitants  were  undoubtedly 
Magyars,  though  there  was  a  sprinkling  of  Rou- 
manians. Even  these,  however,  used  the  Magyar 
language,  and  followed  Magyar  customs,  excepting 
in  regard  to  religion,  their  faith  usually  being  that  of 
the  Greek  Church.  Across  the  Transylvanian  border 
the  Roumanians  were  (and  are)  extremely  numerous, 
and  it  is  claimed  for  them  that  they  were  settled 
there  long  before  the  Magyar  conquest. 

We  travelled  by  rail  as  far  as  Grosswardein, 
which  the  Hungarians  call  Nagy-Varad — an  ap- 
parently thriving  town  spread  out  on  both  sides  of 
the  river  Koros.  There  we  were  met  by  Count 
Zichy  with  a  carriage  drawn  by  three  swift  Hun- 
garian horses,  and  to  the  accompaniment  of  their 
tingling  bells  we  drove  towards  Er-Di6szegh  where 
the  Count's  property  was  situated.  For  a  wonder 
the  road  was  a  good  one,  but  that  was  explained  by 
the  fact  that  it  was  constantly  used  by  the  President 
of  the  district,  and  was  therefore  kept  in  proper 


HUNGARY  229 

repair.  After  passing  Piispoki  and  Bihar  we 
entered  a  wide  valley,  where  the  Transylvanian 
mountains  could  be  seen  on  our  left,  whilst  on  the 
other  hand  the  Puszta  spread  into  the  far  distance. 
Presently,  however,  after  leaving  Felegyhaza  we 
came  into  some  deep  open  country,  with  a  little 
stream  coursing  through  fields  of  grain  and  pasture 
land,  dotted  with  a  few  farmhouses.  In  this  way 
we  reached  Er-Didszegh,  a  petty  town  whose  sole 
attraction  was  the  surrounding  landscape. 

The  cultivation  of  the  vine  in  the  so-called 
Er-Mellek  then  extended  over  some  6000  acres,  and 
gave  employment  to  almost  all  the  inhabitants  of 
the  little  district.  The  wine  produced  averaged  a 
million  and  a  half  gallons  annually,  and  that  yielded 
by  Count  Zichy's  vineyards  was  invariably  sound, 
fresh,  too,  and  clean  tasting,  though  deficient  in 
specific  character.  The  Count  had  introduced  many 
improvements  both  in  cultivation  and  in  vinification 
— importing  and  experimenting  with  several  foreign 
vines  and  procuring  also  the  services  of  expert  vine- 
dressers from  the  Rhine.  Our  time  at  Er-Didszegh 
was  at  least  agreeably  spent,  for  it  gave  us  some 
insight  into  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  petty 
townfolk  and  the  peasantry,  and  with  the  help  of 
Count  Zichy's  fleet  horses  we  made  some  interesting 
excursions,  obtaining  on  one  occasion  a  gUmpse  of 
the  beautiful  hills  and  valleys,  the  hanging  woods 
and  the  deep  gorges  of  Transylvania.  Mr.  Paget 
had  repeatedly  pressed  my  father  to  visit  his  estate 
at  Szokef alva  where  he  had  brought  viticulture  and 
wine-making  to  a  high  state  of  perfection ;  but  it  was 
our  design  on  leaving  Count  Zichy's  to  proceed 
northward  to  the  famous  region  of  Tokay. 

With  this  object  we  at  first  set  out  for  Debreczin, 


230  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

which  in  old  times  ranked  virtually  as  the  capital 
of  the  Puszta.  In  the  "  forties,"  according  to 
Paget,  there  was  no  real  road  leading  to  it  or  going 
from  it  in  any  direction,  although  it  had  contained 
for  centuries  one  of  the  oldest  Calvinistic  colleges  in 
Hungary.  It  simply  stood  in  the  midst  of  that  great 
plain  where  the  traveller  seeking  his  way  had  to 
depend  on  the  chance  prints  of  a  horse's  hoofs,  or 
else  on  the  position  of  the  sun,  or  simply  on  his  own 
instinct.  Nowadays  Debreczin  is  doubtless  an  im- 
portant town,  for  the  maps  show  that  three  railway 
lines  meet  there.  In  the  year  of  grace,  1873,  how- 
ever, it  still  displayed  many  of  the  features  which 
Paget  had  noticed  long  previously.  There  was  no 
pavement  in  any  street.  You  trudged  through 
sand  in  summer  and  through  slush  at  other  seasons. 
Calvinistic  Protestants  predominated  among  the 
townsfolk,  but  there  was  also  a  Catholic  element. 
We  visited  the  chief  Protestant  church  for  the 
purpose  of  seeing  the  pulpit  from  which  Kossuth, 
at  the  time  of  the  great  insurrection,  proclaimed 
the  downfall  of  Austrian  rule  in  Hungary.  We  also 
saw  the  dying  lion  set  up  to  commemorate  the  battle 
of  Debreczin  fought  during  the  same  revolutionary 
period,  and  then  we  took  a  train  going  northward 
to  Tokay. 

We  found  the  little  town  to  be  one  of  some  5000 
people,  who  constituted  a  remarkable  medley  of 
races,  for  they  included  Magyars,  Germans,  Jews, 
Greeks,  and  Armenians — ^the  two  latter  elements 
being,  however,  largely  Magyarised.  Their  settle- 
ment in  this  district  may  have  dated,  perhaps,  from 
the  time  of  the  Turkish  sway.  In  one  respect  the 
different  races  kept  apart,  for  there  were  churches 
for  haK  a  dozen  religions,  including  two  branches  of 


HUNGARY  231 

the  Greek  faith.  The  town  stands  at  the  confluence 
of  the  rivers  Theiss  and  Bodrog,  below  the  most 
southern  spur  of  the  volcanic  Hegyallja  Chain, 
which  stretches  southward  from  the  Carpathians. 
The  district  is  over  a  score  of  miles  in  extent,  and 
about  a  fifth  of  the  area  is  planted  with  vines,  the 
steeper  slopes  being  terraced  for  that  purpose. 
The  first  Tokay  vineyards  were  planted  in  the 
thirteenth  century  by  King  Bela  IV,  who  is  said  to 
have  obtained  vines  and  vine-dressers  from  Italy ; 
but  the  principal  vine  nowadays  is  of  the  Furmint 
variety,  which  is  common  all  over  Hungary,  and  which 
may  also  be  noticed  in  various  parts  of  France,  such 
as  Languedoc  and  Touraine.  Several  other  varieties 
of  vines  will  be  found,  however,  in  the  Tokay  vine- 
yards, the  soil  of  which  is  mainly  a  kind  of  powdery 
brown  dust,  suggesting  that  of  parts  of  northern 
Africa.  It  is  free  from  sand  and  gravel,  but  frag- 
ments of  basalt  and  porphyry,  with  such  stones  as 
cats'-eyes  and  cornelians  are  to  be  found  in  it. 

Philip-Augustus  of  France  once  proclaimed 
Cyprus  to  be  the  Pope  of  Wines;  but  at  Trent, 
during  the  famous  Council  of  the  Church,  Pope 
Paul  III  declared  to  the  prelates  whom  he  met  there 
that  Tokay  alone  was  worthy  of  the  Papal  throne. 
Several  Russian  sovereigns  were  equally  infatuated 
respecting  the  wine's  merits,  and  there  is  a  story  that 
they  constantly  kept  a  detachment  of  troops  on  the 
Hungarian  frontier  in  order  to  be  sure  of  securing  a 
share  of  the  Tokay  vintage.  Towards  the  end  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  however,  an  English  traveller 
named  Townson,  who  visited  Hungary,  expressed 
the  opinion  that  Tokay  was  not  worth  the  price  it 
cost,  and  that  most  of  his  countrymen  would  much 
prefer  good  claret  or  burgundy.     There  were,   he 


232  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

added,  just  as  good  liqueur  wines  in  Spain,  and 
unless  Tokay  was  very  old  it  was  far  too  syrupy  to 
appeal  to  the  English  palate.  There  is  considerable 
truth  in  Townson's  remark. 

The  softest  wine  of  the  district  has  always  been 
vintaged  on  the  slopes  known  as  Mezes-Male  (the 
honeycomb)  in  the  parish  of  Tarkzal  near  Tokay  ;  the 
produce  of  the  Tallya  slopes  has  a  deeper  colour ; 
and  that  of  Zambor  more  strength.  Three  principal 
kinds  of  Tokay  are  made — the  Essenz,  the  Ausbruch, 
and  the  Maslas,  the  first-named  being  remarkable 
for  its  lusciousness,  its  powerful  flavour  and  its  rich 
bouquet.  Ausbruch  may  be  sweet  or  dry  according 
to  the  quantity  of  dried  grapes  (from  which  all 
moisture  has  departed)  that  may  enter  into  its 
composition.  Maslas  is  the  produce  of  ordinary 
ripe  grapes,  steeped  in  the  lees  of  the  finer  varieties 
of  wine.  There  is  also  a  kind  called  Szamorodner 
made  from  grapes  from  which  the  ripest  berries  have 
not  previously  been  plucked  for  either  Essenz  or 
Ausbruch,  and  this  wine — if  there  are  many  shrivelled 
berries  on  the  bunches — will  at  times  equal  the 
higher  priced  Ausbruch. 

During  our  visit  we  inspected  the  vineyards  of 
the  Emperor  Francis-Joseph  and  found  that  they 
were  favoured  by  a  remarkably  good  aspect  and 
were  extremely  well  cultivated.  But  they  were 
of  no  great  extent,  and  it  has  not  infrequently 
happened  that  the  Emperor  has  had  to  buy  wine 
of  other  growers  in  order  to  prevent  any  diminution 
of  the  stock  kept  at  Vienna  and  known  as  Imperial 
Tokay.  It  used  to  be  his  practice  to  send  presents 
of  this  wine  to  fellow  monarchs  and  simdry  per- 
sonages of  inferior  rank  whom  he  condescended  to 
honour.     Of  somewhat  more  recent  years  it  was 


HUNGARY  233 

decided  to  place  small  parcels  of  Imperial  Tokay, 
bearing  the  labels  of  the  Court  cellars  and  distinctive 
seals,  at  the  disposal  of  the  wine  trade.  I  have  before 
me  an  English  wine-merchant's  Hst  of  the  latter  part  of 
1915,  and  I  notice  that  against  the  "  Imperial  Dry  " 
and  the  "  Imperial  Szamorodny  "  there  figures  the 
significant  mention :  "  Shipment  stopped."  The 
firm  in  question,  however,  was  still  offering  a  small 
quantity  of  the  Imperial  Essenz  (imported  prior  to 
the  Great  War)  at  the  extremely  moderate  price  of 
250s.  a  dozen  !  Our  defunct  compatriot,  Townson, 
would  doubtless  have  declared  that  it  was  not  worth 
the  money. 

Owing  to  the  uncertain  climatic  conditions  the 
quantity  of  wine  vintaged  in  the  Tokay  district 
varies  extremely — ^ranging  from  500,000  gallons  in 
bad  years  to  four  times  as  much  in  abundant  ones. 
The  really  superior  wine  represents  but  15  per  cent, 
of  the  entire  produce,  and  only  a  quarter  of  the 
superior  wine  is  of  the  finest  quality.  This  circum- 
stance, combined  with  the  elaborate  system  of 
vinification,  naturally  tends  to  augment  the  price  of 
the  best  kinds.  Moreover,  only  seven  or  eight 
vintages  of  really  fine  quahty  occur  in  a  period  of 
twenty  years.  Tokay,  I  may  add,  has  one  merit 
from  the  medical  point  of  view :  It  contains  more 
phosphoric  acid  than  is  to  be  found  in  any  other  wine, 
excepting  Malaga. 


A   GLIMPSE   OF  BOHEMIA. 

Bohemian  Sway  in  the  Thirteenth  Century — ^The  Great  Przemysl  or  Ottokar 
— Shakespeare,  Greene,  and  the  Bohemian  Coast — Prague  and  John 
Hus — ^The  Two  Defenestrations — The  Winter  King  and  the  White 
Hill — Austrian  Rule  in  Bohemia — The  Czechs  of  Prague  in  the 
Seventies — Police  Spies  and  Conspiracies — ^The  Great  Bridge  of 
Prague  and  St.  John  Nepomuk — The  Hradschin,  the  Tyn  Church, 
and  George  of  Podiebrad — Pilsen  and  its  Beer — Memories  of  Wallen- 
stein — His  Assassination  at  Eger — Briinn  and  the  Moravians — 
Austerlitz,  Koniggratz  and  their  Battlefields. 

There  was  a  period  in  the  thirteenth  century  when 
the  sway  of  the  Bohemian  crown  extended  from  the 
Baltic  to  the  Adriatic.  It  was  the  time  of  the  second 
King  Ottokar,  a  prince  of  the  Przemysl  line,  and 
one  whom  patriotic  Czechs  still  call  Przemysl  II — 
Ottokar  (Otto  Karl  ?)  being  a  German  name  which 
he  is  said  to  have  assumed  after  espousing  an 
Austrian  duchess  of  the  Babenberg  house.  What 
connection  there  may  have  been  between  this 
monarch  and  the  Galician  fortress  which  figured 
so  prominently  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  Great 
War  I  cannot  say.  Przemysl  town  was  then,  we 
know,  inhabited  chiefly  by  Ruthenians,  professing 
the  Greek  faith  and  having  a  bishop  belonging  to 
that  Church,  though  a  Catholic  prelate  was  also 
installed  there.  Of  the  significance  of  the  name  of 
Przemysl  I  know  nothing,  but  I  have  noticed  in 
maps  of  Poland  more  than  one  place-name  ending 

234 


BOHEMIA  235 

with  the  letters  "  mysl."  The  Poles,  of  course,  are 
Slavs,  like  the  Czechs,  and  some  names  may  be 
common  to  both  nations.  It  was,  as  I  mentioned 
in  a  previous  chapter,  in  honour  of  Przemysl  or 
Ottokar  II  that  the  Teutonic  Kjiights  bestowed  the 
name  of  Konigsberg  on  the  capital  of  Prussia  proper, 
he  being  their  ally  and  upholder.  He  proved  an 
extremely  ambitious  monarch,  and  carried  his 
authority  far  and  wide.  There  is  historical  warrant 
for  asserting  that  the  Venetians  were  greatly  per- 
turbed when  the  Bohemian  ruler  secured  possession 
of  a  part  of  the  Adriatic  shore.  The  fear  of  any 
powerful  monarch  installing  himself  thereabouts, 
prompted  their  subsequent  annexation  of  some  of  the 
Dalmatian  islands  and  certain  points  on  the  coast, 
but  they  often  had  trouble  with  the  Slavs  who  dwelt 
there,  Zara,  for  instance,  repeatedly  revolting  against 
Venetian  rule. 

I  do  not  know  who  was  the  first  to  hold  our  great 
national  poet  up  to  ridicule  for  alluding  to  the 
"Bohemian  coast"  in  "The  Winter's  Tale."  It 
might  at  least  have  been  conceded  in  his  favour 
that  he  had  only  followed  in  this  respect  the  story 
by  Kobert  Greene  on  which  he  undoubtedly  based 
his  play.  Greene,  it  is  known,  travelled  in  northern 
Italy,  and,  though  he  lived  three  centuries  after  the 
time  of  King  Ottokar,  it  is  not  impossible  that  whilst 
he  was  in  Italy  he  heard  some  legend,  some  story, 
of  the  days  when  Venice  had  regarded  Ottokar's 
proximity  as  a  threat  to  her  Adriatic  sovereignty. 
Passing  to  Shakespeare,  we  find  the  opening  scenes  of 
"  The  Winter's  Tale  "  laid  in  Sicily.  When  King 
Polixenes  flees  with  Camillo  to  Bohemia  he  should  be 
pictured  sailing  past  the  toe-cap  and  the  heel  of 
the  Italian  boot,  and  thence  up  the  Adriatic  to  some 


236  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

point  of  the  Illyrian  shore.  And  thither  also  goes 
the  infant  Perdita  in  the  storm-driven  ship  which 
carries  her.  Briefly,  Shakespeare  would  never  have 
been  subjected  to  derision  had  his  critics  known  some- 
thing of  Bohemian  history.  It  is  true,  however,  that 
the  sway  of  the  ambitious  Ottokar  did  not  last  very 
long.  He  was  overthrown  in  1276  by  Eudolph  of 
Hapsburg,  who  then  made  Vienna  the  seat  of  his 
dynasty.  Behind  the  high  altar  in  the  cathedral 
of  Prague  the  visitor  is  shown  the  reputed  tomb  of 
one  who  was  the  greatest  of  the  old  Bohemian 
rulers. 

Prague  is  a  city  of  abiding  memories.  It  bulks 
largely  in  the  history  of  the  Eeformation,  for  there, 
following  WycUffe,  and  preceding  Luther  and  Calvin, 
arose  John  Hus  and  his  friend  Jerome.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  both  were  in  turn  arraigned  before 
the  Council  of  Constance,  convicted  of  heresy  and 
burnt  at  the  stake,  their  ashes  being  afterwards  cast 
into  the  Rhine.  But  the  seed  they  had  sown  bore 
fruit.  Their  martyrdom  only  served  to  increase 
the  number  of  their  adherents,  and  a  long  religious 
war  ensued.  I  recollect  seeing  at  Prague  an  old 
tower  attached  to  a  modern  courthouse,  and  being 
told  that  the  Hussite  wars  originated  in  that  tower  in 
1419.  It  seems  that  a  number  of  Hussites  had  been 
arrested  and  imprisoned  there,  but  their  friends, 
led  by  John  Ziska  of  Trocknow,  who  had  become  chief 
of  the  more  democratic  Reformers,  burst  in  and 
deUvered  them  after  throwing  the  representatives 
of  King  Wenceslas  IV  out  of  the  windows.  That 
precedent  for  "  defenestration "  was  followed  on 
a  much  better  known  occasion.  Two  centuries 
had  almost  elapsed  when  Matthias  of  Hapsburg, 
German  Emperor,  and  also  King  of  Bohemia  and 


BOHEMIA  237 

Hungary,  despatched  four  counsellors  to  Prague 
to  report  concerning  the  complaints  of  the  Bohemian 
Protestants.  These  envoys  were  deliberating  in 
the  council  chamber  at  the  Burg  when  the  Count 
of  Thurn  came  in,  followed  by  an  armed  multitude. 
He  inquired  if  it  were  true  that  the  counsellors  had 
ordered  the  Protestant  places  of  worship  to  be  pulled 
down,  and  when  instead  of  replying  to  that  question 
they  angrily  ordered  him  and  his  adherents  to  retire, 
two  of  them,  named  Martinitz  and  Slawata,  and  one  of 
their  secretaries,  were  summarily  seized  and  bundled 
out  of  a  window  like  the  royal  representatives  of 
Ziska's  time.  They  were  precipitated,  it  is  said, 
from  a  height  of  forty  feet,  but  escaped  with  their 
lives,  as  (the  Burg  being  moated)  they  fell  into  some 
mud  from  which  they  were  extricated  by  their  friends. 
Nevertheless,  this  act  of  violence — the  historic 
Defenestration  of  Prague — ^had  momentous  con- 
sequences, for  it  immediately  led  to  the  Thirty 
Years  War.* 

Little  more  than  twelve  months  elapsed,  however, 
before  the  fate  of  Protestantism  in  Bohemia  was 
sealed.  The  Protestant  Czechs  had  elected  as  their 
ruler  Frederick  V  of  the  Palatinate,  the  husband  of 
James  I's  daughter  Ehzabeth,  and  commonly  known 
as  the  "  Winter  King."  He  attempted  to  defend 
Prague  against  Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  chief  of  the 
Catholic  League,  and  gave  battle  on  the  famous 
White  Hill  which  rises  about  a  mile  or  so  from  the 
city  on  its  western  side.  In  less  than  an  hour, 
Frederick  and  his  men  were  routed  by  the  Bavarians, 
and  he  had  to  flee  for  his  life.     Jubilant  Catholics 

*  Inside  the  Burg,  when  I  visited  it,  I  was  shown  the  portraits  of  Slawata 
and  his  colleagues,  and  outside  I  perceived  two  obelisks  commemorating 
their  fall. 


238  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

set  up  a  painting  of  his  flight  in  the  cathedral  of 
Prague,  and  erected  a  pilgrimage  church  on  the  site 
of  his  defeat.  From  that  time  onward  the  Czech 
nation  had  to  submit  to  the  German,  otherwise 
Austrian,  yoke.  More  than  a  score  of  nobles  who 
did  not  flee  the  country  immediately  after  the  battle 
of  the  White  Hill  were  executed  in  the  market  place 
of  Prague.  The  population  was  reduced  from  four 
millions  to  less  than  one  million  people.  Thousands 
wandered  into  exile.  The  lands  of  Protestants 
were  confiscated  and  given  to  German  settlers. 
Germanisation  and  forced  conversion  to  Catholicism 
went  on  apace.  The  Czech  language  was  suppressed, 
the  schools  were  closed,  and  the  University  founded 
by  the  popular  Bohemian  King  Charles  IV,  was 
appropriated  as  a  college  by  the  Jesuits. 

Ferdinand  of  Hapsbiu'g  declared  that  the  crown 
should  no  longer  be  elective,  but  hereditary  in  his 
own  line.  Nevertheless  the  Austrian  rulers  never 
fully  effected  their  piu-pose.  Since  Hus's  time  there 
had  often  been  estrangement  between  the  nobility, 
the  burghers,  and  the  peasantry,  and  the  German 
or  Austrian  party  had  done  its  best  to  fan  antagonism 
and  to  profit  by  it.  But  the  oppressive  rule  which 
followed  the  battle  of  the  White  Hill  tended  to  bring 
all  classes  together  again.*  During  the  revolutionary 
turmoil  of  1848,  a  great  Slav  congress  was  held  at 
Prague  and  resolutions  were  passed  claiming  freedom 
and  independence  for  every  Slav  nationality. 
Francis-Joseph's  reply  to  that  demand  was  to  disperse 
the  congress  by  force.  Another  unhappy  period 
ensued.     The  efforts  to  Germanise  the  Czechs  were 

*  Prague  experienced  great  sufferings  during  the  Seven  Years'  War, 
when  it  was  eventually  taken  by  Frederick  the  Great.  The  retreat  effected 
by  Marshal  de  Broghe  with  the  much  diminished,  emaciated,  and  famished 
French  army,  ranks  as  one  of  the  great  retreats  in  military  history. 


BOHEMIA  239 

prosecuted  yet  more  vigorously.  Prague,  too,  was 
overrun  by  soldiery  and  police-spies.  Nevertheless 
the  Czechs  did  not  waver  in  their  aspirations,  but 
sedulously  preserved  both  their  language  and  their 
customs. 

When  I  visited  Prague  in  1873  there  was  some 
relaxation  of  the  hitherto  rigorous  Austrian  rule, 
and  the  Czechs,  who  formed  rather  more  than  half 
of  the  population — ^the  remainder  being  Germans — 
nourished  hopes  of  much  better  times.  They  had 
been  inspirited  by  the  establishment  of  constitutional 
rule  which  Hungary  owed  to  the  efforts  of  her  last 
great  patriot,  Francis  Deak,  and  the  willingness  of 
Count  von  Beust.  The  Emperor,  however,  was 
by  no  means  prepared  to  grant  to  the  Czechs  what 
he  had  been  constrained  to  grant  to  the  Magyars. 
He  had  adopted  the  pet  policy  of  his  dynasty — the 
Germanisation  of  the  whole  Bohemian  race.  The 
Magyars  were  not  Slavs,  but  the  Czechs  were,  and 
that  made  all  the  difference,  particularly  as  certain 
Czech  leaders  had  more  than  once  looked  beyond 
their  country  in  the  direction  of  Russia,  the  great 
Slav  empire,  and  this  although  Russia  could  not  at 
that  time  be  regarded  as  a  liberal  State. 

In  the  seventies  I  found  the  German  element 
lording  it  in  Prague,  and  treating  the  Czechs  with 
contempt.  Each  nationality  had  its  separate 
societies,  clubhouses,  restaurants,  and  cafes,  those 
frequented  by  the  Czechs  being  constantly  haunted 
by  poUce  spies,  several  of  whom  were  perfectly  well 
known,  in  such  wise  that  when  one  of  them  entered 
some  crowded  establishment  the  hubbub  of  conversa- 
tion abruptly  ceased  and  was  followed  by  dead 
silence.  Such  incidents  reminded  me  of  Paris  in 
the  last  years  of  the  Second  Empire.     That  there 


240  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

was  some  plotting  goes  without  saying,  and  in  the 
ensuing  decades  the  Austrian  authorities  had  diffi- 
culties with  various  secret  societies,  notably  that 
called  the  "  Omladina,"  a  word  signifying  rejuvenes- 
cence. On  the  other  hand,  the  police  spies  often 
stumbled  upon  what  was  really  a  mare's  nest, 
though  they  would  never  admit  that  such  was  the 
case,  the  result  being  that  petty  offences  were  visited 
with  excessive  punishment. 

During  the  early  stages  of  the  Great  War  the 
Austrian  authorities  courted  favour  with  this 
stubborn  little  nation,  which  has  for  so  many  cen- 
turies persisted  in  its  ideals  and  refused  to  be 
Germanised  in  spite  of  the  great  influx  of  Germans 
in  its  midst.  After  the  Russian  retreat  from 
Galicia,  however,  the  ruling  race  speedily  revived 
its  system  of  oppression,  arresting  many  Czech 
deputies  and  municipal  councillors  and  suppressing 
even  athletic  societies  on  suspicion  of  disloyalty 
to  Austrian  rule.  How  far  these  suspicions  may  have 
been  justified  it  is  impossible  to  say.  It  is  known 
that  a  Czech  regiment  was  censured  by  the  Emperor 
Francis-Joseph  and  disbanded  owing  to  a  charge  of 
cowardice  preferred  against  it ;  but  that  cowardice 
may  merely  have  been  a  refusal  to  fight  for  a  monarch 
from  whose  sway  the  men  would  have  preferred  to 
be  delivered. 

One  of  the  most  striking  features  of  Prague  is 
the  old  Karlsbriicke,  spannirig  the  Moldau.  It  is 
so  called  in  memory  of  the  popular  King  (and 
Emperor)  Charles  IV,  in  whose  reign  it  was  begun. 
You  are  impressed  by  its  towers  of  defence  and  the 
statues  and  groups  of  saints  which  on  either  side 
surmount  its  many  buttresses.  A  number  of  these 
statues  are  modern,  but  others  date  back  to  quite 


BOHEMIA  241 

the  seventeenth  century,  as  does  a  crucifix  which, 
according  to  an  inscription  below  it,  was  set  up  in 
1606  at  the  expense  of  a  Jew  who  was  thereby- 
punished  for  reviKng  the  holy  cross.  Among  the 
statues  is  one  of  the  patron  saint  of  the  three  kindred 
states  of  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and  Slovakia — St.  John 
Nepomuk — ^who  is,  I  think,  also  regarded  in  some 
parts  as  the  patron  of  bridges.  In  any  case,  in  1382 
he  was  flung  into  the  Moldau  from  the  Karlsbriicke 
by  order  of  Wenceslas  IV  on  account  of  his  refusal 
to  reveal  what  the  latter' s  wife  had  confided  to  him 
in  confession.  There  is  a  legend  that  St.  John  was 
borne  down  the  Moldau,  floating  on  its  surface,  with 
five  bright  stars  hovering  above  his  head. 

Another  feature  of  Prague  which  I  recall  is  the 
old  Hradschin  or  capitol,  to  which  one  climbs  up 
a  couple  of  himdred  steps,  and  where  one  finds  the 
imperial  Burg,  the  cathedral,  the  archbishop's  and 
other  palaces.  The  cathedral  is  full  of  shrines, 
monuments,  tombs,  mosaics,  frescoes  and  old  wood 
carvings.  Another  interesting  church  is  the  so- 
called  Teynkirche  in  the  Ring,  a  fifteenth  century 
edifice,  now  given  over  to  Catholicism  but  formerly 
associated  with  the  Hussites.  The  remains  of  George 
of  Podiebrad,  the  King  of  Hussite  faith,  who  main- 
tained it  during  a  reign  of  fifteen  years,  rest  in  Prague 
Cathedral,  but  he  was  crowned  at  the  Teynkirche  * 
in  1458,  and  it  was  over  its  front  that  he  set  up  a 
large  gilded  chalice  as  an  emblem  of  the  people's 
right  to  receive  the  Blessed  Sacrament  in  both 
kinds — ^that  being  an  essential  point  of  Hussite 
doctrine.  A  figure  of  the  Virgin  has  long  replaced 
King  George's  cup.  His  heart,  I  believe,  was  for 
a  time  preserved  at  the  Teynkirche,  but  after  the 

*  The  Czechs  call  it  the  Tyn  church, 

B 


242  IN   SEVEN  LANDS 

defeat  of  Protestantism  the  Jesuits  appropriated  and 
burned  it. 

From  Vienna  we  made — my  father  and  I — a  trip 
to  Pilsen,  famous  for  its  beer.  Wine  being  scarce 
in  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  beer  is  the  staple  beverage 
there.  Pilsner  lager  is  known  in  England,  but  I 
never  knew  any  tasted  by  me  in  this  country  to  equal 
that  which  was  served  to  me  on  the  spot,  or  even  at 
Vienna.  Pilsner  has  less  strength  than  the  ordinary 
Viennese  beer,  and  whereas  there  is  nothing  in  the 
latter's  taste  to  suggest  the  hop,  genuine  Pilsner  is 
distinguished  by  a  strong  bitter  flavour,  imparted 
to  it  by  the  hops  grown  at  Saaz,  a  little  town  on  the 
Eger,  which  like  Pilsen  itself  was  once  a  Hussite 
fortress.  At  Pilsen  we  visited  three  or  four  breweries 
— including  a  very  old  one  hewn  in  the  rock — ^for  the 
purposes  of  my  father's  Exhibition  report ;  and  then, 
having  a  day  or  two  to  spare,  we  decided  to  go  on 
to  the  old  town  of  Eger,  which  is  so  closely  associated 
with  the  memory  of  the  famous  Wallenstein. 

Prague  and  Pilsen  also  are  connected  with  him. 
In  the  Bohemian  capital  stands  a  palace  which  he 
built  for  himself  in  his  days  of  magnificence,  and  at 
Pilsen,  it  is  said,  originated  the  conspiracy  which, 
according  to  his  accusers,  was  to  have  made  him  an 
independent  sovereign  prince.  There,  at  any  rate,  a 
score  of  his  alleged  adherents  were  executed  soon  after 
his  assassination  at  Eger.  Schiller  has  helped  to 
immortalise  the  memory  of  this  doughty  captain  of 
the  Thirty  Years'  War,  to  whom  life  meant  but  "  a 
battle  and  a  march,"  and  who  could  say  of  himseK 
and  his  companions : 

"  We  stormed  across  the  war-convulsed  earth 
Like  some  fierce  blast  of  never -resting  wind." 

He   was   of   Slavonic   extraction   and   a   native   of 


BOHEMIA  243 

Bohemia,  the  ancestral  castle  of  his  family — still 
represented  by  the  Counts  of  Waldstein,  which 
form  of  the  name  is  the  more  correct  one  * — standing 
near  Turnau  on  the  Iser  between  Reichenberg  and 
Prague.  Several  relics  of  the  great  commander 
are  preserved  there,  but  the  best  portrait  of  him, 
and  one  of  the  few  really  authentic  ones,  is  at  the 
ancient  and  stately  castle  of  Friedland,  just  within 
the  northern  Bohemian  border.  Wallenstein  derived 
his  title  of  Duke  of  Friedland  from  that  mediaeval 
stronghold  which  he  acquired  by  purchase,  and  which 
now  belongs  to  the  Clam-Gallas  family. 

His  parents  were  in  modest  circumstances,  and 
one  of  his  uncles.  Count  Slawata,  largely  took  charge 
of  him  during  his  boyhood.  He  derived  his  earlier 
education  from  the  Moravian  Brethren,  but  disliked 
their  strict  rules,  and  in  his  youth  became  converted 
to  Catholicism.  Marriage  made  him  a  wealthy 
man.  His  first  wife,  Lucretia  Nikossie  von  Landach, 
was  a  very  rich  Moravian  widow,  and  on  her  death  he 
inherited  all  her  property.  Fxu'ther  worldly  advan- 
tages were  conferred  upon  him  by  his  second  marriage, 
for  on  this  occasion  his  bride  was  the  daughter  of 
Count  Harrach,  one  of  the  most  princely  of  the 
Austrian  nobles.  Thus,  at  a  comparatively  early 
stage  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  Wallenstein  was  able 
to  raise  an  army  of  some  50,000  men,  with  whom  he 
fought  successfully  against  the  Saxon  Protestant 
League,  relieved  his  compeer  the  famous  Tilly,  and 
afterwards  conquered  the  Duchy  of  Meckenburg, 
which  the  Hapsburg  Emperor,  Ferdinand  II, 
momentarily  bestowed  on  him  by  way  of  reward. 
When,  however,  he  laid  siege  to  Stralsund,  the 
second  of  the  Baltic  Hanse  ports,  vowing  that  he 

*  Among  the  variants  are  Waldenstein,  Wallenstein,  and  Walstein. 


244  IN   SEVEN  LANDS 

would  capture  it  "even  though  it  were  chained  to 
heaven,"  its  inhabitants,  with  the  help  of  some 
Danes  and  some  Swedes,  resisted  him  so  stoutly 
that,  after  losing  more  than  10,000  men,  he  was  forced 
to  abandon  his  enterprise. 

Later,  having  inciu-red  the  imperial  displeasure, 
he  withdrew  to  Bohemia,  where  his  wealth  enabled 
him  to  lead  a  life  of  almost  regal  magnificence. 
Suddenly,  however,  his  sovereign  again  appealed 
for  his  assistance.  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  hero  of 
Protestantism,  had  defeated  the  imperial  com- 
manders, Tilly  and  Pappenheim,  at  Breitenfeld 
near  Leipzig,  and  was  pushing  southward.  Forth- 
with Wallenstein  raised  another  army  and  marched 
against  the  Swedish  monarch.  Circumstances 
compelled  him  to  entrench  himself  between  Fiirth 
and  Nuremberg,  and  Gustavus  vainly  attacked  him 
there.  The  Catholic  lines  were  assailed  six  times 
in  succession,  but  they  proved  impregnable,  and 
the  Protestants  were  compelled  to  retreat. 

Two  months  later  the  fortune  of  war  differed. 
To  the  south  of  Liitzen,  which  is  not  far  from  Leipzig, 
a  block  of  granite,  inscribed  *'  G.  A.  1632,"  marks  the 
spot  where  Gustavus  Adolphus  fell — Uke  Nelson — 
in  the  hour  of  victory.  A  willow  used  to  overhang 
the  stone  in  sorrowing  beauty,  but  modern  Germany 
has  preferred  to  raise  a  Gothic  roof  above  it.  The 
battle  was  determined  by  swiftness  of  coup  d^oeil,  in 
which  respect  it  has  been  compared  with  Welling- 
ton's victory  over  Marmont  at  Salamanca,  though 
the  latter  engagement  was  far  more  rapidly  con- 
certed. With  Wellington,  indeed,  it  was  simply 
a  question  of  inspecting  the  enemy  through  his 
telescope  and  then  giving  orders  to  charge  ;  whereas 
the  Swedish  king's  operations  were  spread  over  far 


BOHEMIA  245 

more  time  and  space.  He  first  ascertained  his 
enemy's  dispositions  by  his  despatches,  and  then 
marched  towards  the  spot  where  he  knew  he  would 
find  him.  But,  allowing  for  that  difference,  Gustavus 
hesitated  no  more  than  did  Wellington,  and  the 
promptness  of  his  decision  gave  his  army  the  victory 
in  which  he  himself  lost  his  life.  When  the  defeated 
Wallenstein  heard  of  his  great  rival's  death  he  re- 
mained for  a  moment  thoughtful,  and  then  remarked  : 
"  Heaven  ordained  it.  Germany  was  not  vast 
enough  to  hold  us  both  " — words  which  Bismarck 
is  said  to  have  paraphrased  in  1866,  when  Austria 
was  driven  out  of  Germany,  leaving  Prussia  pre- 
ponderant there. 

From  Liitzen  Wallenstein  again  retired  to 
Bohemia,  where  several  officers  were  arraigned  and 
executed  for  having  caused  the  recent  defeat  by 
their  alleged  cowardice.  Before  long,  however,  the 
general  is  said  to  have  engaged  in  intrigues  with 
the  Saxons,  Swedes,  and  French.  He  received  the 
Emperor's  orders  to  march  against  the  Protestant 
forces,  but  remained  inactive.  He  was  apparently 
angered  at  certain  military  appointments  being 
conferred  on  men  with  whom  he  was  at  variance, 
but  there  is  also  evidence  to  show  that  he  desired 
to  bring  the  war  which  was  devastating  Germany 
to  an  end.  He  was  willing  to  march  against  the 
Swedes  and  the  French,  but  he  wished  to  arrange  a 
separate  peace  with  the  Saxons,  the  Brandenburgers, 
and  the  Bohemians,  by  granting  them  the  right  to 
profess  the  Protestant  religion.  At  one  moment, 
however,  he  hesitated,  and  on  the  Saxons  refusing 
to  join  him  against  the  Swedes,  he  drove  them  out 
of  Silesia.  But  he  afterwards  renewed  negotiations, 
and  when  his  soldiers  captured  the  notorious  Count 


246  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

Thurn,  the  principal  figure  in  the  Defenestration  of 
Prague,  he  ordered  the  prisoner's  release  instead  of 
sending  him  under  escort  to  Vienna.  The  Jesuits, 
who  were  very  powerful  with  Ferdinand,  thereupon 
denounced  Wallenstein  as  a  traitor.  The  charge 
was  supported  by  the  fact  that  on  being  ordered  to 
march  against  Bernhard  of  Weimar  he  did  so  faint- 
heartedly and  speedily  retreated.  The  truth  appears 
to  be  that  he  had  reverted  to  the  scheme  of  joining 
the  German  Protestants  in  order  to  impose  a  peaceful 
settlement  on  the  ultra-bigoted  Emperor. 

His  accusers  asserted,  however,  that  he  was  bent 
on  severing  Bohemia  from  the  Austrian  dominions, 
and  assuming  the  crown  of  the  old  Czech  kings. 
That  charge  must  be  regarded  with  some  suspicion, 
for  it  emanated  from  the  Jesuit  party  which  sur- 
rounded the  Emperor.  The  story  runs,  however, 
that  an  astrologer  who  was  attached  to  Wallenstein's 
household  had  prophesied  to  him  that  he  would  some 
day  wear  a  crown.  This  astrologer,  called  Seni  by 
Schiller  and  others,  was  really  named  John  Baptist 
Zenno,  and  was  a  native  of  Genoa.  He  had  studied 
at  Padua,  and  entered  Wallenstein's  service  in  1629. 
The  evidence  that  the  general  attached  any  real 
importance  to  Zenno's  predictions  is  of  the  flimsiest 
character ;  and  there  is  nothing  at  all  to  show 
that  he  consulted  him  on  military  matters.  Nor 
is  there  aught  to  prove  the  allegation  that  Zenno 
ultimately  prophesied  to  his  patron  that  he  would 
soon  be  cast  into  a  dungeon  from  which  he  would 
never  emerge.  Towards  the  end  of  January,  1634, 
however,  the  Emperor  signed  a  secret  patent  re- 
moving Wallenstein  from  his  command.  At  that 
time  the  general  was  occupying  the  fortified  town  of 
Eger  with  a  considerable  part  of  his  forces,  and  it  is 


BOHEMIA  247 

alleged  that  his  junction  with  the  Protestants  was 
imminent. 

I  now  come  to  matters  which  are  of  more  interest 
to  British  readers,  and  which  must  be  my  excuse 
for  having  dealt  in  some  detail  with  Wallenstein's 
previous  career.  His  troops  included  about  1000 
Scotch  and  Irish,  officered  chiefly  by  countrymen 
of  their  own.  With  them,  or  at  the  head  of  other 
regiments,  were  several  men  whose  names  have 
come  down  to  us  in  connection  with  the  assassination 
of  Wallenstein  and  his  principal  adherents.  One  of 
these  men  was  a  certain  Major  Walter  LesHe,  born 
in  1606,  and  second  son  of  John  Leslie,  laird  of 
Balquhain.  Leslie,  who  was  an  ardent  Catholic, 
is  said  to  have  discovered  Wallenstein's  intention 
to  betray  Eger  to  the  Protestants,  and  to  have  re- 
vealed this  to  his  superior  officer.  Colonel  John 
Gordon,  who  had  a  force  of  800  dragoons  under  him, 
and  was  also  in  command  of  Eger.  Gordon  lived 
and  died  a  Protestant,  resisting  all  attempts  to  con- 
vert him,  though,  as  a  soldier  of  fortune,  he  fought 
quite  willingly  for  the  CathoHc  cause.  He  was  a 
collateral  ancestor  of  Lord  Byron,  his  father  being  a 
certain  Captain  John  Gordon,  and  his  great  grand- 
father. Sir  WiUiam  Gordon,  first  laird  of  Gight. 
The  record  of  these  Gordons  of  Gight  was  largely 
one  of  acts  of  violence,  murder,  assaults,  duelling,  and 
suicides. 

Among  the  comrades  of  LesUe  and  Gordon 
were  several  Irish  officers,  the  most  prominent  of 
them  being  Colonel  John  Butler,  son  of  Peter  Butler, 
of  Roscrea,  in  the  province  of  Munster,  and  a  member 
of  the  historic  Butler  family.  He  was  a  particular 
friend  of  the  Lord  Taafe  who  entered  the  Austrian 
service,  and  whose  descendants  may  still  be  found 


248  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

in  Austria.  Among  Butler's  other  friends  was 
Major  Walter  Geraldine,  who  served  under  him  at 
Eger.  There  also  might  be  found  Captain  Walter 
Devereux,  Captain  Edmond  Bourke,  Captain  Daniel 
Macdonald,  an  Ulster  Cathohc,  and  a  Captain  Brown, 
who  may  have  been  an  Englishman. 

Now,  when  Major  Leslie  informed  Colonel  Gordon 
that  Wallenstein  meditated  treason,  he  also  urged, 
it  is  asserted,  the  necessity  of  preventing  any  such 
thing  by  despatching  the  general  and  his  more 
trusty  officers.  These  included  Colonel  Count 
Tertzky  (or  Trczka),  Colonel  Count  Kinsky,  Colonel 
lUo  (or  How),  and  an  officer  named  Neumann  or 
Niemann,  who  acted  as  Wallenstein' s  secretary. 
Leslie,  it  is  alleged,  pointed  out  to  Gordon  that 
immediate  steps  must  be  taken  to  get  rid  of  these 
men,  for  there  was  no  time  to  communicate  with  the 
Emperor,  as  the  Protestant  forces  might  arrive  at 
any  moment.  Gordon  at  first  refused  to  entertain 
LesUe's  suggestions,  then  hesitated,  and  finally 
adopted  them.  Schiller  depicted  Gordon  as  a  man 
of  weak  character,  and  Leslie  as  his  ante  damnee. 
The  same  view  was  taken  long  previously  by  Henry 
Glapthorne,  whose  tragedy  "  Albertus  Wallenstein  " 
was  performed  by  "  his  majesty's  servants  "  at  the 
old  Globe  theatre  on  Bankside  five  years  after  the 
assassination.  There  are,  however,  reasons  for 
doubting  the  theory  that  Leslie  alone  conceived  the 
idea  of  murdering  Wallenstein  and  his  adherents, 
and  that  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  knew  nothing  of 
the  matter  until  all  was  over.  Several  facts  tend 
to  show  that  Ferdinand  was  privy  to  the  deed,  which 
was  quite  in  keeping  with  his  character,  though,  of 
course,  everything  was  done  to  relieve  the  Emperor 
of  any  direct  responsibility. 


BOHEMIA  249 

The  tragedy  took  place  on  the  evening  of  Saturday, 
February  25,  1634.  Gordon  was  in  command  of  the 
castle  of  Eger — a  now  ruined  pile,  built  chiefly  of 
blocks  of  lava  by  the  Emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa 
— the  same  who,  according  to  the  legends,  sleeps 
under  the  wooded  Kyffhauser  pending  the  dawn  of 
Germany's  true  greatness.  To  this  castle  Kinsky, 
Tertzky,  Illo,  and  Niemann  were  invited  by  Gordon. 
A  fine  supper  was  served,  wine  flowed  freely,  and  the 
guests  were  in  high  spirits  when  all  at  once  twenty- 
four  of  Gordon's  dragoons  entered  the  banqueting 
hall.  With  a  shout  of  ''Vivat  Ferdinandus !  " 
they  rushed  upon  Wallenstein's  friends.  The  latter's 
entertainers  had  already  sprung  to  their  feet. 
Geraldine  seized  a  partisan,  which  he  had  in  readiness, 
and  despatched  Kinsky  on  the  spot.  Illo  was  also 
immediately  slain.  Tertzky  tried  to  escape,  and 
managed  to  join  his  orderly,  but  they  were  both  put 
to  the  sword.  Niemann  met  with  a  similar  fate 
whilst  trying  to  reach  the  kitchens  where  a  servant 
of  his  was  waiting.  So  far,  then,  the  conspiracy 
proved  completely  successful. 

