NOTES AND REFLECTIONS DURING A RAMBLE IN GERMANY. BY THE AUTHOR OF "RECOLLECTIONS IN THE PENINSULA," "SKETCHES OF INDIA," "SCENES AND IMPRESSIONS IN EGYPT AND ITALY," BODLE INUSITIO LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, ANDd green, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1826. PREFACE. As I walked about my chamber at Frankfort, pronouncing, with no very felicitous accent, the "Ich," " Mich," "Sich," of the German grammar, I remembered the saying of Bacon, -"He that travelleth into a country before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel.' Nevertheless, the unsatisfied eye demanded of me that it might gaze on Germany, pleading with me that it spoke all languages, and could interpret all; and that there was much in all countries intelligible to the eye, and to the eye alone. With the exception of the celebrated work of Madame de Stael, and iv the admirable Tour of Mr. Russel, SO little has been written on the subject of Germany, that the most meagre contribution of a chance traveller in that country scarcely needs any apology. My brief notices of such places in Flanders and Switzerland as I traversed in my route belong, of necessity, to the character of a volume which is but the personal narrative of an autumnal excursion on the Continent. CLAVERTON FARM, INTRODUCTION. upon It is a pleasant thing to be awakened by the morning sun shining in on new and unfamiliar objects, and to find yourself in the chamber of a foreign hotel, actually the Continent; your projected tour fairly begun, your passport, your pocketbook, your purse, safe on the chair beside you; your portmanteau, and sac de nuit, that have safely passed the ordeal of the rumpling hand, ready for instant departure, or long sojourn, as their master shall determine; and cares, packets, and the custom-house behind you. B |