Delphi Complete Works of Ann Radcliffe (Illustrated)

by Ann Radcliffe

  We were now in a place, occupied by part of the acting army of the allies, which, if not immediately liable to be attacked, was to be defended by the maintenance of posts, at a very short distance. Troops passed through it daily, for the service of these posts. The noise of every cannonade was audible, and the result of every engagement was immediately known, for it might make an advance, or a retreat necessary from Worms. The wounded men arrived, soon after the intelligence, to the military hospitals of the Prussians. A city, so circumstanced, seemed to differ but little from a camp; and we were aware, for a few hours, of a departure from the security and order of civil life.

  The inn, which was not otherwise a mean building, was nearly destitute of furniture; so that the owner was prepared to receive any sort of guests, or masters. The only provision, which we could obtain was bread, the commonest sort of wine, and one piece of cold veal; for the city was under military jurisdiction, and no guests were allowed to have more than one dish at their table.

  In the afternoon, we saw, for the first time, a crowd in a German city. A narrow waggon, of which nearly all but the wheels was basket-work, had arrived from the army, with a wounded officer, who lay upon the floor, supported by his servant, but occasionally rose to return the salutes of passengers. This was the Prince of Anhalt Plessis, who had been wounded, in the morning, when the French attacked all the neighbouring lines of the allies, and an indecisive engagement ensued, the noise of which had been distinctly heard, at Worms. He was hurt in the leg, and descended, with much difficulty, from the waggon; but did not, for an instant, lose the elegance of his address, and continued bowing through the passage to his apartment. No doubt was entertained of his recovery, but there seemed to be a considerable degree of sympathy, attending this young man.

  We had not time to look into the churches, or numerous monasteries, that yet remain, at Worms; the war appeared to have depopulated the latter, for not a monk was to be seen. The cathedral, or church of St. Mary and St. Peter, is one of the most antient sacred buildings in Germany, having been founded at least as early as the commencement of the seventh century. One of the prebends was established in 1033, another in 1058. The Dominicans, Carmelites, Capuchins and Augustines have each a monastery, at Worms; as have the Cistercians and the Augustines a nunnery. A Protestant church was also consecrated, on the 9th of June 1744; something more than two hundred years, after the ineffectual conference held here of Protestant and Catholic divines, which Charles the Fifth interrupted, when Melancthon, on one side, and Echius, on the other, had engaged in it, ordering them to resume their arguments, in his presence, at Ratisbon. This meeting was five years previous to the celebrated diet of Worms, at which Charles, having then estimated the temporal strength of the two parties, openly shewed his animosity to the Protestants, as Maurice of Saxony did his intriguing ambition, by referring the question to the Council of Trent.

  The Jews, at Worms, inhabit a separate street, and have a synagogue, of great antiquity, their numbers having been once such as to endanger the peace of the city; but, in 1689, when the French turned their synagogue into a stable, they fled with the rest of the opulent inhabitants to Holland. Those of the present day can have very few articles of traffic, except money, the changing of which may have been frequent, on account of the neighbourhood of France.

  Worms is somewhat connected with English history, having been occupied by the troops, which James the First uselessly sent to the assistance of the proscribed Elector Palatine, when his just abhorrence of continental wars was once, though tardily, overcome by the entreaties of his daughter. Here too George the Second held his headquarters, from the 7th to the 20th of September 1743; on the 14th of which month, Lord Carteret concluded, in his name, an offensive and defensive treaty with the Ministers of Hungary and Sardinia.

  This city, like Cologne, retains some affectation of the Roman form of government, to which it was rendered subject by Caesar, with the title of Augusta Vangionum. The STADTMEISTER is sometimes called the CONSUL, and the SCHULTHEIS, or Mayor, the PRAETOR. But, in 1703, some trivial tumult afforded a pretence for abolishing its little remains of liberty, and the Elector Palatine was declared its protector. This blow completed the desolation, which the disasters of the preceding century had commenced; and a city, that was once called the market of the Palatinate, as the Palatinate was reputed the market of Germany, continues to exhibit nothing more than the ruins of its antient prosperity.

  Few of the present inhabitants can be the descendants of those, who witnessed its destruction in 1689; for we could not find, that the particulars of that event were much known, or commemorated by them, dreadful and impressive as they must have been. A column of Louis the Fourteenth’s army had entered the city, in September of the preceding year, under the command of the Marquis de Bonfleur, who soon distressed the inhabitants by preparations for blowing up the walls with gunpowder. The mines were so numerous and large, as to threaten nothing less than the entire overwhelming of the city; but, being fired at different times, the walls of the houses were left standing, though they shook with almost every explosion. The artillery and balls had been previously carried away to Landau, or Mentz, then possessed by Louis. At length, on the 12th of May 1689, the Intendant sent the melancholy news to the magistracy, that he had received orders from his monarch to burn the whole city. Six days were allowed for the departure of the inhabitants and the removal of their property; which period was prolonged by their entreaties to nineteen. At the expiration of these, on Ascension Day, the 31st of May, the French grenadiers were employed from twelve o’clock, till four, in placing combustibles about the houses and public buildings, against several of which large heaps of hay and straw were raised. The word being then given, fire was set to almost every house at once, and, in a few hours, the city was reduced to ashes; the conflagration being so general and strong as to be visible in daylight at the distance of more than thirty English miles. Such was one of the calamities of a city, so unfortunately situated, that the chapter of the cathedral alone proved a loss by wars, previous to the year 1743, amounting to 1,262,749 florins.