Wallenstein  remained,  however ;  and  he  was  a 
doughty  man,  not  only  one  of  high  abilities  as  an 
organiser,  a  strategist,  and  a  statesman,  but  one  who 
by  his  inflexible  character  inspired  the  respect  of 
the  soldiery  and  commanded  their  obedience.  It 
was  therefore  possible  that  at  the  last  moment  they 
might  hesitate  to  strike,  and  that  he  might  exercise 
his  wonted  ascendancy  over  them.  However,  when 
the  tragedy  at  the  castle  was  over,  Gordon,  Butler, 
Geraldine,  and  Devereux  set  out  for  the  house  where 
the  general  had  his  quarters,  taking  with  them  a  party 
of  six  dragoons  who,  according  to  one  account,  were 
of    Dutch    nationality.     It    is    probable    that    the 


250  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

regiment  was  composed  of  soldiers  of  fortune  be- 
longing to  various  countries. 

The  house  where  Wallenstein  had  installed  him- 
self-was  one  in  the  so-called  "  Ring,"  a  Uttle  market- 
place. It  had  belonged  to  a  former  burgomaster  of 
Eger  named  Pachhebel,  and  the  general  had  rented 
it  from  the  latter's  widow.  His  bedroom  was  on 
the  second  floor.  That  evening,  it  appears,  he  had 
spent  some  hours  with  the  astrologer  Zenno,  and 
after  drinking  a  glassful  of  weisshier  * — ^his  favourite 
beverage — had  announced  his  intention  of  retiring 
for  the  night.  According  to  one  account,  however, 
he  first  took  a  bath,  and  was  scarcely  out  of  it  when 
the  conspirators  reached  the  house.  It  was  now 
about  ten  o'clock,  the  tragedy  at  the  citadel  having 
occurred  an  hour  or  so  previously.  Gordon  did  not 
enter  the  house,  but  remained  watching  (perhaps 
with  some  of  the  soldiers)  outside.  The  others  went 
in,  but  it  is  uncertain  whether  Geraldine  accom- 
panied his  accomplices  upstairs.  On  the  way  to 
the  second  floor  the  party  met  one  or  two  of  the 
general's  body-servants,  who  were  instantly  de- 
spatched by  the  soldiers.  One  or  two  other  servants  t 
were  found  in  an  anteroom  and  subjected  to  the 
same  fate.  Wallenstein  was  standing  near  the 
window,  listening  to  the  noise  which  had  suddenly 
arisen  both  in  and  outside  the  house,  when  the  in- 
truders suddenly  appeared  before  him.  He  had  a 
sword  in  the  room,  but  did  not  attempt  to  use  it, 
probably  because  he  was  not  given  time  to  do  so. 
All  accounts  agree  that  it  was  Walter  Devereux 
who  headed  the  band.     "  Art  thou  the  scoundrel," 

*  See  pp.  114,  nz,ante. 

t  The  accounts  vary,  some  saying  that  only  two  retainers  were  killed, 
whilst  according  to  others  the  victims  were  three  in  number — two  body- 
servants  and  a  page. 


BOHEMIA  251 

he  exclaimed,  "  who  would  deliver  the  Emperor's 
soldiers  to  the  enemy,  and  set  his  crown  upon  thine 
own  head  ?  "  It  has  been  iu*ged  that  if  Wallenstein 
had  only  repUed  to  that  question  he  might  have 
averted  the  catastrophe,  his  ascendancy  over  his 
subordinates  being  usually  so  great ;  but  it  is 
extremely  probable  that  there  was  no  time  for  him 
to  answer  any  more  than  there  was  for  him  to  arm 
himself.  In  any  case  Devereux  rushed  upon  him, 
stabbed  him  in  the  heart,  and  he  fell  lifeless  upon 
the  floor.  He  was  only  fifty-four  years  old,  yet 
had  already,  for  several  years,  filled  Europe  with  the 
renown  of  his  exploits  and  his  magnificence. 

We  saw  at  Eger,  my  father  and  I,  the  room  in 
which  the  tragedy  is  said  to  have  taken  place.  Like 
one  or  two  other  apartments  of  the  house  it  had  been 
turned  into  a  kind  of  museum,  and  was  decorated 
(if  one  may  use  such  a  word)  with  some  wretched 
daubs  depicting  the  so-called  "  executions  "  of  the 
general  and  his  lieutenants.  Of  course  a  HapsbiKg 
Emperor  could  not  allow  such  a  word  as  "  murder  " 
to  be  applied  to  deeds  countenanced  by  one  of  his 
forefathers.  Whether  the  few  rehcs  of  the  great 
commander  which  we  found  preserved  in  his  death- 
chamber,  among  a  heterogeneous  assemblage  of 
curios,  were  authentic  is  a  moot  point.  In  some 
accounts  of  the  crime  Devereux  is  said  to  have  used 
a  poniard ;  but  the  weapon  shown  to  us  at  Eger  was 
a  partisan,  that  is  a  halberd  of  the  Italian  shape.* 
A  sword  reputed  to  be  the  one  with  which  Wallen- 
stein failed  to  defend  himself  also  figured  in  the 
collection. 

*  The  word  "  partisan  "  is  derived  from  the  Italian  partigiana  through 
the  French  pertuisane.  The  partisan  lacks  the  axe  which  figures  on  the 
heads  of  other  halberds. 


252  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

At  the  time  of  the  murder  Wallenstein's  wife, 
nee  Harrach,  was  at  her  father's  schloss  at  Bruck  on 
the  Leitha,  south-west  of  Vienna.  Her  husband's 
remains  were  at  first  deposited  at  a  Carthusian 
monastery,  but  a  kinsman.  Count  Waldstein-Warten- 
berg,  caused  them  to  be  removed  to  St.  Anne's 
chapel  at  Miinchengratz,  somewhat  south  of  the 
so-called  Saxon  Switzerland,  and  they  are  still 
there  to-day.  However,  Baner,  the  Swedish  general, 
had  the  tomb  opened  in  1639,  and  after  causing 
what  remained  of  his  former  adversary's  right  hand 
to  be  cut  off,  sent  it  as  a  trophy  to  Sweden. 

And  what  of  the  assassins,  it  may  be  asked  ?  For 
their  part  Gordon  and  Butler  promptly  issued  a 
proclamation  to  the  army,  justifying  the  crimes  on 
the  ground  of  Wallenstein's  traitorous  intentions. 
Butler  moreover  sent  an  "  official "  account  of  the 
affair  to  Count  Gallas,  who  transmitted  it  to  the 
Emperor.  A  little  later  Butler  and  Devereux  re- 
paired to  Vienna,  where  Ferdinand  received  them 
effusively.  In  order  to  reward  the  assassins  the 
bulk  of  Wallenstein's  property  was  confiscated. 
His  widow  was  only  allowed  to  retain  the  lordship  of 
Neuschloss  in  Werthe,  with  an  appanage  of  180,000 
florins,  and  a  small  amount  as  a  dowry  for  her  young 
daughter,  who  eventually  married  Count  Rudolf 
Kaunitz,  a  forerunner  of  Maria  Theresa's  famous 
minister.  Gordon,  for  his  share  in  the  bloody 
business,  was  created  a  Marquis  and  High  Chamber- 
lain to  Ferdinand.  In  1644  he  visited  his  kinsmen 
in  Scotland,  but  finding  that  civil  war  raged  in  this 
island,  he  preferred  to  return  to  Germany,  and  died 
at  Dantzig.  He  never  married  and  so  his  title  lapsed 
at  his  death.  Leslie,  however,  having  been  created 
a  count  and  a  magnate  of  the  Empire,  contracted 


BOHEMIA  253 

a  union  with  the  Princess  Anna  of  Dietrichstein, 
daughter  of  Ferdinand's  chief  minister.  There  was 
no  issue  of  this  marriage,  and  LesHe's  title  passed  to 
his  nephew  James,  who  married  a  Lichtenstein 
heiress  and  left  posterity.  The  last  of  the  Counts 
LesUe  died  in  our  own  time.  Butler,  who  also  took 
a  title,  married  Maria,  daughter  of  Coimt  Karl 
Hannibal  von  Dohna,  but  he  died  at  Schorndorf  in 
Wiirtemberg,  during  the  Christmas  season  following 
the  assassination  of  Wallenstein.  By  his  will  he 
bequeathed  20,000  florins  to  his  friend  and  accom- 
plice, Geraldine.  His  regiment  was  divided  at  his 
death,  Geraldine  taking  command  of  one  half  of  it, 
and  Devereux  of  the  other.  Devereux,  the  actual 
assassin  of  Wallenstein,  was  wounded  at  Nordlingen 
in  the  year  of  the  crime,  and  was  then  nursed  by 
Coimtess  Butler.  He  survived  until  1639,  when  he 
was  carried  off  by  the  plague.  Zenno,  the  astrologer 
who  is  said  to  have  fanned  Wallenstein's  ambition, 
was,  like  other  adherents  of  the  deceased  commander, 
arrested  and  carried  off  to  Pilsen.  It  is  said  that  he 
was  one  of  those  put  to  death  in  the  market-place 
of  that  town.* 

Another  interesting  locality  within  easy  access 
from  Prague  by  rail,  is  Briinn  the  capital  of  Moravia, 
which,  on  ethnographical  grounds,  the  Czechs  claim 
as  part  of  their  heritage.  There  is  certainly  an 
affinity  between  the  respective  populations  of 
Bohemia  and  Moravia,  and  also  between  them  and 

*  One  of  the  best,  and,  I  believe,  one  of  the  most  authentic  accounts 
of  the  Wallenstein  tragedy  is  that  given  in  a  short  work  entitled  "  Wallen- 
stein's letzte  Tage,"  by  Richard  Wapler,  Leipzig,  1884.  I  have  also 
derived  information  respecting  Gordon  and  Leslie  from  a  very  interesting 
article  contributed  by  Mr.  J.  M.  Bulloch  to  the  Aberdeen  Free  Press  on 
December  2,  1898.  Wapler's  book  would  supply  a  good  foundation  for 
an  English  "  life  "  of  the  great  Catholic  general. 


254  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

the  Slovaks  who  people  north-western  Hungary.  In 
passing  here  and  there  through  Bohemia  I  remember 
being  struck  by  the  embroidery,  usually  of  flowers 
and  foliage,  which  so  often  decorated  the  attire  of 
the  peasantry  of  both  sexes.  In  Moravia  and  among 
the  Slovaks  this  was  yet  more  frequent,  and  in  some 
Moravian  villages  one  found  the  walls  of  cottage- 
rooms  covered  with  floral  patterns,  whilst  articles 
of  furniture  and  crockery  were  similarly  treated. 
I  alluded  in  a  previous  chapter  to  the  embroidered 
garments  of  the  Magyar  peasantry.  Much  of  the 
embroidery  worn  by  them  is,  I  believe,  the  work  of 
Slovak  women,  who  are  particularly  talented  in  this 
respect. 

The  chief  interest  of  Briinn,  which  I  visited  with 
my  father,  centred  in  its  citadel,  standing  on  a 
height  called  the  Spielberg,  a  part  of  which  we 
found  laid  out  as  a  pleasure  ground.  The  citadel, 
however,  can  have  been  no  "  pleasure-house "  for 
the  many  captives  imprisoned  there.  Trenck — 
not  the  unfortunate  Frederick,  who  died  by  the 
guillotine  in  Paris  in  1794 — but  his  cousin  Francis,  the 
commander  of  the  savage  Pandours,  renowned  for 
his  ferocity,  turbulence,  and  great  muscular  powers, 
which  rivalled  those  of  Augustus  the  Strong,  died 
a  prisoner  in  the  Spielberg  citadel ;  and  there  for 
nearly  nine  years,  at  a  later  period,  was  confined 
that  victim  of  Austrian  tyranny,  the  unhappy 
Silvio  Pellico,  who  immortalised  his  name  by  his 
narrative  of  his  sufferings.  In  going  to  Briinn, 
however,  an  object  which  my  father  and  I  had  in 
view  was  to  visit  a  much  more  renowned  spot  in  its 
vicinity— the  battlefield  of  Austerlitz. 

We  had  previously  seen  that  of  Koniggratz 
which  is  much  nearer  to  Prague  and  in  Bohemia 


BOHEMIA  265 

proper.  A  certain  resemblance  may  be  found 
however,  between  these  two  famous  battlefields,  each 
of  which  was  the  scene  of  disaster  to  Austria,  In 
both  cases  there  are  heights  of  no  great  elevation, 
covered  with  fir  woods,  rivers  of  varied  importance, 
and  patches  of  marshy  ground.  There  is,  perhaps, 
more  arable  land  near  Koniggratz  than  near  Auster- 
litz,  but  broadly  speaking  the  one  stretch  of  country 
is  distinctly  suggestive  of  the  other.  There  were 
also  some  corresponding  features  in  the  battles, 
though  it  is  true  that  they  were  fought  at  very 
different  seasons — Austerlitz  on  December  2,  1805, 
Koniggratz  on  July  3,  1866 — and  that  the  strategy 
of  Napoleon  dififered  from  that  of  the  Prussians. 

The  French  Emperor  triumphed  chiefly  by  a 
wedge-driving  frontal  attack,  which  largely  cut  his 
antagonists,  the  Austrians  and  the  Russians,  in 
halves.  The  Prussians,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
unable  to  overcome  the  Austrians  on  the  main  front, 
and  owed  their  success  to  a  flank  attack  delivered 
by  the  army  of  the  future  Emperor  Frederick. 
For  their  part,  however,  the  Austrians  were  on 
both  occasions  worsted  owing  to  their  all  absorbing 
idea  of  barring  the  road  to  Vienna.  The  advance 
of  the  French  in  the  earher  battle  was  largely 
facilitated  by  fog,  which  screened  them  from 
view  until  all  at  once  the  memorable  "Sun  of 
Austerlitz  "  shone  out  in  all  its  pale  wintry  brilliance. 
The  Prussians,  on  the  other  field,  were  shielded 
from  observation  by  woods,  by  which  they  profited 
as  the  French  had  profited  by  the  fog. 

Napoleon  foresaw  that  his  opponents  would  try 
to  drive  him  from  the  Vienna  road,  in  which  event 
he  would  have  to  withdraw  into  Bohemia,  and  he 
purposely  left  a  space  almost  unguarded,  the  better 


256  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

to  tempt  the  enemy  to  execute  the  movements  which 
he  anticipated ;  whilst  on  his  side  he  directed  his 
main  efforts  on  the  central  position  of  Pratzen — 
a  kind  of  plateau,  whence  the  ground  gradually 
descends  to  some  ponds  and  marsh  lands,  Austerlitz 
itself  appearing  just  on  the  horizon. 

On  the  eve  of  battle  Weirother  the  Austrian  com- 
mander was  bumptiously  confident  of  victory  and 
jubilantly  detailed  his  plans  to  Kutusoff,  the  Russian 
commander,  and  the  other  generals.  Few  of  them 
listened,  however ;  in  fact,  Kutusoff  dropped  into 
a  doze,  and  the  only  man  who  raised  any  objections 
to  the  Austrian  plan  was  a  French  emigre  named 
Langeron  who  commanded  a  Russian  corps.  The 
morning  utterly  falsified  Weirother's  anticipations. 
When,  after  advancing  through  the  fog  down  to  the 
little  stream  called  the  Goldbach,  Soult  proceeded  to 
attack  Pratzen,  his  success  was  so  rapid  that  he 
captured  the  plateau  within  an  hour. 

I  remember  standing  there,  and  overlooking  the 
declivities  and  the  expanse  whither  the  French 
hurled  their  antagonists.  One  could  perceive  the 
tract  of  somewhat  marshy  land  dotted,  in  cuplike 
hollows,  with  the  ponds,  which  on  the  battle-day  of 
1805  were  covered  with  ice — ^ice  weakened  possibly 
by  the  play  of  the  sunshine,  and  at  all  events  not 
sufficiently  strong  to  bear  the  combined  weight  of 
foot,  horse,  and  artillery.  It  cracked,  it  broke, 
and  2000  retreating  Russians  with  their  guns  and 
horses  were  suddenly  submerged.  From  the  very 
spot  where  I  stood  Napoleon  had  viewed  that 
striking  disaster.  The  actual  battle  did  not  last 
more  than  four  hours,  or  rather  at  the  expiration  of 
that  time  the  victory  of  the  French  was  no  longer 
doubtful.     The  Austro-Russians  lost  from  12,000  to 


BOHEMIA  257 

15,000  men  killed  or  wounded,*  and  over  19,000 
taken  prisoners,  among  the  latter  being  eight  general 
officers.  Fm^ther,  the  French  captured  180  guns — 
a  good  many  of  which  afterwards  served  for  the 
Vendome  column  in  Paris — with  large  supplies  of 
ammunition,  provisions,  and  so  forth.  Thiers  asserts 
that  the  Emperor  Alexander  of  Russia  took  the 
defeat  very  badly,  and  that  Francis  of  Austria  was 
more  philosophic.  Both  sovereigns  hurried  from  the 
battlefield  to  Goding  on  the  Hungarian  frontier,  in 
which  direction  Davoust  pursued  the  beaten  enemy. 
Napoleon  had  with  him  before  the  battle  about 
90,000  men,t  and  it  is  held  that  the  Austro-Russian 
force  was  of  slightly  inferior  strength.  Those  were 
not  the  days  of  millions  of  combatants,  and  the 
defeat  of  less  than  100,000  men  sufficed  to  place  an 
Empire  in  jeopardy.  The  Emperor  Francis,  reahsing 
his  predicament,  sent  an  envoy  to  Napoleon  and 
afterwards  visited  him.  The  upstart  "  Son  of  the 
Revolution  "  then  took  the  heir  of  the  Caesars  in 
his  arms,  and  kissed  him  on  the  cheeks.  The  treaty 
of  Pressburg  ultimately  followed. 

There  was  a  curious  instance  of  Prussian  perfidy 
in  connection  with  Austerlitz.  On  the  day  before 
the  battle  a  Prussian  envoy,  Herr  von  Haugwitz, 
waited  on  the  French  Emperor,  seeking  to  beguile 
him  with  assurances  as  false  as  they  were  fair. 
Napoleon  told  him  that  he  intended  to  fight  on  the 
morrow,  and  would  speak  with  him  again  afterwards, 
that  is  if  he  were  not  swept  away  in  the  meantime 
by  a  cannon  ball.  During  the  subsequent  peace 
negotiations   with   Austria,   Talleyrand   ascertained 

•  The  estimates  vary. 

t  Not  70,000  as  Thiers  asserts.    On  the  other  hand,  not  more  than 
60,000  of  the  French  were  actually  engaged. 

S 


258  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

that  four  weeks  before  the  battle  of  Austerlitz 
Prussia  had  entered  into  a  secret  treaty  with  Austria 
and  Eussia,  promising  to  join  them.  Within  a 
twelvemonth  Napoleon  replied  to  that  double-dealing 
by  the  battle  of  Jena  and  a  triumphal  entry  into 
Berlin,  which  his  troops  occupied  for  three  years. 

Koniggratz  was  undoubtedly  a  great  Prussian 
victory,  brought  about  largely  by  the  earlier  defeat 
of  the  Austrians  under  Clam-Gallas  at  Gitschin 
which  at  the  last  moment  compelled  Benedek  to 
alter  all  his  previous  arrangements  and  act  strictly 
on  the  defensive.  Moreover,  there  was  not  time 
enough  to  barricade  and  loophole  the  villages  in  a 
proper  manner.  Nevertheless  the  Austrians  fought 
well  on  several  points  of  the  field,  and  a  time  came 
when  Prince  Frederick-Charles,  who  commanded  the 
first  Prussian  army,  waited  as  anxiously  for  the 
appearance  of  the  forces  of  his  cousin,  the  Crown 
Prince  (Emperor  Frederick),  as  Wellington  is 
alleged  to  have  waited  for  the  arrival  of  Bliicher  at 
Waterloo.  In  point  of  fact,  the  Crown  Prince  had 
made  remarkably  good  progress  unknown  to  Frederick- 
Charles,  but  the  character  of  the  country  long 
concealed  his  movements  from  view.  He  eventually 
had  to  cross  an  expanse  of  marshy  exposed  ground, 
and  the  Prussian  Guard  was  for  a  long  time  in 
difficulties.  Even  when  the  Austrians  fell  back,  after 
being  decimated  by  the  superior  Prussian  armament, 
they  did  so  in  good  order,  nothing  like  the  rout  of 
Austerlitz  occurring  on  any  part  of  the  field. 

There  were  several  sharp  encounters  with  the 
bayonet,  in  the  use  of  which  weapon  the  Austrians 
were  supposed  to  excel  their  antagonists.  But  the 
physical  strength  and  heavier  weight  of  the  Prussian 
infantrymen   proved   more  than   a   match  for   the 


BOHEMIA  259 

dexterity  and  swiftness  of  the  more  lightly  built 
troops  of  Francis-Joseph.  The  combatants  at  the 
battle  of  Koniggratz  were  much  more  numerous  than 
those  at  Austerlitz.  The  Austrians  and  Saxons 
numbered  200,000  with  600  guns,  whereas  the 
Prussians  were  260,000,  provided  with  more  than 
800  pieces  of  artillery.  The  former  lost  40,000  men 
in  killed  and  wounded,  with  20,000  taken  prisoners, 
and  174  of  their  guns  were  captured  by  the  Prussians, 
whose  losses  did  not  exceed  10,000  men.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  after  Koniggratz  Austria  submitted 
as  speedily  to  her  Prussian  rival,  as  she  had  submitted 
to  Napoleon  after  Austerlitz. 


BOOK  III— SPAIN,  PORTUGAL,  ITALY. 

"  0  lovely  Spain,  renowned,  romantic  land, 
Where  is  that  standard  which  Pelagio  bore, 
When  Cava*s  traitor-sire  first  called  the  band 
That  dyed  thy  mountain  streams  with  Gothic  gore  ?  *' 

Byeon. 

"  What  heaven  hath  done  for  this  delicious  land !  .  .  . 
What  fruits  of  fragrance  blush  on  every  tree, 
What  goodly  prospects  o*er  the  hills  expand !  " 

Portugal.    Byeon. 

"  Let  us  part  from  Italy,  with  all  its  miseries  and  wrongs, 
affectionately  ...  a  noble  people  may  be,  one  day,  raised 
up  from  these  ruins." — Charles  Dickens,  1846. 


IN  ANDALUCIA. 

A  Passing  Glance  at  "  Gib  "  and  Tangier — Cadiz — Jerez  de  la  Frontera — 
Vineyards  and  Bodegas — Bullfights,  Cockfights  and  Pigeon  Shooting 
— The  Jerez  Club  and  the  Gaming  Table — Garcia  the  Gambler — 
Love-making  a  VEspagnole — ^The  Last  Spanish  Bandits  and  the  Black 
Hand — Condition  of  the  Peasantry — ^The  "Show  Places"  of  Anda- 
luoia :  Seville,  Cordova,  and  Granada. 

In  1875  I  made  my  first  visit  to  Spain,  and,  as  it 
had  happened  in  my  previous  travels,  I  was  again 
the  companion  of  my  father,  who  on  this  occasion 
had  arranged  to  go  to  Jerez  de  la  Frontera  in  order 
to  investigate  the  vintaging  and  preparation  of 
sherry,  a  wine  which  had  been  roundly  abused 
during  a  recent  controversy  in  the  correspondence 
columns  of  The  Times  and  other  London  news- 
papers. A  certain  medical  man,  indeed,  had  de- 
clared sherry  to  be  one  of  the  most  deleterious  of 
beverages,  less,  however,  on  account  of  its  alcoholic 
strength  than  by  reason  of  the  admixture  of  gypsum 
which  the  grapes  received  at  the  time  when  they  were 
pressed.  I  shall  have  a  few  remarks  to  offer  on  that 
subject  by  and  by.  For  the  moment  it  will  suffice 
to  mention  that  the  medical  man's  attack  was 
scarcely  a  disinterested  one.  He  himself  had  gone 
to  Jerez  with  a  fantastical  plan  for  turning  young 
raw  wine  into  something  approaching  very  fine 
amontillado,  but    had   only    succeeded   in    spoiling 

263 


264  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

numerous  butts  of  sherry,  which  were  put  at  his 
disposal  for  experimental  purposes  by  a  Spanish 
merchant,  who  rather  foolishly  placed  some  belief 
in  his  assurances.  The  discomfited  experimenter 
being  afterwards  constrained  to  quit  Jerez,  as  he 
had  become  an  object  of  general  ridicule,  then  took 
it  into^his  head  to  revenge  himself  for  this  by  attacking 
sherry  in  an  absolutely  extravagant  fashion. 

We  made  our  way  to  Spain  by  sea,  sailing  in  the 
first  instance  to  Gibraltar  on  board  a  P.  &  0.  vessel 
called  the  Australia.  We  had  a  remarkably  fine 
passage,  but  after  spending  a  day  or  so  at  "  Gib  " 
we  found  that  some  momentary  interruption  had 
occurred  in  the  Spanish  boat  service  by  which  we 
had  intended  to  proceed  to  Cadiz.  In  these  circum- 
stances, on  learning  that  an  English  boat  plied 
between  "  Gib  "  and  Tangier,  we  resolved  to  take  a 
peep  at  the  Moorish  port  which  had  once  been  more 
or  less  a  British  possession,  being  included  at  least 
nominally  in  the  dowry  which  Catherine  of  Braganza 
brought  to  our  graceless  Charles  II.  In  those  days 
we  constructed  a  mole  at  Tangier,  and  were  besieged 
there  by  the  Moors,  in  consequence  of  which  ill- 
reception  we  eventually  abandoned  the  place.  At 
that  time,  it  will  be  remembered,  Gibraltar  still 
belonged  to  Spain.  Had  we  retained  our  hold  on 
the  Moroccan  port  its  possession  might  have  proved 
useful  to  us  during  various  subsequent  wars.  On 
the  other  hand,  when  I  visited  Tangier  in  1876,  we 
at  least  exercised  more  authority  there,  and,  indeed, 
in  Morocco  generally,  than  any  other  European 
power.  Spain  was  content  to  hold  Ceuta,  which 
she  had  tinned  into  a  penal  settlement.  France 
did  not  display  any  particular  desire  to  extend  her 
Algerian  boundaries,  and  Germany  entertained  as 


SPAIN  265 

yet  no  dream  of  securing  a  footing  in  Northern 
Africa.  The  British  influence  in  Morocco  was  chiefly 
due  to  the  sagacity  and  energy  of  our  representative 
there,  a  masterly  man  who  fully  understood  the 
Moors.  His  name  was  Sir  John  Drummond  Hay, 
and  after  all  his  years  of  strenuous  labour  he  may 
well,  in  these  later  times,  have  turned  in  his  grave 
should  he  have  learnt  that  British  ascendancy  in 
Morocco  is  altogether  a  thing  of  the  past — a  past  as 
dead  as  he  himself. 

The  boat  in  which  we  crossed  the  straits  from 
"  Gib "  to  Tangier  was  called  the  Hercules  and 
had  previously  done  duty  as  a  tug  on  or  near  the 
Tyne.  My  father  and  myself  were  the  only  English- 
men crossing  that  day,  the  other  passengers  being 
Jews  and  Moors,  who  had  either  been  making 
purchases  at  the  "  fortress "  or  selling  produce 
there.  I  remember  that  most  of  them  were  terribly 
afflicted  with  mal-de-mer,  and  that  the  Moors  fell 
upon  their  knees  and  loudly  offered  up  prayers  to 
Allah,  who  refused  to  assuage  their  sufferings.  The 
old  English  mole  of  Tangier  being  destroyed — some 
fragments  of  it  could  be  seen  rising  just  above  the 
water — ^we  were  compelled  to  embark  in  rowing 
boats  in  order  to  reach  the  shore,  on  approaching 
which  our  craft  were  surrounded  by  eager  natives, 
who  came  wading  through  the  surf  in  order  to  carry 
us  in  pick-a-back  fashion  to  dry  land.  There  we 
were  once  more  surrounded  by  a  shouting  crowd, 
each  member  of  which  seemed  anxious  to  secure 
possession  of  us  and  our  belongings  for  his  own 
particular  benefit.  Amidst  all  the  confusion,  how- 
ever, a  tall  fellow,  dressed  much  in  the  style  of  a 
French  Zouave,  appeared  upon  the  scene  floiu-ishing 
a  long  cane  with  which  he  liberally  belabom^ed  the 


266  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

backs  of  all  and  sundry  until  the  crowd  around  us 
was  dispersed.  For  a  moment  I  imagined  that  the 
new-comer  was  a  police  or  port  oiBficial,  but  he  proved 
to  be  merely  the  interpreter  and  tout  of  one  of  the 
two  English  hostelries  which  then  existed  in  the 
town.  He  spoke  just  a  little  Enghsh,  rather  more 
French,  and  still  more  Spanish,  with  which  last 
language  I  was,  at  the  time,  utterly  unacquainted. 
Mr.  Interpreter  contrived,  however,  to  make  him- 
self understood,  and  we  followed  him  to  the  hotel 
to  which  he  belonged. 

It  was  kept  by  a  West  Indian  negro,  who  told  me 
he  had  been  cook  to  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh  on  the 
Sultan.  There  were  some  curious  featiu-es  about 
his  estabUshment.  The  servants  looked  as  if  they 
had  just  stepped  out  of  the  "Arabian  Nights." 
The  fat  head-waiter,  as  black  as  his  employer,  and 
turbaned,  white  robed,  yellow  sashed  and  red 
slippered,  seemed  fit  to  be  a  guardian  of  the  harem. 
The  rooms  were  furnished  in  a  semi-European, 
semi-Oriental  style.  You  could  sit  on  an  orthodox 
English  chair  at  an  orthodox  English  table  of 
Spanish  mahogany,  or  sprawl,  if  you  preferred  it, 
among  rugs  and  pillows  on  the  floor.  There  were 
hangings  in  the  Oriental  style  (made  perhaps  in 
France)  knick-knacks  supposed  to  be  Moorish,  but 
most  certainly  made  at  Birmingham  ;  and  from  the 
walls  hung  numerous  coloured  prints  representing 
prize  fights,  Derby  winners,  and  shooting  and  fox- 
hunting scenes.  Here  I  may  mention  that  foxes 
and  boars  had  been  sent  to  Tangier  and  set  free  in 
the  surrounding  country  on  purpose  to  supply  sport 
for  the  British  officers  who  frequently  crossed  the 
straits  from  *'  Gib  "  for  relaxation. 

The  piece  de  resistance  of  the  first  meal  of  which 


SPAIN  267 

I  partook  on  African  soil  was  broiled  chicken.  The 
birds  appeared  to  resemble  game  fowl.  They  were 
extremely  scraggy  and  had  small  bodies  and  very 
long  legs.  After  they  had  been  got  ready  for  cooking 
a  succession  of  blows  with  a  mallet  flattened  them, 
whereupon  they  were  placed  on  a  gridiron  over  a 
wood  fire.  At  my  first  meal,  the  sea  trip  having 
given  me  a  slight  appetite,  I  disposed,  I  believe,  in 
swift  succession  of  three  of  these  almost  meatless 
birds  before  sallying  forth  to  make  acquaintance 
with  the  town. 

We  saw  whatever  there  then  was  to  see  at  Tangier 
— the  soTc  or  market,  the  Jcashah  overlooking  the  port, 
the  prison  where  unfortunate  captives  clung  to  the 
bars  of  a  low  window  and  besought  our  alms,  and 
the  bazaar  where  mock-Moorish  jewelry  and  other 
ornaments  were  on  sale.  The  Jews  who,  by  the 
Sultan's  orders,  were  then  constrained  to  wear 
particular  costumes,  invariably  of  the  same  dark 
colour,  proved  fairly  numerous,  and  undoubtedly 
held  most  of  the  town's  trade  in  their  hands.  Our 
interpreter  having  arranged  that  we  should  see  a 
Jewish  wedding,  we  accompanied  him  one  evening 
to  the  house  where  it  was  to  be  celebrated.  We 
were  received  very  hospitably  by  the  bride's  parents 
and  her  intended  husband,  who,  to  my  astonishment, 
had  arrayed  himself  for  the  occasion  in  an  English- 
man's national  costume — that  is  silk  hat  and  frock- 
coat.  He  would  not  have  ventured  into  the  streets 
in  such  attke,  as  in  consequence  of  the  Sultan's 
sumptuary  law,  it  would  probably  have  rendered 
him  liable  to  arrest ;  but  within  doors  he  was  free 
to  act  as  he  pleased.  It  happened,  however,  that 
his  headgear  was  of  most  peculiar  appearance, 
being,  I  believe,  one  of  the  very  first  silk  hats  that 


268  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

had  ever  been  made  in  this  country.  His  frock- 
coat  looked  also  as  though  it  dated  from  about 
1845,  and  under  it  he  wore  a  waistcoat  of  purpHsh 
velvet  brocade,  such  as  I  believe  my  father  wore 
when  he  married  my  mother  in  the  earher  days  of 
Queen  Victoria's  reign.  Nevertheless  this  Jewish 
bridegroom  of  "  thirty  years  after  "  seemed  extremely 
proud  of  his  habiliments,  which  he  must  have  dis- 
covered hidden  away  in  some  second-hand  shop  at 
'*  Gib."  All  the  other  men,  if  I  remember  rightly, 
wore  the  usual  costume  of  the  Tangier  Jews,  and 
the  women  were  garmented  in  bright  robes  of  a 
more  or  less  Oriental  style. 

The  ceremony  took  place  in  a  little  courtyard  or 
patio,  overlooked  in  some  degree  from  the  flat 
roofs  of  a  few  adjoining  houses  where  Moorish 
famiUes  resided.  I  remember  that  sundry  veiled 
Moslem  women  peered  down  on  the  scene  from 
those  points  of  vantage.  When  we  entered  the 
courtyard  we  perceived  the  bride  seated  on  a  number 
of  pillows,  placed  upon  a  platform  which  had  been 
set  up  against  one  of  the  walls.  Round  her  were 
several  Jewish  women,  one  or  another  of  whom 
constantly  fanned  her  perspiring  face.  Gorgeously 
arrayed,  partly  in  cerise  silk,  her  wrists  and  her 
ankles  loaded  with  glittering  bracelets,  she  had  much 
the  appearance  of  an  idol.  Although  still  quite  a 
young  girl  she  was  most  prodigiously  fat,  and  when 
I  commented  on  that  circumstance  to  oiu*  interpreter, 
he  solemnly  assured  me  that  it  was  the  custom  to 
fatten  brides  specially  for  their  weddings,  and  that 
this  one  had  been  nourished  for  fully  a  month  on 
the  most  flesh-producing  food  that  could  be  pro- 
cured. There  was  some  difficulty  in  removing  this 
ponderous  young  lady  from  the  platform  in  order 


SPAIN  269 

that  she  might  take  part  in  the  ceremony,  which 
was  performed  with  the  usual  Jewish  rites,  and 
afterwards  in  hoisting  her  aloft  again,  for  although 
all  the  men  present  sat  down  to  a  supper,  which 
included  some  more  or  less  European  dishes,  she 
and  her  female  attendants  had  to  remain  mere 
spectatresses  of  this  Uttle  banquet.*  It  consoled  me, 
however,  in  some  degree  to  think  that  she  herself 
could  scarcely  feel  hungry  after  undergoing  for  four 
or  five  successive  weeks  much  the  same  cramming 
as  f aUs  to  the  lot  of  a  pullet  when  it  is  being  fattened 
for  market. 

I  remember  seeing  at  Tangier — at  Sir  J.  D. 
Hay's  house,  I  think — a  photograph  of  the  Shereef 
of  Wazan,  who  was  held  in  high  veneration  through- 
out Morocco,  on  account  of  his  descent  from  Mahomet. 
Judging  by  the  portrait,  which  represented  him  as 
an  almost  obese  individual,  with  a  full  coarse  face 
and  a  short  frizzly  beard,  there  appeared  to  be 
considerable  negro  blood  in  his  veins.  He  had 
acquired  notoriety  in  this  country  some  years  pre- 
viously by  persuading  an  English  girl  to  become  his 
wife.  I  believe  that  children  were  born  of  the 
union,  and  nowadays,  perhaps,  there  may  be  various 
descendants  of  the  Prophet  with  English  as  well  as 
negro  blood  in  their  composition. 

We  returned  to  "  Gib,"  my  father  and  I,  and 
there  found  the  Spanish  steamer  which  was  to 
convey  us  to  Cadiz.  The  first  sight  of  that  famous 
city  fully  answered  the  expectations  which  I  had 

*  In  my  younger  days  there  was  nothing  in  English  manners  and 
customs  that  Frenchmen  criticised  more  severely  than  our  practice  of 
sitting  down  to  a  banquet  with  our  women  folk  looking  on  from  a  gallery. 
Time  works  changes,  however,  and  in  more  recent  years  one  has  seen 
Frenchmen  following  our  bad  example. 


270  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

formed  from  the  descriptions  I  had  read.  It  shone 
forth  in  immaculate  whiteness  between  the  intense 
blue  of  sea  and  sky.  Again  we  had  to  land  in 
rowing  boats,  and  our  luggage  underwent  a  close 
inspection  at  the  hands  of  the  customs'  officers 
whose  palms  we  innocently  neglected  to  grease. 
To  their  disappointment,  however,  they  found 
nothing  contraband  in  our  belongings,  though  they 
doubtless  expected  to  do  so,  Gibraltar  being  a  free 
port,  and  having  an  evil  reputation  as  a  smuggler's 
haunt.  I  afterwards  learnt  that  the  chief  of  the 
customs'  service  at  Cadiz  received  a  salary  of  about 
£200  a  year,  but  lived  at  the  rate  of  quite  £2000, 
keeping  up  a  handsome  estabUshment  with  horses 
and  carriages,  and  playing  for  considerable  stakes 
at  the  chief  club  in  the  city.  There  had  been  a  time 
when  a  mistico  or  a  falucho  would  steal  at  night  out 
of  the  tier  off  the  Old  Mole  at  "  Gib,"  sail  along  the 
coast  and  run  in  at  some  convenient  spot,  where  a 
band  of  peasants  would  be  in  readiness  to  land  the 
craft's  cargo.  That  practice  had  been  largely  sup- 
pressed, however,  and  smuggUng  was  then  conducted 
with  the  connivance  of  the  officials.  For  instance, 
a  cargo  of  some  description  liable  to  pay  a  high 
duty,  would  be  declared  as  something  very  different, 
or  else  the  quantity  landed  would  be  underestimated. 
In  one  or  another  way  perhaps  only  half  of  the  duty 
to  which  the  goods  were  liable  was  paid ;  but  of  course 
a  sum  of  money  was  handed  over  to  the  officials  as  a 
reward  for  their  complicity. 

When  I  returned  to  Cadiz  a  couple  of  years  later, 
coming  that  time  from  Tenerife,  I  myself  became 
particeps  criminis  in  defrauding  the  Aduana.  It 
happened  in  this  wise  :  One  of  my  boatmen  inquired 
if  I  had  anything  with  me  that  was  liable  to  duty. 


SPAIN  271 

I  nodded  assent,  for  I  had  purchased  a  quantity  of 
Havana  cigars  at  Santa  Cruz,  which  was  then,  Hke 
Gibraltar,  a  free  port,  and  on  that  account  a 
smugglers'  centre.  The  boatman  acknowledged  my 
reply  with  a  significant  smile,  and  no  sooner  had  we 
landed  than,  carrying  one  of  my  bags  on  his  left 
shoulder  and  the  other  with  his  right  hand,  he  rushed 
off  through  the  Aduana  towards  the  archway 
leading  into  the  town.  I  followed  in  hot  haste, 
half  fearing  that  the  fellow  meant  to  bolt  and  that 
I  should  never  see  my  property  again.  A  couple  of 
customs'  officers  stood  near  the  exit,  but  my  man 
did  not  hesitate.  He  pushed  against  one  of  them 
with  the  elbow  of  his  upraised  arm,  and  at  the  same 
time  slung  the  bag  which  he  was  carrying  with  his 
right  hand  in  the  direction  of  the  other  officer, 
compelling  him  to  step  back.  The  next  moment 
the  rascal  disappeared,  and  when  I  also  emerged 
from  the  Aduana  I  could  see  no  sign  of  him. 

Whilst  I  was  cursing  him,  however,  another  man 
turned  a  corner,  coming  straight  towards  me,  and 
before  I  could  open  my  mouth  to  question  him, 
smihngly  inquired  if  the  caballero  was  looking  for 
Pepe.  I  understood  his  meaning,  and  when  I 
replied  affirmatively,  he  faced  about  and  led  me  into 
a  neighbouring  street  where  my  man  was  standing 
in  a  doorway  with  my  bags.  I  could  not  do  otherwise 
than  bestow  a  little  palm-oil  on  Pepe's  messenger, 
and  afterwards  a  larger  allowance  on  Pepe  himseK. 
He  thanked  me  effusively,  but  most  of  his  satis- 
faction proceeded  from  the  fact  that  he  had  succeeded 
in  "  doing  "  the  customs.  For  my  part  I  salved 
my  conscience  by  reflecting  that  even  if  I  had  paid 
the  duty  for  which  I  was  liable,  the  money  might 
never  have  reached  the  Spanish  exchequer. 


272  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

But  I  must  now  revert  to  my  earlier  visit  to 
Cadiz.  My  first  impression  of  Spanish  cookery  was 
not  unfavourable,  for  I  breakfasted  off  red  mullet 
and  rice  powdered  with  saffron ;  but  a  few  hours 
later  I  discovered  that  Andalucian  meat  was  abso- 
lutely unthinkable,  and  that  the  poultry  was  quite 
as  scraggy  as  at  Tangier,  and  not  nearly  so  well 
cooked  as  by  my  acquaintance  the  former  chef  of 
H.M.S.  Sultan.  Thus,  during  the  ensuing  months 
I  lived  very  largely  on  vegetables  and  fruit,  in- 
cluding notably  tomatoes,  melons,  grapes  and  prickly 
pears.  My  father  was,  like  most  Englishmen,  particu- 
larly partial  to  beef ;  but  at  the  Fonda  at  Jerez,  where 
we  stayed  a  considerable  time,  beef  was  only  avail- 
able when  there  had  been  a  local  bullfight,  and  not 
only  did  it  possess  the  peculiar  flavour  of  bull-beef, 
but  it  was  as  coarse  and  as  tough  as  could  be. 

We  spent  a  part  of  our  first  evening  at  Cadiz  on  the 
terraced,  sea-bound  Alameda,  where  all  the  fashion 
of  the  town  either  sauntered  to  and  fro  or  sat  in 
little  groups  whilst  a  miUtary  band  played  lively 
music.  A  crescent  moon  arose,  myriads  of  stars 
shone  forth,  a  silvery  sheen  spread  over  everything, 
and  the  atmosphere  was  deUghtful.  There  were 
hundreds  of  mantilla'd  girls  chaperoned  by  their 
mothers  or  duennas,  and  hundreds  of  young  men 
very  sprucely  dressed,  extremely  particular  as  to 
their  hats,  boots,  neckties,  and  gloves,  and  each  of 
them  carrying  and  twirling  a  rattan.  They  ogled 
the  girls,  and  the  girls  spoke  to  them  with  their 
eyes  or  their  fans,  for  the  fan  in  the  deft  hands  of  an 
Andaluza  has  a  very  eloquent  language  of  its  own, 
one  in  which  all  these  young  people  were  absolute 
adepts.  Not  long  ago,  apropos  of  the  Great  War, 
a  distinguished  literary  man  expressed  some  wonder 


SPAIN  273 

at  the  manner  in  which  many  of  our  lads  at  the 
front  paired  off  with  the  girls  of  Northern  France 
and  strolled  with  them  hither  and  thither  though 
neither  knew  aught  of  the  other's  language.  What 
silent  communion  was  it  that  they  held  together  ? 
Journalists  gravely  commented  on  the  problem ; 
but  for  my  part  I  wondered  whether  the  distin- 
guished author  and  the  journalists  had  ever  been 
young  men,  or  whether  they  had  become  mere 
writing-machines  from  the  very  hour  when  they  were 
weaned.  I  do  not  think  that  in  my  younger  days  I 
ever  needed  to  employ  word  of  mouth  to  enable  a 
pretty  girl  to  know  that  I  thought  her  particularly 
charming  and  had  already  lost  my  heart  to  her. 
She  might  be  entirely  ignorant  of  my  language  and  I 
of  hers,  but  without  opening  the  lips  there  are  many 
little  ways  in  which  a  most  delightful  conversation 
may  be  carried  on.  So  I  find  it  quite  easy  to  picture 
Tommy  and  Jeannette  strolling  side  by  side  out  of 
reach  of  the  shells  and  never  exchanging  an  articulate 
word,  yet  understanding  each  other  perfectly  and 
constantly  repeating  the  one  question  and  the  one 
answer  which,  combined  together,  constitute  the 
foundation  of  love's  young  dream. 

