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6
LUBEC.
Chap. I.
so ill observed as in these Protestant cities of North
Germany. From sunrise to sunset thousands of the
people are absorbed in one idea, that of pleasure.
Setting all other observances aside, it is neither a day
of rest to man nor beast.
The churches are ill filled. We attended the Lutheran
service at the Marienkirche this morning, a service I
particularly dislike—a standing and sitting congregation—
much singing, little praying, and a long-winded sermon,
which might have been excellent, but I was unable to
follow the preacher, so I looked about me. This church
is a good sample of northern build, of exquisite
proportions, lofty and élancé, and, like all those belonging
to the Lutherans, retains still many attributes of the
Church of Rome. It is rich in Gothic screen and
fretwork—in angels and figures of the faints as large as
life—though I wonder at their still giving place to so
apocryphal a personage as St. Christopher. I could
scarcely refrain from smiling how the German “
housewife” leaven peeps out even in ecclesiastical matters.
Above my head were placed the figures of the sisters
Martha and Mary, on either side of the Ecce Homo—
Mary as a Magdalene (not quite correct that), and
Martha with her golden sleeves well tucked up above
her elbows, as though she had returned from the act of
kneading dough in the kitchen.
The “ epitaphia ” of the bm-ghers’ families are rich
and splendid in the extreme, all hung round with
quarterings and emblazonment. None more aristocratic
than the ancient burghers of the Hanse Towns. It is
at Lubec that the custom first appears, so common in
the north of Europe, of hanging the “ epitaphium ” or
framed portrait of the deceased in a gorgeous frame to
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