  The attention, due to so memorable a place, detained us at Worms, till the voiturier talked of being unable to reach Manheim, before the gates would be shut, and we let him drive vehemently towards

  2.19. FRANCKENTHAL,

  ANOTHER place, destroyed by Louis the Fourteenth, but restored upon a plan so uniform and convenient, that nothing but a fuller population is necessary to confirm its title of a flourishing city. The streets, which intersect each other at right angles, are wide and exactly straight; the houses are handsomely built, but the poverty, or indolence of the owners suffers them to partake of the air of neglect, which is general in German habitations; and the streets, though spacious and not ill-paved, had so few passengers, that the depopulation of the place seemed to be rendered the more observable by its grandeur.

  Yet it would be unfair to estimate the general prosperity of Franckenthal by its present circumstances, even had we stayed long enough to know them more accurately. This place had been occupied but a few weeks before by the French army, who had plundered it, as well as several other towns of the Palatinate, after the retreat of the allies from Alsace, at the latter end of 1793. The inhabitants had, for the most part, returned to their houses; but their commerce, which is said to have been not contemptible, could not be so easily restored. The manufactures of porcelain, cloths, silks, spangles, vinegar and soap, of which some were established and all are protected by the wise liberality of the Elector, though far from being answerable, either in their capitals, or produce, to the English idea of similar enterprises, command some share with England and France in supplying the rest of Germany. One method of facilitating the operations of trade the Elector has advantageously adopted here; that of instituting a court upon the spot for the decision of all causes, in which the traders are interested; and at his expence a navigable canal has been formed from the town to the Rhine. Artists and merchants have also some
privileges, at Franckenthal, of which that of being exempt from the military press is not the least.

  This press, or levy, is the method, by which all the German Princes return their contingents to the army of the Empire. The population of every town and district in their dominions is known with sufficient accuracy, and a settled number of recruits is supplied by each. When these are wanted, notice is given, that the men of a certain age must assemble and cast lots for the service. Those, who are drawn, may find substitutes, but with this condition, that the deputy must be at least as tall as his principal; a regulation, which makes the price of substitutes depend upon their height, and frequently renders it impossible for the principals to avail themselves of the permission. A farmer in this neighbourhood, who was considerably above six feet in height, could not obtain a substitute for less than a hundred louis d’ors.

  Another unpleasant condition is attached to this exchange: if the substitute is disabled, or deserts, another must be supplied; and, if he carries his arms, or accoutrements, away, these must be paid for by the person, who sent him.

  After a ride of a few miles, we reached

  2.20. OGGERSHEIM,

  A SMALL town, on the west bank of the Rhine, rebuilt in uniform streets, like Franckenthal, having been destroyed by the same exertion of Louis the Fourteenth’s cruelty. Here also the modern French had very lately been, and some of the ruins, left near the road by Louis, appeared to have served them for kitchens in their excursion.

  At the east end of the town, towards the Rhine, stands a chateau of the Elector, built with modern, but not very admirable taste, and commanding the distant river in several fine points of view. We could not be admitted to see the inside, which is said to have been splendidly decorated; for the French had just dismantled it of the furniture.

  The road from hence to Manheim was bordered for its whole length, of at least two miles, by rows of poplars, of which some still remain near Oggersheim; but those within a mile and a half of Manheim, have been felled at one or two feet from the ground. This was done in December 1793, when the French began to advance from Landau, and were expected to besiege Manheim, their operations against which might have been covered, in some measure, by this noble alley.

  Near the Rhine, the road is now commanded by two forts, of which one was thrown up during the approach of the French, and completed in the middle of the summer, with great care. These contribute much to the present security of the city, which might otherwise be bombarded from the opposite bank of the river, even by an enemy, who should not be able and should not propose to attempt the conquest of the place. They are ditched and pallisadoed, but, being divided from the body of the city, by the Rhine, are, of course, without the communication, which renders such works capable of a long defence. Round one of these forts, the road now winds, entering a part of the works, near the bridge, where there is a guardhouse for the troops of the Elector.