There  was  a  practice  prevalent  in  Southern 
Spain  when  I  first  went  there  which  was  known  as 
felar  la  pava — "  plucking  the  turkey  " — and  which 
constituted  an  almost  silent  form  of  courtship. 
Every  now  and  again  as  you  strolled  homeward 
along  some  silent  street,  under  the  cool  radiance  of 
the  stars,  you  would  espy  some  cloak-muffled  young 
fellow  standing  outside  a  barred  ground-floor 
window ;  whilst  within  the  bars — often  so  closely 
set  that  lovers'  Ups  could  not  possibly  meet  between 
them — stood  a  girl,  barely  visible  in  the  darkness 

T 


274  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

of  her  room,  but  extending  her  little  hand  through 
the  bars  in  order  that  her  novio  might  hold  and  press 
it.  And  there  those  two  would  stand  for  hours  at 
a  time,  scarcely  opening  their  lips  unless  it  were  to 
repeat  at  intervals  "  I  love  you."  Looking  back 
on  those  Spanish  days,  I  do  not  remember  having 
seen  many  lovers  personally  serenading  their 
mistresses,  guitar  in  hand;  but  I  recollect  some 
occasions  when  I  came  upon  a  whole  party  of 
musicians  playing  under  a  balcony  where  some 
mantilla'd  beauty  sat  listening  to  them.  They  had 
been  hired  by  her  betrothed  to  entertain  her.  It 
was  all  very  unpoetical,  quite  unlike  what  one  had 
imagined,  and  to  make  matters  worse,  I  verily 
believe  that  on  one  or  two  occasions  the  musicians 
were  really  a  German  band — ^yes,  a  German  band 
in  a  picturesque  old  street  of  Seville  ! 

We  speedily  quitted  Cadiz  for  Jerez,  where  we 
were  expected ;  and  for  several  weeks  we  were 
engaged  in  witnessing  the  vintaging  of  sherry, 
visiting  the  bodegas  and  studying  the  solera  system 
and  other  matters  connected  with  the  rearing  of  the 
wine.  The  result  was  a  series  of  articles  which 
appeared  in  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette,  and  which  after 
some  revision  and  extension  were  collected  together 
in  a  little  book  entitled  "  Facts  about  Sherry."  I 
provided  some  of  the  "  copy,"  and  the  illustrations 
were  chiefly  from  sketches  made  by  me.  Among 
the  first  bodegas  which  we  visited  were  those  of 
Messrs.  Cosens  &  Co.,  who  also  had  a  shipping 
establishment  at  Oporto.  Mr.  F.  W.  Cosens,  the 
head  of  the  firm,  had  been  a  school-fellow  of  my 
father's,  but  they  had  lost  sight  of  one  another 
until  at  some  public  meeting  in  connection  with 
the  Shakespeare  Tercentenary   of   1864,   in  which 


SPAIN  275 

both  were  interested,  they  suddenly  met  again. 
They  were  then  of  middle  age,  and  of  course  very 
different  in  appearance  from  what  they  had  been  in 
their  youth.  Nevertheless,  after  hearing  my  father 
speak,  Cosens  went  up  to  him  and  addressed  him  by 
name.  He  had  identified  him  by  his  voice.  It  is  a 
peculiarity  in  my  family  that  on  the  male  side  we 
all  have  virtually  identical  voices.  I  myself  have 
been  addressed  by  name  by  men  whom  I  did  not 
know,  but  who  had  met  one  or  another  of  my 
brothers.  My  son,  for  his  part,  has  precisely  the 
same  voice  as  I  have,  so  that  this  peculiarity  would 
seem  to  be  hereditary  in  my  family. 

It  would  not  particularly  interest  the  reader 
of  this  volume  to  pass  a  review  of  all  the  shipping 
establishments  of  Jerez,  San  Lucar,  Puerto  de  Sta. 
Maria,  Montilla,  and  other  places.  Moreover,  I  could 
add  but  little  to  what  was  set  down  in  "  Facts  about 
Sherry."  Perhaps  just  a  few  matters  may  be 
mentioned.  We  naturally  sampled  several  very 
fine  wines,  among  them  being  the  famous  Napoleon 
sherry.  This  acquired  its  name  in  the  year  1808, 
when  Marshal  Soult,  being  at  Jerez,  visited  the 
bodegas  of  Don  Pedro  Domecq,  who  was,  I  think,  of 
French  origin.  After  being  invited  to  taste  the 
wines,  Soult  found  that  one  of  them  far  excelled 
all  the  others,  and  whilst  he  was  still  smacking  his 
lips  he  took  up  a  piece  of  chalk  and  wrote  on  the 
butt  from  which  his  glass  had  been  fiUed  the  magic 
name  "  Napoleon."  When,  in  my  turn,  I  tasted 
the  Napoleon  wine  in  1875  it  was  not  the  only  one 
distinguished  by  a  famous  name  in  the  Domecq 
bodegas.  Subsequent  to  Soult's  occupation  of  Jerez 
a  great  British  soldier  had  expelled  the  French 
from  Spain,  and  so  there  was  a  butt  of  ''  Wellington 


276  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

sherry  "  beside  that  dedicated  to  Napoleon.  Nor 
was  that  all,  for  other  butts  bore  the  names  of  Pitt 
and  Fox,  whilst  on  yet  another,  containing  a  sweetish 
Oloroso  wine,  appeared  the  inscription  "  Georgius 
Quartus  Rex."  I  may  explain  that  in  order  to 
compensate  for  ullage,  etc.,  these  wines  received 
from  time  to  time  a  sUght  admixture  of  other  old 
wines  of  a  corresponding  type,  in  accordance  with 
the  solera  system,  so  that  the  same  standard  of 
quality  was  always  preserved. 

I  also  recollect  tasting  some  very  fine  wine  at 
the  bodegas  of  Haurie  Nephews,  who  claimed  to  be 
the  oldest  existing  firm  in  the  trade  ;  the  founder  of 
the  business,  a  Frenchman,  having  already  sent 
sherry  to  his  native  country  early  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  same  firm  had  also  shipped  the  once 
renowned  Bredalbane  "  stag  sherry,"  which  at  the 
Dalhousie  sale  in  1875  fetched  no  less  than  £7  5s. 
per  bottle.  The  old  house  of  Garvey  prided  itself 
on  some  particularly  choice  and  ancient  brown 
sherry,  which  our  late  King  Edward  VII  appreciated 
when  Prince  of  Wales.  Another  very  old  sherry, 
a  dark  and  pungent  wine  reared  by  Gonzalez  Byass 
&  Co.,  had  been  christened  by  them  Methusalem. 
This  firm  then  had  the  largest  establishment  at 
Jerez,  and  in  one  of  their  great  bodegas  were  twelve 
huge  casks,  each  holding  over  1400  gallons  of  wine, 
and  ranged  on  either  side  of  a  gigantic  tun  con- 
taining 3,500  gallons.  At  the  sight  of  those  capacious 
receptacles  one  wondered  what  Falstaff  would  have 
said  and  done  if  the  "  sack  "  they  contained  had 
been  placed  at  his  disposal. 

There  were  then  about  15,000  acres  of  vineyards 
within  the  territory  of  Jerez,  that  is  a  radius  of  from 
12  to  16  miles.     We  visited  all  the  principal  ones. 


SPAIN  277 

and  then  turned  to  those  of  neighbouring  localities — 
San  Lucar,  where  we  saw  manzanilla  vintaged  at 
Torre  Breva  ;  Chipiona  and  Chiclana,  whose  produce 
was  sold  to  Jerez ;  Rota,  where  we  watched  the 
curious  process  of  making  tintilla,  otherwise  "  Sacra- 
mental Tent;"  and  Port  St.  Mary, whose  vineyards 
adjoin  those  of  Jerez,  and  which  then  shipped  20,000 
butts  a  year  on  its  own  account.  This  picturesque 
little  town  was  full  of  decaying  ancient  mansions, 
reared  with  the  gold  and  silver  of  Mexico  and  Peru 
by  those  conquistadores  who  returned  to  their  native 
land.  We  next  went  farther  afield — ^to  Montilla, 
which  is  in  the  province  of  Cordova,  and  where  we 
tasted  at  La  Tercia  (acquired  by  Messrs.  Gonzalez 
from  the  great  ducal  house  of  Medina-Coeli)  some  of 
the  centenarian  wines  stored  in  the  ancient  bodegas 
there.  Finally,  we  explored  the  Seville  district, 
whence  the  sherry  shippers  derived  cheap  wines, 
necessarily  inferior  to  the  choicer  growths,  for 
instead  of  the  vines  growing  in  white,  albariza  soil, 
as  is  the  case  near  Jerez,  they  were  grown  in  a  reddish 
clay,  impregnated  with  oxide  of  iron,  but  having  a 
chalk  subsoil.  So  great,  however,  was  the  demand 
for  sherry  in  those  days  that  even  the  distant 
Moguer  district  was  exploited,  and  sent  15,000  butts 
of  cheap^wine  to  England.  To-day  matters  are  very 
different,  for  although  there  was  a  slight  revival  in 
the  sherry  trade  a  few  years  before  the  outbreak  of 
the  Great  War,  the  market  remained  small  compared 
with  its  extent  in  my  younger  days. 

The  conclusions  at  which  my  father  arrived 
with  respect  to  the  alleged  adulteration  of  sherry 
were  that,  whereas  it  had  been  asserted  that  from 
30  to  40  lbs.  of  gypsum  per  butt  were  added  to  the 
grapes  before  they  were  trodden  or  pressed — ^with 


278  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

the  result  that  the  tartar  of  the  must  was  transformed 
into  sulphate  of  potash,  an  aperient  salt — ^the 
truth  was  that  merely  a  small  quantity  of  gypsum 
was  used,  the  effect  therefore  being  by  no  means  so 
great.  Moreover,  my  father  pointed  out  that  the 
superiority  of  Burton  beer  was  largely  due  to  the 
presence  of  gypsum  in  the  water  of  the  Trent.  If 
Manzanilla  had  a  fresher  taste  than  sherry,  this  was 
due  to  the  earlier  vintaging,  the  grapes  being  less  ripe. 
We  also  found  that  very  little  sulphuring  was  prac- 
tised, indeed  far  less  than  in  the  Sauternes  district  in 
France.  When  the  result  of  our  investigations  was 
pubhshed,  it  was  reproduced  by  numerous  Spanish 
newspapers  and  acknowledged  by  the  Jerez  Town 
Council  with  an  unanimous  vote  of  thanks.  Never- 
theless my  father  made  reserves  respecting  the 
conditions  and  the  mode  of  fermentation,  which, 
he  held,  frequently  took  place  at  too  high  a  tempera- 
ture and  in  vessels  too  small  for  the  purpose,  the 
must,  moreover,  not  being  sufficiently  exposed  to 
the  action  of  the  atmosphere.  He  found  also  that 
the  fining  practised  to  ensure  the  extreme  brightness 
demanded  by  British  buyers,  caused  some  wines  to 
lose  much  flavour  and  even  more  bouquet. 

Sherry,  he  wrote,  was  undoubtedly  a  wine  which 
should  not  be  drunk  before  it  was  quite  four  years 
old,  and  therefore  it  was  necessary  to  pay  a  good 
price  for  it,  as  four  years  of  nursing  doubled  its 
original  cost.  To  do  the  wine  real  justice  it  was 
even  best  not  to  drink  it  until  its  twelfth  year. 
Amontillados  and  Olorosos  greatly  improved  when 
kept  in  bottle  during  from  two  to  five  years,  and 
even  longer,  thereby  losing  their  pungency  and 
becoming  softer  and  rounder.  For  the  rest,  it  is 
absurd  to  hold  that  sherry  is  more  prejudicial  to 


SPAIN  279 

health  than  other  wines.  I  do  not,  of  course, 
allude  to  the  cheap,  young,  immature  "  natural " 
wines  of  Seville  and  some  other  districts,  whose 
fermentative  action  is  revived  by  heat,  and  which 
thus  become  unwholesome.  But  to  the  better-class 
wines  of  Jerez  no  such  objection  could  be  taken. 

We  found  life  at  Jerez  very  slack  except  early 
in  the  morning  and  in  the  evening.  Towards  the 
middle  of  the  day  the  heat  generally  became  too 
great  for  much  exertion,  and  the  siesta  was  usually 
prolonged  well  into  the  afternoon.  Of  course  there 
were  exceptional  days — certain  Sundays — ^when  the 
very  heat  of  the  nether  regions  would  not  have  kept 
a  Jerezano  within  doors.  Those  were  the  Sundays 
when  a  bullfight  took  place  either  at  Jerez  itself,  or 
at  Seville,  or  at  San  Fernando  near  Cadiz.  It  was 
at  San  Fernando  that  I  first  saw  a  fight,  the  primera 
espada  that  day  being  the  handsome  Frascuelo,  the 
foremost  matador  of  his  time. 

We  drove  over  in  a  ramshackle  vehicle  drawn  by 
meagre  horses,  and  accompanied  by  a  nephew  of 
the  managing  partner  of  Cosens  &  Co.'s  business. 
Clemente  Ivison,  who  was  Spanish  on  his  mother's 
side,  was  only  a  few  years  older  than  myself,  and 
diu-ing  my  stay  at  Jerez  we  became  close  friends 
and  frequent  companions.  On  the  day  of  the  fight 
at  San  Fernando  he  first  took  us  to  an  inn  which  was 
the  rendezvous  of  virtually  the  whole  cuadrilla,  so 
that  before  going  to  the  ring  we  obtained  a  near 
view  of  those  for  whom  the  crowd  was  already 
waiting.  We  saw  picador es  and  handillereros  arraying 
themselves  for  the  contest,  and  there,  of  course,  was 
the  great  Frascuelo  surrounded  by  languishing 
young  women  who  craved  his  smiles  and  darted 
jealous  glances  at  one  another. 


280  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

I  willingly  admit  that  I  found  the  Andalucian 
style  of  beauty  attractive.  Nothing  could  be  more 
beautiful  than  those  large  full  beaming  dark  eyes — 
ojos  arabes  as  the  Spanish  call  them — and  nothing 
more  charming  than  the  national  headdress  the 
mantilla,  which  then  was  still  universally  worn, 
though  I  have  been  told  that  many  young  girls  of 
the  bourgeoisie  now  walk  up  and  down  the  alamedas 
of  Cadiz  and  Seville  wearing  abominable  chapeaux 
and  toques  from  Paris.  Further,  the  carriage  of  the 
young  Andaluza  was  most  graceful,  and  her  walk 
bewitching.  There  were  times  when  whilst  strolUng 
about  some  public  promenade  I  felt  inclined  to 
repeat  Byron's  familiar  lines  : — 

"  Oh.  never  talk  again  to  me, 

Of  northern  climes  and  British  ladies  ; 
It  has  not  been  your  lot  to  see, 
Like  me,  the  lovely  girls  of  Ceidiz." 

Once  or  twice  I  indulged  in  a  mild  flirtation. 
I  had  no  good  looks  to  commend  me  to  notice,  but 
I  was  quite  fair,  with  a  little  yellowish  moustache, 
and  thus  I  aroused  that  passing  interest  which  every 
young  rubio  inspires  in  Spain.  Of  fair-haired  girls 
(apart  from  a  few  of  English  birth)  I  saw  but  one 
during  all  the  months  that  I  then  spent  in  southern 
Spain.  She  was  a  Sevillana,  and  all  the  black-haired 
young  men  of  that  famous  city  literally  raved  about 
her.  In  fact,  she  attracted  wooers  from  the  uttermost 
limits  of  Andalucia,  and  was  as  much  talked  about 
as  if  she  had  been  another  Helen.  But  she  was 
closely,  jealously  guarded  by  her  parents,  and  nobody 
was  able  to  come  near  enough  even  to  be  denied. 

Wild  horses  could  not  drag  from  me  an  account 
of  a  bullfight.  Cest  trop  vieux  jeu.  I  will  only  say 
that  at  San  Fernando  I  saw  Frascuelo  despatch  three 


SPAIN  281 

bulls,  and  that  one  of  those  animals  had  previously 
killed  twelve  big,  bony,  blindfolded  horses.  I 
witnessed  two  or  three  other  fights  subsequently,  one 
at  Granada  where  Frascuelo  again  officiated.  If  I 
remember  rightly,  some  years  afterwards,  that 
hero  of  the  ring  and  darling  of  the  sex  was  killed  by 
a  buU  either  at  Madrid  or  in  northern  Spain,  in 
such  wise  as  to  give  satisfaction  to  poetic  justice. 
I  found  large  numbers  of  women  of  all  classes  of 
society  attending  the  bullfights  and  often  joining 
in  the  cry  of  "  Mas  caballos  1 " — "  More  horses  !  "  I 
do  not  know  what  is  the  position  to-day,  but  in  my 
time  no  cosa  de  Espana,  no  pronunciamiento,  no 
poUtical  complication  of  any  kind  could  interfere 
with  the  national  pastime.  * '  Pan  y  Toros  /  "  — "  Bread 
and  Bulls  !  "  was  the  cry  of  the  Spanish  people, 
just  as  ''  Panem  et  C ir censes  f'  had  been  that  of  the 
Romans  in  the  days  of  the  Decline. 

Cock-fighting,  which  I  witnessed  once  or  twice, 
seemed  only  to  interest  the  lower  orders.  Pigeon- 
shooting  was  limited  to  a  Jerez  club,  whose  members 
— chiefly  Englishmen — indulged  in  it  on  Sundays 
when  the  great  heat  of  the  day  had  abated.  An 
annual  race-meeting  was  held  at  Jerez,  and  was 
chiefly  organised  by  the  English  colony.  The 
"  stable  "  of  Mr.  Richard  Davies,  one  of  the  sherry 
shippers,  occupied  the  foremost  position.  I  do  not 
remember  whether  there  was  any  theatre  at  Jerez 
at  that  time.  Now  and  again  I  went  with  Clemente 
Ivison  to  some  gipsy  haunt  to  witness  a  concert  and 
dancing.  Jerez,  by  the  way,  had  a  recognised 
dance  of  its  own,  called  the  jaleo,  and  evidently  of 
Moorish  origin.  As  a  rule,  I  spent  the  earlier  part 
of  each  evening  at  the  Casino  or  club,  where  I 
eventually   succumbed   to   the   attractions   of   the 


282  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

roulette  table.  I  believe  that  the  authorities  at 
Madrid  had  prohibited  roulette  altogether,  but  for 
the  sake  of  palm-oil  the  alcalde  or  mayor  of  Jerez 
closed  his  eyes  to  the  existence  of  the  table  at  the 
club.  In  comparison  with  Monte  Carlo  the  affair 
was  a  very  modest  one  but  it  had  its  aristocratic 
side,  the  table  being  run  by  two  Spanish  grandees, 
a  duke  and  a  marquis,  who  officiated  every  evening 
from  8  until  10.30.  My  means  were  not  large,  so 
I  could  only  make  very  small  ventures,  but  as  I 
lost  persistently,  with  only  a  few  brief  intervals  of 
success,  I  believe  that  I  was  ultimately  about  £100 
out  of  pocket.  It  was  just  as  well  that  this  happened, 
for  it  taught  me  a  salutary  lesson. 

An  English  friend  who  played  at  the  table  was 
for  a  time  extremely  fortunate,  in  fact  one  evening 
he  actually  broke  the  bank,  winning  a  sum  of  about 
£400.  Like  my  father  and  myself  he  was  boarding 
at  the  Fonda  de  Jerez,  and  I  remember  accompanying 
him  thither  and  helping  him  to  count  his  winnings, 
which  included  all  sorts  of  coins.  Of  course  he  was 
not  satisfied  with  them,  but  continued  playing — 
vowing,  however,  that  he  would  never  on  any  one 
evening  risk  more  than  £20.  He  adhered  to  that 
resolution  for  a  whole  week,  during  which  his  luck 
was  "  dead  out."  On  the  eighth  evening,  having 
exhausted  his  supply,  he  borrowed  a  few  pounds 
from  me  and  then  asked  me  to  go  to  the  Fonda  and 
fetch  some  more  money  from  his  cash-box,  the  key 
of  which  he  gave  me.  I  did  that  on  two  or  three 
occasions,  but  night  after  night  fresh  losses  were 
encountered.  I  should  mention  that  there  was 
generally  an  early  game  on  Sundays,  and  on  one 
such  occasion  when  the  hour  for  ceasing  play  arrived 
my  friend  found  that  he  had  come  to  the  end  of  his 


SPAIN  283 

winnings,  all  of  which  had  returned  to  the  "  bank." 
"  I  shall  have  to  begin  again,"  he  sighed.  But  just 
then  the  Marquis  de  Campo  Real,  who  had  been 
officiating  at  the  table,  got  up  and  said :  ''  Gentle- 
men, there  will  be  no  more  play.  As  you  are  aware,  a 
new  mayor  has  been  appointed,  and  we  have  been 
unable  to  come  to  any  arrangement  with  him.  He 
declares  that  he  is  acting  under  instructions  from 
Madrid."  However  that  may  have  been,  roulette 
at  the  Casino  became  a  thing  of  the  past. 

The  Spaniard  is,  of  course,  a  born  gamester,  and 
in  default  of  roulette,  dice  and  cards  became  the  rage. 
A  famous  gambler  now  appeared  upon  the  scene. 
This  was  Garcia,  who  several  years  previously  had 
repeatedly  broken  the  bank  at  Homburg  vor  der 
Hohe,  when  the  gaming  tables  there  were  run  by 
the  original  Blanc,  who  afterwards  migrated  to 
Monte  Carlo.  Garcia  played  ecarte,  lansquenet, 
and  other  games  at  the  Jerez  Casino,  and  in  a  few 
days  won  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  whereupon 
he  hastily  departed.  He  ought  never  to  have  been 
allowed  to  play  at  all,  for  some  years  previously  he 
had  figiu^ed  in  a  great  Parisian  scandal,  when  he  and 
Calzado,  the  manager  of  the  Italian  Opera-house, 
were  found  with  marked  cards  in  their  possession. 
The  affair  took  place  at  a  mansion  in  the  Champs 
Elysees  tenanted  by  a  woman  known  as  La  Barucci, 
and  the  principal  victim  was  the  Marquis  Angelo  de 
Miranda,  a  young  chamberlain  of  Isabella  II.  The 
*  two  confederates  were  turned  out  of  the  house,  and 
Calzado  was  prosecuted  for  fraud,  whilst  Garcia  fled 
the  country.  All  of  that  was  known  to  my  father 
and  myself,  but  we  had  never  previously  seen 
Garcia,  who  came  to  Jerez  under  an  assumed  name. 
Probably   some   compatriot  fathomed  his  identity 


284  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

there;  hence  his  precipitate  departure  with  his 
ill-gotten  gains. 

During  the  early  part  of  my  stay  at  Jerez  I  con- 
tracted the  pernicious  habit  of  writing  at  night  after 
returning  from  the  club.  At  those  times  the 
mosquitoes  were  often  a  great  nuisance,  but  the 
temperature  was  far  more  pleasant  than  during  the 
day.  When  my  task  was  finished  I  retired  to  my 
carefully  curtained  bed,  for  a  Uttle  rest  pending 
the  advent  of  a  servant  who  would  come  to  inform 
me  that  my  friends  were  waiting  at  the  door.  Here 
I  should  mention  that  many  of  the  younger  men 
connected  with  the  sherry  houses  kept  horses,  and 
that  there  was  often  one  at  my  disposal,  particularly 
on  the  mornings  when  it  was  proposed  to  go  and 
bathe  in  the  sea  at  San  Lucar  de  Barrameda.  Our 
road  thither  lay  across  a  vast  expanse  of  uncultivated 
heath-like  land,  where  on  rare  occasions  a  few 
cattle  might  be  seen.  In  the  old  days,  however, 
this  great  stretch  of  country  had  been  cultivated, 
and  it  was  still  intersected  here  and  there  by  broad 
deep  ditches — ^the  work,  it  is  said,  of  the  Moors  who 
had  dug  them  for  purposes  of  irrigation,  the  water 
being  derived  from  the  Guadalquivir. 

Now  when  with  some  friends  I  first  rode  from 
Jerez  to  San  Lucar,  I  was  ignorant  of  the  existence 
of  those  ditches.  I  was  mounting  that  morning 
a  fine  young  Spanish  barb,  and  the  shipper  who  had 
lent  me  the  animal,  being  short  of  saddlery,  had  only 
been  able  to  provide  something  in  the  old  Moorish 
style.  We  were  all  in  fairly  high  spirits  and  some 
banter  was  exchanged,  at  first  good-humouredly 
enough  ;  but  one  member  of  the  party,  taking  offence 
at  something  which  was  said  and  which  made  me 
laugh,  impatiently  flicked  my  horse  on  the  haunches 


SPAIN  285 

with  his  whip.  Master  barb  was  off  Uke  a  shot,  and 
before  I  could  gain  complete  control  over  him  was 
taking  a  long  jump,  for  which,  knowing  nothing  of 
the  ground,  I  was  very  ill-prepared.  I  was  not 
thrown  over  his  head,  but  somehow  I  lurched,  and 
came  down  on  the  side  in  a  very  awkward  position,  and 
with  a  foot  still  in  one  of  the  Moorish  stirrups  from 
which  I  could  not  release  it.  Bumping  at  intervals 
I  was  dragged  over  the  scrubby  turf  for  a  distance 
of  perhaps  thirty  or  forty  yards,  when  my  horse 
good  naturedly  stopped  short.  He  was,  in  fact,  one 
of  the  best  behaved  horses  I  ever  sat,  galloped  well, 
and  never  needed  either  whip  or  spur.  On  this 
occasion  the  unaccustomed  touch  of  a  whip  had 
naturally  startled  him.  My  friends  extric  ated  me  from 
my  pHght,  amazed  to  find  that  I  was  little  the  worse 
from  the  mishap.  I  had  a  couple  of  teeth  broken, 
but  that  was  a  bagatelle,  and  when  somebody  sug- 
gested that  perhaps  we  had  better  return  to  Jerez,  I 
insisted  on  remounting  and  continuing  the  journey. 
There  was  a  Spaniard  among  the  party,  and  it  would 
never  have  done  for  an  Englishman  to  have  shown 
the  white  feather  after  falling  from  a  horse.  It  was 
annoying  enough  that  I  had  failed  to  keep  my  seat. 
After  all,  I  had  a  lucky  escape,  and  some  hours  later, 
when  I  was  alone  with  the  author  of  the  mischief, 
I  gave  him  a  bit  of  my  mind. 

After  halting  for  a  moment  at  a  farmhouse  and 
drinking  a  glass  of  wine  (which  I  dare  say  did  me  good) 
we  resumed  our  journey,  bathed,  feasted  on  freshly 
caught  fish,  whiled  away  the  siesta,  and  rode  back 
to  Jerez  in  the  cool  of  the  evening.  On  the  morrow 
I  felt  a  trifle  stiff,  but  suffered  no  further  inconve- 
nience. To  say  that  this  occasion  was  the  only  time 
I  ever  fell  from  a  horse  would  be  inaccurate.     I  well 


286  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

remember  that  in  my  early  boyhood  in  Sussex  a 
certain  pony,  whom  I  was  always  desirous  of  capturing 
and  riding  when  he  had  been  turned  out  to  grass,  used 
immediately  to  fling  me  over  his  head — ^pitching  me 
on  one  occasion  into  a  hedge  on  one  side  of  his 
paddock. 

In  or  near  the  vineyards  round  Jerez  I  often 
noticed  pleasant  country-houses,  the  property  of 
wine  rearers  or  shippers,  but  generally  deserted 
by  them.  Sometimes,  perhaps,  the  owner  would 
stay  there  during  the  vintaging,  well-guarded,  how- 
ever, by  trusty  armed  servants,  for  at  that  time  there 
were  still  some  bandits  in  Andalucia,  and  so-called 
*'  sequestrators "  pounced  on  people  of  means, 
carried  them  off  to  the  hills,  and  there  held  them  to 
ransom.  Only  a  few  years  previously,  a  plot  to 
kidnap  the  sons  of  Senor  Gonzalez  had  been  dis- 
covered ;  and  quite  recently  there  had  been  the 
case  of  the  two  Mr.  Bonells  (father  and  son)  of 
Gibraltar,  who  having  crossed  ''  the  Lines  "  to  buy 
a  horse,  were  seized  by  sequestrators  and  conveyed 
at  night  by  bridle  roads  to  a  lonely  spot  near  Jerez. 
Great  Britain  protested  vigorously  about  that  affair, 
and  the  Spanish  Government  eventually  had  to  pay 
Mr.  Bonell's  ransom  to  the  desperadoes  who  defied 
it.  Several  years  ago,  I  introduced  the  story  into 
a  romance  which  I  called  "  The  Scorpion,"  *  basing 
my  narrative  on  a  long  written  statement  with  which 
Mr.  Bonell  junior  supplied  me.  The  other  infor- 
mation respecting  the  secuestradores  and  their 
practices  which  I  introduced  into  that  book  of  mine, 
was  also  based  on  actual  facts,  and  in  several  in- 
stances I  gave  my  characters  the  same  names  as 
those  which  they  had  borne  in  real  life. 

*  Published  by  Chatto  &  Windus  in  1894. 


SPAIN  287 

I  was  told  one  evening  at  the  Jerez  Club  that  a 
few  of  the  members  were  regarded  with  suspicion,  it 
being  thought  that  they  were  in  league  with  certain 
gangs  of  sequestrators,  with  whom  they  instantly 
communicated  whenever  any  other  member  won  a 
large  sum  at  the  gaming-table,  or  when,  being  a  man 
of  means,  he  left  the  club  at  a  late  hour,  alone,  and 
with  a  fairly  long  walk  before  him.  But  although 
I  personally  got  in  touch  with  several  sequestrators 
(they  were  in  prison  at  the  time)  I  was  never  molested 
in  any  way,  not  even  on  the  night  when  my  friend 
broke  the  bank  at  the  club  and  I  helped  him  to 
carry  the  spoils  home. 

One  shocking  story  of  that  time  referred  to  a 
well-known  hotel  keeper  at  Seville,  whose  young  son, 
a  lad  of  ten  or  eleven  years,  was  kidnapped.  The 
gang  by  whom  this  was  effected  promptly  sent 
messages  to  the  father  demanding  money.  He, 
however,  consulted  the  police,  who  advised  him  to 
pay  nothing,  and  assured  him  that  they  would 
speedily  capture  the  bandits.  He  trusted  to  the 
authorities,  but  a  few  days  later  he  was  horrified  on 
receiving  a  small  parcel  which  contained  one  of  his 
son's  ears,  together  with  a  written  message  threaten- 
ing to  send  the  other  one  if  he  did  not  at  once  pay 
the  money  which  had  been  demanded.  He  then 
hastened  to  do  so,  but  his  son  was  not  restored  to 
him.  Another  week  or  so  elapsed,  and  then  the 
unfortunate  boy's  dead  body  was  found  in  a  sewer. 
He  had  been  strangled.  Another  curious  affair 
was  a  plot  to  rob  one  of  the  Jerez  banks.  As  was 
the  case  all  over  Andalucia  beggars  infested  the  town, 
congregating  around  all  the  church  doors,  prowling 
about  hither  and  thither,  and  even  entering  houses 
to  beseech  alms.     One  day  an  old  white-bearded  man 


288  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

entered  the  bank  soliciting  charity  in  the  name  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  and  all  the  Saints.  He  looked  so 
feeble,  tapping  the  tesselated  flooring  with  a  staff 
at  each  tottering  step  he  took,  that  a  clerk  gave  him 
some  trifling  coin.  For  three  or  fom*  days  in  suc- 
cession the  same  old  fellow  made  his  appearance  at 
about  the  same  hour,  and  always  with  the  same 
request,  and  it  seemed  as  though  he  could  never  take 
a  step  without  repeatedly  tapping  the  floor  with  his 
staff.  Nothing  was  suspected,  however,  until  one 
night  a  neighbouring  householder  went  to  the  police 
with  a  story  of  strange  subterranean  noises  which 
disturbed  his  rest.  For  once  in  a  way  the  officials 
investigated  his  statement,  and  discovered  that 
somebody  was  digging  under  the  house.  A  watch 
was  set,  and  ultimately  three  or  four  ruffians  were 
apprehended.  They  had  already  excavated  a  tunnel 
about  thirty  feet  in  length,  and  owing  to  some 
miscalculation  imagined  that  they  were  already 
under  the  bank  premises.  The  old  beggar,  of  course, 
had  tapped  the  floor  in  order  that  they  might  verify 
their  surmises. 

In  my  story  "  The  Scorpion  "  I  took  a  number  of 
liberties  with  certain  facts  appertaining  to  the 
so-caUed  *'  Mano  Negra "  or  Black  Hand  society, 
blending  occurrences  of  1873  with  others  of  1882-3, 
and  others  again  of  ten  years  later.  It  was  never 
really  proved  that  a  Black  Hand  society  existed, 
though  there  were  various  more  or  less  secret  agrarian 
organisations  in  Andalucia,  some  of  which  inclined 
to  physical-force  methods,  although  they  were 
affiliated  to  the  purely  socialistic  National  Federation 
of  Workers.  Among  the  members  of  one  of  these 
societies  was  a  Jerez  taverner  named  Bartolome 
Gago,  who  was  expelled  it  by  his  comrades  on  account 


SPAIN  289 

partly  of  an  intrigue  which  he  carried  on  with  the 
wife  of  one  of  them,  and  partly  because  it  was 
suspected  that  he  intended  to  betray  the  society.  In 
the  course  of  a  dispute  Bartolome  was  killed  by  others 
at  a  mill  near  Jerez  and  his  body  was  buried  on  the 
spot.  This  occurred  in  1882.  Don  Tomas  Perez 
Monforte,  Commander  of  the  Jerez  Civil  Guard, 
investigated  the  affair,  and  caused  a  hundred  persons 
to  be  arrested  on  the  charge  of  belonging  to  a  society 
of  malefactors.  The  alleged  leaders  were  a  school- 
master and  a  capataz  or  vineyard  overseer. 

Now  it  happened  one  day  that  Don  Tomas  noticed 
sundry  imprints  of  a  black  hand  on  the  white  walls 
of  a  house  in  the  village  of  Villamartin  where  sus- 
picious characters  were  presumed  to  dwell.  It 
subsequently  transpired  that  the  imprints  in  question 
were  merely  the  work  of  a  man  who  after  breaking 
a  bottle  of  ink  had  dried  and,  in  a  measure,  cleansed 
his  stained  hand  by  pressing  it  against  the  wall  on 
which  the  marks  were  found.  Don  Tomas,  however, 
persisted  in  his  theory,  like  the  imaginative  individual 
he  was,  and  the  name  of  the  Black  Hand  was  officially 
applied  to  the  society,  whose  deeds  he  was  investi- 
gating. The  authorities  really  wished  to  strike  a 
blow  at  the  SociaHst  tendencies  current  in  Andalucia, 
and  thus  all  the  Federations  of  Workers  were  ac- 
cused of  connivance.  Fourteen  men  were  eventually 
condemned  to  death  for  complicity  in  the  murder 
of  Gago  and  other  offences,  most  of  the  remainder 
being  sentenced  to  imprisonment — some  of  them  for 
life.  Such  great  unrest  supervened,  however,  that 
five  reprieves  were  granted,  and  as  a  sixth  man  went 
mad  and  another  committed  suicide  in  prison,  only 
seven  were  executed  on  the  square  at  Jerez  on  the 
morning  of  June  14,  1884.     Strangling  by  means  of 

u 


290  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

the  garrotte  was,  as  usual,  the  mode  of  death,  three 
executioners  being  in  attendance  together  with  a 
great  force  of  soldiers.  More  detailed  particulars 
of  this  affair  and  its  aftermath  will  be  found  in  another 
book  of  mine.* 

Two  years  before  I  first  went  to  Spain,  that  is  in 
1873,  there  had  been  great  Federalist  risings  at 
Seville,  Cadiz,  Granada,  Malaga,  Alicante,  and  par- 
ticularly Cartagena,  which  locaUties  proclaimed 
themselves  independent  cantons.  There  were  also 
great  excesses  around  Jerez.  The  general  situation 
in  Andalucia  resembled  that  prevailing  in  Ireland. 
The  peasantry  suffered  from  the  absenteeism  of  the 
great  landlords,  some  of  whom  owned  miles  and  miles 
of  country,  and  spent  at  Madrid  and  elsewhere  the 
whole  of  the  rent  money  of  which  the  province  was 
incessantly  drained.  The  Andaluz  is  at  times  a 
happy-go-lucky  fellow  content  with  very  little,  but  he 
does  not  readily  forget  a  wrong,  and  thus  discontent 
became  widespread.  It  followed  that  a  couple  of 
camarcas  or  federations  of  workers  sprang  up  and  in 
a  few  years  recruited  over  30,000  adherents,  many  of 
whom  belonged  to  the  rural  classes. 

I  shall  deal  more  particularly  with  Spanish 
political  affairs  in  my  next  chapter,  but  I  would  at 
once  point  out  to  the  reader  that  the  bad  condition 
of  the  country  when  I  first  arrived  there  in  1875,  was 
the  outcome  of  years  of  revolution,  insurrection,  and 
chronic  unrest.  Isabella  II  had  lost  her  throne  in 
September,  1868.  A  kind  of  military  republic  had 
ensued,  but  the  crown  was  offered  to  Prince  Leopold 
of  Hohenzollern  whose  candidature,  it  will  be 
remembered,  provoked  the  Franco-German  war  of 
1870.     In  that  same  year  Spain  lost  Prim,  her  one 

*  "  The  Anarchists,"    John  Lane,  The  Bodley  Head. 


SPAIN  291 

really  strong  man.  His  colleague  Serrano  retained 
control  of  the  executive  power  until  the  throne  was 
accepted  by  the  Duke  of  Aosta,  second  son  of  Victor 
Emmanuel.  The  Duke  was  a  well-meaning  prince 
who  strove  to  do  the  right  thing,  but  the  Spaniards, 
generally,  were  disinclined  to  accept  a  foreigner  as 
their  ruler.  Thus  three  years  later  King  Amadeo 
abdicated,  and  once  more  a  Republic  was  proclaimed. 
Castelar  then  came  to  the  front,  but  all  at  once  the 
Federalist  movement,  to  which  I  previously  referred, 
burst  forth :  Cartagena  proclaimed  its  independence, 
and  to  complicate  matters  there  came  a  CarUst 
insurrection  in  the  north.  Amidst  all  this  several 
military  men  combined  to  restore  the  monarchy,  and 
in  January,  1875,  the  son  of  Isabella  II,  the  Infante 
AKonso,  born  late  in  1857,  came  from  France  to  take 
possession  of  the  throne.  He  had  been  installed  for 
little  more  than  six  months  when  I  landed  at  Cadiz. 
When  one  remembers  all  that  had  happened  during 
the  previous  seven  years,  the  neglect  and  the  cor- 
ruption which  had  prevailed  in  an  ever-increasing 
degree  in  virtually  every  department  of  the  State, 
one  cannot  feel  surprised  at  the  country's  unhappy 
condition.  Moreover,  the  Carlist  insurrection  was 
still  raging  in  the  northern  provinces,  and  seemed  at 
moments  to  have  serious  chances  of  success.  Indeed, 
the  boy  King  Alfonso  XII  was  as  yet  by  no  means 
securely  enthroned. 

Nevertheless,  in  Andalucia  that  year — 1875 — 
little  thought  seemed  to  be  given  to  political  troubles. 
I  confess  that  the  recent  Federalist  movement  ap- 
peared to  me  to  have  offered,  in  theory,  a  fit  solution 
in  regard  to  Spain's  constantly  recurring  turmoil. 
The  nation  had  never  been  properly  welded  together, 
nor  is  it  even  now.     In  England  we  certainly  observe 


292  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

differences  between  the  man  of  Yorkshire  and  the 
man  of  Sussex,  the  man  of  Norfolk  and  the  man  of 
Devonshire ;  but,  however  divergent  their  particular 
interests  and  views  may  be,  there  is  none  of  that 
ill-suppressed  hostihty  to  one  another,  blended  with 
contempt  or  indifference,  that  one  may  observe  in 
the  different  provinces  of  Spain.  Thus  it  fell  out 
that  the  Andalucians  seemed  to  care  very  little  what 
might  happen  to  Asturias  or  Leon,  or  Biscay  or 
Catalonia  in  consequence  of  the  Carlist  war.  The 
Andaluz  thought  only  of  his  own  province,  just  as 
the  Murcian  or  the  Valencian  thought  only  of  his, 
and  although  the  FederaUst  movement  had  been 
outwardly  suppressed  it  still  had  many  secret  ad- 
herents, men  who  advocated  a  system  of  government 
akin  to  that  of  the  United  States,  each  province 
enjoying  autonomy  in  respect  to  its  own  immediate 
affairs.  This  idea  sprang  from  the  great  variety  of 
races  in  the  Peninsula.  Naturally,  however,  the 
Castillian  with  his  keen  and  haughty  pride  was  bent 
on  maintaining  the  centralisation  of  all  affairs  and 
lording  it  over  everybody  else. 

We  visited  the  show-places  of  Andalucia — Seville, 
Cordova,  and  Granada.  They  have  often  been 
described,  and  I  could  say  no  more  about  them  than 
has  been  said  already  by  scores  of  writers.  At 
Granada  I  remember  having — with  an  interpreter's 
assistance — a  short  conversation  with  one  of  the 
officials  in  charge  of  the  Alhambra.  He  was,  he  said, 
hoping  for  better  times  now  that  the  old  monarchy 
was  restored.  Queen  Isabella  had  always  provided 
out  of  her  civil  Ust  or  her  private  means  (which  were 
large)  a  fund  to  defray  the  cost  of  the  more  urgent 
repairs  and  restorations  in  order  that  the  fortress- 
palace  of    the  Moorish  kings  might  not  fall  into 


SPAIN  293 

irremediable  decay.  King  Amadeo  had  also  made 
a  few  grants,  but  during  the  remainder  of  the  time 
since  the  revolution  of  1868  it  was  seldom  that  any 
money  at  all  had  been  available.  Nearly  all  the 
interest  attaching  to  Granada  centres  in  the  Alhambra 
and  the  Generalif  e,  but  the  city  itself  is  not  unpleasing. 
Cordova  somewhat  disappointed  me.  The  interior 
of  the  mosque,  or  as  it  is  nowadays  the  cathedral, 
certainly  offers  a  wonderful  spectacle,  but  I  could 
discern  no  real  beauty  of  design  in  it.  I  admired, 
however,  the  many-arched  ancient  bridge  spanning 
the  Guadalquivir.  On  the  whole,  of  the  three  chief 
Andalucian  cities  I  preferred  Seville — ^with  its 
Giralda,  its  immense  cathedral,  and  its  Moorish 
Alcazar.  Life,  moreover,  was  there  brisker  and  gayer 
than  it  was  at  either  Granada  or  Cordova.  Malaga, 
which  we  also  visited,  was  of  interest  only  in  relation 
to  its  wine. 

When  we  returned  to  Granada  we  took  the 
diUgence  to  Jaen,  a  curious  old  town  with  Moorish 
towered-walls  and  citadel.  Christian  spires,  white 
houses  belting  steep  acclivities,  and  a  huge  and 
profusely  ornamented  cathedral,  where  is  preserved 
one  of  the  handkerchiefs  with  which  Saint  Veronica 
is  said  to  have  wiped  the  countenance  of  Christ, 
whilst  he  was  ascending  Calvary.  What  claims  the 
handkerchief  at  Jaen  may  have  to  be  the  one  on 
which  the  features  of  the  Saviour  were  miraculously 
impressed,  I  cannot  say.  I  found  that  it  was  only 
exhibited  on  two  particular  feast  days  in  the  year,  and 
so  we  were  not  allowed  to  see  it.  Sir  Howard 
Elphinstone,  an  equerry  to  Queen  Victoria,  whom 
we  had  met  at  Granada  and  who  became  our  fellow 
traveller  for  a  few  days,  expressed  some  disappoint- 
ment, for  he  had  previously  seen  more  than  one  other 


294  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

alleged  Santo  Rostro,  and  wished  to  inspect  that  at 
Jaen  with  a  view  of  drawing  comparisons.  However, 
we  departed  from  Jaen  in  another  diligencia,  drawn 
by  six  sturdy  well  fed  mules,  and  four  gaunt  big- 
boned  horses,  all  of  them  primitively  harnessed  with 
ropes,  but  decked  with  innumerable  worsted  tassels 
of  various  hues  ;  and  finally,  after  crossing  the  Sierra 
Morena,  where  bandits  were  still  said  to  lurk,  we 
reached  a  little  town  with  a  railway  station  and 
were  then  able  to  take  a  train  going  northward  to 
Madrid. 

It  may  be  held  that  what  I  have  set  down  here 
respecting  my  impressions  of  Andalucia  in  the 
seventies,  does  little  justice  to  the  subject.  Should, 
however,  any  reader  interested  in  it  care  to  turn  to 
my  story  "The  Scorpion,"  he  will  there  find  many 
passages  descriptive  of  Andalucian  life,  which  I  have 
been  unwilling  to  repeat  in  these  present  pages. 


II. 


IN  MADRID — COSAS   DE   ESPANA. 

Toledo  and  Madrid — Art  Treasures  and  a  Foreign  Loan — The  Royal 
Palace  of  Spain — The  Pageantry  of  a  Ride  in  the  Park — Alfonso  XII 
and  his  Mother,  Isabella  II — "  The  Transgression  of  a  King  " — The 
End  of  the  Carlist  War — The  King's  First  Marriage — ^Attempt  on 
his  Life — Death  of  Dona  Mercedes — The  King's  Second  Marriage — 
Dofia  Christina — Death  of  Alfonso  XII. 


