: Journal of a Tour in the Years 1828-1829 through Styria Carniola and Italy whilst Accompanying the Late Sir Humphry Davy by Tobin J J - Europe Description and travel; Davy Humphry Sir 1778-1829

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e distant Vogesian mountains, bounds the view in the west.

Heidelberg contains about 12,000 inhabitants, and has of late years become a favourite resort of strangers. The university library is considered to be one of the richest in Europe in ancient manuscripts, and were the sovereign of the state a more liberal patron than he is of learning and science, doubtless the museums and public institutions would be more liberally endowed than they are; there is, however, an excellent anatomical museum in the school for medicine, and so long as such names as those of Thibaut, Tiedemann, Gmelin, Schlosser, and various others whose works evince their talent, shall be found amongst the list of its professors, so long must Heidelberg hold a deservedly high rank in the learned and scientific world, and open a wide field of advantage and instruction to all young men anxious to avail themselves of such opportunities; nor will any impartial judge deny, that amongst its students many highly honourable examples of talent and application are found.

"Wer sagt mir an wo Weinsberg liegt Soll seyn ein wack'res St?dtchen," &c. &c.

the story of which is founded on the following fact:--During the time of the deadly feuds between the houses of Hohenstaufen and Guelph, about the year 1140, Weinsberg was besieged and taken by the Emperor Conrad. The town and castle had excited his high displeasure for having afforded an asylum to his enemy Guelph, and he determined to destroy them with fire and sword, and said he would only allow the women to depart, and take any treasure with them.

We did not reach Oehringen till eight o'clock; and then found the only decent inn in the town in great confusion, owing to the exhibition of a cabinet of wax-work, which had attracted all the waiters and chambermaids, so that it was with great difficulty I could obtain even hot water to make our tea.

The whole country through which we have passed appears very populous, but the peasantry look wretchedly squalid and poor, and an English eye is much struck by seeing the women constantly at hard work in the fields, and apparently performing a much greater share of the laborious part of their employment than the men.

When all was put to rights we set off for Landshuth, and soon caught a transient glimpse of the snowy Alps, rising out of the distant horizon like clouds into the clouds. The Isar, on which Landshuth is situated, exceeds even the Danube in rapidity, and well may Campbell call it

"Isar rolling rapidly."

We had hardly entered the inn when we were visited by a heavy thunderstorm, accompanied by tremendous hail.

On leaving Landshuth we ascended a very long and steep hill, and on arriving at the top we saw the Austrian Alps, at a distance of seventy or eighty miles, bounding the whole horizon with a line of shining white, and here and there broken by a dark shade of grey; whilst some single perfectly white and shining peaks shone high above the floating clouds, whose white colour appeared tarnished when compared with that of the eternal snow. We drove the greater part of the day through pine forests, up hill and down hill; now perfectly losing sight of the Alps, then again from the summit of the next hill catching sight of them, apparently not more than ten miles off, so distinctly could we trace the vallies between the different mountains. We stopped to dine at the post-house at Neumarkt, a small village, where I could get nothing but a pigeon dressed in garlic, and some sausage. Leaving this village, we descended from the mountains, amid which we had been travelling, into the plain which separates them from the Alps, and found ourselves, as it were, in front of this colossal chain, now brightly illuminated by the glowing sun. Towards evening I had hoped to have seen the rosy tinge upon the Alps, caused by the reflection of the sunbeams upon the snow of the summits, but I was disappointed, for they faded away into the grey clouds of evening as we drove up a very steep but short hill into Neu-?tting, a neat little town, in the streets of which we saw many pretty women and girls knitting before their doors; on the whole, the people are much handsomer here than in the country we have hitherto passed through. About two miles further on we reached Alt-?tting, where we were very well lodged at the post-house. Our hostess, a young lass of only seventeen or eighteen, spoke very good French, and seemed intelligent and active in the direction of her household.

In the evening Sir Humphry determined not to remain at the baths of Ischl, about twenty miles distant, as he had intended doing, but to proceed to Laybach, three hundred miles off, as he thought the snipe-shooting, which he much wished to enjoy, would not yet be over there.

Between Rothenmann and Gaishorn, at which latter village we passed the night, we saw a peat moor, a very rare thing in this country. I think I shall never forget the evening we spent here, in one of the most miserable dirty little village inns in Europe. When we drove up to the door we heard within the sound of loud and merry music, and the noise of a number of people dancing and clapping their hands; this all of a sudden ceased, and out rushed a whole troop of peasants of both sexes to see the strangers. The master of the inn, a young man, led us up a tumble-down staircase to the first and only story, where we found three rooms in no very inviting state: the walls were dirty, bare, and ragged; the beds almost as bad; the furniture looked as if it had been standing there for a hundred years, and every thing smelt of tobacco-smoke. Sir Humphry could scarcely make up his mind to remain in such a place, yet it was too late to attempt to proceed, as he did not like to travel after dark; so I was obliged to do my best, and arrange our accommodation for the night, I being the only one who could make myself understood, and this with no small difficulty, the people here speaking the most wretched Austrian dialect. When I had at last got dinner served, or rather supper, which we had luckily brought with us, and had ordered chickens to be killed to take with us to-morrow, got out sheets to be aired, &c. &c., none of which orders I could get attended to with any regularity, as every body was running off to the dance, which in the meanwhile had recommenced with as much noise as before, I attempted to read the "Arabian Nights" to Sir Humphry, but he found it impossible to hear, and was obliged soon to retire to his bed. Before I followed his example I went to take a peep at the dance, and asked the host what all this rout was about? He told me it was the conclusion of a wedding f?te which had been celebrated the day before, and his house having been engaged for the purpose, he could not put an end to their merriment. The dance which these peasants were enjoying, the national dance of Styria, was a slow waltz, not devoid of grace, with various tours performed by four couple, and which were always preceded by a loud clapping of hands and stamping with the feet. Had we arrived yesterday we should have seen the f?te in its glory, and all the guests in their gay and motley apparel, which would have been an entertaining sight, but the bride and bridegroom not being present this day, their friends were footing it merrily in their every-day dress. Having partaken of some of the remains of the wedding cakes, I retired to bed, but not to sleep, the party continuing their revels and noise till a very late hour.

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