Saunterings eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 306 pages of information about Saunterings.

Saunterings eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 306 pages of information about Saunterings.
from the Tyrol, the men in black, tight breeches, that button from the knee to the ankle, short jackets and vests set thickly with round silver buttons, and conical hats with feathers, and the women in short quilted and quilled petticoats, of barrel-like roundness from the broad hips down, short waists ornamented with chains and barbarous brooches of white metal, with the oddest head-gear of gold and silver heirlooms; students with little red or green embroidered brimless caps, with the ribbon across the breast, a folded shawl thrown over one shoulder, and the inevitable switch-cane; porters in red caps, with a coil of twine about the waist; young fellows from Bohemia, with green coats, or coats trimmed with green, and green felt hats with a stiff feather stuck in the side; and soldiers by the hundreds, of all ranks and organizations; common fellows in blue, staring in at the shop windows, officers in resplendent uniforms, clanking their swords as they swagger past.  Now and then, an elegant equipage dashes by,—­perhaps the four horses of the handsome young king, with mounted postilions and outriders, or a liveried carriage of somebody born with a von before his name.  As the twilight comes on, the shutters of the shop windows are put up.  It is time to go to the opera, for the curtain rises at half-past six, or to the beer-gardens, where delicious music marks, but does not interrupt, the flow of excellent beer.

Or you may if you choose, and I advise you to do it, walk at the same hour in the English Garden, which is but a step from the arcades of the Hof Garden,—­but a step to the entrance, whence you may wander for miles and miles in the most enchanting scenery.  Art has not been allowed here to spoil nature.  The trees, which are of magnificent size, are left to grow naturally;—­the Isar, which is turned into it, flows in more than one stream with its mountain impetuosity; the lake is gracefully indented and overhung with trees, and presents ever-changing aspects of loveliness as you walk along its banks; there are open, sunny meadows, in which single giant trees or splendid groups of them stand, and walks without end winding under leafy Gothic arches.  You know already that Munich owes this fine park to the foresight and liberality of an American Tory, Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford), born in Rumford, Vt., who also relieved Munich of beggars.

I have spoken of the number of soldiers in Munich.  For six weeks the Landwehr, or militia, has been in camp in various parts of Bavaria.  There was a grand review of them the other day on the Field of Mars, by the king, and many of them have now gone home.  They strike an unmilitary man as a very efficient body of troops.  So far as I could see, they were armed with breech-loading rifles.  There is a treaty by which Bavaria agreed to assimilate her military organization to that of Prussia.  It is thus that Bismarck is continually getting ready.  But if the Landwehr is gone, there are yet remaining

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Saunterings from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.