It  is  well,  perhaps,  that  Madrid  should  be  the  Spanish 
capital.  Toledo,  the  capital  of  the  Visigoths  and 
afterwards  of  the  CathoHc  monarchy  until  1560, 
is  not  fitted  to  be  the  chief  city  of  a  modern  state. 
One  trembles  to  think  of  all  that  it  would  be  necessary 
to  destroy  in  order  to  adapt  Toledo  to  the  require- 
ments of  present  day  civilisation.  Far  better  then 
to  let  it  remain  as  it  is,  venerable  and  impressive, 
teeming  with  memories  and  relics  of  departed  great- 
ness. The  worst  feature  of  Madrid  is  its  climate. 
Before  the  city  arose  the  site  was  screened  by  forests, 
but  the  f ooUsh  Castillian  cleared  away  the  trees,  and 
now  well-nigh  every  evening  in  the  year  his  de- 
scendants have  to  take  precautions  against  a  chill. 
I  recollect  that  a  very  clever  French  artist  named 
Mariani,  who  was  sent  to  Madrid  for  the  Illustrated 
London  News,  never  returned  to  Paris.  Within  a 
month  the  Madrilense  climate  had  killed  him. 
Madrid  glories  in  its  art  collections,  which  are  of 

295 


296  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

inestimable  value ;  and  it  is  related  that  on  one  of 
the  many  occasions  when  the  Spanish  Government 
feared  bankruptcy  and  was  casting  its  eyes  hither  and 
thither  in  its  desperate  anxiety  to  raise  a  loan,  an 
American  syndicate  offered  it  lavish  assistance  on 
condition  of  securing  a  lien  on  the  art  treasures  of 
the  capital.  The  Government  shrank,  however, 
from  any  such  course,  lest  by  doing  so  it  should  raise 
a  perfect  whirlwind  of  indignation  and  again  revive 
the  era  of  revolutions. 

Apart  from  its  galleries,  Madrid  also  takes  pride 
in  its  royal  palace,  one  of  the  most  imposing  and 
possibly  the  largest  in  Europe.  It  is  said  that  when 
Napoleon  entered  Madrid  during  his  invasion  of 
Spain,  he  remarked  to  Joseph  Bonaparte,  on  whom  he 
intended  to  confer  the  Spanish  crown  :  "  Brother, 
you  will  have  better  quarters  than  I  have."  The 
Tuileries,  indeed,  was  by  no  means  an  imposing  pile. 
It  was  all  length,  it  lacked  loftiness,  and  its  little 
central  dome  over  the  Hall  of  the  Marshals  was 
only  in  a  degree  less  ridiculous  than  that  of  our 
National  Gallery.  The  Palace  of  Madrid  is,  on  the 
contrary,  very  lofty,  rather  too  massive  perhaps, 
but  conveying,  withal,  an  idea  of  grandeur  and 
dominion.  I  remember  the  first  occasion  when  I 
stood  in  its  large  rectangular  courtyard.  It  was 
during  the  afternoon.  Cavalrymen,  from  whose 
lances  depended  the  red  and  yellow  pennons  of  Spain, 
were  drawn  up  on  either  side.  A  mounted  military 
band  was  in  attendance.  Here  and  there  were 
generals  in  full  uniform,  displaying  all  that  extrava- 
gance of  gold  braid  for  which  the  Spanish  officer 
was  noted ;  and  just  below  the  lofty  palace  steps 
several  saddle-horses  were  waiting  in  the  charge  of 
grooms   and   orderUes.     All   at   once   the   cymbals 


SPAIN  297 

crashed,  kettle-drums  beat,  there  was  a  blare  of  brass 
instruments,  and  the  first  bar  of  the  royal  march 
resounded.  King  Alfonso  XII  was  descending  the 
palace  steps. 

Behind  him  came  quite  a  cortege  of  bedizened 
generals  and  functionaries.  He  approached  the 
horse  waiting  for  him  and  vaulted  nimbly  into  the 
saddle.  Generals  and  grandees,  whose  mounts  were 
also  waiting,  tried  to  imitate  him,  but  as  some  were 
quite  old  men  and  others  were  over  corpulent,  there 
were  instances  in  which  assistance  had  to  be  given. 
A  procession  was  formed,  however,  half  a  dozen 
lancers  rode  in  front,  then  came  a  few  officers,  and 
next  the  young  King,  who  affably  returned  the 
salutes  of  the  spectators  privileged  to  stand  in  the 
courtyard.  Behind  the  monarch  there  was  quite 
a  large  staff  formed  of  the  general  officers  and  others 
whom  I  have  mentioned.  To  my  surprise,  moreover, 
when  the  procession  had  passed  out  of  the  palace 
yard  it  was  joined  by  quite  a  dozen  victorias  and 
other  open  carriages,  which  had  been  waiting  on 
the  square,  and  in  which  sat  many  more  generals 
and  officers  of  state,  men  who  had  become  infirm, 
or  gouty,  or  who  felt  somewhat  indisposed  that  day, 
and  therefore  preferred  a  carriage  to  a  mount. 
The  reader  may  wonder  what  was  the  cause  of  all 
this  display,  what  object  had  brought  this  brilliant 
assembly  together  ?  Assuredly  so  much  pride  and 
pomp  and  circumstance  must  have  been  connected 
with  some  great  impending  function  of  state.  Not 
a  bit  of  it !  His  Majesty  was  simply  going  for  his 
usual  daily  ride  in  the  park  ! 

For  seven  years,  as  I  previously  pointed  out, 
Spain  had  been  passing  through  very  troublous 
times.     The   Carlist   insurrection   was   still   in  full 


298  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

swing  ;  the  national  exchequer  was  almost  empty  ; 
corruption  and  mismanagement  were  rife  on  all 
sides ;  the  country  seemed  to  be  utterly  crumbUng, 
Never,  through  many  long  years  of  pronunciamientos 
had  there  been  a  greater  necessity  for  vigilant  and 
strenuous  rule.  Yet  next  to  nothing  was  being 
done.  A  moment  might  arrive  when  Don  Carlos 
and  his  bands  would  sweep  down  on  Castille,  besiege 
Madrid,  and  force  Don  Alfonso  to  return  to  exile. 
Nevertheless,  here  were  twenty  or  thirty  generals 
whose  only  thought  was  to  attend  the  King  on  his 
afternoon  ride,  and  offer  themselves  in  all  their 
finery  to  the  admiring  gaze  of  the  populace. 
Mariana,  manana,  to-morrow,  to-morrow  ! — ^we  will 
then  attend  to  serious  matters ;  for  the  moment  we 
mean  to  enjoy  ourselves,  and  do  not  wish  to  be 
disturbed.  Besides,  how  can  the  King  ride  to  the 
park  without  an  appropriate  escort  ?  There  must 
be  pageantry  every  day  to  enhance  the  prestige 
of  the  monarchy,  and  moreover  the  laws  of  etiquette 
as  laid  down  by  PhiKp  II  are  immutable  and  must 
be  zealously  obeyed. 

It  is  true,  as  I  previously  showed,  that  the  King 
was  still  very  young,  a  mere  stripling,  and  that 
self-seeking  courtiers  were  fawning  on  him,  flattering 
and  spoiling  him.  He  let  them  do  so,  taking  things 
easily,  and  that  afternoon  when  I  saw  him  ride  forth 
quite  jauntily  from  his  palace  he  looked  a  picture 
of  youthful  happiness.  I  had  previously  seen  him 
more  than  once — ^not  in  Spain,  however,  but  in 
Paris,  for  he  had  accompanied  his  mother  thither 
after  her  dethronement.  There  are  portraits  of 
Isabella  II  in  her  earlier  years  which  seem  to  indicate 
that,  without  being  in  any  degree  a  beauty,  she 
was  then  fairly  good  looking.     At  the  time,  however, 


SPAIN  299 

when  she  reached  Paris  as  an  exile,  she  had  a  coarse 
flabby  face  and  a  figure  of  surprising  girth.  Her 
taste  in  dress  was  execrable.  I  saw  her  looking 
quite  fagottee  in  voluminous  gowns  of  startling  hues. 
A  bright  pea-green  appeared  to  be  one  of  her  favourite 
colours,  and  its  vividness  naturally  attracted  the 
eye  to  her  ungainly  person.  More  than  once  in 
the  phage  at  Longchamp,  where  she  exhibited  herself 
on  race-days,  I  heard  English  people  or  French 
provincial  visitors,  ignorant  of  her  identity,  express 
their  astonishment.  "  Good  heavens  !  Who  is  that 
creature  ?     Just  look  at  her  !  " 

In  may  be  pleaded  in  extenuation  of  Isabella's 
faults  that  from  her  cradle  onward  she  almost 
always  had  evil  examples  before  her.  In  order 
to  enable  her  to  reign,  her  father  Ferdinand  VII 
abrogated  the  Salic  law,  which  had  always  been 
recognised  by  the  house  of  Bourbon,  and  thus  when 
she  was  proclaimed  Queen  at  three  years  of  age, 
her  uncle  Carlos  claimed  the  throne  as  senior  male 
member  of  the  dynasty,  and  civil  war  ensued. 
Isabella's  mother.  Queen  Christina,  who  acted  as 
Eegent,  had  the  worst  of  reputations  and  became 
generally  known  as  "La  Mala"  or  the  "Evil  One," 
whilst  Isabella  herself,  after  she  assumed  sovereignty, 
acquired  the  nickname  of  "  La  Tonta  "  or  "  The  Fool." 
The  handsome  young  Serrano,  who  was  eventually 
made  both  a  Duke  and  a  Marshal,  became  the  lover 
of  both  Queens  in  tmrn.  Christina  eventually 
married  a  favourite  whom  she  created  Duque  de 
Rianzares,  whilst  Isabella  indulged  in  long  scandalous 
years  of  gallantry.  She  had  all  the  vices  but  none 
of  the  gifts  of  Catherine  the  Great.  A  husband  was 
provided  for  her  in  the  person  of  her  cousin,  Don 
Francisco  de  Asis,  a  puny,  wizened  little  man,  who 


300  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

by  the  expression  of  his  eyes  always  seemed  to  be 
apologising  for  his  temerity  in  being  alive — as  indeed 
he  might  well  have  apologised,  for  he  disgraced  him- 
self by  various  vices  and  was  in  other  respects  also 
a  very  contemptible  individual. 

At  the  time  when  I  was  first  in  Spain  the  most 
extraordinary  stories  were  told  of  him.  At  that 
period  he  was  certainly  living  in  France,  in  the 
seclusion  of  the  chateau  of  Savigny-sur-Orge,  near 
Paris,  where  he  sequestered  himself  a  la  Henri  III 
in  the  company  of  sundry  mignons ;  and  I  at  first 
imputed  the  freedom  with  which  Spaniards  talked 
about  him  to  the  fact  that  he  was  virtually  in  exile. 
But  my  informants  assured  me  that  for  long  years 
people  had  openly  jeered  at  Don  Francisco.  He  had 
the  title  of  King  Consort,  but  this  was  derisively 
changed  into  "  King  Father,"  in  allusion  to  his 
wife's  children,  whom,  according  to  Spanish  usage,  he 
had  to  present  with  all  solemnity  to  the  assembled 
Court.  It  was  said  that  Kjing  Father  usually 
stammered  a  protest  when  he  was  summoned  to 
perform  this  ceremony,  but  at  the  slightest  threat 
he  acted  as  he  was  bidden.  There  was  a  story  also 
that  at  an  early  period  of  his  married  life  he  was 
warned  of  the  Queen's  infideUty,  and  urged  to  avenge 
his  honour  on  her  lover.  A  weapon  was  even  handed 
to  him  for  that  purpose,  and  for  an  instant  he 
hesitated,  then,  flinging  it  aside,  covered  his  face 
with  his  hands  and  sobbed  like  a  craven :  "I  dare 
not !     I  dare  not !  " 

As  time  went  on  Isabella  cast  all  discretion  to 
the  winds.  She  aged  in  appearance  very  rapidly, 
becoming,  as  I  have  already  indicated,  extremely 
corpulent,  and  waddling  in  her  gait.  Nevertheless, 
from  time  to  time  the  guns  of  Madrid  boomed  forth 


SPAIN  301 

a  salute  proclaiming  to  the  citizens  that  her  Majesty 
had  given  birth  to  yet  another  Infanta.  Paquito, 
otherwise  King  Father,  then  had  to  do  the  honours. 
The  grandees,  the  marshals,  the  generals,  the 
ministers  of  state  and  the  chamberlains  assembled 
in  one  of  the  great  drawing-rooms  of  the  palace,  and 
presently  Don  Francisco,  short  and  slight,  ashen  of 
hue  and  apologetic  in  manner,  entered  with  sundry 
attendants,  two  of  whom  bore  a  large  silver  platter, 
on  which,  amidst  a  great  deal  of  lace  and  many 
ribbons  the  newly  born  infant  was  pillowed.  Right 
round  the  room  went  the  cortege,  pausing  at  times 
in  order  that  each  person  present  might  obtain  a 
good  view  of  her  little  Royal  Highness,  whilst  King 
Father  bowed  and  scraped  and  stuttered  replies  to 
the  many  congratulations  which  ironic  courtiers 
kindly  tendered  to  him. 

Isabella  had  but  one  son,  the  future  Alfonso 
XII,  who  was  born  in  1857  and  therefore  only  eleven 
years  old  when  Revolution  compelled  his  mother  to 
seek  an  asylum  in  France.  Spaniards  had  long  held 
that  there  would  be  neither  rest  nor  welfare  in  their 
country  so  long  as  Isabella  remained  on  the  throne, 
and  thus,  when  the  fleet  mutinied  and  was  joined 
by  the  garrison  and  citizens  of  Cadiz  in  September, 
1868,  the  rising  met  with  approval  throughout  the 
greater  part  of  Spain.  A  provincial  Government 
was  constituted,  Serrano,  Prim,  and  Olozaga  be- 
coming its  chief  members.  It  is  true  that  Pavia  y 
Lacy  tried  to  make  a  stand  for  Isabella  with  some 
troops  which  he  commanded ;  but  Serrano  defeated 
him,  and  various  small  insurrections  were  speedily 
quelled.  The  authors  of  the  Revolution  had  no 
idea  of  definitely  estabUshing  a  Spanish  Republic. 
They  proposed  to  place  a  king  upon  the  throne  and 


302  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

looked  about  them  for  a  likely  man.  In  their 
earlier  years  most  of  them  had  fought  against  the 
first  Don  Carlos,  and  so  his  branch  of  the  Bourbon 
family  was  banned.  In  fact  Prim — ^the  strong  man 
of  Spain,  a  Catalan,  dark  of  hue,  with  deep-set  eyes 
and  high  cheekbones — declared  that  no  Bourbon 
prince  of  whatever  category  should  again  occupy  the 
throne. 

It  was  offered,  I  believe,  in  the  first  instance  to 
old  Marshal  Espartero,  Duke  of  Victory,  who  had 
acted  as  Regent  at  one  period  of  Isabella's  reign.    He, 
however,  declined  kingship,  being  seventy-six  years 
old,  and  very  tired.     A  prince  of  the  House  of  Savoy 
was  next  suggested — that  is  the  hunch-backed  Duke 
of   Genoa,   younger   brother   of   Victor   Emmanuel. 
But  the  Italian  Court  vetoed  the  proposal,  and  the 
king-makers    had    to    seek    another    Prince.      The 
proud  crown  of  all  the  Spains  went  begging  from 
Court  to  Court.     It  was  tendered  to  the  Archduke 
Albert   of   Austria,   to  the  father   of    the  present 
King  of  Bulgaria ;   inquiries  were  even  set  on  foot 
as  to  whether  the  Duke  of  Cambridge  or  the  Duke  of 
Edinburgh  would  be  wiUing  to  profess  the  Eoman 
CathoUc  faith  in  return  for  the  CastilHan  throne. 
At  last,  with  Bismarck's  assent,  if  not  at  his  instiga- 
tion, a  wiUing  candidate  was  found  in  Leopold  of 
HohenzoUern-Sigmaringen ;     but    this    led    to    the 
Franco-German  War,  and  Spain  still  remained  with- 
out a  sovereign.     Finally,  whilst  France  was  being 
sorely  beset  and  could  not  interfere,  the  crown  was 
again   offered  to   a   Prince   of   Savoy,   and   Victor 
Emmanuel's  younger  son,  the  Duke  of  Aosta,  was 
authorised  to  accept  it.     The  Cortes  elected  him  by 
191  votes,  63  being  cast  for  a  Republic  and  27  for 
the  Due  de  Montpensier,  son  of  King  Louis-Philippe, 


SPAIN  303 

and  husband  of  the  Infanta  Louisa,  younger  sister  of 
ex-Queen  Isabella.  Montpensier's  marriage,  by  the 
way,  had  led  to  great  friction,  almost  to  war,  between 
France  and  England.  Alexandre  Dumas  gives  a 
lively  account  of  the  wedding  festivities  in  his 
"  Impressions  de  Voyage,"  from  which  one  might 
infer  that  the  marriage  was  at  first  popular  in  Spain. 
In  any  case,  it  soon  ceased  to  be  so,  by  reason  of  the 
Duke's  manifold  intrigues.  He  became,  in  fact, 
one  of  the  most  unpopular  members  of  the  Spanish 
royal  family,  but  by  reason  of  his  wealth,  which  was 
very  great,  he  was  generally  able  to  purchase  some 
measure  of  support. 

To  return,  however,  to  the  Duke  of  Aosta,  who 
was  enthroned  with  the  title  of  Amadeo  I,  both  he 
and  his  wife  at  first  seemed  Hkely  to  acquire  popu- 
larity. For  they  were  well  received  at  a  progress 
which  they  had  made  through  the  Spanish  provinces, 
and  no  attention  was  given  to  a  protest  which  ex- 
Queen  Isabella  issued  on  behalf  of  her  son  Alfonso. 
But  a  great  misfortune  supervened.  One  night, 
whilst  Prim  was  in  his  carriage  in  the  narrow  Calle 
del  Turco  in  Madrid,  he  was  attacked  by  six  men 
and  shot  dead.  The  assassins  escaped,  and  although 
a  number  of  people  were  arrested,  and  even  kept  in 
diu-ance  for  several  years,  the  crime  was  never 
actually  brought  home  to  anybody.  The  remains 
of  the  Conde  de  Eeus,  Marques  de  los  Castillejos, 
to  give  Prim  his  titles,  lay  in  state  in  the  Atocha 
church  at  Madrid,  and  there  they  remained  unburied 
for  four  years,  amidst  withered  wreaths  and  tarnished 
crowns  and  trophies.  A  great  mausoleum  was  to 
have  been  erected  at  the  national  expense,  but 
the  house  of  Bourbon,  which  Prim  had  sworn 
should  never  again  rule  Spain — "  Jamas  !  Jamas  ! 


304  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

Jamas  /  "  he  cried  on  one  occasion  in  the  Cortes — 
resumed  sovereignty,  and  thus  Spain's  leading  man 
remained  unhonoured  by  the  nation.  It  was  left  to 
his  wife  to  provide  his  tomb. 

At  whose  instigation  was  he  murdered  ?  Four 
hypotheses  were  current  when  I  was  first  in  Spain. 
The  crime,  it  was  said,  might  have  been  concerted 
by  partisans  of  the  pretender  Don  Carlos  or  by  those 
of  ex-Queen  Isabella,  or  it  might  have  been  the  work 
of  Bepublican  extremists  angered  by  the  restoration 
of  a  monarchy,  or,  finally,  it  might  have  been  in- 
stigated, by  the  much-hated  Due  de  Montpensier, 
who  had  hoped  that,  after  so  many  failures  to 
secure  a  king,  he  himself  might  have  obtained 
the  throne.  In  spite  of  the  adage,  the  vox  populi 
does  not  always  express  the  truth ;  nevertheless 
I  must  say  that  of  all  the  theories  propounded  re- 
specting the  assassination  of  Prim,  the  one  which 
associated  the  Due  de  Montpensier  with  the  crime 
found  by  far  the  greater  number  of  supporters. 
Even  Canovas  del  Castillo — subsequently  Prime 
Minister — once  pubUcly  referred  to  the  Duke  as  a 
criminal ;  but  the  allusion  may  merely  have  been 
one  to  a  duel  to  which  Montpensier  fought  with 
Don  Enrique  de  Bourbon,  a  member  of  a  junior 
branch  of  the  Spanish  house,  and  which  ended  in 
Don  Enrique's  death,  the  outcome  being  that  the 
Duke  was  tried  and  fined  for  contravening  the  law 
on  duelling. 

One  may  well  hesitate  to  think  that  a  brother  of 
the  Due  d'Aumale  and  the  Prince  de  Joinville  could 
stoop  to  assassination,  but  thousands  of  Spaniards 
held  him  responsible  for  Prim's  death.  It  was 
asserted,  but  without  proof,  that  there  had  been  a 
secret    understanding    between   Prim   and    himself 


SPAIN  306 

with  respect  to  the  vacant  throne.  It  was  held 
also  that  Montpensier's  wealth  had  been  behind  the 
revolution  by  which  Isabella  was  overthrown,  and 
that  the  conspirators  of  that  time,  who  included 
Prim,  had  profited  by  the  Duke's  money  but  given 
no  return  for  it.  Like  other  members  of  the  royal 
family  he  had  to  go  into  exile,  and  eventually  betook 
himself  to  Paris,  where  he  entertained  lavishly  and 
furthered  his  interests  with  Spanish  emissaries. 
But  intrigue  does  not  necessarily  mean  assassination, 
and  although  Spaniards — more  or  less  accustomed  to 
violent  deeds  among  themselves — ^were  incUned  to 
accuse  Montpensier,  I  cannot  adopt  their  view, 
remembering  that  the  Duke  was  no  Spaniard  at  all, 
but  a  French  prince. 

It  is  unquestionable  that  the  death  of  Prim  made 
a  great  difference  to  the  new  sovereign  King  Amadeo. 
People  began  to  say  that  Isabella,  in  spite  of  all  her 
vices,  had  been  muy  Reyna  y  muy  Espanola — ^very 
queenly  and  very  Spanish — whereas  Amadeo  was 
neither  Spanish  nor,  to  their  thinking,  kingly.  It 
became  the  fashion  to  call  him  the  "  beggarly 
Savoyard."  Worthy  man  as  he  was,  he  strove  to 
govern  constitutionally,  and,  mindful  of  the  financial 
condition  of  the  country,  he  cut  down  the  old  Court 
expenditure,  which  implied  the  shelving  of  many 
officials  and  a  curtailment  of  etiquette  and  its 
accompanying  pomp.  Madrid  could  not  even  under- 
stand, much  less  appreciate,  a  King  of  simple  ways. 
Yet  there  was  ample  justification  for  Amadeo's  line 
of  conduct. 

The  downfall  of  Isabella  had  been  the  signal  for 
a  revival  of  Carlism.  Don  Juan,  son  of  the  first 
Don  Carlos,  at  once  renounced  his  claims  in  favour 
of  his  own  son  who  was  also  named  Carlos,  and  this 

X 


306  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

prince,  a  handsome  young  man  whom  I  saw  in  Paris 
on  several  occasions,  notably  in  the  salons  of  Mme.  de 
La  Ferronays,  was  not  inclined  to  let  the  grass  grow 
under  his  feet.  Carlist  bands  assembled  in  northern 
Spain  already  in  August,  1870,  and  in  the  following 
spring  there  was  a  more  serious  rising  throughout 
Navarre,  Guipuzcoa,  and  Leon.  "  King  Carlos 
VII "  as  the  Pretender  styled  himself,  was  defeated 
by  both  Serrano  and  Moriones,  but  adherents  con- 
tinued flocking  to  his  standard. 

One  of  my  uncles,  Frank  Vizetelly,  was  with  him, 
acting  chiefly  as  correspondent  of  The  Times,  but 
occasionally  taking  a  hand  in  the  fighting,  for  which 
reason  Don  Carlos  bestowed  on  him  the  empty  titles 
of  a  marquis  and  a  grandee  of  Spain.  At  one 
moment  Frank  Vizetelly's  chief  companion  was 
John  Augustus  O'Shea  of  The  Standard,  whom  I  had 
met  in  France  during  the  Franco-German  War.  In 
a  lively  volume  of  reminiscences,  O'Shea  gives  an 
amusing  account  of  some  extraordinary  adventures 
which  he  and  my  uncle  had  together.  At  a  some- 
what later  period,  when  Don  Carlos's  fortunes 
became  desperate,  Frank  Vizetelly  allied  himself 
with  a  band  of  Basques  who  smuggled  goods  to  and 
fro  across  the  Pyrenees.  He  acted  as  their  santero 
or  agent,  passing  from  one  frontier  to  another,  and 
it  chanced  that  some  French  friends  of  my  family, 
who  were  staying  on  the  French  side  of  the  Pyrenees, 
met  him  at  some  hotel  or  other  and  struck  up  an 
acquaintance.  They  had  with  them  two  young  sons 
who  one  day  went  for  a  walk  with  my  uncle,  and 
much  to  their  parents'  alarm  did  not  return  until  the 
following  day.  Frank  Vizetelly,  it  appeared,  had 
taken  them  up  the  mountains  to  see  his  band,  and 
they  had  spent  the  night  with  the  smugglers,  in  a  cave. 


SPAIN  307 

But  I  must  return  to  King  Amadeo.  He  tried  a 
succession  of  Liberal  ministers,  Sagasta,  Topete,  and 
even  E-uiz  Zorilla,  steadily  persisting  in  constitutional 
courses,  and  refusing  to  allow  any  proclamation  of 
martial  law  in  spite  of  the  troubled  state  of  the 
country.  At  last,  on  the  night  of  July  18,  1872,  a 
band  of  desperadoes  made  an  attempt  to  assassinate 
both  the  King  and  the  Queen.  Nevertheless,  in  spite 
of  that  occurrence  and  the  Carlist  insurrection  and 
various  republican  risings,  Amadeo  still  endeavoured 
to  do  his  duty,  and  it  was  only  towards  the  middle 
of  February,  1873,  that  he  at  last  resigned  his  trust 
in  despair  of  putting  an  end  to  the  strife  to  which 
the  country  had  become  a  prey.  The  dignified 
simplicity  of  his  abdication  and  departure  impressed 
even  those  who  had  objected  to  his  rule. 

Then  came  the  dictatorship  of  Castelar  and 
greater  troubles  than  ever,  until  at  the  end  of  1873 
a  coterie  of  military  men  decided  that  the  best  course 
would  be  to  restore  the  Bourbon  monarchy.  General 
Pavia  dissolved  the  Cortes  a  la  Cromwell  or  a  la 
Bonaparte,  and  Isabella's  son  Alfonso  was  called  to 
the  throne.  When  I  first  saw  him  in  Paris  in  1869, 
a  few  months  after  his  mother's  deposition,  he 
was  only  about  twelve  years  old.  He  was  strolling 
through  the  reserved  garden  of  the  Tuileries  with 
the  Prince  Imperial,  who  was  his  senior  by  some 
twelve  months,  and  the  young  son  of  Dr.  Conneau, 
the  third  Napoleon's  friend.  Of  the  three  boys 
AKonso  had  by  far  the  least  engaging  appearance. 
He  looked  quite  a  weakling,  and  had  a  very  dull 
expression  of  face.  Young  Conneau,  on  the  contrary, 
was  quite  good-looking,  and  the  Prince  Imperial  at 
least  had  the  eyes  and  mouth  of  his  mother,  his  one 
defect  being  his  ears,  which,  through  some  strange 


308  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

neglect  in  his  early  childhood,  projected  on  either 
side  of  his  face — a  blemish  which  Andre  Gill  and 
other  caricaturists  always  accentuated  on  introducing 
him  into  more  or  less  scurrilous  cartoons. 

Alfonso  soon  left  Paris,  being  despatched  in  the 
first  instance  to  the  Theresianische  Ritter-Akademie 
at  Vienna  in  order  to  undergo  some  preUminary 
training  as  an  officer,  but  Canovas  del  Castillo  after- 
wards prevailed  on  his  mother  to  send  him  to  Sand- 
hurst. Our  older  military  men  may  include  some 
who  can  remember  having  seen  him  there. 

AMonso  looked  older  than  his  years  when  he  came 

to  the  throne  in  January,  1874.     He  was  then  not 

seventeen,  but  when  I  saw  him  at  Madrid  in  the 

ensuing  year  he  had,  in  spite  of  his  sUght  figure,  the 

general   appearance   of    a   young   man   of   twenty. 

His  complexion  was  too  pale  to  be  quite  healthy, 

but  he  had  a  brisk,  easy  step,  and  a  not  ungraceful 

bearing.     The   people   of   Madrid   pronounced   the 

chico  to  be  muy  simpatico.     For  four  years  or  so  after 

his  accession  he  was  kept  more  or  less  under  control, 

but  he  was  not  fortunate  in  his  chief  official  mentor. 

This  was  a  certain  Marques  de  Alcanices,  who  was 

best   known    by    a    higher    Neapolitan   title.     The 

Duque  de  Sesto,  as  he  was  called,  had  married  the 

Russian  widow  of  the  notorious  Due  de  Morny,  and 

the  manner  in  which  the  latter's  children  were  brought 

up  by  their  step-father  did  not  redound  to  Sesto's 

credit.     His  insinuating  ways  concealed  one  of  the 

greediest  natures  imaginable.     He  was  a  pluralist 

among  pluralists,  for  the  young  King's  accession  made 

him  Civil  Governor  of  Madrid,  Chief  Major-domo  of 

the  Palace,  Grand  Equerry,  and  Grand  Huntsman, 

Keeper  of  His  Majesty's  Seals,  High  Steward  of  the 

Royal  Patrimony,  General  Commander  of  the  Royal 


SPAIN  309 

Halberdiers,  Knight  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  etc.,  etc., 
etc.  Alfonso  had  a  more  intimate  familiar  in  the 
person  of  a  pseudo-Irishman,  a  certain  Conde  de 
Morphy,  who  had  previously  been  his  tutor  and 
private  secretary ;  but  Sesto  was  the  great  man  of 
the  Court,  and  the  chief  controller  of  the  King's 
actions.  Some  extraordinary  anecdotes  were  related 
of  him,  and  I  once  perpetrated  a  '*  short  story  "  * 
in  which  I  portrayed  him  playing  the  part  of  a 
Mephistopheles.  This  tale  was  based  on  reports 
which  I  found  current  in  Madrid  before  the  King's 
first  marriage.  Young  Alfonso,  it  was  related,  had 
fallen  in  love  with  a  very  pretty  girl,  the  sister  of  an 
officer  of  the  garrison.  In  order  to  faciHtate  appoint- 
ments, this  officer  was  at  Sesto's  instigation  ordered 
to  the  front,  like  Uriah,  Bathsheba's  husband. 
Instead  of  being  killed,  however,  by  the  CarHst 
insurgents,  he  was  apprised  by  a  friend  that  the  King 
was  secretly  meeting  his  sisterj  whereupon,  without 
pausing  to  obtain  leave,  he  hastened  back  to  Madrid, 
where  he  found  the  lovers  together.  According  to 
the  tale,  he  would  have  assassinated  Alfonso  had  it 
not  been  for  the  prompt  intervention  of  the  Duque 
de  Sesto,  who,  whipping  out  a  revolver,  shot  him 
dead.  The  affair  was  hushed  up,  the  young  person 
took  the  veil,  and  her  royal  lover  looked  about  him 
for  another  inamorata. 

There  had  already  been,  by  the  way,  an  acknow- 
ledged attempt  on  his  life — one  imputed  to  the 
CarUsts.  He  set  out  on  his  first  campaign  against 
those  insurgents  with  a  regal  retinue  of  500  persons, 
but  although  the  forces  of  the  Pretender  at  first  fell 
back,  the  Alfonsist  generals  blundered  badly  and 
sustained  severe  defeats,  in  such  wise  that  in  less  than 

♦  Printed  with  a  few  others  in  London  Opinion  in  or  about  1904-5. 


310  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

a  month  the  King  was  back  in  Madrid  face  to  face 
with  a  critical  situation,  from  which  Canovas  del 
Castillo  eventually  extricated  him.  For  a  while, 
although  the  famous  old  Carlist  leader,  Cabrera,  came 
over  to  the  AKonsist  side,  the  cause  of  Don  Carlos 
seemed  to  be  in  the  ascendant.  Even  before  the 
insurrection  was  finally  crushed  (Alfonso  again  being 
nominally  in  command  of  his  army),  the  Court  of 
Madrid  presented  a  picture  of  ridiculous  pomp  and 
foolish  extravagance.  The  Civil  List  had  been  fixed 
at  £370,000  per  annum — or  about  £30,000  less  than 
had  been  paid  to  Isabella.  She,  since  her  son's 
accession,  had  been  in  receipt  of  an  annual  allowance 
of  £100,000,  and  I  beUeve  that  the  pension  paid  to 
her  husband  "  King  Father  "  was  of  like  amount. 
Alfonso,  it  is  true,  had  to  make  allowances  to 
numerous  Infants  of  both  sexes,  besides  providing 
for  a  host  of  Court  officials.  There  were  chamber- 
lains, secretaries,  accountants,  clerks,  inspectors, 
flunkeys,  archivists,  librarians,  lawyers,  physicians, 
and  apothecaries  galore,  and  nearly  all  of  these  people 
preyed  upon  the  Civil  List  or  the  Privy  Purse.  An 
exception  might  be  made  in  favour  of  certain  heredi- 
tary chamberlains  of  whom  there  were  about  a  dozen, 
all  natives  of  the  same  little  town  and  descendants 
of  somebody  who  had  saved  the  life  of  a  certain 
King  or  Count  Sancho  in  the  twelfth  century,  for 
which  reason  they  had  by  an  ancient  royal  patent  the 
right  to  act  as  hereditary  chamberlains — ^the  chief 
duty  assigned  to  them  being  to  watch  in  turn  (that 
is  one  at  a  time)  outside  the  King's  bedroom  at  night, 
in  order  to  protect  him  from  danger.  This  honour 
carried,  I  believe,  no  emoluments  with  it. 

I  previously  referred  to  the  many  generals  whom 
I  saw  in  attendance  on  the  King  when  he  went  out 


SPAIN  311 

riding  in  the  afternoon.  I  find  a  work  of  the  period 
stating  that  a  few  years  after  x^lfonso's  accession 
the  Spanish  army  included  8  captains-general,  86 
lieutenant-generals,  127  major-generals,  and  336 
brigadier-generals,  or  a  total  of  557  general  officers 
on  active  service.  There  were  others  on  the  haK-pay 
list ;  and  the  total  number  of  army  officers  was 
some  20,000  which,  the  army  effective  being  about 
100,000,  represented  one  officer  of  commissioned 
rank  to  every  five  men.  Alfonso  himself  had  largely 
helped  to  swell  the  number  of  officers,  appointing 
no  fewer  than  134  brigadiers,  60  major-generals,  and 
30  lieutenant-generals  in  the  short  space  of  four 
years.  On  turning  to  the  Spanish  nobility  I  find 
equally  preposterous  figures.  There  were  89  dukes, 
all  of  them  grandees  of  the  first  class,  831  marquises, 
632  counts,  92  viscounts,  and  25  barons — ^total  1659  ! 
Many  of  those  nobles  were  certainly  as  poor  as 
church  mice,  though  some  among  them  were  quite 
wealthy  men  in  spite  of  the  general  impoverishment 
of  Spain. 

In  1877  (when  I  was  again  in  the  Peninsula),  the 
Carlists  being  finally  subdued,  the  King  toured  the 
country  and  visited  the  Balearic  isles,  being  greeted 
everywhere  as  "El  Rey  Pacificador.''  He  was  now 
completing  his  twentieth  year,  and  people  were  saying 
on  all  sides  that  it  was  time  for  him  to  marry. 
Various  unions  were  suggested,  but  Alfonso  preferred 
to  choose  his  wife  himself,  and  when  his  choice  be- 
came known  everybody  was  astounded  at  it,  for  he 
had  fixed  his  heart  on  marrying  his  cousin  Dona 
Maria  de  las  Mercedes — daughter  of  the  much  reviled 
Due  de  Montpensier  !  It  was  essentially  a  love 
match.  Doiia  Mercedes,  as  she  was  usually  called, 
was  staying  as  a  guest  at  the  castle  of  La  Granja, 


312  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

a  royal  summer  residence  in  the  Guadarrama  moun- 
tains, and  at  the  same  time  a  veritable  chateau  en 
Espagne  or  "  castle  in  the  air,"  its  site  being  nearly 
4000  feet  above  the  sea-level.  One  day  Alfonso 
met  with  a  nasty  accident  on  one  of  the  mountainous 
roads  near  La  Granja,  a  char-a-banc  in  which  he  was 
seated  with  several  other  people  being  overturned, 
and  an  extremely  massive  lady-in-waiting  to  his 
sister — the  Princess  de  Girgenti,  notorious  in  Paris 
for  her  jewellers'  bills  which  she  usually  forgot  to 
pay — ^falling  upon  him  with  such  great  force  and 
weight  that  it  seemed  as  though  the  frail-looking 
young  monarch  would  be  crushed  to  death.  That 
mishap  did  not  deter  him,  however,  from  making 
other  excursions  among  the  mountains,  and  one 
afternoon,  either  by  accident  or  design,  he  and  his 
young  cousin  Mercedes  (she  was  little  more  than 
seventeen)  became  separated  from  the  rest  of  their 
party,  and  wandered  along  the  hillside  until,  feeling 
tired,  they  sat  down  to  rest.  By-and-by  a  peasant's 
hay-cart  came  along,  and  they  obtained  a  lift  from 
its  driver,  not,  however,  before  Alfonso  had  put  the 
all  important  question  and  taken  his  first  kiss.  Thus 
human  nature  gained  a  decisive  victory  over  that 
terrible  bug-bear,  Spanish  etiquette.  The  story 
reminds  one  of  Louis  XIV  and  La  Valliere — ^but  it 
should  be  remembered  that  in  Alfonso's  case  the 
wooing  was  pour  le  bon  motif. 

Queen-mother  Isabella,  who  after  a  short  stay  in 
Spain,  and  sundry  attempts  at  interference,  had  been 
constrained  to  return  to  her  gilded  exile  in  Paris, 
was  extremely  irate  on  hearing  of  the  match,  which 
she  refused  to  countenance.  Montpensier,  naturally, 
was  well-pleased.  If  he  could  not  be  a  King  he  might 
at  least  become  the  father  of  a  Queen.     That  was,  at 


SPAIN  313 

any  rate,  a  fiche  de  consolation.  According  to  all 
accounts  Madrid  decorated  itself  gaily  for  the  wedding 
— which  I  did  not  personally  witness,  being  at  that 
moment  in  Italy,  but  I  have  referred  to  some  con- 
temporary narratives  which  indicate  that  the  Spanish 
capital  had  become  quite  enthusiastic  over  the  love 
match  of  the  two  young  people.  Special  envoys 
were  despatched  to  Madrid  from  foreign  countries, 
and  though  ex-Queen  Isabella  did  not  grace  the 
ceremony,  preferring  to  sulk  in  Paris,  and  even  to 
consort  there  with  some  of  her  old  Carlist  enemies, 
her  insignificant  husband  was  for  his  pension's  sake 
present,  and  one  account  describes  him  as  a 
"  wizened  little  figure  huddled  up  in  a  tortoiseshell 
state-coach."  As  for  Montpensier,  he  was  much  en 
evidence  when  he  gave  his  daughter  away.  On  the 
morrow  all  Madrid  was  derisively  calling  him  '*  King 
Father-in-law." 

That  union  which  seemed  to  promise  much 
happiness  was  fated,  unfortunately,  to  early  dis- 
solution. Dona  Mercedes  speedily  triumphed  over 
the  prejudices  arising  from  her  parentage  and  won 
much  popularity  by  her  kindliness  of  heart  and  her 
gracefulness.  But  within  five  months  of  her  marriage 
she  was  dead.  On  June  24,  1878,  she  was  suddenly 
prostrated  by  gastric  fever.  On  the  following  day 
her  medical  attendants  abandoned  all  hope  of 
saving  her,  and  on  the  26th  she  expired.  Her 
remains  were  borne  to  the  Escorial,  where  they  passed 
under  the  Great  Gate  of  the  royal  burial-place — a 
gate  through  which  no  member  of  the  House  of 
Spain  ever  passes  whilst  he  or  she  remains  alive. 
Alfonso  was  undoubtedly  much  afflicted  by  his  loss. 
There  was  a  pompous  requiem  service  for  his  departed 
consort,  and  a  magnificent  basilica  was  to  have  been 


314  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

erected  to  her  memory,  but  time  decided  otherwise. 
In  the  ensuing  autumn  a  young  cooper  of  Tarragona, 
named  Moncasi,  fired  twice  upon  the  King  in  the 
Calle  mayor  of  Madrid,  and  was  eventually  executed 
for  his  deed  in  the  presence  of  50,000  people. 
It  was  then  decided  by  virtually  all  of  the  King's 
advisers  that  he  must  marry  again  in  order  to  ensure 
the  direct  succession  to  the  throne,  for  the  nation, 
mindful  of  the  rule  of  Christina  and  Isabella,  was  not 
inclined  to  submit  to  the  sovereignty  of  one  of  his 
sisters.  It  was  hoped,  however,  that  by  marrying 
again  he  might  have  a  son,  whose  advent  would  pro- 
vide against  the  contingency  of  feminine  rule. 
Negotiations  were  then  opened  with  Vienna,  and  on 
November  29,  1879,  Alfonso  espoused  the  Arch- 
duchess Maria  Christina — his  mother  on  this  occasion 
condescending  to  repair  to  Madrid.  A  month  later 
the  King's  life  was  again  attempted,  this  time  by 
a  pastrycook's  assistant  named  Otero  y  Gonzalez — 
but  whether  for  political  reasons  or  in  a  fit  of  aberra- 
tion is  doubtful.  Two  shots  were  fired,  however, 
and  the  new  Queen  being  with  her  husband  at  the 
time  shared  the  danger  with  him.* 

I  next  saw  Alfonso  in  Paris  at  the  end  of 
September,  1883.  He  came  there  on  his  homeward 
way  after  visiting  BerUn,  where  the  Kaiser  had 
conferred  on  him  the  colonelcy  of  a  regiment  of 
Uhlans  which  was  then  stationed  at  Strasbourg. 
The  Parisians  felt  deeply  offended  by  the  Spanish 
sovereign's  acceptance  of  this  colonelcy.  They 
remembered  what  the  German  Uhlans  had  done  in 
France  in  1870-71,  when  Strasbourg,  moreover,  had 
been  wrenched  from  French  territory.     On  the  other 

*  The  various  attempts  on  Alfonso's  life  are  described  in  some  detail 
in  my  book  on  the  Anarchists. 


SPAIN  315 

hand,  Alfonso  could  not  have  refused  the  appoint- 
ment without  seriously  angering  Berlin.  Old 
Kaiser  William  was  scarcely  malicious  enough 
to  have  personally  devised  that  pubHc  affront  to 
France,  which  was  probably  instigated  by  Prince 
Bismarck.  In  any  case,  when  the  King  of  Spain 
reached  Paris,  a  hostile  demonstration  greeted  him 
there.  I  had  observed  the  angry  demeanour  of  the 
crowd  before  his  arrival,  and  when  he  afterwards 
drove  along  the  Rue  de  Lafayette  I  heard  all  the 
hissing  and  jeering  which  arose.  President  Grevy 
was  placed  in  an  awkward  position  by  this  affair, 
and  it  became  necessary  to  tender  very  humble 
apologies  to  the  Spanish  King,  whose  visit  to  France 
was  naturally  curtailed.  On  the  whole,  I  have 
always  regarded  Alfonso  as  being  in  this  affair  more 
sinned  against  than  sinning — a  victim,  as  it  were,  of 
Prussia's  hatred  against  France. 

Time  went  on.  His  reign  proved  far  from 
prosperous.  There  were  insurrections,  both  at  home 
and  in  Cuba,  terrible  inundations  and  earthquakes, 
a  fearful  visitation  of  Asiatic  cholera,  and  a  great 
dispute  with  Germany  concerning  the  sovereignty 
of  some  of  the  Caroline  islands.  The  clamour  which 
then  arose  throughout  Spain  showed  that  the  country 
was  in  no  wise  pro-German,  though  Germans,  as 
I  personally  observed  on  one  or  another  occasion, 
were  sedulously  capturing  certain  branches  of  trade 
with  Spain,  their  representatives  there  constantly 
competing  with  English  firms,  and  often  gaining  the 
day  by  sheer  pertinacity.  Many  English  business 
men  could  not  adapt  themselves  to  the  dilatory 
methods  of  a  land  which  was  never  in  a  hurry,  and 
whose  motto  is  still,  too  often,  manana — ^to-morrow. 
But  the  German  emissaries  persevered,  and  renewed 


316  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

their  efforts  again,  and  again,  and  again,  until  they 
secured  the  order  or  the  contract  they  desired. 

