Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Pages ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
64 RINSBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
ftranger, who happens to have no opportunity of feeing better company, with a very
favourable opinion of the country.
Remonttrances in general are but ill received here. The omnipotent ftick is ever
ready to anfwer interrogatories ; and a man foon perceives, in every occurrence, that
he is come into a military government, the foundation of which is abolute fubordination.
It is true, that perfons of a certain rank are not expofed to this; but what then? It
appears to me, that whatever be the condition, or ftation, man owes to man good will
and civility. Amongft us the leaft foldier is open to remonftrance, and anfwers it as
well as he is able. Every body feems eager to fhew the ftranger that they take intereft
in his fate, that they are glad to fee him in their country, and that they have a pride in
giving him as good an opinion of them as poflible. The reafon why we were treated with
more civility at Engelhaftzel, is, becaufe it is a frontier town, and there are no troops
quartered there, on account of the fear there is of defertion ; fo the civil officers are
obliged to give good words: but here, when the air refounds with tie ftrokes of the
corporal’s ftick, every look of the loweft fervant muft be confidered as a command.—
Brother, in what regards politenefs and humanity, a Frenchman has a right to be proud.
Vhis is no prejudice. In the other nations of Europe, civility is confined within the
very {mall circle of the higher orders ; but we muft do our common people the honour
to allow that it is by no means fo with us. As for the boafted freedom of fpeech of
fome of our neighbours, it is often no more than a ferocity, and wildnefs of manner,
produced by a very bad education.
Our boat was built after the model of Noah’s ark; it had no windows to it, was
decked all over, and the men, beafts, merchandize, and vermin, were packed up toge-
ther in it without any diftin@ion. The quarterdeck fupplied the place of a cabin.
A high pile of chefts of {ugar formed the inner wall of this, and on one fide of it
there was a little opening left, which they called a window, but through which. there
hardly came light enough to fhew that it was day. ‘There was another opening made
on the fide of the foredeck length-ways, about the middle of the veffel, not large enough
to let a dove fly in with an olive branch. Through this, with very imminent danger of
life, we were obliged to do our neceflities.
As there was no outlet to thefe c/oacs, nor any cabin boys on board to clean them, you
may conceive what balfamic exhalations every now and then filled the boat, efpecially
as it happened to be uncommonly full of paffengers. I lay for the greateft part of the
time ftretched out on the roof of this ark, but was forced to cling very clofe to the edge
of it, that I might not be plunged into the water, by the leaft motion arifing from the
change of the rudder, or by running on ground. It is, I affure you, no fmall exercife
to fecure the feet properly in thefe expeditions. The beautiful profpect I enjoyed made
the journey tolerable. From Paffau hither, the banks of the Danube are covered with
the hills which furround the plains of Auftria. Thefe hills ftand in general fo near
each other, that it is only in a very few places that you can call the fpace between them
a plain; in many places they hang over the river like broken walls. Notwithftanding
this, the fhores are well inhabited and wonderfully cultivated. It is true, that between
Liatz and this place, which are diftant from each other twenty-eight German miles,
you meet with no great cities, but there are many {mall ones, and a great number of
villages and meadows, all which fhew that the inhabitants are much at their eafe.
What afforded me the greateft pleafure was the winding of the river; fometimes we
coafted along vallies encompaffed with hills, the flopes of which were gentle enough to
admit of cultivation to the very top. The fore-ground of the beautiful perfpective ex-
hibited
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