At  the  outset  of  this  chapter  I  referred  to  the  evil 
climate  of  Madrid.  I  must  now  allude  to  it  again, 
for  it  virtually  caused  the  death  of  Alfonso  XII. 
Situated  as  the  city  is  on  a  great  bare  plateau,  and 
surrounded  by  a  vast  undulating  stony  wilderness,  it 
is  one  of  those  exposed  spots  which  all  who  are  liable 
to  lung  or  bronchial  weakness  should  carefully 
avoid.  Alfonso  XII  did  not  husband  his  vitality, 
but  expended  it  in  all  sorts  of  ways.  His  second 
marriage  had  been  prompted  by  reasons  of  state, 
not  by  affection,  and  he  had  inherited  some  of 
his  mother's  predisposition  to  gallantry.  She  at 
least  was  a  strongly  constituted  woman  and  lived 
to  the  age  of  seventy-four,  but  AKonso  was  physically 
weak.  At  periods  of  pubhc  calamity,  flood,  earth- 
quake or  epidemic,  he  over-exerted  himself  in  his 
genuine  solicitude  for  his  people.  It  was  foreseen 
more  than  once  that  he  could  scarcely  hope  to  live 
to  a  great  age,  and  there  was  some  impatience  at 
the  fact  that  both  of  the  children  as  yet  born  of  his 
second  marriage  were  girls,  in  such  wise  that  Spain 
might  have  to  submit  once  again  to  the  feminine 
rule  which  her  people  had  learnt  to  dislike.  There 
were,  of  course,  still  hopes  that  the  Queen  might  give 
birth  to  a  son,  for  she  was  again  enceinte  ;  and, 
moreover,  when  on  November  24,  1885,  it  was 
officially  announced  that  the  King  had  been  taken 
ill  whilst  staying  at  the  Pardo  estate  near  Madrid, 
nobody  thought  that  he  was  mortally  affected, 
although  there  had  previously  been  suggestions  that 
he  ought  to  winter  in  a  milder  climate.  On  the  very 
day,  however,  after  the  announcement  of  his  illness, 
the  news  came  that  Alfonso  XII  was  dead.     He 


SPAIN  317 

had  been  ill  with  an  affection  of  the  lungs — ^pneumonia, 
I  believe — ^for  only  three  days,  during  which  his 
wife  had  zealously  watched  over  him.  Early  in  the 
morning  of  November  25,  she  left  him  for  a  few 
minutes,  and  on  her  return  to  the  bedside  found  him 
expiring  from  lack  of  breath.  Three  days  later 
he  would  have  completed  his  twenty-eighth  year. 
He  was  in  the  eleventh  year  of  his  reign. 

His  elder  daughter  Dofia  Mercedes,  Princess  of 
Asturias,  then  became  heir-apparent  to  the  Spanish 
throne ;  but  she  lost  her  claim  to  the  succession  when 
on  May  17,  in  the  ensuing  year,  Dofia  Christina  gave 
birth  to  a  son,  who  from  the  moment  of  his  entry  into 
the  world  became,  as  he  still  is.  King  of  All  the  Spains. 
His  mother  acted  as  Regent  throughout  his  long 
minority,  which  was  marked  by  several  national 
misfortunes — notably  the  war  with  the  United  States 
and  the  loss  of  Cuba  and  the  PhiUppines — events 
which  superstitious  and  fatalistic  Spaniards  natmrally 
attributed  to  the  unfaiHng  balefulness  which  they 
associated  with  feminine  sway.  They  had  not  yet 
learnt  to  distinguish  between  woman  in  general  and 
woman  in  particular.  As  for  Alfonso  XIII  per- 
sonally, he  has  striven  to  live  with  his  times,  and, 
in  some  respects,  has  succeeded  where  his  father 
could  not  succeed.  There  is  now  a  healthier  atmo- 
sphere about  the  Spanish  court,  and  the  nation,  also, 
is  more  enlightened.  Spaniards,  generally,  are  not 
Pro-Germans,  and  although  the  King's  mother  was 
an  Austrian  archduchess,  he  also  has  French  blood 
in  his  veins.  The  liberal  constitutional  spirit  which 
he  has  repeatedly  evinced  forbids  me  to  think  that 
he  could  ever  favour  the  powers  of  oppression. 


III. 


IN  PORTUGAL   {vi&  MADEIRA  AND   TENERIFE). 

A  Trip  to  Madeira — The  Island's  Wine  Trade — Curious  Modes  of  Locomo- 
tion — System  of  Tenancy — The  Estufa  Process — Burial  under  a 
Counting-House  Desk — Some  Old  Madeiras — Fate  of  a  German 
Hunchback — Santa  Cruz  de  Tenerife  and  Nelson's  Boat  Flags — 
Canary  Sack — A  Return  to  Cadiz — On  to  Lisbon — Three  Portuguese 
Kings — Forgetful  "  Owen  Meredith  " — Oporto  and  its  Wine  Lodges 
— The  Royal  Tailor  and  the  Spanish  Prima  Donna — Eiffel  of  the 
Tower — To  the  Port  Wine  Region — The  Peasantry,  Superstition  and 
Crime — ^Lif  e  at  the  Quinta  Amarella. 

In  the  early  autumn  of  1877  I  betook  myself  with 
my  father  to  Madeira  for  the  usual  purpose  associated 
with  our  travels — that  of  studying  the  methods  of 
viticulture  and  vinification  which  were  practised 
on  the  island.  We  sailed  from  Southampton  on  a 
vessel  of  the  Union  Steamship  Company  called 
The  African,  and  although  the  voyage  was  very 
short,  it  proved  extremely  pleasant,  being  enlivened, 
moreover,  by  the  gulHbility  of  a  certain  green-horned 
passenger,  who,  after  crediting  a  cock-and-bull 
story  about  a  diamond  which  was  said  to  have  been 
found  among  the  ship's  coals,  actually  sought  per- 
mission to  sift  a  quantity  of  coal  dust  in  the  hope 
of  making  a  brilliant  discovery.  There  were  also 
sundry  animated  and  amusing  verbal  spars  between 
some  South  Africans  who  were  returning  to  the  Cape. 
One  gentleman  domiciled  at  Port  Elizabeth  was 
particularly  fond  of  deriding  Cape  Town,  whose  sole 

318 


PORTUGAL  319 

products,  said  he,  were  merely  snooks  and  craw- 
fish— the  latter  being  the  little  crustaceans  which 
nowadays  are  sent,  canned,  to  London  and  sold  there 
under  the  name  of  "  Cape  Lobster."  In  regard  to 
the  Cape  snooks,  I  have  no  knowledge  of  them, 
though  I  was  once  acquainted  with  a  Suffolk  grocer 
named  Snooks.  If  the  denizen  of  Port  Elizabeth 
derided  Cape  Town,  as  I  have  said,  a  certain  Cape 
Towner  was  equally  ready  to  deride  the  Port ;  and 
what  between  the  angry  disputes  of  these  rival 
colonists  and  the  diamond  hunting  which  went  on 
in  the  coal-bunkers,  the  few  days  of  our  passage 
proved  quite  lively  ones. 

On  our  arrival  at  Funchal  we  became  the  guests 
of  the  late  Mr.  Leland  Cossart,  the  wine-shipper, 
at  his  beautiful  country-seat,  the  Quinta  do  Monte", 
situated  a  few  miles  up  the  mountain  overlooking 
the  island's  capital,  and  at  an  altitude  of  some  two 
thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  From  the  extensive 
grounds  of  this  beautiful  spot  the  view  extended 
over  several  of  the  most  picturesque  vineyard 
districts.  The  palmy  days  of  the  Madeira  wine  trade 
then  already  belonged  to  a  somewhat  distant  past. 
There  is  a  traditional  accoimt  that  vines  were  first 
introduced  into  the  island  from  Cyprus  early  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  that  is  soon  after  its  second 
discovery  by  Zarco ;  but  the  finer  vines  are  said  to 
have  been  imported  much  later  by  the  Jesuits. 
Nevertheless,  Madeira  wine  was  already  exported 
to  Europe  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
and  by  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  it  was  in  favour  at 
the  Court  of  Francis  I  of  France.  That  it  was  well- 
known  in  England  no  long  time  afterwards  is  shown 
by  Shakespeare's  reference  to  it  in  "  Henry  IV," 
where  Poins  twits  FalstafE  for  having  sold  his  soul  to 


320  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

Satan  "  on  Good  Friday  last  for  a  cup  of  Madeira  and 
a  cold  capon's  leg." 

As  time  elapsed  the  island's  shipments  of  wine 
increased,  and  early  in  the  nineteenth  century,  they 
amounted  to  17,000  pipes,  rising  in  1813  to  as  many 
as  22,000.  This  was  chiefly  due  to  the  closing  of 
certain  wine  ports  in  consequence  of  the  Napoleonic 
wars,  and  to  the  great  consumption  of  the  wine  in 
both  Indies,  whither  it  was  sent  with  the  periodical 
convoys.  George  IV  is  said  to  have  driven  Madeira 
out  of  fashion  in  this  country  by  forsaking  it  for 
sherry ;  but  he  was  dead  and  gone  before  any  great 
falling  off  in  our  imports  of  the  wine  occurred.  In 
1842  the  drop  in  our  purchases  became  very  great, 
and  ten  years  later  that  scourge  of  the  vine,  the 
oidium,  entirely  stopped  production,  stocks  becoming 
exhausted  and  prices  rising  until  £75  per  pipe,  in 
lieu  of  £25,  was  asked  for  the  lowest  quahties. 

Sherry  and  Marsala,  being  suppUed  at  a  fourth 
of  the  Madeira  rate,  then  came  more  and  more  into 
fashion,  and  the  devotees  of  Madeira,  after  abandon- 
ing it  for  their  pockets'  sake,  never  again  returned 
to  their  whilom  love.  The  dissolution  of  the  East 
India  Company,  which  had  largely  imported  Madeira, 
also  affected  the  trade,  which  received  yet  another 
blow  on  the  completion  of  the  Suez  Canal,  as  from 
that  date  onward,  many  ships  no  longer  called  at  the 
island  on  their  outward  voyages,  for  the  half-dozen  or 
haK-score  pipes  of  wine,  which  it  had  been  the  ancient 
custom  to  take  on  board.  Nevertheless,  subsequent 
to  the  o'idium  trouble,  vines  were  gradually  replanted 
in  Madeira,  and  from  the  standpoint  of  production 
— though  not  of  consumption — matters  steadily  im- 
proved until  in  1873  the  phylloxera  vastatrix  began  to 
ravage  the  vineyards.     Such,  then,  was  the  position 


PORTUGAL  321 

when  we  visited  the  island.  We  found  some  of  the 
best  districts  sadly  affected  by  the  scourge,  notably 
that  of  Cama  de  Lobos  near  Cabo  Girao — said  to  be 
the  highest  cliff  in  all  the  world — which  was  yielding 
only  100  pipes  of  wine  instead  of  3000  annually. 

We  made  our  excursion  to  Cama  de  Lobos  and 
Cape  Girao  in  hammocks,  slung  on  stout  poles  about 
the  size  of  the  bowsprit  of  a  small  sailing-boat,  our 
bearers  being  muscular  and  agile  men  who  strode 
up  the  steep  roads  at  fully  iour  miles  an  hour.  To 
other  districts,  however,  we  repaired  on  horseback, 
whilst  for  short  excursions  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood of  Funchal  we  availed  ourselves  of  a  car 
which  had  runners  like  a  sledge  and  was  drawn  by 
bullocks,  who,  regardless  of  all  the  yelling  and 
coaxing  of  their  driver,  never  departed  from  the 
slow  steady  pace  of  their  choice.  "  Ca  para  mim, 
boi,  ca-ca-ca-ca  !  "  called  the  man  in  charge  of  them, 
raising  his  stentorian  voice  to  its  highest  pitch. 
"  Come  to  me,  oxen,  come,  come,  come !  "  But 
never,  by  any  chance,  did  the  sedate-looking  beasts 
condescend  to  quicken  their  pace.  Very  different 
were  our  daily  descents  from  the  Quinta  of  the  Mount 
into  Funchal.  Seated  in  a  basket-car  with  wooden 
runners,  we  scudded  down  the  steep,  slippery  road- 
way at  a  speed  of  twenty  miles  an  hour,  for  behind 
the  car  were  two  swift-footed  men,  who  guided  it 
with  their  hands  or  by  means  of  some  leather  traces 
attached  to  the  front  on  either  side.  When  the  road 
was  very  steep  these  men  pressed  one  foot  on  the 
car's  framework  to  lessen  its  speed,  whereas,  if  the 
road  became  level  for  a  short  distance,  they  slung 
the  traces  across  their  shoulders  and  dragged  the 
car  fleetly  along.  Though  at  first  one  may  feel  a 
little  nervous  when  seated  in  one  of  these  vehicles 

Y 


322  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

you  soon  realise  that  this  is,  if  not  exactly  the  safest, 
at  all  events  the  easiest,  pleasantest,  and  only  rapid 
mode  of  travelling  on  the  island.  I  fancy  that 
motor  cars  would  be  of  little  use  there,  unless  since 
my  time  the  authorities  have  accomplished  some 
miracle  in  road-making. 

In  many  parts  of  Madeira  we  found  the  vines 
planted  in  soil  piled  up  on  terraces,  supported  by 
stone  walls — ^in  fact  there  must  have  been  hundreds 
of  miles  of  these  waUed  terraces  in  one  and  another 
vineyard  district.  Rent  in  kind  was  the  rule,  the 
tenant  after  pressing  his  grapes,  giving  his  landlord 
half  the  produce.  As  the  Government  also  levied 
a  tithe,  the  tenant's  profits  were  far  from  being  large. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  landlord  usually  owned 
nothing  but  the  land — buildings,  embankments, 
walls,  trees,  vines,  etc.,  belonging  to  the  tenant,  who 
could  not  be  ejected  without  full  compensation  for 
all  improvements,  which  were  usually  estimated  at 
a  high  value  by  the  Government  officials.  During 
our  various  excursions  we  more  than  once  met  parties 
of  boracheiros,  that  is  men  who  brought  skins  full  of 
"  must "  on  their  shoulders  from  the  more  moun- 
tainous regions.  The  sturdier  peasants  made  two 
and  three  journeys  a  day,  though  their  burdens 
were  by  no  means  light,  for  each  skin  contained  from 
nine  to  ten  gallons  of  freshly-pressed  wine.  It 
was  only  in  those  parts  of  Madeira  where  the  roads 
were  good  that  the  mosto  could  be  brought  from  the 
hills  in  casks  on  bullock  sledges.  The  wine  of  the 
north  side  of  the  island  was  not  delivered  at  Funchal 
until  the  ensuing  spring  when  it  was  conveyed  thither 
by  sea.  There  being  no  mole  or  pier,  each  cask  was 
slung  overboard,  whereupon  one  of  the  boat's  crew 
plunged  into  the  water,  placed  his  hands  on  the 


PORTUGAL  323 

floating  cask,  and  swam  behind  it  until  reaching  the 
breakers,  whereupon  the  cask  was  drawn  up  the 
steep  beach  on  a  sledge. 

There   was,  and   presumably  there   is   still,    in 
Madeira  a  method  for  improving  vinification  which  is 
called  the  Estufa  system,  and  which  was  very  likely 
known   to   Pasteur   when   he   devised  the   process 
generally  characterised  as  pasteurisation.     The  prac- 
tice in  Madeira  is  to  shut  the  wine  up  in  compart- 
ments in  so-called  estufas,  where  it  is  subjected  to 
the  influence  of  heat  in  order  to  destroy  all  germs 
of  fermentation  and  to  mature  it  more  rapidly,  in 
order  that  it  may  be  shipped  when  fairly  young  and 
without  any  addition  of  spirit.     This  system  has  been 
current  for  more  than  a  hundred  years.     In  the 
estufas  of  the  larger  firms  the  temperature  remains 
constant,  the  heat  being  supplied  through  flues  by 
furnaces  charged  with  anthracite  coal.     The  very 
best  wines  are  subjected  to  from  90  to  100  degrees  of 
heat,  the  next  (descending  the  scale  of  quality)  to 
110  or  120  degrees,  the  intermediate  growths  to  130 
degrees,  while  the  common  wines  are  exposed  to  as 
high  a  temperature  as  140  degrees  Fahrenheit.     The 
heating  period  ranges  from  three  to  six  months. 

We  visited  all  the  Funchal  wine  stores  which  like 
those  of  Oporto  are  known  as  armazens  or  "  lodges," 
and  are  akin  to  the  bodegas  of  Spain.  Among  the 
chief  stores  were  those  of  Cossart  Gordon  &  Co., 
and  Leacock  &  Co.,  the  first  house  dating  from  1745, 
and  the  second  from  1747.  These  two  firms  were, 
we  found,  the  only  ones  remaining  of  the  once 
important  "  British  Factory  "  which  had  almost  a 
monopoly  of  the  Madeira  wine-trade,  annually  fixing 
the  price  to  be  paid  for  the  *'  must "  purchased  of 
the  growers,  as  well  as  the  prices  at  which  wines 


324  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

were  to  be  shipped.  By  levying  a  tax  on  every 
pipe  which  they  themselves  exported,  the  members  of 
the  Factory  raised  the  necessary  funds  for  acquiring 
and  laying  out  a  cemetery  in  which  British  subjects 
might  be  decently  interred,  for  the  bodies  of  all  who 
were  not  Koman  CathoUcs  were  at  that  time  con- 
temptuously thrown  into  the  sea.  Thereby  hangs  a 
tale.  Before  the  cemetery  was  completed,  a  member 
of  the  Factory,  who  did  not  wish  to  become  food  for 
fishes  when  he  died,  begged  his  partners  to  bury  him 
under  his  desk  in  their  counting-house.  They  did  so 
secretly,  and  at  the  same  time  caused  the  coffin 
prepared  for  the  deceased  to  be  filled  with  stones, 
and  then  handed  over  to  the  authorities  to  be  cast 
into  the  sea. 

The  oldest  Madeira  I  ever  tasted  dated  from  the 
year  1760,  a  small  quantity  of  it  still  being  in  the 
possession  of  Mr.  Charles  Blandy,  who  then  held 
the  largest  stock  of  wine  (in  all  6000  pipes)  of  any  of 
the  shippers.  I  also  tasted  at  his  armazens  a  power- 
ful old  Cama  de  Lobos  of  a  solera  started  in  1792, 
and  an  ancient  Malmsey  of  exceeding  softness. 
Another  growth  which  I  sampled  elsewhere  was  a 
sweetish  fragrant  wine  supplied  to  the  mad  King  of 
Bavaria.  Wines  dating  back  some  fifty  or  sixty 
years  were  fairly  common  in  the  lodges  of  Funchal, 
and  they  included  several  distinct  varieties.  Sercial 
had  become  rare,  however,  and  so  had  the  Malmsey, 
produced,  I  believe,  from  the  same  species  of  Malvasia 
grape  which  yielded  the  wine  in  which,  according 
to  the  legend,  "  false,  perjured  Clarence "  was 
drowned  by  the  orders  of  his  brother,  "  Richard 
Crookback  " — ^whom  Holinshed,  Shakespeare,  and 
others  so  cruelly  maligned. 

From  Madeira  we  proceeded  to  Tenerife  for  the 


PORTUGAL  325 

purpose  of  studying  modern  Canary  sack  on  the 
spot.  We  secured  a  passage  on  an  English  boat 
coming  from  Liverpool  and  bound  for  the  west 
coast  of  Africa.  Among  its  saloon  passengers  were 
several  negro  traders  who  occupied  the  best  cabins, 
smelt  very  offensively,  and  in  spite  of  their  garish 
English  tweed  suits  behaved  generally  and  especially 
at  table  like  the  savages  which  they  really  were. 
Another  passenger  was  a  Uttle  German  hunchback 
who  was  going  out,  he  said,  to  solve  certain  African 
problems,  and  had  accordingly  provided  himself 
with  a  pocket  compass,  a  few  maps,  and  a — violin. 
He  believed  apparently  in  the  influence  of  music  on 
the  savage  breast ;  but,  unfortunately  for  him,  he 
was  never  able  to  try  its  effects  in  that  respect,  for 
after  landing  at  Tenerife  he  was  beguiled  up  the  peak 
and  never  came  down  again — ^the  theory  being  that 
his  guide  had  robbed  and  murdered  him — hurling 
him  afterwards,  perhaps,  down  the  mountain's 
extinct  crater. 

After  passing  a  frowning  coast-line  of  precipitous 
rocky  cliffs,  we  found  Santa  Cruz,  the  island's  port, 
lying  in  a  kind  of  basin.  It  proved  to  be  a  somewhat 
dingy  little  town,  devoid  of  attractions,  but  as  the 
reader  will  remember,  it  is  associated  with  the  name  of 
Nelson,  who  there  encountered  a  repulse  and  lost  his 
right  arm.  To  this  day  a  couple  of  English  boat- 
flags,  captured  on  that  occasion,  are  preserved  in 
Santiago's  Chapel  *  at  the  church  of  La  Concipcion, 
and  the  natives  of  Tenerife  are  extremely  proud  of 
those  trophies.  At  each  recurring  anniversary  of 
the  engagement  joy-bells  ring  out  gleefully  and  a 
solemn  service  is  celebrated  in  thanksgiving  for  the 
deliverance  of  the  island  from  the  English  invaders. 

*  Santiago  or  St.  James  is  the  patron  saint  of  Spaniards. 


326  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

We  saw  the  old,  faded  boat-flags.  The  eyes  of  thek 
Spanish  custodian  gUstened  as  he  displaj^ed  them, 
but  I  myself  was  thinking  all  the  while  of  a 
certain  great  naval  engagement  fought  off  Cape 
Trafalgar. 

In  writing  at  considerable  length  about  wines 
and  other  beverages,  James  Howell — Clerk  of  the 
Council  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time  and  her  Grace's 
agent  when  certain  Italians,  including  my  own 
people,  were  induced  to  come  to  England  to  improve 
the  manufacture  of  glass — ^remarked  that  one  might 
truly  apply  the  saying,  "  Good  wine  sendeth  a  man 
to  Heaven,"  to  the  sack  of  the  Canary  Islands.  It 
was  known  to  Shakespeare  and  the  other  writers  of 
his  time,  who  are  often  found  referring  to  "  cups  of 
cool  Canary,"  but  the  English  trade  declined  sub- 
sequently and  at  last  became  almost  extinct.  Later, 
the  oidium  spread  among  the  vineyards,  even  as  it 
spread  among  those  of  Madeira,  and  in  1877  we 
found  that  Tenerife  vintaged  no  more  than  5000 
pipes  of  wine,  and  exported  only  300.  At  the  time 
of  the  oidium  the  ravages  among  the  vineyards  had 
induced  the  islanders  to  extend  the  cochineal 
industry  with  which  they  were  already  acquainted, 
the  insect  being  raised  by  them  on  its  favourite 
plant,  the  nopal  cactus,  which  yields  the  so-called 
"  prickly  pear  "  or  "  Barbary  fig,"  and  is  as  abundant 
in  the  Canaries  as  in  Andalucia,  where  it  often 
forms  bristling  hedges  sometimes  ten  and  twelve 
feet  in  height.  It  came  to  pass  that  with  the  advent 
of  other  dyes,  the  demand  for  cochineal  abated,  and 
the  Canary  farmers  then  found  themselves  in  a 
sorry  plight.  Gradually  they  replanted  their  vine- 
yards and  improved  their  circumstances  somewhat 
by  growing  tobacco. 


PORTUGAL  327 

We  found  that  the  Tenerife  vineyards  were  not 
situated  near  Santa  Cruz  but  on  the  other  side  of  the 
island,  where  the  natural  conditions  were  far  more 
favoui^able.  Orotava  proved  to  be  a  delightful 
spot,  in  parts  embowered  in  foliage,  with  an  abund- 
ance of  palms  and  lofty  aloes  with  flower  stalks 
suggesting  the  branches  of  candelabra.  The  grapes 
on  the  slopes  near  the  coast  were  gathered  first 
(usually  about  the  end  of  August),  and  those  on  the 
highlands — where  the  vines  were  planted  at  1,200 
or  1,300  feet  above  the  sea-level — about  a  fortnight 
later.  The  fruit  was  carried  down  by  the  peasantry, 
men,  women  and  children,  who  conveyed  it  in  large 
baskets  on  their  backs  or  heads,  often  for  a  distance 
of  a  couple  of  miles,  supporting  themselves  the 
while  with  long  staves.  The  famed  Canary  sack  of 
the  poets  was  made  from  the  Malvasia  vine,  but  this 
having  been  largely  destroyed  by  the  oidium,  had 
generally  been  replaced  by  the  Vidonia  variety.  In 
the  old  days  the  Malvasia  grapes  were  left  ungathered 
until  they  had  become  raisins,  so  that  as  many  were 
needed  for  one  pipe  of  Malmsey  as  would  have 
sufficed  for  five  pipes  of  ordinary  wine.  I  remember 
tasting  some  Malmsey  of  1859  and  found  it  to  be 
luscious  and  liqueur-like.  On  the  whole,  the  growths 
of  Tenerife  had  a  character  of  their  own,  differing 
both  from  madeira  and  from  sherry,  but  although 
they  were  often  commendable  they  did  not  equal 
the  finest  qualities  of  either  of  the  other  wines. 

Formerly  the  island's  ca.pital  was  Laguna,  a 
little  town  having  all  the  characteristics  of  many  a 
locality  of  similar  size  in  southern  Spain.  It  had 
remained  a  bishop's  see,  and  I  remember  visiting  it 
on  the  occasion  of  a  fiesta,  when  there  was  a  solemn 
church  procession  which  I  witnessed  from  a  balcony 


328  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

in  the  company  of  two  young  ladies,  of  each  of  whom 
one  might  have  said  that  she  was  muy  Espahola. 
After  a  time  they  threw  off  some  of  their  reserve, 
and  we  were  getting  on  very  well  together  when,  as 
the  Host  went  by,  I  spoilt  everything  by  failing  to 
make  the  sign  of  the  cross.  From  that  moment  the 
elder  girl — they  were  the  daughters  of  a  gentleman 
who  had  invited  us  for  the  day — ^put  on  her  most 
stand-offish  manner,  and  conveyed  to  me  the  poor 
opinion  with  which  I  inspired  her  by  pointedly 
referring  more  than  once  to  herself  and  her  sister  as 
"  we  Christians."  Thus,  at  Tenerife  as  in  Andalucia, 
I  found  it  held  that  outside  the  pale  of  the  Roman 
Church  no  Christianity  existed.  I  was  a  heathen, 
nothing  more. 

We  were  due — my  father  and  myself — at  Lisbon 
at  a  certain  date,  and  found  we  could  only  get  there 
by  taking  passages  on  a  Spanish  steamer,  which 
called  at  Santa  Cruz  on  its  way  to  Cadiz  from  the 
Guinea  Coast.  With  us  embarked  the  Captain- 
General  of  the  Canary  Isles,  who  was  going  home  on 
leave,  and  an  official  French  agent,  who  had  with 
him  a  negro  boy,  whom  he  was  taking  to  France  to 
be  educated  there — ^the  youngster  being  the  son 
of  some  West  Coast  king  or  chieftain  under  French 
protection.  At  the  shipping-office  the  boy's  custo- 
dian had  booked  two  first-class  passages,  but  directly 
we  were  on  board  the  captain  began  to  storm  and 
bluster,  declaring  that  the  young  blackamoor  ought 
not  to  be  on  the  ship  at  all,  and  that  in  any  case 
no  first-class  passage  could  be  allowed  him.  The 
unfortunate  little  fellow  was  therefore  sent  forward 
with  the  seamen,  who  treated  him  unmercifully  all 
the  way  to  Cadiz,  kicking  and  cuffing  him  repeatedly 
and  even  divesting  him  of  some  of  the  European 


PORTUGAL  329 

garments  with  which  he  was  provided.  Though 
my  father  and  I  could  well  understand  the  colour 
prejudice,  we  felt  bound  to  join  the  French  agent 
in  protesting  against  such  treatment ;  but  we  did  not 
effect  much  good,  for  the  skipper  was  backed  up 
both  by  the  Captain-General  and  by  a  young  Spanish 
naval  officer  who  was  retm^ning  home  from  the 
island  of  Fernando  Po. 

As  it  happened,  the  boy's  presence  in  the  saloon 
would  probably  have  been  less  offensive  than  that 
of  the  Captain-General,  who,  for  me  and  my  father 
at  any  rate,  spoilt  each  successive  meal.  He  was, 
I  understood,  a  marquis  or  a  count,  and  a  grandee 
of  Spain  to  boot,  but  either  he  considered  himself 
to  be  above  all  savoir-vivre  or  else  he  had  never 
heard  of  any  such  thing.  The  passage  proved 
extremely  smooth,  the  sea — which  on  the  first  night 
was  quite  phosphorescent,  under  a  wonderful  star- 
lit sky — being  a  vast  expanse  of  gently  rippling 
water.  Nevertheless  it  did  not  suit  the  Captain- 
General,  who  was  badly  troubled  by  mal-de-mer. 
Though  I  have  never  suffered  from  that  complaint, 
I  can  usually  sympathise  with  those  whom  it  afflicts. 
But  no  sympathy  could  I  bestow  on  his  Excellency 
of  the  Canaries.  His  private  cabin  adjoined  the 
dining-saloon,  and  he  invariably  took  his  place  at 
table.  After  the  first  few  spoonfuls  of  soup,  however, 
he  had  to  retire  ;  but  returned  in  time  for  the  next 
course,  which  he  also  sampled.  Then  he  retired 
again,  and  thus  things  went  on  throughout  each  and 
every  meal.  I  naturally  omit  offensive  details ; 
but  I  may  mention  that  the  French  agent  suggested 
to  me  an  explanation  of  his  Excellency's  horrid 
behaviour.  It  was  that,  having  paid  for  his  passage, 
which  included  board,  he  did  not  intend  to  let  the 


330  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

shipping  company  derive  any  profit  from  his  in- 
abiUty  to  partake  of  food. 

The  skipper  was  seldom  on  the  bridge  dming  our 
fom^  or  five  days'  passage.  He  spent  most  of  his 
time  in  his  cabin  with  the  young  naval  lieutenant, 
and  there  they  gambled  together  for  hours  at  a 
stretch.  The  lieutenant  was  no  match  for  the 
wily  skipper.  Not  only  did  he  lose  all  his  ready 
cash,  a  watch  and  chain  and  a  ring,  but  he  also  lost 
a  considerable  amount  of  money  on  parole,  and  when 
we  arrived  at  Cadiz  the  skipper  refused  to  let  him 
land  until  he  had  redeemed  his  jewellery  and  his 
I.O.Us.  Fortunately  he  belonged  to  a  Cadiz  family, 
and  his  old  father  came  on  board  and,  after  a  heated 
dispute,  released  this  prodigal  son  from  detention. 

We  had  hoped  to  find  at  Cadiz  a  steamer  which 
would  take  us  to  Lisbon,  but  as  there  was  none  we 
had  to  make  a  long  railway  journey,  going  first  to 
Cordova,  thence  to  Merida,  where  we  saw  the  wonder- 
ful bridge  of  many  arches  and  all  the  remains  of 
Roman  days,  and  next  to  Badajoz,  so  famous  in 
our  military  annals,  finally  crossing  the  Portuguese 
frontier  near  Elvas,  where  we  were  struck  by  the 
great  difference  in  the  people  which  at  once  became 
apparent.  There  have  been  many  changes  at 
Lisbon  since  I  first  went  there  in  that  year  1877.  I 
found  it  then  a  fairly  gay  and  bustling  city,  and  in 
almost  every  respect  a  distinctly  modern  one  by 
reason  of  the  great  earthquake  by  which  it  was 
shattered  on  All  Saints'  Day,  1755.  We  naturally 
put  up  at  the  Braganza  Hotel,  which  since  the 
Revolution  of  1910  must  bear  a  different  name.  In 
'77  it  was  the  foremost  of  the  Lisbon  hostelries,  full 
of  fine  old  furnitiu'e,  and  catering  remarkably  well 
for  its  patrons,  who  were  generally   of  the  most 


PORTUGAL  331 

aristocratic  class.  Erected  some  seventy  years  ago 
it  owed  its  name  to  its  position  on  the  site  of  the 
old  palace  of  the  Dukes  of  Braganza — the  palace 
where  the  overthrow  of  the  Spanish  dominion  in 
Portugal  was  planned,  but  which  like  many  another 
historic  pile  was  destroyed  by  the  great  earthquake. 
After  that  calamity  the  famous  Pombal  virtually 
rebuilt  Lisbon,  and  little  beyond  the  ruined  Carmelite 
church  remains  of  the  former  city. 

In  '77  there  was  no  electrical  tramway  service. 
Unless  you  preferred  to  walk  up  the  hilly  streets,  as 
I  often  did  when  betaking  myself  to  the  Principe 
Real  garden  or  the  Pedro  d' Alcantara  Alameda — 
the  two  most  fashionable  promenades — ^you  had 
either  to  hire  a  vehicle  or  secure  a  seat  in  some 
little  omnibus  drawn  by  mules,  which  generally 
stopped  short  when  they  were  only  halfway  up 
some  ascent,  and  then  favoured  all  and  sundry  with 
a  prolonged  display  of  their  mulish  dispositions  by 
refusing  to  stir  from  the  spot.  The  Principe  Real 
garden  with  its  tropical  vegetation  and  its  fine  view 
was  very  charming,  and  the  Campo  Grande,  with 
its  well-shaded  and  sinuous  roads  and  paths,  was 
an  even  more  pleasant  place  of  refuge  in  the  hot 
weather.  Of  course  we  went  to  Cintra  and  saw  the 
palaces  and  all  the  scenery  extolled  by  Byron, 
Beckf ord,  and  scores  of  others ;  and  we  inspected 
the  huge  pile  of  Mafra,  the  Portuguese  Escorial,  on 
whose  roof  a  force  of  10,000  men  could  easily  be 
drilled.  Not  far  away  is  CoUares,  whose  vineyards 
and  press-houses  we  visited.  We  also  witnessed  the 
vintage  at  Bucellas  which  produces  chiefly  a  white 
wine,  called  sometimes  Portuguese  hock,  whereas 
the  growths  of  Collares  are  mainly  red  and  of  con- 
siderable aflBnity  with  claret.     Carcavellos,  situated 


332  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

near  the  mouth  of  the  Tagus  and  yielding  a  rich 
topaz  tinted  muscat  wine,  and  Setubal  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  river  and  also  famous  for  muscats— 
sometimes  of  a  rosy  hue — were  also  included  in  our 
excursions.  Apropos  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
peasant  growers  resented  all  attempts  to  improve 
vintaging  and  vinification  by  the  employment  of 
mechanical  wine-presses  and  so  forth,  I  recollect 
hearing  at  CoUares  a  story  of  a  steam-plough,  one 
of  the  very  first  sent  from  England  to  Portugal.  It 
was  being  conveyed,  I  believe,  to  some  royal  farm, 
but  the  peasantry  waylaid  it  on  the  road  and  smashed 
it  to  atoms.  They  feared  that  its  advent  would 
mean  their  ruin.  Sir  George  Birdwood  once  related 
that  when  the  first  steam-plough  was  sent  to  India 
the  natives  carried  it  to  the  fields  and  wreathed  it 
with  flowers,  but  would  make  no  use  of  it,  preferring 
to  consign  it  to  a  village  temple  where  it  was  vene- 
rated as  a  god.  To  the  Portuguese  the  machine  was 
a  devil,  but  possibly  the  same  idea  of  the  displace- 
ment of  labour  and  the  loss  of  wages  actuated  both 
the  turbulent  Lisbonese  and  the  mild  Hindoos. 

There  is  one  peculiarity  about  many  of  the 
houses  of  Lisbon,  and  those  of  some  other  Portuguese 
cities,  which  immediately  strikes  the  foreign  ob- 
server. This  is  the  practice  of  decorating  them  out- 
wardly with  porcelain  tile-work  on  which  scriptural 
incidents  are  frequently  depicted.  The  Virgin  and 
Child  often  appear  in  this  fashion  over  the  doors  of 
houses.  When  the  tiles  are,  so  to  say,  only  pattern 
work,  and  red,  yellow,  and  green  predominate  in  the 
designs,  they  are  generally  ascribed  to  the  influence 
of  the  Moors,  with  whom  in  fact  this  tile-work  is 
said  to  have  originated.  In  other  instances,  how- 
ever, blue  is  the  predominant  colour,  and  then  the 


PORTUGAL  333 

influence  of  Delft  is  apparent,  it  being  known, 
moreover,  that  when  the  Portuguese  tile  manu- 
facture decHned  in  the  eighteenth  century  Delft 
supphed  the  deficiency.  On  the  older  tiles,  dating 
from  before  the  earthquake  and  rescued,  I  presume, 
from  the  debris  of  the  shattered  houses,  designs  of  a 
remarkably  vivid  blue  will  be  found.  In  the  more 
modern  examples  the  colouring  is  less  satisfactory, 
the  art  of  obtaining  the  brighter  blue  having  been 
lost.  Another  peculiar  and  distinct  feature  of 
Portuguese  architecture  to  be  observed  in  certain 
churches  and  palaces  (for  instance,  the  Pena  at 
Cintra)  is  the  so-called  ManueUne  style,  in  which 
Moorish,  Gothic,  and  Renaissance  are  more  or  less 
amalgamated.  This  jumble  of  the  recognised  styles 
takes  its  name  from  an  early  sixteenth  century  King, 
Manuel  the  Fortunate  of  the  house  of  Aviz,  who 
indulged  largely  in  the  building  mania. 

During  my  first  stay  at  Lisbon  I  often  saw 
various  members  of  the  Portuguese  royal  family — 
notably  at  the  theatre  which  stands  on  the  site  of 
the  old  Court  of  the  Inquisition,  and  again  at  Cintra, 
and  at  Cascaes,  a  pleasant  watering-place  not  far 
from  the  broad  mouth  of  the  Tagus.  Nine  years 
afterwards  I  was  again  at  Lisbon  in  order  to  describe 
the  pompous  espousals  of  Dom  Carlos  and  the 
Princess  Marie  Amelie  de  Bourbon- Orleans,  daughter 
of  the  Comte  de  Paris.  Then  and  in  '77  also  the 
reigning  sovereign  of  Portugal  was  Luis  I,  who  had 
married  the  Princess  Maria  Pia  of  the  house  of 
Italy,  an  extravagant  woman  well  known  in  Paris 
by  the  debts  she  contracted  there.  King  Luis' 
father  was  still  alive  when  I  was  first  in  Lisbon. 
This  was  the  King-consort  Dom  Fernando — other- 
wise   Ferdinand    of    Saxe-Coburg,    a    far    worthier 


334  IN   SEVEN   LANDS 

scion  of  that  house  than  his  namesake  of  Bulgaria. 
In  fact,  no  comparison  could  be  established  between 
the  two  men.  A  cousin  of  our  Prince  Consort  and 
of  Leopold  I  of  Belgium,  Dom  Fernando,  Hke  the 
first  named,  emerged  by  marriage  from  obscurity. 
He  became  the  husband  of  the  Portuguese  Queen 
Maria  da  Gloria,  who  had  much  the  same  experience 
as  Isabella  of  Spain  on  coming  to  the  throne,  for 
she  was  forced  to  contend  against  the  pretensions  of 
her  cousin  Dom  Miguel,  who  claimed  the  crown  on 
virtually  the  same  grounds  as  Don  Carlos  claimed 
that  of  Spain.  If  Queen  Maria  gained  the  day  this 
was  due  largely  to  British  support. 

Dom  Fernando   was  her  second  husband — the 
first  (also  a  German  prince)  dying  soon  after  marriage 
— and  she  presented  him  with  seven  children,  none 
of  whom  was  of  the  Portuguese  type,  for  their  eyes 
were  invariably  blue  and  their  hair  was  fair.     In 
that  connection  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
original  stock  of  Portuguese  rulers  was  a  foreign  one, 
for  Count  Henry,  the  first  independent  ruler,  was  a 
descendant  of  Hugh  Capet  and  a  Frank.     Queen 
Maria  died  in  1853,  and  as  her  eldest  son  Pedro  had 
then    not    reached    his    majority,  Dom    Fernando 
became  regent.     The  young  king  married  a  Princess 
of     the     ever-aspiring    HohenzoUern    house,    but, 
fortunately  for  later  days,  had  no  children  by  her, 
so  that  on  his  death  in  1861  he  was  succeeded  by 
his  brother  Luis,  whose  wife  was  Maria  Pia  of  Savoy, 
as  I  previously  mentioned.     King-consort  Fernando 
had  naturally  gone  into  retirement,  but  he  remained 
a  popular  figure  in  Portugal.     He  was  a  many- 
sided  man  with  numerous  artistic  gifts.     He  painted 
frescoes,  made  water-colour  drawings  and    etched. 
He  also  delighted  in  bric-lt-brac,  had  a  taste  for 


PORTUGAL  335 

gardening  and  architecture,  and  formed  a  very 
peculiar  library,  the  fate  of  which  it  would  be 
interesting  to  ascertain.  It  was  composed  of  all 
the  examples  he  could  secure  of  books  which  at 
different  periods  had  either  been  prohibited  or 
suppressed  by  the  authorities  of  one  or  another 
country,  either  for  heresy  or  for  political  reasons, 
or  for  libel  or  for  immorality.  The  collection  was 
undoubtedly  very  valuable  from  the  standpoint  of 
literary  history. 

In  1869  Fernando  contracted  a  morganatic 
marriage  with  a  person  named  Elisa  Heusler  or 
Eusler  (I  find  the  name  spelt  in  both  fashions)  who 
had  previously  delighted  various  continental  audi- 
ences by  her  marked  proficiency  on  the  light  fantastic 
toe.  One  account  of  her  says  that  she  had  been  a 
vocalist,  but  that  I  believe  to  be  incorrect.  She  was 
created  Countess  d'Edla,  and  was  approaching 
mature  years  when  I  first  saw  her  in  1877.  There 
is  a  story  that  when  General  and  Mrs.  Grant  visited 
Portugal  after  the  former's  presidency  of  the  U.S.A., 
they  were  invited  to  Dom  Fernando' s  palace,  and 
that  Mrs.  Grant  almost  feared  that  she  might  be 
contaminated  by  coming  into  contact  with  a  former 
premihre  danseuse.  The  General,  on  his  side,  antici- 
pated a  lively  time.  But  they  found  themselves 
in  the  presence  of  an  extremely  pleasant,  lady-like, 
cultured  person,  who  did  the  honours  of  a  quiet 
tea-table  as  to  the  manner  born. 

The  reader  may  remember  that  Bulwer-Lytton's 
son,  "  Owen  Meredith,"  afterwards  the  first  Earl  of 
Lytton,  acted  at  one  time  as  British  Minister  at 
Lisbon.  That  was  in  his  younger  days,  when  he 
still  versified.  Every  now  and  then  fits  of  abstraction 
came  upon  him  in  the  midst  of  his  diplomatic  duties. 


336  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

One  day  when  he  was  in  the  company  of  the  reigning 
King  Dom  Luis,  and  the  King-consort  Dom  Fernando, 
he  asked  them  both  to  dinner,  and  they  accepted  his 
invitation.  He  went  away  and  f  aUing  into  a  poetical 
mood,  in  which  the  question  of  rhymes  absorbed  all 
his  thoughts,  he  quite  forgot  the  dinner  to  which  he 
had  asked  the  two  royalties.  The  appointed  day 
arrived  and  so  did  they  with  their  usual  attendants, 
but  not  a  single  preparation  had  been  made  for  them. 
Both  Kings  were,  however,  extremely  good-natured 
men,  and  when  they  discovered  the  truth  they 
simply  forced  Lytton  to  put  on  his  hat  and  accompany 
them  to  the  Necessidades  Palace,  where  he  was 
entertained  on  such  "  pot-luck  "  as  the  royal  kitchens 
could  provide. 

When  in  1877  I  first  saw  Prince  Carlos,  who 
ultimately  succeeded  his  father  King  Luis,  he  was 
merely  a  short  and  plump-looking  lad  of  fourteen. 
Nine  years  later,  in  the  month  of  May — that  un- 
lucky month  for  marriages — he  espoused  the  Princess 
Marie  Amelie,  who  was  some  two  years  his  junior, 
having  been  born  at  Twickenham  in  1865.  That 
arch  intrigante,  the  Comtesse  de  La  Ferronays,  nee 
Gibert,  to  whose  salon  in  the  Cours  la  Reine  in  Paris 
I  had  the  entree,  was  said  to  have  promoted  the 
match  by  placing  a  portrait  of  the  princess  in  a 
conspicuous  position,  in  the  hope  that  it  might 
attract  the  attention  of  the  Portuguese  Crown  Prince 
when  he  visited  her.  Young  Carlos  observed  the 
portrait,  and  speedily  fell  in  love,  as  was  only 
natural,  for  the  Princess  was  then  a  very  charming 
young  person  endowed  with  many  of  the  good  looks 
of  her  handsome  mother,  the  Comtesse  de  Paris.  A 
marriage  was  speedily  arranged,  but  unluckily  the 
Comte  de  Paris  assumed  too  regal  a  manner  in 


PORTUGAL  337 

connection  with  the  wedding,  and  by  inviting  the 
members  of  the  Corps  diplomatique  accredited  to 
the  French  Republic  to  a  state  reception  which  he 
gave  in  the  Faubourg  Saint  Germain,  he  drew  on 
himseK,  on  his  family,  and  the  Bonapartes  also,  the 
displeasure  of  the  French  authorities.  The  result 
was  that,  fearing  a  hostile  vote  in  the  legislature — 
for  Clemeiiceau  was  on  the  war  path — M.  de  Frey- 
cinet  acquiesced  in  the  expulsion  of  the  chief  members 
of  the  houses  which  had  formerly  reigned  over  France. 
An  enactment  to  that  effect  ensued,  and  the  Princes 
in  question  went  once  more  into  exile.* 

In  spite  of  all  that,  the  marriage  of  Dom  Carlos 
and  the  Pi'incess  Amelie  was  celebrated  with  great 
pomp  at  the  Se  or  cathedral  of  Lisbon.  The 
Portuguese  royal  family,  usually  so  unassuming, 
brought  forth  from  its  treasure-houses  every  vestige 
that  it  still  possessed  of  the  pomp  and  opulence  of 
departed  times.  Gilded  state  coaches,  gold  bedizened 
liveries  and  trappings,  again  saw  the  light  of  day. 
Chamberlains  and  Kings-at-arms,  pages  and  negro 
flunkeys  appeared  in  the  attire  of  past  generations, 
soldiers  were  arrayed  in  new  gala  uniforms,  flags 
fluttered,  tapestries  were  hung  from  flower-adorned 
house-fronts,  bells  rang,  guns  boomed,  trumpets 
blared — all  was  magnificence  and  exultation.  The 
wonted  display  of  the  "  Corpo  de  Deus  "  procession 
when  "  San  Jorge "  rode  through  the  streets  of 
Lisbon  in  shining  armour  amidst  a  great  concourse 
of  taper-bearing  monks  and  red-cloaked  citizens, 
paled  before  the  ostentation  of  those  royal  nuptials. 
But  vanitas  vanitatum  et  omnia  vanitas.  We  know 
how  cruelly  the  union  was  dissolved  two  and  twenty 

*  The  whole  affair  is  related  in  detail  in  my  book  "  Republican  France, 
1870-1912,"  pp.  295  et  seq. 

Z 


338  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

years  later,  how,  as  Dom  Carlos  and  Queen  Amelie 
and  their  sons  were  driving  to  the  Necessidades 
Palace  by  way  of  the  Praga  do  Commercio  and  the 
street  of  the  Arsenal,  they  were  assailed  by  a  band 
of  assassins,  how  both  the  King  and  the  Crown 
Prince,  Luiz  FeUpe,  were  mortally  wounded,  and 
how  the  latter's  brother  Manoel  escaped  with  a  slight 
injury.*  He  ascended  the  throne,  but  before  the 
third  year  of  his  reign  had  expked  he  was  bombarded 
in  his  palace  and  driven  into  exile. 

Of  those  tragical  happenings  there  was  no 
anticipation  on  the  gay  wedding-day  of  1886.  Still 
less  was  there  any  apprehension  of  revolution  in 
1877,  for  the  Republican  element  in  Portugal  was 
then  of  small  account.  The  country  was  not, 
however,  particularly  prosperous.  There  had  been 
a  financial  crisis  and  some  floods  during  the  previous 
year,  when  the  Prince  of  Wales  (Edward  VII)  was 
for  a  short  time  the  guest  of  the  Court.  Old  Saldanha, 
the  Portuguese  Espartero,  died  about  that  time  in 
London  where  he  still  represented  his  country 
though  he  was  90  years  of  age.  He  had  made  his 
last  pronunciamento  in  1870,  when  he  was  84,  and  it 
was  afterwards  deemed  best  that  he  should  be  kept 
abroad,  lest  he  should  again  indulge  in  something 
similar.  The  interesting  King-consort,  Dom  Fer- 
nando, did  not  live  to  see  the  wedding  of  his  grandson 
in  1886,  for  at  the  close  of  the  previous  year  he  was 
released  by  death  from  the  sufifering  which  had  long 
been  inflicted  on  him  by  a  cancerous  facial  affection, 
brought  about,  it  was  said,  by  a  fall.  I  believe 
that  Dom  Fernando  was  predeceased  by  his  morga- 
natic wife,  and  that  the  last  years  of  his  life  were 
spent  in  the  closest  privacy. 

*  A  full  account  of  the  crime  is  given  in  my  volume  on  the  Anarchists, 


PORTUGAL  339 

After  visiting  several  interesting  spots  within 
easy  access  of  Lisbon,  we  repaired,  my  father  and  I, 
to  Oporto  in  order  to  inquire  into  the  condition  of 
the  port-wine  trade.  We  found  that  the  wine 
lodges  were  situated  at  Villa  Nova  de  Gaia  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Douro.  By  far  the  greater  part  of 
the  trade  was  in  the  hands  of  British  firms,  two  of 
which,  the  house  of  Taylor,  Fladgate  and  that  of 
Croft  and  Co.,  dated  back  to  the  last  years  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  Quite  a  number  belonged 
to  the  ensuing  hundred  years,  and  thus  the  many 
roomy  lodges  of  Villa  Nova  often  had  quite  a  vener- 
able appearance.  In  Oporto  itself  we  found  the 
English  club-house,  formerly  the  headquarters  of 
the  British  Factory — a  body  of  merchants  endowed 
with  special  privileges.  British  influence  and  the 
presence  of  a  great  amount  of  British  capital  were 
apparent  on  all  sides.  The  brief  financial  crisis  of 
1876,  which  affected  both  the  Bank  of  Portugal  and 
the  Union  Bank  of  Oporto,  had  been  due,  I  believe, 
to  a  scarcity  of  gold.  For  my  part  I  seldom  saw  a 
Portuguese  gold  piece.  The  British  sovereign  and 
haK-sovereign  circulated  everywhere.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Portuguese  system  of  currency  was  a 
source  of  constant  amusement,  everything  being 
calculated  in  reis — a  standard  of  infinitesimal  value 
A  thousand  reis  represented  indeed  less  than  4<5.  6rf., 
nevertheless  an  hotel  bill  looked  quite  alarming 
when  it  ran  into  five  or  six  figures. 

The  hotel  at  which  we  stayed  at  Oporto — the 
Hotel  de  France — was,  I  believe,  accounted  a  second- 
class  establishment,  but  we  secured  large  ground- 
floor  rooms  there,  and  the  landlady  was  actually 
a  French  woman,  who  looked  after  the  cuisine. 
Into  that  one  statement  I  condense  volumes.     The 


340  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

Portuguese  themselves  consume  a  great  quantity  of 
rice  and  few  green  vegetables.  The  chief  produce 
of  their  country  consists  of  wine,  fruit,  olives,  oil 
and  cork.  On  the  coast  the  sardine  fisheries  thrive, 
and  as  a  rule  a  good  variety  of  fish  is  to  be  obtained 
in  the  coast  towns.  In  the  interior,  however, 
hacalhdo,  otherwise  dried  cod,  is  a  staple  article  of 
diet  among  the  peasantry.  In  the  Douro  wilds  I 
had  to  remain  content  with  it  on  more  than  one 
occasion.  The  Portuguese,  it  should  be  noted, 
were  the  first  to  work  the  Newfoundland  fisheries 
some  four  hundred  years  ago,  and  it  was  by  way  of 
Vianna,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Minho,  that  they 
chiefly  imported  cod.  Thither  also  repaired  the  first 
English  settlers,  who  supplied  their  native  country 
with  the  wine  of  the  garden-like  province  of  Minho 
hundreds  of  years  before  the  port  trade  sprang  up. 
South  of  Vianna,  by  the  way,  is  Braga,  which, 
according  to  some  accounts,  supplied  Ireland  with 
her  early  Milesian  kings.  To  return,  however,  to 
the  question  of  Portuguese  food,  I  remember  that 
boiled  fowl  and  rice  was  virtually  a  standing  dish. 
There  was  also  a  kind  of  Irish  stew,  the  recipe  for 
which  the  Milesians  may  have  carried  with  them  to 
Dublin ;  and  I  further  recall  a  much-appreciated 
dish  of  pig's  head,  boiled  with  turnips  and  haricot 
beans.  At  the  Hotel  de  France,  however,  we 
usually  secured  good  average  French  cookery. 

Either  on  account  of  that  or  by  reason  of  the 
hotel's  name,  we  were  favoured  for  a  few  days  with 
the  company  of  M.  de  Laboulaye,  French  Minister 
at  Lisbon,  and  son,  I  believe,  of  the  well-known 
writer.  He  came  to  Oporto  on  the  occasion  of  the 
inauguration  of  a  new  bridge,  constructed  to  connect 
the    lofty    Douro    cliffs    above    the    city.     All   the 


PORTUGAL  341 

royalties  attended,  and  the  Portuenses  gave  them- 
selves up  to  general  merry-making.  I  learnt  that 
the  bridge,  a  daring  bit  of  engineering,  was  the 
work  of  a  Frenchman  staying  at  the  hotel,  and  it  so 
chanced  that  on  the  same  evening  he  sat  beside  me 
at  the  table  d^hdte.  We  entered  into  conversation 
with  the  result  that  he  gave  me  a  photograph  of 
the  bridge,  which  my  father  sent  to  the  Illustrated 
London  News,  About  five  and  forty  years  of  age, 
slim  and  black-bearded,  this  engineer,  who  was  a 
native  of  Dijon,  had  acquired  a  reputation  already 
in  his  twenty-sixth  year,  when  he  had  designed  and 
constructed  the  fine  tubular  iron  railway-bridge 
spanning  the  Garonne  at  Bordeaux.  The  Dom 
Luis  bridge  at  Oporto  proved  another  feather  in 
his  cap,  and  twelve  years  later  his  name  became 
known  all  the  world  over,  for  he  was  Alexandre 
Eiffel  of  the  famous  Tower. 

I  met  other  interesting  people  at  the  table  Whote 
of  the  Hotel  de  France.  One  was  no  less  a  personage 
than  the  King's  tailor,  a  good-looking  elderly  man, 
persona  grata  among  the  young  Portuguese  nobles, 
whom  he  favoured  with  loans  as  well  as  with  garments. 
He  spoke  French  fluently  and  so  did  the  charming 
young  woman  who  sat  at  the  lower  end  of  the  table 
whilst  Laboulaye  took  the  head  of  it.  She  was  the 
prirrta  donna  of  a  Spanish  operatic  company  then 
performing  at  Oporto.  Though  she  was  neither  a 
Patti  nor  a  Melba,  she  had  a  good  voice  and  could 
act.  I  was  the  more  interested  in  theatricals  at 
that  time  as  during  the  winter  of  1875-6 1  had  become 
connected  with  a  Paris  house  of  entertainment — 
the  Folies  Bergere — ^where  for  fifteen  months  I  dis- 
charged secretarial  duties  and  initiated  the  engage- 
ment of  some  of    the  first  English  variety  artists 


342  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

that  ever  appeared  in  Paris.  I  also  prompted  the 
management  to  secure  an  English  pantomime  com- 
pany, with  the  result  that  Fred  Evans  of  Drury 
Lane  and  Tom  Lovell,  the  Surrey  clown,  astonished 
the  habitues  of  the  Boulevards  with  a  genuine 
harlequinade.*  In  one  year  the  house,  which  had 
previously  been  in  great  difficulties,  made  a  clear 
profit  of  £11,000. 

To  return,  however,  to  the  Spanish  prima  donna. 
Her  good  looks  as  well  as  her  voice  fascinated  all 
the  young  bloods  of  Oporto,  and  she  was  besieged 
day  after  day  with  bouquets  and  hillets-doiix. 
Every  evening  all  the  jeunesse  doree  who  were 
privileged  to  go  behind  the  scenes  hovered  about 
the  door  of  her  dressing-room.  Every  morning  a 
similar  crowd  came  in  procession  to  the  hotel.  It 
was  a  furore,  and  no  wonder.  The  Portuguese 
woman  is  not  a  beauty.  In  the  lower  class  she  is 
often  strong,  athletic,  and  fairly  tall.  I  frequently 
noticed  how  well  she  walked  whilst,  bare-legged 
and  bare-footed,  she  trod  the  cobbly  streets  of 
Oporto,  goad  in  hand,  whilst  leading  the  oxen  of  her 
carro,  or  else  with  a  burden  poised  upon  her  head. 
But  I  never  saw  her  with  a  pretty  face.  The  best 
looking  women  were  those  with  a  strain  of  Jewry 
in  their  veins.  These,  however,  did  not  belong  to 
the  class  to  which  I  have  referred.  As  a  rule,  both 
at  Lisbon  and  at  Oporto,  if  you  perceived  a  really 
charming  woman  you  might  readily  wager  that  she 
was  Spanish.  This  explains  the  success  of  the 
prima  donna.  She  was  much  amused  by  it,  accepted 
all  the  bouquets  until  her  sitting-room  had  been 

*  Several  years  ago  I  introduced  some  of  my  theatrical  experiences 
into  a  romance  which  J  entitled  "  The  Loyer's  Progress  "  (Chatto  & 
Windus), 


PORTUGAL  343 

converted  into  a  veritable  bower,  and  left  the 
billets-doux  she  received  lying  here  and  there,  for 
the  most  part  unopened.  Three  or  four  of  us  were 
privileged  to  sit  with  her  at  times  and  talk  of  Paris, 
Madrid  and  music,  between  our  cigarettes  ;  but  she 
had  provided  herself  with  a  very  vigilant  duenna, 
who  proved  an  efficient  match  for  every  Don  Juan 
that  presented  himseK. 

Among  the  works  performed  at  Oporto  by  the 
Spanish  operatic  company  were  "  Lucia  di  Lammer- 
moor,"  "  Dinorah,"  "  Fra  Diavolo,"  ''  Le  Chalet," 
*'  La  Fille  du  Regiment,"  and  "  Linda  di  Chamouni." 
Wagner  was  still  virtually  unknown  in  the  Peninsula, 
and  only  once  did  I  find  Gounod's  "  Faust "  billed 
at  Madrid.  It  was,  I  believe,  afterwards  interdicted 
on  religious  grounds.  At  Oporto  it  was  quaint  to 
see  ladies  being  carried  to  the  theatre  in  sedan 
chairs  which  were  often  genuine  relics  of  their 
grandmothers'  days.  By  availing  themselves  of 
this  old-fashioned  means  of  locomotion  the  senhoras 
saved  their  feet  from  contact  with  the  abominable 
cobbles  which  paved  many  of  the  streets  and  their 
heads  from  the  shower-baths  which,  in  the  autumn, 
fell  from  the  projecting  trumpet-shaped  gargoyles  of 
the  houses.  Now  and  again  in  the  evening,  after 
leaving  the  theatre,  I  came  upon  a  contrasting 
spectacle — a  funeral  procession,  the  hearse  preceded 
and  flanked  by  strangely  costumed  attendants  who 
carried  flaring  torches.  Burial  at  night  was  certainly 
the  rule. 

From  Oporto  we  went  to  the  Paiz  vinhateiro, 
otherwise  the  region  where  port-wine  is  vintaged. 
It  was  an  interesting  journey.  On  quitting  the  rail- 
head— at  Cahide  if  I  remember  rightly — I  found 
that  horses  and  an  arrieiro,  or  groom,  had  been 


344  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

provided  as  well  as  a  carriage  for  our  party.  My 
father  and  a  shipper  who  accompanied  us  availed 
themselves  of  the  vehicle,  but  I  preferred  to  mount 
one  of  the  horses  and  ride  with  the  arrieiro  along  the 
road  skirting  the  Douro  until,  after  passing  the 
pleasant  looking  little  town  of  Amarante — whose 
bridge  was  the  scene  of  a  lively  encounter  between 
French  and  English  during  the  Peninsular  war — 
we  at  last  began  to  ascend  the  lowest  spurs  of  the 
Serra  do  Marao,  a  mountain  range  which  had  to  be 
crossed  on  the  way  to  Regoa,  which  ranked  as  the 
chief  place  in  the  wine  district.  When  we  were  near 
the  steeper  part  of  the  mountain  pass  I  dismounted 
and  took  a  seat  in  the  carriage,  the  horses  drawing 
which  were  unharnessed  at  a  wayside  hostelry  and 
replaced  by  oxen  accustomed  to  draw  vehicles  over 
the  serra.  The  horses  followed  us,  loosely  tethered 
to  the  back  of  the  conveyance.  Most  of  this  part  of 
our  journey  was  made  at  night,  and  as  we  slowly 
ascended  to  the  summit  of  the  pass,  the  temperature 
became  extremely  keen.  In  the  morning  we  were 
at  Regoa,  where  we  inspected  several  of  the  quintas, 
as  the  vineyards  and  their  villas  are  called. 

The  next  fortnight  found  us  riding  hither  and 
hither  through  the  region  where  the  vintage  was  in 
full  progress.  Excepting  on  the  road  fringing  the 
Douro,  which  flows  swiftly  between  lofty  terraced 
vine-planted  hills,  the  country  is  not  suited  to  vehicles. 
It  is  true  that  you  occasionally  see  a  low,  cask- 
laden  bullock-cart  descending  one  of  the  break- 
neck hillside  tracks,  but  these  carts  with  their 
massive  screeching  wheels — of  a  type  known  to  the 
Romans— can  stand  many  a  strain  and  blow  which 
would  speedily  shatter  an  ordinary  conveyance. 
Horse  riding  thus  becomes  imperative  for  the  traveller 


PORTUGAL  345 

who  wishes  to  get  about  rapidly.  My  father  was  very 
unfortunate  in  his  choice  of  a  mount.  Two  horses 
had  been  provided,  one  a  very  lanky  bony  gelding, 
standing,  I  should  say,  nearly  seventeen  hands ;  and 
the  other  a  thick-set  pony  of  fairly  attractive  ap- 
pearance and  previously  employed  in  mule-breeding. 
Being  unaware  of  the  latter  circumstance,  and 
opining  that  in  the  event  of  an  accident  on  the 
villainous  mountain  roads  he  would  fall  from  a 
shorter  height  if  he  mounted  the  pony,  my  father 
decided  to  do  so,  with  very  unpleasant  results, 
however,  for  master  pony  was  a  gay  Lothario,  and 
became  virtually  unmanageable  whenever  a  train 
of  pack-laden  asses  happened  to  be  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. Both  our  horses  were,  however,  usually  very 
sure-footed  in  climbing  or  descending  the  rugged 
hills,  and  I  found  that  my  lanky  brute  could  trot 
fairly  well  whenever  we  came  upon  a  few  furlongs  of 
almost  level  road. 

We  witnessed  the  vintaging  at  several  of  the 
white-walled  quintas,  perched  among  olive  trees  and 
vines.  Some  were  owned  by  leading  shippers — 
Sandeman  &  Sons,  Fladgate,  Martinez  Gassiot, 
Cockburn  &  Smithes,  Silva  and  Cosens,  Grahams, 
Warres,  Feuerheerd,  etc.,  or  else  the  houses  had 
purchased  that  season's  crops.  We  were  for  a  time 
in  the  company  of  Mr.  Albert  Sandeman,  afterwards 
well  known  in  the  city  of  London  as  a  Governor  of 
the  Bank  of  England  ;  and  I  can  recall  the  thoroughly 
English  hospitality  of  which  we  partook  at  a  quinta 
belonging  to  his  firm.  In  that  wild  country,  where 
scarcely  a  village  could  be  found,  the  question  of 
provisions  was  very  important,  and  thus  when  the 
shippers  or  their  agents  stayed  there  during  the 
vintage  they  usually  sent  up  supplies  from  Oporto. 


346  IN   SEVEN  LANDS 

These  supplies  consisted  largely  of  British  products, 
and  you  sat  down  to  York  hams,  pressed  beef,  ox- 
tongues, pickles,  biscuits,  Worcester  sauce,  cheddar, 
and  marmalade.  Although  a  light  tawny  port  was 
the  usual  beverage — a  wine  rendered  tawny  by  age, 
not  the  cheap  stujfi  which  takes  that  hue  from  an 
admixture  of  white  wine — there  was  soda  water  if 
you  desired  to  add  it  to  a  little  native  brandy,  and 
of  course  there  was  the  inevitable  bottled  beer,  of 
which,  according  to  the  tales  of  travellers,  so  many 
discarded  "  empties  "  have  been  found  in  the  wildest 
of  the  world's  wild  regions.  The  only  food  which  the 
Douro  land  itself  provided  was  rye  bread,  eggs, 
scraggy  poultry,  and  dried  cod,  otherwise  bacalhdo. 
At  one  village  which  we  visited — a  dirty,  slushy  place 
called  Celleirds,  I  certainly  found  an  infinity  of  pigs — 
pigs  in  the  streets,  pigs  on  the  doorsteps,  pigs  again 
indoors — wallowing,  grimy,  gluttonous  creatures  on 
terms  of  the  utmost  familiarity  with  their  owners 
and  strongly  suggesting  a  confirmation  of  the  theory 
that  the  northern  Portuguese  and  the  Irish  are 
racially  allied. 

The  natives  of  the  port-wine  country — ^few  in 
number — ^proved  to  be  as  a  rule  proud  and  gloomy, 
but  sturdy  and  independent  folk.  They  subsisted 
chiefly  on  dried  cod,  rye  bread  and  vegetables. 
They  were  outwardly  very  religious — invariably 
attending  the  misa  das  almas  early  on  Monday 
mornings  before  starting  the  week's  work.  I  found 
that  although  coffins  were  provided  at  funerals,  the 
remains  of  the  deceased  were  always  taken  out  of 
them  at  the  graveside  and  buried  merely  in  shrouds. 
The  same  coffin,  therefore,  did  duty  over  and  over 
again.  The  peasants  had  a  firm  beUef  in  the  lobis- 
homen,  or  wehr-wolf,  who  was  supposed  to  come  at 


PORTUGAL  347 

night  to  disinter  and  feed  upon  newly  buried  bodies — 
this  being  the  easier  as  there  were  no  coffins  to  open. 
When  I  remarked  upon  that  circumstance  I  was  told 
that  wood  was  very  scarce  in  the  district — the  olive 
and  occasionally  the  orange  being  virtually  the  only 
trees  found  there.  Cuttings  from  these  and  from  the 
vines  were  in  winter  the  chief  articles  of  fuel.  Other 
superstitions  besides  that  of  the  wehr-wolf  were 
current.  The  screeching  of  an  owl  or  the  whining 
of  a  dog  invariably  foreshadowed  misfortune,  but  on 
the  other  hand  the  creaking  or  childreda  of  the  heavy 
wheels  and  axles  of  the  primitive  bullock-carts  was 
supposed  to  ward  off  evil  spirits. 

The  men  of  Traz-oz-Montes,  in  which  province 
the  port-wine  region  is  situated,  were,  I  learnt, 
particularly  opposed  to  conscription,  and  so  many 
young  fellows  emigrated  to  Brazil  before  attaining 
the  age  for  military  service.  This  accounted,  in  a 
measure,  for  the  sparseness  of  the  population.  While 
superstition  was  so  rife  crime  was  not  infrequent, 
and  some  ghastly  stories  were  related  of  murders 
perpetrated  for  the  sake  of  money — the  victims 
generally  being  wine  growers  or  their  agents  who  were 
known  to  have  recently  received  payment  for  the 
crops.  At  the  vintage  season  women  were  recruited 
from  various  parts  of  the  province  and  from  the 
adjoining  one  of  Entre-Douro-e-Minho.  They  went 
among  the  vines  barefooted,  plucking  the  grapes, 
or  carrying  heavy  loads  of  them  in  tall  baskets  on 
their  backs.  Meanwhile,  down  the  rapid  Douro, 
hundreds  of  feet  below  them,  careered  high-prowed, 
j&at-bottomed  wine-laden  boats,  deftly  steered  past 
the  shallows  by  means  of  long  rudders,  and,  when 
the  breeze  was  favourable,  having  their  speed  in- 
creased by  means  of  huge  full-spread  sails.     Every 


348  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

now  and  again  a  boatman  would  take  up  some 
refrain  which  the  vintage  girls  were  singing  on  the 
terraced  vineyards  above  the  river.  The  favourite 
ditty  at  that  time  was  one  called  "  Marianinha." 
The  tune  was  not  displeasing,  but  the  words  were 
in  part  inane  and  in  part  coarsely  suggestive,  for 
which  last  reason  the  police  prohibited  the  song  in 
the  towns.  Up  in  the  wilds,  however,  there  were  no 
police,  and  so  "  Marianinha  "  might  be  heard  from 
one  to  the  other  end  of  the  Alto  Douro.  The  opening 
verse  being  free  from  objection,  may  be  quoted  : 

'*  Mariana  diz  que  tem 

Sete  saias  de  riscado — 
Disengane  o  seu  amor 

E  naO  traga  enganado  ! 
Mariana  diz  que  tem,  o  meu  bem  ! 

Sete  saias  de  fil6 — 
Mentirosa  Mariana, 

Que  nao  tem  uma  so  !  " 

**  Mariana  says  she  wears 

Seven  petticoats  all  with  stripes — 
Let  her  tell  her  lover  the  truth 

And  no  longer  deceive  him  ! 
Mariana  says  she  wears,  oh,  my  dear  ! 

Seven  petticoats  of  cambric — 
What  a  liar  is  Mariana 

For  not  even  one  does  she  wear  !  '* 

When  the  grapes  for  making  the  wine  had  been 
gathered,  they  were  conveyed  to  the  pressing  houses, 
and  the  baskets  were  then  emptied  into  the  lagars 
and  trodden  underfoot  by  men  who  were  frequently 
Gallegos  or  Galicians,  by  whom  indeed  most  of  the 
hard  and  heavy  work  is  done  in  Portugal. 
Musicians  were  invariably  provided  to  enliven  the 
treaders,  who  performed  their  task  rhythmically  and 
lustily  to  the  strains  of  favourite  airs.     The  scene 


PORTUGAL  349 

is  shown  in  one  of  the  illustrations  to  this  volume, 
the  moment  which  I  selected  when  I  made  the  sketch 
being  one  when  the  treading  was  nearly  completed, 
the  must,  or  new  wine,  rising  to  the  men's  thighs.* 
From  that  prolonged  "  bath  of  wine  "  they  naturally 
emerged  with  purple  legs.  As  the  custom  of  treading 
the  grapes — current  in  so  many  countries — might 
create  misgivings  in  the  minds  of  readers  unac- 
quainted with  vinification,  let  me  add  that  in  the 
course  of  fermentation  all  impurities  of  whatever 
nature  are  thrown  off.  At  one  quinta  which  I  visited 
there  was  a  shortage  of  male  labour,  and  a  number  of 
girls  were  therefore  enlisted  to  tread  the  grapes. 
They  did  so  very  efficiently,  gathering  their  skirts 
up  about  their  waists  and  dancing  at  times  to  the 
sound  of  the  music.  They  were  certainly  wearing 
no  such  superfluity  of  petticoats  as  the  Mariana  of 
the  song  claimed  to  wear,  and  the  appearance  of 
one  or  two  may  have  been  somewhat  indecorous, 
particularly  when  they  essayed  bacchanalian  figures 
amidst  the  haK-pressed  grapes. 

During  one  of  our  rides  through  the  region  my 
father  and  I  lost  ourselves.  When  dusk  was  falling, 
however,  we  came  to  a  pitiful  little  village  called 
Ervedoza,  and  there  secured  shelter  for  the  night,  it 
being  dangerous  to  ride  along  such  abominable 
roads  in  the  darkness.  All  we  could  obtain  in  the 
way  of  sustenance  was  some  of  the  usual  bacalhdo, 
8b  few  eggs,  and  some  coffee,  which  we  had  to  drink 
without  milk  or  sugar.  On  the  morrow,  after  being 
ferried  with  our  horses  across  the  Douro,  we  regained 

*  The  illustration  in  question  is  taken  from  "  Facts  about  Port,"  a 
book  which  I  assisted  my  father  to  prepare  and  for  which  I  made  a  very 
large  number  of  drawings.  The  volume,  which  has  long  been  out  of  print, 
treats  also  of  the  wines  of  Madeira  and  Tenerife. 


360  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

our  quarters  at  the  Quinta  Amarella,  a  vintaging- 
place  belonging  to  Messrs.  Martinez  Gassiot  & 
Co.,  who  had  placed  it  at  our  disposal.  It  stood 
just  above  a  village  of  perhaps  twelve  houses  which 
was  called  Pinhao,  after  a  little  river  of  that  name 
which  there  joined  the  Douro.  At  this  time  the 
vintaging  was  already  over  and  all  the  port- wine  ship- 
pers had  returned  to  Oporto.  For  hours  every  morn- 
ing mists  hung  over  the  rivers  and  their  hill-sides, 
and  quinine  had  to  be  taken  freely  in  order  to  guard 
against  ague  and  similar  ailments.  A  means  was  at 
last  found  to  enable  my  father  to  make  the  journey 
to  Oporto,  but  I  remained  with  our  arrieiro  at  the 
Quinta  Amarella  (otherwise  the  Yellow  Quinta)  for 
some  ten  days  longer,  profiting  by  the  brighter  hours 
to  make  further  sketches,  and  to  observe  the  late 
autumn  work  in  the  vineyards.  During  our  stay  at 
this  spot  we  subsisted  chiefly  on  some  supplies  sent 
from  Oporto,  and  on  sundry  chickens  of  Pinhao, 
but  every  four  or  five  days  our  arrieiro  made  a  long 
journey  on  horseback  for  the  purpose  of  securing 
a  few  pounds  of  very  poor  butcher's  meat. 

At  last  he  and  I  departed  and  again  made  our 
way,  this  time  on  a  bitterly  cold  night,  over  the  pass 
of  the  Serra  do  Marao.  At  Oporto  I  found  my 
father  who  had  been  pursuing  his  investigations 
among  the  wine-lodges  and  studying  the  merits  of 
the  particular  port — a  solera  wine  dating  from  1827 
— of  which  several  pipes  were  shipped  every  year  by 
the  Visconde  Villar-AUen,  through  the  German 
consul,  to  the  Man  of  Blood  and  Iron,  Prince  Bis- 
marck. Chambertin,  we  know,  was  his  favoiu:ite 
wine ;  but  he  once  declared  that  he  had  much  the 
same  reverence  for  port  as  Dr.  Johnson  had. 

I   returned   home   that   year    with    my    father 


PORTUGAL  361 

by  way  of  Spain,  stayed  for  a  time  at  Madrid, 
and  then,  in  order  to  reach  Marseilles,  went  on  to 
tiu^bulent  Barcelona — the  scene  of  so  many  popular 
risings  always  fated  to  be  unsuccessful  as  the  city 
lies  under  the  guns  of  the  fortress  of  Monjuich, 
whence  it  could  be  destroyed  in  a  few  hours.  Indeed, 
in  1842  Espartero  actually  turned  those  guns  upon 
the  town  and  great  destruction  and  loss  of  life 
ensued. 

Subsequent  to  our  visit  to  Portugal  I  was  often 
my  father's  companion  in  one  or  another  part  of 
France,  notably  in  Champagne  on  whose  wine  he 
wrote  two  books,  a  volume  of  "  Facts  "  and  a  very 
elaborate  "History."  I  think  as  I  pen  these  lines 
of  my  many  sojourns  at  the  old  Hotel  du  Lion  d'Or 
at  Reims,  and  of  the  great  cathedral  which  then 
rose  in  venerable  majesty — uninjured,  except  by 
time — on  the  other  side  of  the  square  facing  my 
window.  I  looked  out  at  it  every  morning.  I 
learnt  to  know  by  heart,  as  it  were,  each  feature, 
each  detail  of  the  great  portal.  I  saw  the  early 
worshippers  pass  in  and  out.  There  were  times 
when  I  was  among  them.  Again  I  see  the  impressive 
nave  up  which,  as  far  as  the  entrance  of  the  choir, 
the  immortal  Maid  rode  clad  in  armour,  her  banner 
in  her  grasp,  on  the  day  of  the  coronation  of  the 
"  gentle  King  " — whom  she  had  led  victoriously 
to  the  sacred  fane.  And  now  ?  .  .  .  I  know  no 
words  adequate  to  express  the  horror  and  detestation 
which  fill  me  at  the  thought  of  the  abominable 
German  Crime — not  the  worst,  doubtless,  in  a  long 
roll  of  stupendous  misdeeds,  but  one  which,  even  had 
there  been  none  other,  would  have  sufficed  for  the 
Recording  Angel  to  brand  the  name  of  its  perpetrators 
with  mieffaceable  infamy. 


IV. 


ROME   AND   THE   KING. 

Italy  after  Napoleon — The  Cession  of  Savoy  to  France — The  Occupation 
of  Rome — King  Victor-Emmanuel  II — His  thirst  at  Magenta — 
His  Mother  and  his  Wives — The  Romans  and  his  Death — Turm 
claims  his  Remains — ^The  Lying-in-State  at  the  Quirhial — The 
Obsequies — The  Pantheon  and  the  Clericalists — The  Funeral  Pro- 
cession—A Memory  of  Clement  VII — The  Last  Service — King 
Humbert  and  Queen  Margherita — Their  son  Victor-Emmanuel  III. 

On  one  of  the  first  days  of  January,  1878,  a  dignitary 
of  the  Vatican  sent  a  private  intimation  to  Paris, 
to  the  effect  that  Pope  Pius  IX,  who  was  then  in 
his  eighty-sixth  year  and  who  had  been  gradually 
sinking  since  the  previous  autumn,  might  die  at  any 
moment.  A  French  press-agency,  having  heard  of 
this  report,  asked  me  to  go  to  Kome,  and  I  im- 
mediately set  out,  travelling  as  fast  as  the  circum- 
stances of  the  time  permitted.  When  I  reached 
the  Eternal  City,  however,  the  Pope's  condition  was 
still  unchanged,  but,  quite  unexpectedly,  Victor- 
Emmanuel  II,  first  King  of  United  Italy,  usually 
regarded  as  strong  and  hardy  and  only  in  his  fifty- 
eighth  year,  was  dying.  After  merely  a  few  days 
illness  he  succumbed  to  pneumonia  on  the  afternoon 
of  January  9.  Pope  Pius  survived  until  the  7th 
February. 

After  the  downfall  of  Napoleon  who  for  a  brief 
space  allotted  to  himself  a  so-called  Italian  Kingdom, 
political  significance  once  more  ceased  to  be  attached 
to  the  name  of  Italy,  which  was  again  regarded  as 

352 


ITALY  353 

merely  a  geographical  expression.  The  country  was 
divided  into  a  variety  of  small  states.  Victor- 
Emmanuel  I,  King  of  Sardinia  and  Duke  of  Savoy, 
reigned  in  Piedmont.  Austria,  either  directly  or 
indirectly — ^that  is  through  sundry  Grand  Dukes  and 
Duchesses — ^ruled  all  the  other  northern  parts  of  the 
peninsula.  The  central  provinces  formed  the  States 
of  the  Church,  and  the  south,  with  Sicily,  constituted 
the  Kingdom  of  the  Neapolitan  Bourbons,  restored 
after  the  fall  of  Napoleon's  brother-in-law,  Murat. 
For  many  years  the  whole  country,  with  the  solitary 
exception  of  Piedmont,  was  governed  in  a  most 
despotic  manner,  and  conspiracies  and  rebellions 
were  frequent.  The  greatest  of  these  uprisings 
occurred  after  the  French  Revolution  of  1848.  The 
Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  fled  from  Florence,  and 
Pope  Pius  IX  from  Rome.  Charles-Albert,  then 
King  of  Sardinia — great-grandfather  of  the  present 
Italian  sovereign — ^took  the  field  in  support  of  the 
popular  cause,  but  was  vanquished  at  Novara  by 
the  Austrian  Marshal  Radetzy;  and  the  French — 
then  governed  by  the  Prince-President  Louis 
Napoleon,  afterwards  Napoleon  III — ^restored  the 
Pope  as  a  temporal  sovereign.  Further  oppression 
and  further  conspiracies  ensued,  but  in  1859  the 
despotism  of  the  then  young  Austrian  Emperor,  the 
present  Francis-Joseph,  provoked  Napoleon  III  to 
declare  war  upon  him. 

In  return  for  his  intervention,  Victor-Emmanuel 
II  of  Sardinia — son  of  Charles-Albert,  who  had 
abdicated  in  his  favour  and  retired  to  Lisbon  where 
he  died  in  the  year  of  his  downfall — covenanted  to 
cede  to  France,  subject  to  a  plebiscitum,  the  Duchy 
of  Savoy  and  the  county  of  Nice,  which  constituted 
his  ancestral  patrimony.     Not  only,  however,  were 

2  A 


364  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

both  of  these  provinces  situated  on  the  French  side 
of  the  Alps,  but  the  French  language  and  indeed  the 
French  races  of   Dauphine  and  Provence  had  pre- 
dominated there  for  many  centuries.     Here  I  must 
open  a  parenthesis.     Victor-Emmanuel  was  blamed 
by  many  writers  for  ceding  Savoy  and  Nice,  and 
Napoleon  III  was  charged  with  virtually  stealing 
those  provinces.     But  I  hold  that  the  plebiscitum 
respecting  their  incorporation  in  French  territory 
was  perfectly  genuine.     Five  and  thirty  years  ago 
I  married  a  Savoisienne.     Her  father  had  been  and 
remained  an  enthusiastic   partisan  of   the  annexa- 
tion of  Savoy  to  France.     Her  uncle.  General  Mol- 
lard,  a  member  of  one  of  the  very  oldest  families  of 
Savoy,  and  at  one  time  commander  of  the  Savoyard 
division    of    the    Piedmontese    army,    was    of    like 
opinion.     Indeed  I  have  never  met  a  single  Savoyard 
who  regretted  the  annexation  to  France,  and  those 
who  could  remember  it  invariably  told  me  that  it 
had  coincided  with  the  wishes  of  an  overwhelming 
majority  of  the  inhabitants.     It  could  not  well  have 
been    otherwise,    either    on    ethnographical    or    on 
geographical  grounds. 

In  return  for  the  cession  of  Savoy  and  Nice 
Napoleon  III  promised  to  free  Italy  from  the  Alps 
to  the  Adriatic,  and  a  brief  but  brilliant  campaign 
ensued,  illustrated  by  such  battles  as  Palestro, 
Montebello,  Marignano,  Magenta  and  Solferino. 
But,  on  it  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  the  French 
Emperor  that  Prussia  was  secretly  mobilising,  with  the 
object  of — already  then,  1859 — attacking  the  eastern 
frontier  of  France,*  he  hastily  concluded  a  treaty  with 

*  That  fact  has  been  overlooked  again  and  again  in  works  dealing 
either  with  the  life  of  Napoleon  III  or  with  the  relations  of  France  and 
Italy, 


ITALY  355 

Austria.     Lombardy  then  passed  to  the  Sardinian 
crown,  but  Austria  retained  possession  of  Venetia 
and  control  over  Tuscany.     The  Tuscans,  however, 
rid  themselves  of  their  Grand  Duke,  and  Parma, 
Modena  and  the  Romagna  also  declared  for  annexa- 
tion to  Sardinia.     Meantime,  that  famous  Knight- 
errant,    Giuseppe    Garibaldi,    resolved    to    liberate 
Naples  and  Sicily  from  Bourbon  despotism.     After 
that  had  been  accomplished  the  King  of  Sardinia 
became  King  of  Italy  and  made  Florence  instead  of 
Turin  his  capital.     The  inhabitants  of   the  latter 
city  were  vexed  by  the  change.     They  would  have 
been  well  pleased  had  the  capital  been  transferred  to 
Rome,  but  that  it  should  be  shifted  from  the  banks 
of  the  Po  to  those  of  the  Arno  proved  somewhat 
galling  to  local  pride.     The  Florentines,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  delighted,  and  deemed  the  change  the 
more    auspicious    as    it   coincided    with    the    sixth 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Dante. 

But  war  again  supervened.     In  1866  the  Italians 
joined  Prussia  against  Austria,  and  although  they 
were  defeated  both  on  land  and  at  sea  they  gained 
Venetia    through  the  mediation  of    Napoleon  III. 
Some  of  the  papal  territory  was  afterwards  occupied 
by  Victor-Emmanuel's  forces,   but    French   troops 
garrisoned  Rome  itself  and  the  Empress  Eugenie 
prevailed  on  her  husband  to  uphold  the  sway  of 
Pius  IX.     For  France  that  proved  a  grievous  blunder, 
for  had  she  conceded  Rome  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Italian  kingdom  Italy  would  have  stood  by  her 
in  the  Franco-German  War  of  1870-71.     By  pro- 
mising the  Eternal  City  to  the  Italian  Government, 
Bismarck  secured  the  latter's  neutrality.     Circum- 
stances constrained  France  to  withdraw  her  troops 
from  Rome,  and  on  September  20,  1870,  an  Italian 


356  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

army  under  General  Gadorna,  father  of  the  present 
general  of  that  name,  seized  the  long-coveted  prize, 
and  Italy  was  finally  united.  The  idea  of  the  reunion 
of  all  the  Italian  states  under  the  sovereignty  of  the 
House  of  Savoy  had  been  current  as  far  back  as  1840. 
It  had  been  sedulously  nursed  by  such  statesmen  as 
Gioberti,  Balbo  and  Massimo  d'Azeglio  even  before 
Cavour  made  it  the  keystone  of  his  policy,  and  in 
the  fulness  of  time  it  became  an  accomplished 
fact. 

Curiously  enough,  the  first  sovereign  of  united 
Italy  dwelt  little  at  Eome.  Reasons  of  state  com- 
pelled him  to  stay  at  the  Quirinal  from  time  to  time, 
but  he  infinitely  preferred  his  old  home  in  Piedmont. 
He  had  no  love  for  court  ceremonial.  Hunting  and 
shooting  appealed  to  him  far  more.  He  was  a  good 
fighter,  and  had  an  amorous  disposition  suggesting 
that  of  Henry  of  Navarre.  He  fought  under  his 
father  at  Goito  and  No  vara  in  1849,  and  ten  years 
later  he  took  the  field  with  his  troops  against  the 
Austrians.  My  uncle  Frank,  the  war-artist,  who  was 
then  for  a  while  attached  to  his  staff,  used  to  relate 
how  on  the  very  hot  day  of  Magenta — hot  in  more 
than  one  respect — the  King  ended  by  dismounting 
and  directing  operations  from  a  hill-side  on  which 
he  seated  himself  with  his  officers.  The  scorching 
sun-rays  beat  down  upon  them,  and  before  long  their 
thirst  became  intolerable.  Frank  and  an  orderly 
at  last  went  in  search  of  water,  and  on  obtaining 
some  from  a  well  in  a  cottage  garden  brought  it  back 
in  a  pail,  together  with  a  cup  which  the  peasant 
woman  had  supplied.  Victor-Emmanuel,  however, 
brushed  the  cup  aside,  and  taking  the  pail  with  both 
hands  raised  it  to  his  lips  and  drank  long  and  deeply. 
His  officers  preferred  to  use  the  smaller  vessel. 


ITALY  357 

It  may  be  pointed  out  that  although  Victor- 
Emmanuel  was  so  often  at  variance — at  times  at 
war — with  Austria,  he  was  the  son  of  an  Austrian 
princess,  the  Archduchess  Theresa,  and  that  he 
married  another  Archduchess — Adelaide,  who  bore 
him  two  sons  and  two  daughters — Humbert  (Um- 
berto)  who  succeeded  him ;  Amadeo,  sometime 
King  of  Spain  ;  Maria  Pia  ^^  ho  became  Queen  of 
Portugal,  and  Clotilde  who  married  Prince  Napoleon, 
son  of  King  Jerome.  The  present  head  of  the 
Bonaparte  family  and  his  brother  the  Russian 
general  were  the  issue  of  that  marriage.  In  1855, 
when  he  was  thirty-five  years  old,  Victor-Emmanuel 
lost  his  wife,  and  for  some  years  afterwards  he 
engaged  in  a  variety  of  passing  love  affairs  which 
helped  to  procure  him  the  well-known  nickname  of 
il  Re  galantuomo.  In  1872,  however,  when  he  was  in 
his  fifty-second  year,  he  elected  to  become  less  way- 
ward, and  made  his  favourite  mistress,  Rosa  Vercel- 
lana,  whom  he  had  created  Contessa  di  Mirafiore, 
his  morganatic  wife. 

The  personal  popularity  of  this  Savoyard  prince 
rivalled  that  of  Garibaldi,  to  whom  some  moderates 
as  well  as  the  conservatives  took  exception,  whereas 
the  King  was  a  very  general  favourite.  In  that 
respect  I  ought  perhaps  to  except  Rome,  for  apart 
from  the  hostility  of  the  Vatican  party  one  should 
also  remember  how  very  infrequent  were  Victor- 
Emmanuel's  sojourns  in  the  Eternal  City,  in  such 
wise  that  the  Romans  saw  little  of  him.  At  all 
events,  although  the  greatest  decorum  was  observed 
at  his  obsequies  and  people  flocked  in  their  thousands 
to  witness  the  pageantry,  there  was  really  very  little 
sign  of  popular  grief.  Turin  on  such  a  day  would 
have  been  all  lamentation. 


358  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

The  predominant  feeling  in  Rome  was  one  of 
sm'prise  at  the  suddenness  of  the  King's  death. 
Only  once  previously  had  he  really  been  seriously  ill — 
that  is  in  1855,  when  he  lost  his  mother,  his  wife 
and  his  brother,  and  was  himseK  prostrated  by  the 
same  contagious  fever  which  snatched  them  away. 
When  Pius  IX  heard  that  Victor-Emmanuel  was  dying 
he  remembered  that  he  was  a  Christian,  and  had 
the  good  sense  and  taste  to  send  two  prelates  of  his 
household,  Mgr.  MarineUi  and  Mgr.  Cenni,  with  the 
apostolic  benediction.  The  dying  monarch  received 
the  sacraments,  and  his  eldest  son  and  the  latter' s 
wife  were  summoned  to  the  bedside.  A  few  others 
were  afterwards  admitted,  but  the  King  could  take 
no  leave  of  them  for  he  was  already  expiring.  Four 
days  previously  La  Marmora,  his  most  famous 
general.  Garibaldi  excepted,  had  passed  away  at 
Florence. 

On  hearing  of  the  King's  death  Turin  asked  that 
his  remains  might  be  interred,  like  those  of  his  fore- 
runners, at  the  mausoleum  of  La  Superga — ^perched 
on  a  hill  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city  and  overlooking 
the  entire  Piedmontese  plain  from  the  Po  to  the 
Alps.  The  new  monarch,  King  Humbert,  repKed, 
however,  that  by  the  national  desire  his  father  would 
be  buried  at  Rome.  On  the  other  hand,  he  promised 
to  send  Victor-Emmanuel's  sword  to  his  former 
capital.  Two  days  after  the  King's  demise  his  body 
lay  in  state  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Palace  of  the 
Quirinal,  whither,  day  by  day  and  until  the  morn- 
ing of  January  17,  thousands  of  people  flocked  to 
see  it.  The  new  sovereign  and  his  wife  had 
usually  resided  at  the  Quirinal  in  previous  years. 
Pius  IX  also  had  dwelt  there — and  not  at  the 
Vatican — until  he  was  driven  from  Rome  in  1849. 


ITALY  359 

Eleven  years  later  the  ex-King  of  Naples  and  his 
consort  found  there  a  temporary  asylum.  In  more 
distant  days — the  palace  was  built  by  Gregory 
XIII  some  340  years  ago — more  than  one  Pope  had 
been  elected  at  the  Quirinal.  The  great  hall  in  which 
Victor- Emmanuel's  remains  lay  in  state  was  very 
lofty  and  nearly  two  hundred  feet  in  length.  Crimson 
damask  draped  the  walls  below  the  frescoes,  and  on 
a  platform,  reached  by  several  steps,  stood  a  large 
catafalque,  girt  by  guards  and  flaring  candelabra. 
Upon  it  lay  the  bier  with  the  King's  body  cloaked 
in  the  red  mantle  of  the  Order  of  SS.  Maurice  and 
Lazarus,  under  which  you  caught  glimpses  of  a 
general's  uniform.  The  expression  of  the  monarch's 
characteristic  face  seemed — though  the  huge  bristling 
moustache  and  imperial  were  still  there — to  be  less 
stern  than  it  had  appeared  to  me  when  I  had  seen 
him  at  Vienna.  At  the  King's  feet  were  the  emblems 
of  his  departed  sovereignty,  the  Italian  royal  crown, 
and  the  iron  crown  of  Lombardy — the  latter  enclosed 
in  a  circlet  of  gold  and  gems.  And  there  was  yet 
a  third  crown,  formed  of  oak  leaves  and  acorns — a 
fine  specimen  of  the  art  of  the  famous  goldsmith, 
Castellani. 

While  the  Romans,  displaying  more  curiosity 
than  sorrow,  were  defiling  past  their  late  sovereign's 
remains,  foreign  princes  and  other  representatives 
were  arriving  for  the  obsequies.  Among  them  were 
Dom  Carlos,  Crown  Prince  of  Portugal,  and  his  mother. 
Queen  Maria  Pia,  daughter  of  the  deceased.  Austria 
sent  the  Archduke  Rainer,  who  was  allied  to  the 
House  of  Savoy  ;  Germany  despatched  the  Crown 
Prince  Frederick ;  France  was  represented  by 
Marshal  Canrobert  and,  very  appropriately,  by  the 
Marshal-President's    eldest  son,   young  Patrice  de 


360  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

MacMahon,  who  now  bears  the  ducal  title  of  Magenta, 
which  his  father  won  in  fighting  for  Italy.  The 
British  representative  was  Lord  Roden. 

The  morning  of  January  17,  the  day  appointed 
for  the  obsequies,  was  a  somewhat  sharp  one,  but  the 
streets  of  Rome  were  thronged  at  an  early  hour. 
The  appearance  of  the  city  was,  by  the  way,  different 
in  many  respects  from  that  of  present  times.  It  is 
true  that  great  suburban  building  enterprises  had 
already  been  started,  with,  however,  far  less  justifica- 
tion than  at  Berlin — for  whereas  the  German  capital 
is  largely  an  industrial  city,  Rome  has  scarcely  any 
manufactures  at  all,  and  the  chief  raison  d'etre  for  the 
erection  of  dwellings  for  the  poorer  classes  was  that 
a  certain  number  of  the  latter  would  be  driven  from 
their  homes  by  the  improvements  in  the  more 
central  quarters  which  were  contemplated.  A  little 
progress  had  been  made  in  that  respect  already, 
but  the  municipality,  like  the  State,  was  poor,  and 
the  semi-rejuvenation  of  Rome  observable  to-day 
took  place  chiefly  in  King  Humbert's  time. 

It  had  been  decided  that  the  remains  of  Victor- 
Emmanuel  should  be  laid  to  rest  in  the  Pantheon, 
a  resolution  which  angered  most  of  the  clericalists, 
who  would  have  preferred  to  see  the  King  buried 
anywhere  but  in  the  Eternal  City.  The  choice  of 
the  Pantheon,  which  Boniface  IV  consecrated  early 
in  the  seventh  century  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  all 
the  Martyrs,  seemed  to  them  to  be  an  insult.  The 
pile  dates,  of  course,  from  pagan  times  and  would 
appear  to  have  been  erected  by  Augustus's  son-in- 
law,  Agrippa,  prior  to  the  birth  of  Christ.  It  was 
originally  dedicated  to  Jupiter  Ultor  and  all  the 
Gods.  When  it  was  consecrated  by  Boniface  IV  he 
buried  there  a  number  of  early  Christians  whose 


VICTOR-EMMAXUEL   II 
First  King  of  United  Italy 


ITALY  mi 

remains  were  removed  from  some  of  the  catacombs. 
Constructed  of  bricks  originally  faced  with  marble, 
and  disfigured  by  modern  turrets,  the  edifice  pre- 
sented in  my  time  a  most  neglected  and  decaying 
appearance.  It  natural^  lacked  its  original 
adornments,  Rome  having  been  sacked  so  many 
times.  One  of  the  Popes,  moreover,  removed  its 
bronze  work,  which  he  used  for  the  great  baldacchino 
at  St.  Peter's.  In  like  way  he  despoiled  the  building 
of  most  of  its  marble. 

It  was  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  the  funeral 
procession  quitted  the  Quirinal  for  the  Pantheon. 
The  procession  was  two  miles  in  length,  and  took 
four  hours  to  reach  its  destination.  In  advance 
of  the  hearse  came  bodies  of  troops,  both  horse  and 
foot,  deputations  of  all  the  state  services,  Knights 
of  the  Annunziata,  envoys  of  foreign  states,  princes 
of  reigning  houses,  and  then  the  late  King's  aide-de- 
camp. General  Medici,  who  carried  his  master's 
sword,  the  bottom  of  the  scabbard  resting  on  his 
saddle  bow,  and  the  hilt  being  raised  aloft.  Medici 
grasped  the  weapon  firmly  about  the  middle,  and  it 
was  said  that  his  arm  never  once  relaxed  throughout 
that  long  ride.  The  hearse  was  drawn  by  eight 
horses  with  great  trappings  emblazoned  with  the 
shield  of  Savoy.  There  were  six  pall-bearers, 
Depretis,  then  Prime  Minister,  Crispi  who  was 
Minister  of  the  Interior,  the  Presidents  of  the  Senate 
and  the  Chamber  and  two  Knights  of  the  Annun- 
ziata. Beside  the  hearse  walked  several  dismounted 
cuirassiers,  and  behind  it  came  two  masters  of 
ceremonies,  one  bearing  the  iron  crown,  and  the  other 
leading  the  late  King's  charger,  once  no  doubt  a 
fine  and  vigorous  animal,  but  one  which  had  reached 
its  thirtieth  year,  a  venerable  age  for  the  equine 


362  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

species.  Victor-Emmanuers  brother,  ex-King 
Amadeo  of  Spain,  walked  alone  as  chief  mourner. 
Then  again  there  came  troops,  and  four  score  regi- 
mental flags,  many  of  which  had  plainly  been  pierced 
and  rent  in  battle.  Next  there  were  more  deputa- 
tions— deputations  of  every  possible  description — 
and  finally  yet  more  soldiers  bringing  up  the  rear. 
There  were  dense  crowds  in  the  streets  and  on  the 
piazzas.  Women  thronged  the  balconies,  many 
of  which,  though  by  no  means  all  of  them,  were 
covered  with  black  hangings.  Wherever  you  saw  a 
house  which  displayed  no  such  sign  of  mourning 
you  realised  that  it  belonged  to  somebody  who 
upheld  the  Temporal  Power  and  regarded  the  late 
King  as  an  usurper  and  a  despoiler  of  the  Patrimony 
of  the  Church. 

It  was  a  quarter-past  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
when  the  service  began  in  the  Pantheon.  The 
rotunda,  nearly  150  feet  in  diameter,  with  a  height 
of  160  feet — that  is  to  the  summit  of  the  dome — was 
hung  overhead  with  transparent  draperies  in  the 
centre  of  which  shone  a  large  silver  star  on  a  field 
of  azure.  The  half  dozen  lateral  chapels  were  shut 
off  by  hangings,  black  and  gold.  I  had  seen  the 
work  being  done  on  the  previous  day,  and  the 
Italian  friend  who  was  acting  as  my  cicerone,  then 
said  to  me  while  pointing  to  one  of  the  chapels : 
"That  is  Pope  Clement  VII's  chapel."  I  knew  that 
many  Clements  had  occupied  the  Holy  See,  but  I 
did  not  readily  identify  the  seventh  of  them.  I 
thought  of  the  one  who  suppressed  the  Templars, 
but  reflected  that  he  was  buried  at  Avignon.  My 
friend  came  to  my  help,  however.  "  Surely  you 
remember,"  said  he.  "  That  was  a  Pope  of  particular 
interest  to  Englishmen.     He  lived  in  the  time  of 


ITALY  368 

your  Henry  VIII."  At  once  everything  flashed 
upon  me — Henry,  Katherine  of  Aragon,  Wolsey  and 
the  Reformation.  ''  Perhaps  you  now  reahse,"  my 
friend  resumed,  "  one  of  the  reasons  why  the  Blacks 
(the  clericaHsts)  resent  the  burial  here  of  one  whom 
they  regard  as  an  usurping  King.  It  is  like  an 
insult,  like  an  act  of  defiance,  offered  to  the  ashes  of 
one  whom  other  monarchs  defied  and  buffeted  sorely 
in  his  lifetime." 

Around  the  black  and  ermine  catafalque  standing 
in  the  rotunda,  were  lions  couchant  and  candelabra, 
tiers  and  tiers,  as  it  were,  of  tapers,  whilst  on  the 
great  cornice  up  above  stood  helmeted  firemen,  in 
readiness,  I  presume,  to  give  their  services  should 
any  accident  occur.  On  one  side  of  th«  high  altar 
was  a  carpeted  space  for  diplomatists  and  ministers 
of  state,  and  on  the  other  were  some  gilded  seats  and 
praying  cushions  for  the  princes  attending  the 
ceremony.  When  the  procession  arrived  it  was  met 
at  the  door  of  the  Pantheon  by  a  body  of  clergy, 
and  the  heavy  coffin  was  carried  in  by  sixteen  stal- 
wart cuirassiers,  and  placed  by  them  upon  the 
catafalque.  They  afterwards  drew  a  black  velvet 
pall  over  the  bier,  and  ranged  themselves  around  it 
as  guards  of  honoiu*.  Insignia  and  wreaths  were 
deposited  here  and  there.  The  officiating  priest 
was  a  certain  Don  Luigi  Lauri,  a  short  and  dusky 
man.  An  orchestra  had  been  provided  and  often 
accompanied  the  choir.  The  service  was  relatively 
short,  and  the  singing  did  not  equal  that  which  I 
afterwards  heard  at  the  obsequies  of  Pius  IX. 

Thus  all  that  was  mortal  of  Victor-Emmanuel  II 
passed  to  the  tomb,  and  King  Humbert  reigned  in 
his  stead.  The  new  monarch  was  only  in  his  thirty- 
fourth  year,  and  although  he  aheady  followed  his 


364  IN  SEVEN   LANDS 

father's  practice  of  cultivating  a  remarkable  mous- 
tache, he  did  not  look  by  any  means  so  fierce  as  he 
appeared  to  be  in  his  later  years.  Why  kings 
should  desire  to  look  fierce  I  cannot  say.  The  idea 
must  have  originated  in  the  long  ago  when  so  many 
ruled  by  fear.  King  Humbert  was  in  reality  a  very 
amiable  and  liberal-minded  man.  Emile  Zola,  who 
had  a  long  conversation  with  him  at  the  Quirinal 
in  the  nineties,  was  quite  impressed  by  his  geniality 
and  liberal  views.  We  know,  however,  that  his 
life  was  twice  attempted — first  by  Passanante  in 
November,  1878,  when  he  was  saved  by  the  inter- 
position of  his  Prime  Minister  Cairoli,  and  secondly 
by  Acciarito  in  1897,  when  his  agility  saved  him  from 
a  dangerous  dagger  thrust ;  and  that  finally  he  was 
shot  dead  by  Bresci  at  Monza  in  1900.*  These 
successive  crimes  were,  however,  perpetrated  by 
Anarchists.  Amongst  all  other  classes  of  Italians 
Humbert  was  deservedly  popular.  He  never  spared 
himself  during  the  inundations,  earthquakes,  and 
outbreaks  of  cholera  which  occurred  during  his  reign. 
On  succeeding  to  the  throne  he  paid  off  his  father's 
many  debts — a  man  can  scarcely  be  a  re  galantuomo 
without  incm*ring  debts — and  at  times  of  public 
calamity  he  behaved  so  very  generously  that  when 
he  died  he  likewise  left  his  affairs  in  an  extremely 
involved  state. 

I  never  heard  a  word  of  scandal  in  connection 
with  King  Humbert.  He  was  devoted  to  his  wife, 
and  she  to  him.  It  had  originally  been  intended  that, 
like  his  father  and  his  grandfather  before  him,  he 
should  espouse  an  Austrian  princess.  But  the 
Archduchess  selected  to  be  his  bride,  a  daughter  of 

*  The  assassination  and  the  earlier  attempts  are  described  in  detail  in 
my  volume  on  the  Anarchists. 


ITALY  365 

Archduke  Albert,  was  accidentally  burnt  to  death, 
and  in  1868  he  married  his  first  cousin  Margherita, 
daughter  of  his  uncle  Ferdinand,  Duke  of  Genoa, 
by  the  Princess  Elizabeth  of  Saxony.  When  I  first 
saw  Queen  Margherita  ten  years  later  she  still  looked 
quite  young,  with  a  most  delicate  complexion  and 
deep  blue  eyes.  Not  only,  however,  did  her  beauty 
charm  the  Italians,  they  also  learned  to  appreciate 
her  qualities  of  heart  and  mind.  The  present  King, 
Victor-Emmanuel  III,  is  her  elder  son. 

At  his  birth  in  November,  1869,  he  received  the 
title  of  Prince  of  Naples,  and  it  is  not  without  interest, 
perhaps,  to  point  out  that  in  the  house  of  Savoy 
successive  heirs-apparent  have  borne  quite  different 
titles.  For  instance,  Victor-Emmanuel  II  was 
known  as  Duke  of  Savoy  before  he  succeeded  his 
father  Charles- Albert  as  King  of  Sardinia ;  whereas 
Humbert  was  styled  Prince  of  Piedmont  prior  to 
his  accession.  I  remember  that  soon  after  he  became 
King  the  Duke  of  Abercorn  arrived  at  Rome  at  the 
head  of  an  English  mission  and  with  much  solemnity 
invested  him  with  the  Order  of  the  Garter.  That  was, 
I  think,  the  concluding  ceremony  in  connection  with 
the  young  King's  accession.  Pageantry  had  to  be  put 
aside  for  he  soon  found  himseK  confronted  by  many 
cares.  The  matrimonial  entanglements  of  the  pro- 
German  Minister  of  the  Interior,  Crispi,  led  to  a  crisis, 
and  the  Depretis  ministry  was  replaced  by  one  under 
the  honest  and  liberal-minded  Benedetto  Cairoli.  It 
was  in  the  midst  of  this,  if  I  remember  rightly,  that 
the  aged  and  enfeebled  Pius  IX  at  last  passed  away. 


ROME   AND   THE   POPE. 

The  Last  Days  of  Papal  Rule — The  great  Antonelli  Scandal — ^The  Death 
of  Pius  IX — A  glance  at  his  Career — The  Religious  Features  of  his 
Pontificate — ^Verifying  his  Death — The  Lying-in-state  in  St.  Peter's 
— The  Entombment — The  Conclave  for  a  Papal  Election — ^The 
System  of  Voting — Some  of  the  Papabili  in  1878 — Chances  for 
and  against  Cardinal  Pecoi — He  is  elected  and  becomes  Leo  XIII — 
Concluding  Remarks. 

During  my  stay  in  Rome  I  found  it  very  difficult 
to  discriminate  between  the  assertions  of  the  rival 
parties.     I  endeavoured  to  glean  some  information 
respecting  the  final  period  of  Papal  rule.     Roman 
nationalists  replied  by  declaring  that  the  city  had 
then  become  a  den  of  infamy,  where  shameless  vice 
was  openly  flaunted.     The  clergy,  it  was  said,  paid 
little  heed  to  their  vows,  the  French  garrison  had  a 
share  in  the  general  immorality,  and  the  coming 
of   the   Italian   troops   under   Cadorna — whom   La 
Marmora  succeeded   for    a  while   as    Viceroy — had 
proved  beneficial  in  two  ways,  first  in  correcting 
the  city's  morals,  and  secondly  in  cleansing  it  of 
garbage   and    improving    the    general    sanitation, 
which  had  been  grossly  neglected  under  the  Papal 
rSgime^  frequent  epidemics  being  the  result.     On  the 
other  hand  nothing  whatever  was  alleged  against 
the  character  of  Pope  Pius.     He  was  blamed  solely 
for  foolish  obstinacy  and  for  placing  undue  reliance 
on  his  chief  minister,  the  notorious  Cardinal  Antonelli. 

366 


ITALY  367 

When  I  spoke  on  these  subjects  to  partisans  of 
the  Temporal  Power,  some  of  them  waxed  extremely 
indignant,  protesting  that  except  in  regard  to  the 
cleanliness  of   the  city  streets  there  was  no   truth 
whatever  in  the  nationalist  allegations.     If  sanitation 
and  similar  matters  had  been  neglected,  said  they, 
that  had  been  due  solely  to  the  impoverishment  of 
the  Papal  Treasury,  and  nobody  had  regretted  the 
enforced  neglect  more  than  His  Holiness  and  his 
counsellors.     Other  persons,  however,  went  so  far 
as  to  admit  that  a  few  prelates  had  certainly  led 
scandalous   lives  and  that  their  bad  example  had 
infected    some    of    the    lower    clergy.     But    these 
instances  were  not  numerous,  and  to  compare  the 
state  of  Rome  in  the  latter  years  of  the  sway  of 
Pius  IX   to  the  far-away    turpitudes    of  Avignon 
was  shameful  exaggeration.     Antonelli,   personally, 
found  few   defenders.     It   was   admitted   that   his 
love  affairs  had  been  frequent,  and  the  one  excuse 
for  them  was  that  although  he  had  been  created  a 
Cardinal  he  had  never  been  ordained  a  priest. 

A  famous  lawsuit  in  connection  with  his  estate 
was  pending  at  the  time  of  my  stay  in  Rome.     Anto- 
nelli had  died  in  1876  at  the  age  of  seventy,  leaving 
a  fortune  of  £1,600,000,  greatly  to  the  astonishment 
of  Pope  Pius,  for  the  deceased  had  been  quite  a  poor 
man  when  he  first  entered  the  papal  service  in  a 
subordinate  capacity,  and  could  only  have  amassed 
such   a   huge   fortune   by   wilfully   plundering   the 
revenues  of  the  Church.     No  claim,  however,  was 
preferred  in  that  respect,  but  shortly  after  Antonelli's 
death  a  certain  Countess  Loreta  Lambertini  asserted 
a  right  to  the  entirety  of  his  estate  on  the  ground  that 
she  was  his  daughter  by  a  foreign  lady  of  title,  whom 
he  had  actually  married,  the  union  being  allowable, 


368  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

as  he  had  never  been  a  priest  and  was  therefore 
not  bound  by  any  vows.  However,  the  Cardinal 
had  left  a  will  apportioning  his  wealth  among  his 
three  brothers.  Counts  Gregorio,  Angelo  and  Luigi 
Antonelli,  and  two  female  relatives.  These  heirs 
naturally  disputed  the  Countess  Lambertini's  claim, 
and  lengthy  legal  proceedings  ensued.  According 
to  the  Italian  law,  if  the  plaintiff  should  succeed  in 
establishing  her  assertion  that  she  was  the  Cardinal's 
legitimate  daughter,  his  will  would  have  no  value, 
as  it  was  not  allowable  for  him  to  disinherit  legitimate 
offspring.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  Countess  could 
prove  that  she  was  his  natural  daughter  by  an  un- 
married woman,  and  if  proof  were  also  forthcoming 
that  he  had  never  been  ordained,  she  would  be  entitled 
to  at  least  some  share  of  the  estate.  It  might  be 
established,  however,  that  she  was  uim  figlia  sacri- 
legia,  if,  for  instance,  (1)  her  reputed  father  had 
been  ordained  at  the  time  when  she  was  conceived, 
or  (2)  if  her  real  mother  had  been  another  man's 
wife.  In  either  of  the  latter  instances  she  would 
only  be  entitled  to  some  modest  alimony. 

It  follows  that  there  were  several  issues  before  the 
courts,  and,  if  I  remember  rightly,  some  attention 
was  paid  to  all  of  them ;  but  the  Countess's  chief 
claim — ^that  of  being  a  legitimate  daughter — was 
naturally  the  one  that  led  to  most  argument.  The 
Antonelli  family  did  not  at  first  seem  inclined  to 
dispute  the  assertion  that  the  Countess  Loreta  was 
the  Cardinal's  daughter,  and  such,  indeed,  was 
generally  believed  to  be  the  case  ;  but  it  was  argued 
that  she  was  an  adulterous  child,  her  real  mother 
having  been  a  married  woman.  She  was  born  in 
1855,  at  which  date  births  were  not  officially  re- 
corded in  the  Papal  States,  and  the  only  documents 


ITALY  369 

relating  to  her  identity  were,  first,  an  entry  in  a 
baptismal  register,  and,  secondly,  an  entry  in  a 
marriage  one.  The  first  of  these  entries  showed  that 
she  had  been  baptised  by  the  name  of  Loreta,  daughter 
of  Angelo  Marconi  and  of  Antonia  Ballerini,  his 
lawful  wife,  by  whom  she  had  undoubtedly  been 
reared ;  and  the  second  proved  that  she  had  married 
under  the  name  of  Loreta  Marconi. 

Both  King  and  Pope  might  die,  but,  however 
great  might  be  the  issues  which  such  events  involved, 
the  Romans  found  plenty  of  time  to  discuss  the 
Antonelli  scandal.  In  1878  the  Countess  was  a 
shapely  young  woman  with  a  full  face,  an  abundance 
of  black  hair,  and  large  dark  but  lustrous  eyes.  She 
often  showed  herself  wearing  a  white  mantilla.  She 
gave  evidence  in  person  before  one  of  the  courts, 
but  neither  she  nor  her  few  witnesses  could  prove 
that  she  was  Antonelli's  daughter  by  any  foreign 
lady  of  rank.  Under  these  circumstances  the  judges 
decided  the  case,  as  in  law  they  were  bound  to  do, 
on  the  documentary  evidence  tendered  by  the 
defence ;  and,  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
plaintiff  was  really  the  daughter  of  Angelo  and 
Antonia  Marconi,*  and  nobody  else,  they  dismissed 
her  action.  She  appealed  against  that  decision — 
more  than  once,  if  I  remember  rightly;  but  early 
in  July,  1879,  the  supreme  court  finally  pronounced 
against  her.  I  was  not  then  in  Italy.  The  view  I 
formed  of  the  case  in  the  previous  year  was  that 
Antonelli  might  well  have  been  the  Countess's 
father  and  Signora  Marconi  her  mother. 

After  the  obsequies  of  Victor-Emmanuel  I  more 
than  once  thought  of   quitting  Rome,  but  as  I  had 

*  The  reader  should  remember  that  the  name  of  Marconi  is  a  common 
one  in  some  parts  of  Italy. 

2    B 


370  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

gone  there  in  connection  with  the  expected  demise 
of  Pope  Pius,  and  the  reports  respecting  his  health 
were  very  bad,  I  lingered  on,  spending  much  of  my 
time  in  visiting  churches  and  galleries.  The  aged 
Pontiff  had  been  in  a  very  feeble  state  since  the  latter 
part  of  the  previous  year,  suffering  not  only  from 
cough  and  catarrh,  but  also  from  attacks  of  an 
epileptical  character.  It  was  opined  on  many  sides 
that  his  death  might  make  a  great  change  in  the 
Catholic  world.  Not  only  might  the  question  of  the 
relations  of  the  Vatican  and  the  Quirinal  be  re- 
opened, but  there  was  the  strife  between  Bismarck 
and  the  German  episcopacy  to  be  considered.  Thus, 
although  most  of  the  attention  of  Europe  was  then 
given  to  the  Near  East,  where  the  war  between 
Russia  and  Turkey — the  war  to  which  the  ungrate- 
ful Bulgarians  owed  their  freedom — was  fast  drawing 
to  a  close,  there  were  a  good  many  people  who  found 
time  to  glance  in  the  direction  of  Rome,  wondering 
what  would  happen  there  on  the  death  of  the  old 
Pope.  He  passed  away  on  the  afternoon  of  February 
7,  after  sinking  gradually  since  the  previous  night. 
He  was  still  quite  conscious  when  he  partook  of  the 
last  sacrament,  but  the  power  to  articulate  was  then 
already  failing  him. 

His  career  had  been  the  most  eventful  that  had 
fallen  to  the  lot  of  any  Pontiff  since  the  days  of 
Napoleon's  harshness.  Those  days  Pope  Pius  could 
personally  remember,  for  he  came  into  the  world 
in  May,  1792.  Son  of  Count  Mastai-Ferretti,  his 
birthplace  was  Sinigaglia,  near  Ancona  on  the 
Adriatic  shore ;  and  on  the  wall  of  a  little  cottage 
in  the  neighbourhood  people  used  to  be  shown  a 
quaint  inscription  in  Italian,  to  this  effect  : 
"  MDCCCXLVI.     Know,  0  Passer-by,  that  in  this 


ITALY  371 

cottage,  given  by  Count  Mastai-Ferretti  to  a  peasant 
family  of  his  estates,  Pius  IX,  P.O.M.,  was  suckled, 
together  with  myseK,  Domenico  Governatori,  by  my 
mother  Marianna  Chiavini.*  Oh,  if  the  dear,  good, 
old  woman  were  still  alive,  what  comfort,  what  de- 
light, would  be  hers  ! " — that  is,  what  delight  she 
would  have  felt  had  she  known  to  what  a  lofty 
station  her  foster  child  had  attained.  After  taking 
orders  the  future  Pontiff  soon  attracted  the  attention 
of  his  superiors.  He  was  sent  on  a  mission  to  Peru 
when  he  was  barely  thirty.  Four  years  later  he  was 
made  a  Bishop,  and  he  was  only  forty-eight  when 
Gregory  XVI  created  him  a  Cardinal.  On  the 
death  of  Gregory  in  June,  1846,  Mastai-Ferretti — 
then  but  four  and  fifty — succeeded  him,  though  not 
at  the  first  voting  of  the  College  of  Cardinals,  for 
the  Conclave  lasted  some  forty-eight  hours.  Pius 
had  in  his  favour,  in  addition  to  his  attainments,  a 
generous  disposition,  a  dignified  but  easy  bearing,  and 
a  handsome  face.  Judging  by  the  portraits  of  Popes 
that  I  have  seen  I  should  think  he  was  one  of 
the  best-looking  that  ever  occupied  St.  Peter's  chair. 
He  had,  however,  a  somewhat  hasty  temper,  and 
became  in  time  extremely  obstinate. 

I  have  already  alluded  to  the  troubles  of  the 
earlier  part  of  his  reign,  but  a  few  more  particulars 
may  be  given.  There  is  plenty  of  evidence  to  show 
that  he  was  at  first  strongly  inclined  towards  the 
redemption  of  Italy  from  foreign  sway.  There  was 
some  talk  in  those  times  of  a  confederacy  of  the 
Italian  states  under  the  presidency,  so  to  say,  of  the 
Holy  See.  At  all  events  Pope  Pius  at  one  moment 
placed  his  little  army  at  the  disposal  of  the  Liberal 
cause,  and  even  received  from   Garibaldi  an  offer 

*  Her  maiden  name. 


372  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

of  services.  He  also  carried  out  various  reforms  in 
the  Papal  States,  improved  the  lot  of  the  Jews,  and 
tempered  the  severity  of  the  censorship.  But 
pressure  was  brought  to  bear  upon  him — ^perhaps 
at  Austrian  instigation — and  he  became  frightened 
of  the  ultimate  consequences  of  the  nationalist 
movement.  He  then  modified  and  curtailed  his 
reforms,  took  Count  Pelegrino  Rossi  as  his  chief 
minister,  and  when  Rossi  had  been  assassinated 
evinced  open  hostihty  to  the  popular  cause.  At 
last  came  his  flight  to  Gaeta,  and  Rome  momentarily 
became  a  Republic  ruled  by  a  triumvirate  composed 
of  Mazzini,  Armellini,  and  Saffi.  Pius  was  restored, 
however,  by  the  French,  whose  bayonets  propped 
up  the  Temporal  Power  during  the  next  twenty  years. 
The  severance  between  the  Holy  See  and  the  aspira- 
tions of  modern  Italy  became  complete.  The  Pope 
was  no  longer  regarded  as  the  friend  of  liberty,  but 
as  one  of  its  chief  opponents. 

From  the  religious  standpoint  the  Pontificate  of 
Pius  IX  was  rendered  memorable  by  the  promulga- 
tion of  the  "  Syllabus "  in  1864,  the  enforcement 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of 
the  Virgin,  and  the  proclamation  of  Papal  Infalli- 
bility. This,  at  one  moment,  almost  led  to  a  serious 
schism,  many  prelates  being  opposed  to  it;  but 
eventually  in  July,  1870,  the  (Ecumenical  Council 
assembled  at  the  Vatican  since  the  previous  year, 
passed  a  decisive  vote,  533  members  being  favourable 
to  the  proposed  dogma,  and  only  two  venturing 
on  open  opposition.  It  is  true,  however,  that  several 
members  did  not  vote  but  retired  from  the  Council. 
A  few  months  later  the  ItaUan  troops  were  in  Rome. 
Italy  offered  various  guarantees  as  well  as  a  hberal 
revenue  to  the  occupant  of  the  Holy  See,  but  the  Pope 


ITALY  373 

would  enter  into  no  negotiations.  He  preferred  to 
issue  futile  protests  and  to  shut  himself  up  in  the 
Vatican,  where  he  declared  himseK  to  be  a  prisoner. 
His  three  successors  have  persevered  in  the  same 
course. 

The  last  notable  event  of  Pius's  Pontificate  was 
the  jubilee  of  his  elevation  to  episcopal  rank.  This 
jubilee  was  celebrated  in  June,  1877,  and  as  it 
happened  to  coincide  with  some  anniversary  of  the 
Italian  constitution  there  were  celebrations  on  the 
same  day  on  both  sides  of  the  Tiber.  Victor-Em- 
manuel, on  the  one  hand,  reviewed  his  army,  and 
Pius  on  the  other  received  the  homage  and  offerings  of 
the  faithful.  The  pecuniary  offerings  amounted  to 
£860,000.  But  months  of  suffering  ensued  and  Pius 
died.  Before  his  demise  was  officially  recognised, 
his  Camerlingo — ^the  chief  official  of  the  Apostolic 
Chamber — approached  the  bedside,  carrying  a  little 
silver  hammer,  and  tapped  the  forehead  of  the  corpse 
thrice,  whilst  calling  "  Pius,  Pius,  Pius  !  "  Then, 
having  received  no  answer,  the  Camerlingo  turned 
to  the  other  ecclesiastics  who  were  present,  and 
said  to  them :  "  The  Pope  is  dead."  I  have  read 
that  this  curious  method  of  verifying  the  demise  of 
the  Pontiff  has  now  fallen  into  desuetude,  and  was 
observed  neither  at  the  death  of  Leo  XIII  nor  at  that 
of  Pius  X.  Such  may  be  the  case  ;  but  with  respect 
to  Pius  IX  I  heard  the  ceremony  mentioned  more 
than  once  whilst  I  was  in  Rome. 

On  the  day  following  the  death  of  the  Pope  there 
was  a  private  lying-in-state  at  the  Vatican.  The  body 
of  the  deceased  was  washed  by  some  Penitentiaries 
of  St.  Francis,  who  also  watched  over  it  when  it  had 
been  laid  out  on  the  little  iron  death-bed.  Prelates, 
chamberlains,  and  nobles  were  admitted  to  see  it,  and 


374  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

kneeling  by  the  bedside  kissed  one  or  other  of  the 
feet.  I  was  not  privileged  to  witness  that  scene,  nor 
was  I  present  at  the  embalming  of  the  remains,  in 
which,  I  was  told,  as  many  as  nine  medical  men 
participated.  The  next  morning,  when  the  private 
lying  -  in  -  state  was  resumed,  several  ladies  and 
children  of  noble  families  were  admitted.  In  the 
afternoon  the  remains,  which  had  hitherto  been 
garbed  in  the  deceased's  customary  white  cassock, 
were  robed  in  full  pontificals,  including  a  mitre,  and 
placed  upon  a  couch.  A  little  crucifix,  with  which 
the  late  Pontiff  had  for  the  last  time  blessed  the 
ecclesiastics  present  at  his  death,  was  next  laid  upon 
his  breast.  Then  a  procession  was  formed  of  Noble 
guards  with  swords,  Swiss  guards  with  halberds, 
servants  with  lighted  torches,  cardinals,  priests, 
officials  of  all  kinds,  and  the  couch  was  borne  amidst 
solemn  chanting  along  Raffaelle's  Loggie,  thence 
through  the  Sala  ducale,  the  Sala  regia,  and  the  private 
passage  which  supplies  communication  between  the 
Vatican  and  St.  Peter's.  There  it  was  placed  on 
a  raised  platform  in  the  chapel  of  the  Holy  Sacrament, 
the  gates  of  which  were  shut.  Huge  candles  flared 
around  the  bier,  and  a  solemn  service  was  celebrated 
by  a  Canon  of  the  Basilica. 

The  body  was  so  placed  that  the  feet  virtually 
touched  the  rails  of  the  chapel-gates.  There  were 
no  hose  upon  those  feet,  which  were  almost  as  white 
as  marble — as  was  indeed  the  Pontiff's  placid  face — 
but  some  little  red  slippers,  of  the  kind  which  the 
French  call  mules,  just  covered  the  toes  of  the  feet, 
and  on  kneeling  on  the  other  side  of  the  gate  you 
could  easily  kiss  the  tips  of  the  slippers.  A  huge 
concourse  of  people  crowded  St.  Peter's  in  order  to 
do  so,  and  I  saw  many  peasant  women  weeping. 


ITALY  375 

Other  folk,  however,  appeared  to  be  merely  curious, 
as  had  been  the  case  at  Victor-Emmanuers  funeral. 
They  knelt,  kissed  the  slippers,  and  then  passed  on, 
chatting  together  with  great  composure. 

This  public  lying-in-state  lasted  several  days, 
and  then  the  remains  were  removed  to  the  chapel 
of  the  Canons'  Choir,  and  hoisted  into  a  receptacle 
— perhaps  I  ought  to  say  a  sarcophagus — above  the 
choir  entrance.  The  ceremony  was  curious  and  in 
part  imposing.  There  was  a  great  procession  which 
included  more  than  fifty  cardinals,  with  many  other 
ecclesiastics  and  officials,  and  guards  galore — Nobles, 
Palatines,  Swiss,  and  Gendarmes.  A  coffin  of  cypress 
wood  was  in  readiness,  enclosed  in  another  one  of 
lead,  and  when  these  coffins  had  been  duly  blessed, 
incensed  and  sprinkled  with  holy  water  by  the  chief 
Canon  of  St.  Peter's,  a  major-domo  laid  a  handkerchief 
on  the  face  of  the  corpse,  which  was  placed  in  the 
cypress  coffin.  The  same  major-domo  next  took  up 
three  gold  embroidered  bags,  each  of  which  contained 
thirty-one  medals,  of  gold,  silver  or  bronze,  their 
number  corresponding  with  the  completed  years  of 
the  recent  pontificate.  The  bags  were  deposited  in 
the  coffin  beside  the  body,  together  with  a  metal 
case  containing  an  eulogium  of  the  deceased,  in- 
scribed on  parchment.  Before  the  cypress  coffin 
was  screwed  down  final  absolution  was  given,  and  a 
red  coverlet  was  spread  over  the  remains.  Then  a 
purple  ribbon  cross  was  deposited  on  the  coffin-lid 
and  several  seals  were  affixed  by  the  Camerlingo, 
the  Vicar-General,  the  major-domo,  and  members 
of  the  Chapter.  Next  came  the  soldering  of  the 
leaden  coffin,  and  when  this  also  had  been  sealed, 
and  some  minutes  of  the  proceedings  had  been  read 
by   the   Notary   of   the   Vatican,   it   was  enclosed 


376  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

in  another  coffin  of  chestnut  wood,  the  whole  after- 
wards being  hoisted  aloft  by  means  of  a  scaffolding 
and  placed  in  the  receptacle  to  which  I  previously 
referred.  When  this  temporary  resting-place  had 
been  closed  you  perceived  on  its  face  the  laconic 
inscription :  "  Pius  IX."  During  the  proceedings 
which  I  have  enumerated  the  choir  sang  the 
"Benedictus"  and  several  psalms.  A  number  of 
huge  wax  torches  lighted  the  scene ;  but  save  for 
the  lamps  burning  before  the  Tomb  of  the  Apostles 
all  the  rest  of  St.  Peter's  was  in  gloom.  Among  the 
many  Cardinals  who  stood  around  were  Manning, 
bent  and  withered,  Howard,  looking  very  dignified, 
and  Bonaparte  with  a  profile  unquestionably  sug- 
gesting that  of  the  great  man  of  his  race.  During 
certain  parts  of  the  service  more  than  one  old  prelate 
broke  down,  and  every  now  and  again  a  sob  or  a  wail 
was  heard.  Following  these  obsequies  came  a 
succession  of  Requiem  masses,  in  the  celebration  of 
which  the  famous  choir  of  the  Sistine  Chapel 
participated. 

The  death  of  a  Pope  is  always  followed  by  an 
interregnum  during  which  the  Holy  See  is  virtually 
in  the  charge  of  the  Camerlingo,  who  makes  all  the 
necessary  preparations  for  the  Conclave  which  is 
summoned  to  elect  a  new  Pontiff.  The  circumstances 
in  which  the  Church  found  itself  at  the  death  of  Pius 
IX  made  it  necessary  to  hold  the  Conclave  for  the 
election  of  his  successor  at  the  Vatican,  and  nowhere 
else ;  it  being  requisite  that  from  the  moment  of 
his  election  the  new  Pope  should  never  again  ride 
through  the  streets  of  Rome  or  tread  their  pavements. 
The  Vatican,  its  gardens  and  St.  Peter's,  would  con- 
stitute the  entirety  of  his  personal  domain  or  "  prison," 
for  so  had  policy  dictated.     In  former  days  some 


ITALY  377 

Conclaves  had  been  held  at  the  Lateran,  others  at 
the  Pantheon,  and  more  modern  ones  chiefly  at  the 
Quirinal.  But  an  usurper  now  occupied  that  palace, 
and  to  have  held  a  Conclave  anywhere  but  in  the 
Vatican  would  have  appeared  to  indicate  that  the 
Church  militant  was  weakening  and  willing  to  depart 
from  its  policy  of  protest  against  Italian  intrusion. 

To  the  Vatican,  then,  all  the  Cardinals  betook 
themselves,  whether  they  were  already  in  Rome 
or  came  from  other  parts  of  Italy  or  else  from  other 
countries.  Sixty-two  of  them  eventually  assembled 
together,  so  that  there  could  have  been  few  absentees. 
In  its  entirety  the  Sacred  College  is  composed  of 
seventy  members,  but  there  were,  I  think,  a  few 
vacancies  at  the  time  when  Pius  IX  died.  In  ac- 
cordance with  the  usual  custom  all  necessary  com- 
modities were  taken  into  the  palace  and  the  prelates 
sequestered  themselves  there,  every  outer  door  being 
strictly  closed  and  every  window  affording  a  means 
of  communication  with  the  outer  world  being  care- 
fully boarded  over.  The  large  galleries  and  halls 
overlooking  the  Court  of  St.  Damasus  were  divided 
by  partitions  into  a  number  of  tiny  chambers,  four  of 
which  were  allotted  to  each  Cardinal  and  his  atten- 
dants, that  is  his  secretary  and  a  body-servant. 

The  Conclave  met  in  the  Sistine  Chapel,  where 
canopied  seats  were  provided  for  its  members.  The 
canopies  were  of  different  colours,  those  above  the 
Cardinals  created  by  the  late  Pope  being  violet, 
whereas  those  for  Cardinals  of  earlier  creation  were 
green.  As  Pius's  pontificate  had  lasted  for  more 
than  thirty  years  only  four  green  canopies  were 
to  be  seen  in  the  whole  hall.  Except  that  an  order 
of  seniority  was  observed  there  was  absolute  equality 
among  the  members.     Seniority  gave  Cardinal  Amat, 


378  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

as  the  oldest  Cardinal-bishop,  a  seat  on  the  Gospel 
side  of  the  high  altar,  and  in  like  manner  Caterini 
had  a  seat  as  senior  Cardinal-deacon  on  the  Epistle 
side.  There  was  a  writing-table  in  front  of  each 
prelate,  and  several  others  in  the  central  part  of  the 
hall.  On  yet  another  table  in  front  of  the  high  altar 
stood  a  large  silver  chalice  covered  by  a  silver  pyx — 
the  two  being  combined  so  as  to  serve  the  purpose 
of  a  ballot  box. 

On  these  occasions  the  voting  is  effected  in  the 
following  fashion :  each  Cardinal  fills  in  one  of  the 
schede  or  voting  papers,  first  inscribing  his  name 
at  the  top  end.  Lower  down  he  writes  the  name 
of  the  candidate  he  selects,  and  at  the  bottom  of  the 
paper  he  inscribes  some  chosen  motto  which  becomes 
his  distinctive  sign  or  mark  until  the  election  has 
terminated.  The  upper  end  of  the  paper,  on  which 
the  voter's  real  name  is  written,  is  then  folded  down 
and  sealed  up  ;  and  when  all  is  ready  each  cardinal, 
on  his  turn  arriving,  swears  aloud  that  his  vote  is 
inspired  by  conscientious  conviction.  He  then  lays 
his  paper  on  the  pyx,  which  he  tilts  in  such  a  way 
that  the  paper  slides  into  the  chalice. 

If  at  the  first  ballot  no  candidate  is  elected,  and 
the  voter  wishes  to  support  another  on  the  second 
occasion,  he  writes  the  other's  name  on  his  paper, 
placing  before  it  the  word  accedo.  If,  on  the  contrary, 
he  wishes  to  vote  for  the  same  person  as  previously, 
he  writes  accedo  nemini.  If  no  candidate  obtains  a 
sufficiency  of  votes  either  at  the  morning  or  at  the 
afternoon  ballot  of  the  same  day,  the  papers  are 
gathered  together,  and  burnt  with  some  damp  straw, 
which  sends  up  a  volume  of  dense  smoke.  The  sight 
of  this  smoke  ascending  from  a  chimney  skyward 
informs  the  outside  world  that,  so  far,  no  Pope  has 


ITALY  379 

been  elected.  The  necessary  number  of  votes  to 
secure  election  is  two-thirds  plus  one  of  the  Cardinals 
present.  If  precisely  that  number  is  reached  the 
successful  candidate's  own  paper  is  singled  out  and 
the  seal  concealing  his  name  is  broken,  in  order  to 
ascertain  whether  he  has  voted  for  himself,  in  which 
event  the  election  becomes  null  and  void.  Finally, 
directly  any  particular  Cardinal  has  been  duly  elected 
all  the  canopies  in  the  hall,  excepting  his  own,  are 
lowered. 

Many  surmises  were  current  in  Rome  respecting 
the  possible  choice  of  the  Conclave  which  met  to 
elect  the  successor  of  Pius  IX.     There  was  a  ridi- 
culous idea  in  some  British  Catholic  circles  that 
Cardinal  Howard  had  some  chance  of  success.     As 
a  matter  of  fact,  no  foreigner  could  really  be  accounted 
one  of  the  Papahili,  and  in  writing  at  the  time  on  this 
subject  I  pointed  out  that  an  Italian,  and  an  Italian 
only,   would  be  elected.     I   scouted  not   only   the 
chances  of  Howard  and  Manning  and  Cullen — there 
was  bitter  hostility  between  the  first  and  the  second, 
and  it  had  made  itself  manifest  at  more  than  one 
recent  consistory — but  also  those  of  such  prelates 
as      Hohenlohe,       Schwartzenberg,       Ledochowski 
(Bismarck's    adversary),  Broussais-Saint-Marc    and 
Bonaparte.     In  some  usually  well-informed  Roman 
salons  the  chances  of  Cardinal  Biliowere  favoured; 
but  people  of  the  poorer  classes  desired  the  election 
of    Cardinal    Panebianco,   whose    name,    signifying 
"  white  bread,"   would  be  in  their  estimation  an 
augury    of     prosperous    times.      Panebianco    was, 
however,    a    most    stern    and    forbidding    looking 
individual,  originally  a  Franciscan  friar.     Scarcely 
more    pleasing    was    Canossa,    a    tall    Dantesque- 
looking  Lombardian,  and  although  his  name  might 


380  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

have  some  political  significance  in  connection  with 
the  Church's  conflict  with  Bismarck,  he  really  had 
not  the  slightest  chance  of  success.  Simeoni,  who 
had  lately  acted  as  Minister  of  State  to  Pope  Pius, 
had  scarcely  any  better  prospects  of  election. 
Luca's  chances  were  similar ;  Moretti,  though  a 
man  of  some  ability,  was  a  Cardinal  of  recent 
creation,  and  this  was  against  him.  Di  Pietro,  I  was 
informed,  was  a  gourmand  and  a  prodigal,  deeply 
involved  in  debt.  Monaco  La  Valletta,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  reputed  to  be  abominably  mean.  As  for 
Franchi,  at  least  a  third  of  Rome  believed  that  he 
had  the  evil  eye.  Next,  there  were  several  men 
whose  great  age  or  whose  numerous  infirmities  gave 
them,  in  the  general  estimation,  just  a  chance  of 
success,  as  they  were  not  likely  to  live  much  longer, 
and  few  people  desired  a  Pope  who  might  reign  as 
many  years  as  the  late  one.  It  seemed  impossible, 
however,  for  the  choice  of  the  Conclave  to  fall  on  any 
such  man  as  the  Sardinian  San  Felippo,  who  had 
already  had  two  attacks  of  apoplexy  and  retained 
but  little  lucidity  of  mind.  Nor  could  anybody 
desiring  the  welfare  of  the  Church  favour  poor  old 
Morichini,  who  was  afflicted  with  semi-blindness  and 
partial  paralysis. 

Having  collected  all  the  information  available,  I 
wrote  that  the  cardinals  who  appeared  to  have 
the  best  chances  were  Pecci,  Bilio,  and  Mertel.  I 
particularly  favoured  Pecci,  because  his  name  was 
given  me  in  a  quarter  where  few  mistakes  were  made 
with  respect  to  the  affairs  of  the  Church.  I  was,  I 
think,  the  only  English  writer  to  give  prominence  to 
Pecci,  but  Bonghi,  Cesare,  and  other  Italians  con- 
fidently predicted  his  election.  The  great  obj  ection  to 
his  chances  was  that  he  held  the  office  of  Camerlingo, 


ITALY  381 

and  that  no  Camerlingo  had  ever  been  elected. 
The  duties  and  privileges  of  that  functionary  and 
the  interim  authority  which  he  exercised  between 
the  death  of  one  Pope  and  the  election  of  another, 
inspired — it  was  said — so  much  jealousy  among  the 
other  Cardinals  that  he  could  not  possibly  secure  the 
tiara.  However,  it  was  precisely  the  impossible 
and  the  unexpected  that  happened. 

The  Conclave  assembled  for  the  first  time  on  the 
morning  of  Tuesday,  February  19.  According  to 
our  subsequent  information  Pecci  secured  19  votes, 
Biho  11,  and  Franchi  5  at  the  first  ballot.*  At  the 
second  ballot  in  the  evening  the  votes  for  Pecci  had 
increased  to  26.  He  was,  however,  still  far  from 
having  the  requisite  number,  and  after  the  voting 
papers  had  been  burnt  in  the  manner  which  I  have 
described,  the  Conclave  adjourned  mitil  the  morrow. 
In  the  interval  some  of  the  Cardinals  put  their  heads 
together,  and  one  of  them,  who  had  no  chance  himseK 
but  was  a  close  personal  friend  of  Pecci's,  spoke  so 
warmly  in  his  favour  to  the  Austrian  and  the  French 
Cardinals  that  they  decided  to  vote  for  him.  Franchi 
followed  suit,  and  secured  the  support  of  the  Spanish 
Cardinals.  This  was  all  important,  and  in  due  course 
Franchi  obtained  his  reward.  Nevertheless,  at  the 
morning  ballot  on  Wednesday,  the  20th,  Pecci  had 
but  36  votes.  How  could  the  few  which  he  still 
required  be  obtained  ?  Franchi,  seizing  his  oppor- 
tunity for  a  bold  stroke,  went  and  knelt  before  him, 
in  the  hope  of  inducing  others  to  do  the  same.  Several 
did  so,  and  without  waiting  for  any  further  balloting 
Pecci,  in  accordance  with  ancient  usage,  was  de- 
clared elected  "  by  adoration."     It  was  reported  in 

*  Nineteen  votes  on  the  nineteenth  day  of  the  month !    Among 
racing  men  that  would  have  been  regarded  as  a  "  tip." 


382  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

Rome  after  the  Conclave,  that,  counting  the  votes 
which  were  actually  recorded  for  Pecci,  and  the 
additional  support  which  he  secured  in  the  "  adora- 
tion "  scene,  four  and  forty  Cardinals  out  of  the  62 
present,  pronounced  in  his  favour.  One  of  his 
first  actions  as  Pontiff  was  to  dismiss  Simeoni  from 
the  Secretaryship  of  State  and  confer  that  office 
on  Franchi,  who  in  spite  of  his  jettatura  reputation 
had  brought  him  good  instead  of  evil  fortune. 

It  was  a  little  past  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
when  Cardinal  Caterini  announced  Pecci's  election 
from  the  balcony  in  front  of  St.  Peter's,  observing 
in  doing  so  the  Latin  formula  usual  on  such  occasions. 
It  was  to  this  effect :  "I  announce  to  you  with 
great  joy  that  we  have  a  Pope,  the  most  eminent 
and  most  reverend  Lord,  Joachim  Pecci,  who  has 
taken  for  himself  the  name  of  Leo  XIII."  Mean- 
while the  new  Pontiff  had  been  attired  in  a  white 
cassock,  a  red  cap,  and  a  red  cape  bordered  with 
ermine.  He  received  the  homage  of  all  the  Cardinals 
in  the  Sistine  Chapel,  then  passed  into  St.  Peter's 
and  solemnly  blessed  the  people  there.  He  un- 
doubtedly owed  his  election  very  largely  to  the  support 
of  the  non-Italian  cardinals. 

At  this  time  he  had  nearly  completed  his  68th 
year.  As  a  provincial  administrator  he  had  put 
down  brigandage  in  various  parts  of  the  States  of  the 
Church.  Leopold  I  of  Belgium  had  found  him  an 
able  Nuncio,  and  after  securing  the  Archbishopric  of 
Perugia  he  had  been  made  a  Cardinal  when  he  was 
only  three-and-forty  years  old.  He  was  a  man  of 
great  sagacity  and  firmness,  but  the  corrupt  and 
immoral  Antonelli  conceived  a  strong  dislike  for 
him,  and  did  his  utmost  to  check  his  advancement. 
When,  however,  Antonelli  died,  Pius  IX  summoned 


ITALY  383 

Pecci  to  Rome  and  gave  him  the  office  of  Camerlingo. 
His  private  life  was  above  reproach.  He  had 
literary  gifts,  and  was  inclined  towards  opportunist 
Liberalism.  He  improved  the  relations  of  the 
Holy  See  with  Germany ;  he  tried  to  prevail 
on  French  Catholics  to  accept  the  Republican 
Government ;  and  had  he  been  a  younger  man  he 
might  have  averted  the  separation  of  Church  and 
State  in  France.  But  he  was  over  ninety  years  old 
when  matters  approached  a  crisis,  which  the  next 
Pope,  Pius  X,  recklessly  precipitated.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  Leo  XIII  exercised  far  more 
authority  and  influence  than  either  of  his  successors. 
When  he  was  in  his  prime  he  would  have  handled 
such  a  situation  as  that  created  for  the  Church  by 
the  present  Great  War,  far  more  ably  than  Pope 
Benedict  XV  has  done,  in  spite  of  all  his  good 
intentions. 

Here  I  must  take  leave  of  my  subject.  Shortly 
after  the  enthronement  of  Leo  XIII,  which  took 
place  almost  privately  on  the  Sunday  following  his 
election,  I  went  southward  to  Naples  in  the  company 
of  a  French  friend  who  had  joined  me.  We 
journeyed  yet  farther,  into  a  land  of  marshes  and 
malaria,  then  turned  back  and  travelled  to  Florence. 
Afterwards  we  proceeded  by  way  of  busy  Bologna 
to  lonely  Ravenna,  where  Dante  sleeps  and  where 
some  of  my  forerunners  dwelt  before  they  settled 
in  Venice.  Naturally,  I  visited  the  citia  unica,  but 
my  stay  there  had  to  be  very  brief  as  I  was  expected 
in  Paris,  whose  first  international  Exhibition  since 
the  war  with  Germany  was  soon  to  be  opened. 
Doubtless  I  might  have  set  down  in  these  pages 
more  about  Rome  as  I  found  it  at  the  period  of 
my  first  visit,  but  there  are  already  many  books 


384  IN  SEVEN  LANDS 

respecting  the  Eternal  City  in  our  times.     In  like 
way    I    might    enlarge    here    on    my    subsequent 
Itahan    tour,   but  it  was  mainly  of    the   "  globe- 
trotting" order,  and  the  cities  and  the  countrysides 
of   the  land  bound  to  me  by  distant  ancestral  ties 
have   been   described   again    and    agam    by    more 
competent  pens  than  mine.     Sprung  from  an  Italian 
race,  educated  chiefly  in  France  and  married  to  a 
Frenchwoman,  but  at  the  same  time  an  Englishman 
by  birth  and  by  more  than  three  hundred  years  of 
descent,   nothing    has    given    me    greater    comfort 
during  the  present  stupendous  struggle  than  to  find 
Britain,   France,   and    Italy    allied   together.     May 
they  and  Russia  and  all  the  other  supporters  of 
our  cause  triumph  in  this  great  conflict  with  the 
powers  of  evil  who,  were  it  possible  for  them  to  pre- 
vail, would  turn  this  earth  into  a  veritable  Inferno 
and  reduce  humanity  to  serfdom  !     There  have  been 
dark  hours  during  the  protracted  struggle,  and  yet 
others  may  be  in  store  for  us,  but ''  Sursum  Cor  da  !  " 
must  always  be  our  cry.     "  De  I'audace,  encore  de 
I'audace,  toujours  de  Taudace  !  "  exclaimed  Danton 
when  France  had  to  confront  the  hordes  of  despotism 
at  the  time  of  the  French  Revolution.     The  words 
which  I  would  repeat  to  all  my  countrymen  are 
"  Let  us  have  energy,  yet  more  energy,  unceasing 
energy,  and  victory  will  be  ours  !  " 


INDEX 


Abbbooen,  duke  of,  365 
A-e-i-o-u,  Austrian  motto,  199 
Ahr  river,  140 
Albert,  archduke  of  Austria,  175, 

176,  302,  365 

of  HohenzoUem,  38,  39 

"  Albertus   Wallenstein,"   tragedy, 

248 
Alen9on,  duchesse  d',  171 
Alexander  I  of  Russia,  257 
II  of  Russia,  27  et  seq.,  31,  33, 

172,  173,  181,  182 
AKold,  see  Puszta. 
Alfonso  XII  of    Spain,   177,  291, 

297,   298,   301,  307   et  seq.,  314 

et  seq. 

XIII  of  Spain,  317 

Alsace-Lorraine,  8  et  seq.,  57,  70 

Altenahr,  142 

Alvensloeben,  general  baron  v.,  97, 

98 
Amat,  cardinal,  377 
Amadeo  of  Spain,  291,  293,  306, 

307,  357 
Am61ie,    queen    of    Portugal,    336 

et  seq. 
Andaluoia,  127, 263  et  seq. ;  peasants 

of,  290 ;  women  of,  272,  273,  280 
Andrassy,  count  Julius,  34, 164, 189 
Angela,  Anglo-Saxon  princess,  45 
Antonelli,  cardinal,  366  to  369,  382  ; 

his  brothers,  368 
Aosta,  duke  of,  see  Amadeo. 
Apollinaris  spring,  140  et  seq. 
Archdukes,  Austrian,  174  et  seq. ; 

duchesses,    169,    174,    357,   364. 

See  also  their  names. 
Armenians  in  Hungary,  230 
Army,  German,  74  et  seq. 
Attila,  213,  216  ;  the  modem,  139 
Augusta,  empress,  32,  33,  36 


Augustine  church,  Vienna,  189 
Austerlitz,  battle,  254  et  seq. 
Austria,  26,  27,  153  et  seq.  ;  wines 

of,  197  et  seq.,  201,  202 
Azeglio,  Massimo  d',  356 


Babo,  baron  v.,  197 

Baccdhdo,  340 

Baireuth,  39,  40 

Baner,  Swedish  general,  252 

Barbarossa,  Frederick,  217 

Barcelona,  351 

Bardi,  count  de,  206, 207 

Bavarian  troops,  147  ;  royal  house, 
151,  172.  See  also  names  of 
kings. 

Bebel,  August,  72 

Beer,  Berhnese,  113,  114.  See  also 
Pilsen. 

Bela  IV  of  Hungary,  231 

Benedek,  field-marshal,  175,  176 

Benedict  VIII,  pope,  45 

XV,  pope,  383 

Bennon  of  Metz,  44 

Berg,  castle  of,  150,  168 

Berlin,  ambition  of,  88  et  seq.  ;  beer 
at,  113,  114;  betrothals  and 
births  at,  99  et  seq. ;  Borsig  works 
at,  95 ;  building  mania  at,  90 
et  seq. ;  Christmas  fair  at,  107  ; 
congress  of,  54 ;  cookery  at,  109 
et  seq. ;  financial  crash  at,  90 
et  seq. ;  deaths  and  funerals  at, 
100,  102 ;  drinking-places  at, 
lis  et  seq. ;  emperors  at,  16,  17, 
24  et  seq. ;  incomes  at,  102 ; 
industries  of,  95  et  seq. ;  Jews  in, 
102  et  seq. ;  lodgings  at,  108, 109  ; 
marriages  at,  100 ;  music  and 
dancing  halls  at,  120, 121 ;  parade 

380  2  0 


386 


INDEX 


at,  31  ;  population  of,  89,  102 ; 
Press  of,  122  et  seq. ;  religion  at, 
122 ;  schloss  at,  32,  33,  39 ;  as 
seaport,  95 ;  social  evil  at,  121, 
122 ;  society  of,  96  et  seq. ;  students 
and  university  at,  104  et  seq. ; 
theatres  at,  115  et  seq. ;  Thier- 
garten  at,  107 ;  as  a  Weltstadt, 
24  et  seq.;  White  Lady  of,  37 
et  seq. ;  Wilhelmstrasse  in,  53, 54 ; 
Zapfenstreich  at,  33,  34 ;  Zoo- 
logical Gardens  at,  107 

"Berlin  under  the  new  Empire," 
34,35 

Bemkastel  doctor  wine,  142 

Beust,  count  v.,  239 

Bilio,  cardinal,  379,  380,  381 

Birdwood,  sir  G.,  333 

Biron,  prince,  90 

Bismarck,  prince  v.,  17,  25,  29  to 
32,  48,  52  to  60,  66,  80,  123,  126, 
138,  150,  245,  315,  350,  355 

as  Christian  name,  139 

Bohlen,  count,  13 

Kniephof ,  99 

Black  Hand  in  Spain,  288  et  seq, 

Boeck,  R.,  10 

Bohemia,  234  et  seq. 

Bonaparte,  cardinal,  376,  379 

,  Joseph,  296 

,  see  Napoleon. 

Bonell  case,  286 

Boniface  IV,  pope,  360,  361 

Borsig's  works,  Berlin,  95 

Brandenburg,  Mark  of,  22 

Breslau,  137,  138 

Broghe,  marshal  de,  238 

Brunn,  Moravia,  253,  254 

Buchanan,  sir  A.,  160 

Budapest,  211,  219,  226,  227 

Bulgaria,  see  Ferdinand. 

Bullfights,  279  et  seq. 

Butler,  colonel  John,  247  et  seq., 
253 

Byron,  lord,  247,  280 


Cadets,  German,  76  et  seq. 
Cadiz,  269  et  seq.,  272,  330 
Cadoma,  general,  356,  367 
Cairoli,  B.,  364,  365 
Calzado,  283 


Cambridge,  duke  of,  302 
Camerlingo,  papal,  his  duties,  373, 

375, 376, 381.    ^ee  aUo  Leo  XIII. 
Camphausen,  minister,  91 
Canary  islands,  captain  general  of, 

328,  329.    See  also  Tenerife  and 

Wines. 
Canossa,  cardinal,  379 
Canovas    del    Castillo,    statesman, 

304,  308 
Canrobert,  marshal,  359 
Canterbury  pilgrimage,  200 
Capuchin  vault,  Vienna,  188 
Cardinals  in  1878,  379  et  seq. 
Caricatures  at  Berlin,  124  et  seq. 
Carlos,  Don,  of  Spain  and  his  in- 
surrection,  207,   291,   297,   305, 

306,  309,  310 
,  Dom,  of  Portugal,  333,  336 

et  seq.,  359 
Casimir  of  Poland,  219 
Castellani,  359 
Caterini,  cardinal,  378,  382 
Chambord,  count  and  countess  of, 

185,  186,  204  et  seq. 
Charette,  general  de,  207 
Charles,  archduke,  175 

IV  of  Bohemia,  238,  240 

Albert  of  Sardinia,  46,  353 

Francis  -  Joseph,     archduke, 

180,  181 

-Louis,  see  Karl-Ludwig. 

Robert  of  Hungary,  218,  219 

Chotek,  countess,  see  Hohenberg. 
Christiaa,   mother  of   Isabella   II, 

299;    mother  of  Alfonso  XIII, 

See  Maria. 
Clemenceau,  57,  337 
Clement  VII,  pope,  362,  363 
Clementine,     princess     of     Saxe- 

Coburg,  184  et  seq. 
Clotilde,  princess  of  Savoy,  357 
Conclaves  of  cardinals,  376  et  seq. 
Connaught,  duke  of,  160,  161 
Constance,  council  of,  237 
Constantinople,  27 
Cookery,    Berlinese,    109    et    seq. ; 

Portuguese,  340  ;   Spanish,  272  ; 

Viennese,  193 
Cooper,  Fenimore,  43 
Cordova,  293 
Coronations,  Prussian,  40,  41 


INDEX 


387 


CJorpus  Christi  procession,  Vienna, 

189;    Lisbon,  337 
Cosens,  F.  W.,  274 
Councils,    church,    see    Constance, 

Trent,  Vatican. 
Courtship,  silent,  272  et  seq. 
Crispi,  361,  365 
Croat  cavalry,  214 
Crown,  iron,  of  Lombardy,  359 
Csdrdas  dance,  160,  225,  226 
Cullen,  cardinal,  379 
Cunliffe-Owen,  sir  P.,  159,  178 
Custozza,  battle,  175 
Czechs,  the,  212,  234  et  seq. 

Daily  Telegraph,  the,  163,  191 
Dances,  at  Berlin,  121 ;  in  Hungary, 

225,  226 ;   at  Vienna,  160,  161 ; 

Wendish,    133,    136;    at    Jerez, 

281 
Danube,  the,  165  to  157,  162,  179, 

180, 216  et  seq. 
Davies,  R.,  of  Jerez,  281 
Davoust  d'Auerstadt,  267 
D6ak,  Francis,  239 
Debreczin,  229,  230 
Deidesheim,  48  et  seq. 
Depretis,  statesmen,  361,  365 
Devereux,  Walter,  248  to  253 
Devrient,  actor,  115 
Dortmund,  20 
Douro,  the,  344,  347 
Dresden,  146 
Durrenstein,  166 

Eberbach,  abbey,  143 
Eberhard  of  Strasbourg,  44 
Edinburgh,  duke  of,  302 
Editha,  princess,  45 
Edla,  countess  of,  335 
Edmund,  prince,  44,  45 
Edward  the  Elder,  44 
VII,  as  prince  of  Wales,  168, 

164,  219,  220,  276,  336 
Eger,  town  and  castle,  242,   246 

et  seq.,  249 
Eiffel,  Alex.,  341 
Einsideln,   abbey   and   pilgrimage, 

43  et  seq. 
Elizabeth,  Austrian  empress,  149, 

161,  164,  168  et  seq.,  188 
Elphinstone,  ool.  sir  H.,  293 


Emperors,  three,  at  Berlin,  16,  17, 

24  et  seq. 
Erbsumrst,  111 
Er-Mellek,  the,  228,  229 
Esoorial,  the,  313 
Espartero,  marshal,  302 
Essen,  17  e^  seq. 
Esterhazy  cellar,  193 
Eugenie,  empress,  170,  365 
Eulenberg,  count  v.,  97 
Evans,  Fred,  clown,  342 


Federalism  in  Spain,  290  to  292 
Ferdinand  II,  emperor  of  Germany, 

165,  238,  243  et  seq.,  248,  252 
of    Bulgaria,    184,    186,   208, 

302 
Fernando,  Dom,  of  Portugal,  333 

et  seq.,  336 
Folies-Berg^re,  341,  342 
Forbes,  Archibald,  147 
Forster,  prince-bishop  of  Breslau, 

138 
France,  south  of,  5  et  seq. 
Franchi,  cardinal,  380  to  382 
Francis  I  of  Austria,  257 

II  of  Naples,  206 

Charles,  archduke,  165,  177 

Ferdinand,  archduke,  180 

Joseph    of    Austria,    26,    29 

et  seq. ;   33,  163  et  seq.,  169,  170, 

172,  173,  189,  199,  216,  232,  238 

to  240,  353,  354 
Francisco   de   Asis  of   Spain,   299 

et  seq.,  313 
Frankfort-on-Oder,  137 
Frascuelo,  matador,  279  to  281 
Frederick  the  Great,  28,  75, 96, 103, 

238,  239 
I,  German  emperor,  28,  164, 

255,  258,  369  ;  empress,  32,  164 

I  of  Wiirtemberg,  148 

Ill  of  Hapsburg,  199 

V,  "  the  winter  king,"  237 

Charles,  the  red  prince,  29, 

268 

WiUiam  I  of  Prussia,  129 

II  of  Prussia,  106 

Ill  of  Prussia,  39,  106 

IV   of   Prussia,   39,   64, 

91,  106 


388 


INDEX 


French  royalists,  6,  25,  204  et  seq. 

Freycinet,  M.  de,  67,  337 

Funerals,  at  Berlin,  102  ;  in  Portu- 
gal, 343  ;  in  the  Spreewald,  129, 
130 ;  of  Comte  de  Chambord, 
206  to  208  ;  of  Victor-Emmanuel 
II,  361  et  seq. ;  of  Pius  IX,  373 
et  seq 


Gallipfet,  marchioness  de,  227 

Gambling  at  Jerez,  282, 283 

Garcia  the  gambler,  283 

Garibaldi,  355,  357 

General  Staff,  German,  62,  85,  86 

Genoa,  duke  of,  302 

George  of  Podiebrad,  241 

IV  of  Great  Britain,  276,  320 

V  of  Hanover,  21,  53 

Geraldine,  major  Walter,  248  et  seq., 

253 
Germans     in     Alsace-Lorraine,     9 

et    seq. ;     in    France,    121  ;     in 

Hungary,   212,   220,   221,   226; 

in  Spain,  315  ;     as  Huns,  213  ; 

excesses  in  war  of,  147  ;  olBQcial- 

dom  among,  20,  76,  79,  98 
Gibraltar  smugglers,  270 
Gipsies,  Hungarian,  225 
Gisela,  archduchess,  169 
Glapthome,  Henry,  248 
Goldsmith's  "  Hermit  »  baUad,  45 
Gordon,  colonel  John,  247  et  seq., 

252 
Gordons  of  Gight,  247 
Gorizia,  204,  206,  208 
Gortschakoff,  prince,  29 
Gran  in  Hungary,  217 
Granada,  292,  293 
Granja,  La,  312 
Grant,  general  Ulysses,  335 
Gratz  in  Styria,  203 
Greene,  Robert,  235 
Greenwood,  Frederick,  6,  48,  196, 

227 
Gregory  XVI,  pope,  371 
Grevy,  president,  315 
Guard,  Prussian,  75,  97,  98,  113 
Gudden,  doctor,  151 
Gustavus-Adolphus,  244,  245 
Gypsum  in  sherry,  263,  277,  278 


Hanover,  21, 22 

Hapsburgs,  the,  174  et  seq.    See  also 

under  their  Christian  names. 
Harrach,  count,  243 
Haugwitz,  Prussian  diplomat,  257 
Hay,  sir  J.  D.,  265 
Henry  V,  of  France,  see  Chambord. 
"  Hermit,"  the,  ballad,  45 
Heusler,  Elisa,  see  E(Ua. 
Hindenburg,  field-marshal,  22,  192 
Hoedel,  36 

Hofburg,  Vienna,  167,  172 
Hoffmann,  115 
Hohenberg,  duchess  of,  180 
Hohenzollem,    Albert   of,    38,    39. 

See  others  under  their  Christian 

names. 

saint,  41  et  seq. 

Holy  Ghost,  order  of  the,  208,  209 
Howard,  cardinal,  376,  379 
Hoy  OS,  count,  171 
Hradshin,  the,  at  Prague,  241 
Hulsen,  herr  v.,  116,  117 
Humbert  I  of  Italy,  26,  357,  358, 

363  et  seq. 
Hungary  and  Hungarians,  165,  211 

et  seq. ;    dancing  in,  225  ;    sheep 

and  dogs  in,  224  ;  gipsies  in,  226. 

See  also  Wines. 
Huns,  the,  213 
Hus,  John,  236 


Illo,  colonel,  248,  249 

Illustrated   London   News,   ix,    17, 

147,  158,  295,  341 
Illustrated  Sporting  and  Dramatic 

News,  116 
Infallibility,  papal,  372 
Isabella  II  of  Spain,  290,  292,  298 

et  seq.,  305,  312,  313 
Italy,    176,   352   et   seq.    See   also 

Rome. 
Itzenplitz,  count  v.,  90 
Ivison,  Clemente,  279,  281 

Jabn,  Spain,  293 

Jerez  de  la  Frontera,  274  et  seq. ; 

club  at,  281  to  283 
Jesse,  madame  de,  56,  57 
Jews  in  Berlin,  99,  102  et  seq. ;  in 

Vienna,     157,     194,     196;      in 


INDEX 


389 


Hungary,    226,    227,    230;     at 

Tangier,  267,  268 
Joffre,  general,  7,  8 
Johannisberg  wine,  144,  145 
Jordan,  wine-grower,  49  to  52 


Karl-Ludwig,  archduke;    177    to 

181 
Kidnappers,  Spanish,  286  et  seq. 
Kingston,  Beatty,  163,  191 
Kinsky,  count,  248,  249 
Klostemeuburg,  197 
Kluck,  general  v.,  79 
Komom,  Hungary,  217 
Koniggratz,    battle    of,    175,    254 

et  seq. 
Konigsberg,  41,  235 
Kossuth,  230 
ICrupp's  works,  IT  et  seq. 
Kutusofif,  general,  256 

Laboulaye,  diplomat,  340 
La  Ferronays,  countess  de,  336 
Laguna,  see  Tenerife, 
Lambertini,  countess,  367  et  seq. 
La  Marmora,  general,  358,  367 
Langeron,  general,  256 
Lasker,  E.,  70 
Laxenburg  castle,  187 
Ledoohowski,   cardinal,    138,    139, 

379 
Lehde,  Spreewald,  131 
Lehndorff,  count  v.,  93 
Leo  VIII,  pope,  45 

XIII,  pope,  139,  380  to  383 

Leopold  I  of  Belgium,  382 

of  Bavaria,  prince,  169 

Leslie,  major  later  count,  247  et  seq., 

252,  253 
Liebfrauenmiloh  wine,  145 
Liebknecht  the  elder,  71,  72 
Lisbon,  330  et  seq. 
Lissa,  battle  of,  203 
Lorraine,  see  Alsace-Lorraine. 
Louis  XIV,  150 
Lovell,  T.,  clown,  342 
Liibbenau,  Spreewald,  129 
Lucca,  Pauline,  11 7,  118 
Ludwig  I  of  Bavaria,  150 

II  of  Bavaria,  149  et  seq. 

Luis  I  of  Portugal,  333,  334,  336 


Luitpold  of   Bavaria,  regent,  149, 

151,  169 
Luttenberger  wine,  201 
Lutzen^  battle  of,  244 
Lytton,  1st  earl  of,  335,  336 

MacMahon,  Patrice  de,  359 

Madai,  v.,  34 

Madeira,  318  et  seq. 

Madrid,  295  et  seq. ;  palace  at,  296 

Mafra,  330 

Magenta,  battle,  356,  360 

Magyar    race,    211    et   seq.,    239 ; 

language,  221  ;    herdsmen,  222, 

223 
Mahomet,  descendants  of,  269 
Mahnsey,  324,  327 
Manning,  cardinal,  376,  379 
Manoel,  ex-king  of  Portugal,  338 
the  Fortimate,  his  architecture, 

333 
Manteuffel,  field-marshal,  15 
Marcobrunner  wine,  145 
Marconi,  Angelo  and  Antonia,  369, 

see  also  Lambertini. 
Margherita,  queen  of  Italy,  365 
Maria,  queen  of  Naples,  171 

da  Gloria  of  Portugal,  334 

-Christina  of  Spain,  177,  314 

Pia  of  Portugal,  333, 357,  359 

-Theresa,  empress,  188,  199 

-Valeria,  archduchess,  169 

Mariazell  pilgrimage,  199  et  seq. 
Marie-Louise,  empress,  188 
Mastai-Ferretti,    count,    370 ;     see 

also  Pius  IX 
Matthias,  emperor-king,  236 

Corvinus  of  Hungary,  218 

Maximilian  of  Mexico,  170,  188 

II  of  Bavaria,  149 

Mayerling  tragedy,  171,  173 
Meckenburg,  duchy,  243 
Medici,  general,  361 
Mercedes,  queen  of  Spain,  311  to  313 
Meredith,  Owen,  335 
Mettemich,  prince,  145,  165 

,  princess  Pauline,  145,  227 

Metz,  16 

Minden,  21 

Mirafiore,  countess  di,  357 

Miranda,  marquis  de,  283 

Moeller,  doctor,  13 


390 


INDEX 


Mollard,  general,  354 

Moltke,  count  v.,  30,  60  et  seq.,  66, 

80 
Mommsen,  professor,  104,  105 
Monaco  La  Valletta,  cardinal,  380 
Monforte,  don  T.  P.,  289 
Montds,  Lola,  150 
Montpensier,  duo  de,  303  to  305, 

311  to  313 
Moravia,  253,  254 
Moretti,  cardinal,  380 
Moriohini,  cardinal,  380 
Morocco,  264,  265 
Moselle  country  and  wines,  142, 143 
Most,  Johann,  72 
Munich,  148  to  150 
Music  and  dancing  halls,  Berlin, 

120,  121 


Napoleon  I,  36,  39,  41,  140,  187, 

255  et  seq.,  275,  296,  352 

II,  see  Reichstadt. 

Ill,  170,  176,  189,  353,  354, 

355 

J6r6ine,  prince,  357 

Nassr  Eddin,  shah,  182,  183 
Nelson  at  Tenerife,  325,  326 
Nemours,  due  de,  208 
Neue  Freie  Presse,  157 
Neustadt  near  Vienna,  198,  199 
Nevlinski,  count,  158, 176, 181 
Newspapers,  German,  see  Press. 
New  York  Herald,  164 
Nice,  county  of,  353,  354 
Nicholas  I  of  Russia,  166 
Nobiling,  doctor,  36 

Orwe  a  Week,  101 

Oporto,  339  et  seq. 

Orlamunde,  countess  of,  see  White 

Lady. 
Orleans,  due  d',  208,  209 
O'Shea,  J.  A.,  306 
Otho  the  Great,  44,  45 
Ottokar  II  of  Bohemia,  153,  235, 

236 
Ouvrard,  army-contractor,  140 

Paget,  John,  214,  215,  221,  224, 
229,  230 


Palaces,  see  Hofburg  (Vienna), 
Madrid,  Schloss  (Berlin),  Stutt- 
gart. 

Pall  Mall  GazeMe,  5,  48,  140,  274 

Panebianco,  cardinal,  379 

Pantheon  at  Rome,  360,  361 

Paris,  demonstration  against 
Alfonso  XII,  314,  315 ;  environs 
of,  after  two  sieges,  3  et  seq. 

Paris,  comte  de,  185,  186,  205  to 
207,  333.  336 

Pasteur,  Louis,  323 

Paul  III,  pope,  231 

Pa  via,  general,  301,  307 

Peaceof  1871..57,58 

Peasants,  Hungarian,  222  et  seq. ; 
Madeira,  322 ;  Portuguese,  332, 
346, 347  ;  Spanish,  290  ;  Styrian, 
202,  203  ;  Wendish,  129  et  seq. 

Pecci,  cardinal,  see  Leo  XIII. 

Pedro  V  of  Portugal,  334 

Pelcoq,  Jules,  147, 148,  156,  163 

Pellico,  Silvio,  254 

Persia,  shah  of,  182,  183 

Pesth,  see  Budapest. 

Philip  III  of  Spain,  46 

Pietro,  cardinal  di,  380 

Pilgrimages,  Einsideln,  46  ;  Maria- 
zell,  199  et  seq. 

Pilsen,  242,  253 

Pinhao,  Portugal,  350 

Pius  IX,  pope,  26,  139,  186,  352, 
363,  358,  366,  367,  370  et  seq., 
382 

X,  pope,  383 

Augustus,   duke   in   Bavaria, 

172 

Pope,  election  of  a,  377  et  seq. ;  of 
wines,  231 

Portugal,  330  et  seq. 

Port-wine  region,  343  et  seq. 

Possenhofen,  Bavaria,  168 

Potatoes  in  Lorraine,  12 ;  in 
Germany,  80 

Pourtal^,  comtesse  de,  227 

Prague,  236  to  241 ;  defenestration 
of,  236,  237 

Press,  German,  49,  53,  122  et  seq. ; 
Viennese,  157 

Pressburg,  216 

Prim,  general,  290,  301  to  304 

Prince  imperial  of  France,  307 


INDEX 


391 


Prussian  army,  see  army ;  coro- 
nations, 40,  41 ;  designs  against 
France,  257,  258,  354 ;  officials, 
76,  79,  98  ;  excesses  in  war,  147  ; 
princes,  Albert  Adalbert,  Karl, 
Waldemar,  39.  See  others  under 
their  names. 

Przemysl  as  a  name,  234,  235 

Puszta,  the  Hungarian,  221  et  seq. 

Putbus,  prince,  90 

QuiRiNAL  palace,  358,  369,  377 
Quistorp,  speculator,  91 

Rainer,  archduke,  176,  359 

Ralph,  John,  196 

Ratibor,  duke  of,  93 

Ravachol,  44 

Reichstadt,  duke  of  (Napoleon  II), 

165,  175,  187  to  189 
Reichstag,  the  first  German,  59  et 

seq. 
Reims  cathedral,  351 
Religion  at  Berlin,  122 
Reptile  press,  see  Press. 
Republic,  modern,  Roman,  372 
Restaurants  at  Berlin,  110  et  seq. ; 

at  Vienna,  193 
Rhine  vineyards,  143  et  seq. 
Rivesaltes,  7 
Richter,  Eugen,  71 
Roden,  lord,  360 
Rome  and  the  temporal  power,  25, 

26 ;   united  to  Italy,  355,  356 ; 

rejuvenation    of,    360 ;     under 

papal  rule,  367,  368 
Roon,  field-marshal  v.,  64  et  seq, 
Rossi,  count,  372 
Rotunda  at  Vienna,  161, 162 
Roumanian  railways,  94 ;    people, 

212 
Rudolph  of  Hapsburg,  236 
,  Austrian  crown  prince,  169  to 

173,  188 
Rupert,  Bavarian  crown  prince,  151 
Russia,  27,  94,  165,  239.    See  also 

Alexander  II. 

Saint  Boniface,  42 

Charles  Borromeus,  46 

Elizabeth  of  Hungary,  46 

John  Nepomuk,  241 


Saint  Louis,  order  of,  209 

Meinrad  of    Hohenzollern,  41 

etseq. 

Michael,  order  of,  209 

Peter's,    pope's    funeral    at, 

374  et  seq. 
Saint  James's  Gazette,  227 
Salamanca,  battle  of,  244 
Saldanha,  marshal,  336 
San  Felippo,  cardinal,  380 

Fernando,  town,  279 

Santa  Cruz,  see  Tenerife. 
Santa  Rostro  at  Jaen,  293 
Savoy  and  France,  353,  354 
Saxons,  the,  147 
Schiller,  248 

Schloss  of  Berlin,  32,  33,  39 
Schoenbrunn  palace,  167,  176,  187 
Schwartzenberg,  prince,  165 
Schwarz-Senbom,  baron,  191 
Scott-Russell,  161,  162,  179 
Semmering  railway,  198 
Sequestrators,  Spanish,  286  et  seq. 
Serenades,  modem,  274 
Serrano,  marshal,  291,  299,  301 
Sesto,  duque  de,  308,  309 
Seville,  292,  293 
Shakespeare  and    Bohemia,  234  et 

seq. 
Sherry,  shippers  and  wine,  263, 274 

et  seq.,  320 
Simeoni,  cardinal,  380,  382 
Sinigaglia,  370 
Sistine  chapel,  see  Conclave. 
Slovacks,  211,  254 
Smith,  George,  140 
Smuggling  in  Spain,  270  et  seq. 
Socialists,  German,  71,  147 
Soult,  marshal,  256,  275 
Spain,  263  et  seq. ;  army  officers  in, 

311 ;   civil  list  of,  310  ;   cookery 

in,  272  ;   insurrections  in,  290  to 

292,315;  nobility  of ,  31 1 
Spandau,  31,  83,  84 
Spreewald,  the,  127  e/  seq.,  145 
Staff,  German  general,  62,  85,  86 
Steinberg  wine,  144 
Stock-im-eisen,  192,  193 
Strasbourg,  12,  16 
Strauss,  Johann,  157,  158, 194 
Strousberg  failure,  92  et  seq. 
Students,  Berlinese,  104,  106,  107 


392 


INDEX 


Stuttgart,  148 

Styria,  200  to  203 

Superga,  La,  368 

Superstitions,  Portuguese,  346, 347  ; 

Wendish,  130 
Syllabus,  the,  372 

Taafb,  lord,  247 

Talleyrand,  185, 186,  257 

Tangier,  264  et  seq. 

Tartars,  217 

Tegetthofif,  admiral,  203 

Tempelhof  parade,  30 

Tenerife,  270,  271,  324  et  seq. 

Tertzky,  count,  248,  249 

Theatres  at  Berlin,  116  ;  at  Oporto, 

343  ;  at  Vienna,  194 
Thiers,  67, 140,  257 
Thum,  count  of,  237,  246 
Tilly,  count,  243,  244 
Times,  the,  192,  263,  306 
Times  of  Germany,  the,  53 
Tirpitz,  admiral  v.,  192, 193 
Tokay,  201,  230  et  seq, 
Toledo,  296 
Townson,  author,  231 
Trani,  countess  of,  171 
Transylvania,  212,  213 
Treasury,  imperial,  Vienna,  187 
Treitschke,  68  to  70 
Trenck,  Francis  and  Frederick  v., 

264 
Trent,  council  of,  231 
Treves,  gap  of,  143 
Trichinosis,  106 
Triumvirate,  Roman,  372 
Turin,  365,  367,  368 
Turkey  and  Turks,  212,  213,  222, 

230 

Ujest,  duke  of,  93 
University  of  Berlin,  104  et  seq. 

Vandals,  see  Wends. 

Vatican  council,  372 

Vercellana,  Rosa,  357 

Verifying  the  death  of  Pius  IX,  373 

Vetsera,  Maria,  171 

Victor-Emmanuel  I  of  Sardinia,  358 

II  of  Italy,  25,  26,  183, 

184,  291,  352  et  seq.,  365,  373 
Ill  of  Italy,  365 


Vienna,  157  et  seq.,  162  ;  baths  at, 
194 ;  cholera  at,  190,  191 ; 
churches  at,  188,  189  ;  a  city  of 
lies,  196  ;  Coburg  palace  at,  184  ; 
cookery  at,  193  ;  Corpus  Christi 
procession  at,  189 ;  financial 
crash  at,  90, 190, 191  ;  Esterhazy 
Keller  at,  193  ;  great  exhibition 
at,  167  et  seq.  ;  Hofburg  at,  167, 
172;  Jews  at,  157,  194,  196 ; 
life  in,  192  ;  concert  garden  near, 
194  ;  Prater  at,  193  ;  Stook-im- 
eisen  at,  192  ;  imperial  treasury 
at,  187  ;  theatres  at,  194 

Virchow,  professor,  105,  106 

Visegrid,  Hungary,  218 

Vizetelly,  Edward  Henry,  63 

Ernest  Alfred,  chief  mentions 

of,  5,  32,  49,  61,  56,  57,  101,  129 
et  seq.,  136,  144,  167,  168,  163, 
178  et  seq.,  184,  195,  196,  203, 
207,  227,  270,  271,  273,  280,  282, 
284,  286,  288,  344,  346,  349,  360, 
352,  362,  363,  383 

Frank,  176,  306,  356 

Henry      Richard,      author's 

father,  chief  mentions  of,  vii, 
viii,  3,  6,  8,  16,  27,  34,  36,  61,  56, 
70,  110, 127  et  seq.,  140, 141, 157, 
158,  163,  164,  177,  197,  199,  214, 
216,  227,  229,  242,  261,  264,  263, 
269,  277,  278,  283,  318,  328,  329, 
341,  344,  346,  349,  350 

"  Von  "  in  German  army,  79 

Wales,  prmoe  of,  see  Edward  VII. 
Wallace,  su-  R.,  190,  191 
Wallenstein,  duke  of  Friedland,  36, 

242  et  seq. 
War,  scare  of    1874,  49   et  seq. ; 

seven  years',   143,  238 ;    thirty 

years',  237,  243  et  seq. 
Waterloo  anecdote,  140 
Wazan,  Shereef  of,  269 
Wedding,  of  Alfonso  XII,  313 ;  of 

Dom   Carlos,    337 ;    Jewish,   at 

Tangier,  267  to  269 ;    Wendish, 

134  et  seq. 
Weirother,  general,  266 
Wenceslas  IV,  241 
Wends,  the,  127  et  seq.,  202,  203, 

241 


INDEX 


393 


White  Hill  battle,  237 

White  Lady,  the,  37  to  40 

Wilhelm-strasse,  Berlin,  53,  54 

William  I,  German  emperor,  27  to 
30,  33  et  seq.,  39  to  41,  56,  63  to 
67,  139,  150 

II,  German  emperor,  28,  29, 

41,46,47 

Windthorst,  21 

Wines,  Austrian,  197  et  seq., 
201,  202;  Canary  sack,  326  et 
seq. ;  German,  114,  115,  142  et 
seq.,  146;  Hmigarian,  193,  229, 
231  to  233;  Madeira,  319  et 
seq. ;  Malmsey,  324 ;  Marsala, 
320;  Portuguese  (Lisbon),  331, 
332,  (Port),  339,  344,  345,  348, 


349;    sherry,  263,  274   et   seq., 

320 
Winter  King,  the,  237 
"  Winter's  Tale,  the,"  235 
Wrangel,  field    marshal  v.,  66  et 

seq. 
Wiirtemberg,  148 

Yates,  Edmund,  163, 164 
Yorkshire  Post,  the,  195, 196 

Zacs,  Clara,  story  of,  218,  219 
Zapfenstreioh  at  Berlin,  33,  34 
Zenno,  astrologer,  246,  250,  253 
Zichy,  count  Francis,  229 
Ziska,  John,  236 
Zola,  Emile,  364 


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