  2.21. MANHEIM.

  IT was twilight, when we approached Manheim; and the palace, the numerous turrets and the fortisications had their grandeur probably increased by the obscurity. The bridge of boats is not so long as that at Mentz; but we had time enough in passing it to observe the extent of the city, on the left of which the Neckar pours itself into the Rhine, so that two sides are entirely washed by their streams. At the next guardhouse, where we were detained by the usual enquiries, the troops were more numerous; and surely no military figures ever accorded so well with the gloomy gates, and walls they guarded. The uniform of the Palatine light troops is a close jacket of motley brown, and pantaloons of the same that reach to their half-boots. They have black helmets, with crests and fronts of brass, large whiskers, and their faces, by constant exposure to the sun, are of the deepest brown that can be, without approaching to black. As they stood singly on the ramparts, or in groups at the gates, their bronze faces and Roman helmets seemed of a deeper hue, than the gloom, that partly concealed their figures.

  The entrance into Manheim, from the Rhine, is by a spacious street, which leads directly into the centre of the city, and to a large square, planted with limes, consisting, on one side, of public buildings, and, on the other, of several noble houses, one of which is the chief inn, called the Cour Palatine. This is the first city in Germany, that can answer, by its appearance, the expectations of a foreigner, who has formed them from books. Its aspect is truly that of a capital and of the residence of a Court; except that in the daytime a traveller may be somewhat surprised at the fewness of passengers and the small shew of traffic, amidst such public buildings, and in streets of such convenience and extent. The fairness, the grandeur and the stateliness, which he may have seen attributed to other German cities, till he is as much disgusted as deceived by every idea derived from description, may be perceived in several parts of Manheim, and the justness of disposition in all.

  Nor is the beauty of the present city solely owing to the destruction of the antient one by Louis the Fourteenth, in 1689, the year of general devastation in the Palatinate. It was laid out in right lines, though to a less extent, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, when Frederic the Fifth laid the foundation of the fortifications, behind which a town was built, that adopted the antient name of Manheim, from a neighbouring one then in decay. These were the fortifications and the town destroyed by the French in 1689. The plan of both was but extended, when the present works were formed upon the system of Cohorn, and the city by degrees restored, with streets, which, intersecting each other at right angles, divide it into an hundred and seven square portions. The number of the inhabitants, exclusive of the garrison, was, in 1784, 21,858.

  Some of the streets are planted with rows of trees, and there are five or six open places, suitable for promenades, or markets. The customhouse, which forms a side to one of these, is a noble stone building, rather appearing to be a palace, than an office, except that under the colonnades, which surround it, are shops for jewellery and other commodities.

  The Electoral palace, which opens, on one side, to the city, and, on the other, to the ramparts, was built by the Elector Charles-Philippe, who, in the year 1721, removed his residence hither from Heidelberg, on account of some difference with the magistrates, or, as is said, of the prevalence of religious disputes in that city. He began to erect it in 1720; but the edisice was not completed, till the right wing was added by the present Elector, not to be used as a residence, but to contain a gallery of paintings, cabinets of antiquities and natural history, a library, treasury and manege. We passed a morning in viewing the apartments in the other wing, all the paintings and books having been removed from this, as well as great part of the furniture from the whole palace, in the dread of an approaching bombardment. The person, who shewed them, took care to keep the credit of each room safe, by assuring us at the door, that it was not in its usual condition. The Elector had been, for some months, at Munich, but the Duke and Duchess of Deux Ponts and their family have resided in this palace, since their retirement from Deux Ponts, in the latter end of the campaign of 1792.

  The rooms are all lofty, and floored with inlaid work of oak and chesnut; the ceilings, for the most part, painted; and the walls covered with tapestry, finely wrought, both as to colour and design. Some of this came from a manufactory, established by the Elector, at Franckenthal.

  The furniture, left in several of the rooms, was grand and antient, but could never have been so costly as those, who have seen the mansions of wealthy individuals in England, would expect to find in a palace. The Elector’s state-bed was inclosed not only by a railing, but by a glass case to the height of the ceiling, with windows, that could be opened at pleasure, to permit a conversation with his courtiers, when compliments were paid literally at a levee. In the court of France, this practice continued even to very late years, and there were three distinct privileges of entrée, denoting the time, at which persons of different classes were permitted to enter the chamber. In the Earl of Portland’s embassy for King William to Louis the Fourteenth, it was thoug
ht a signal mark of honour, that he was admitted to his audience, not only in the chamber, but within the rails; and there the French Monarch stood with the three young Princes, his grandsons, the Count de Tholouse, the Duke d’Aumont and the Mareschal de Noailles. The Duke made his speech covered, after which the King entered into conversation with him, for several minutes.

  One room, at Manheim, was called the Silver Chamber, from the quantity of solid silver, used about the furniture. Such articles as could be carried away entire, had been removed, but the walls were disfigured by the loss of the ornaments torn from them, on account of their value. In several rooms, the furniture, that remained, was partly packed, to be carried away upon the next alarm. The contents of the wardrobe were in this state, and the interior of these now desolated apartments seemed like the skeleton of grandeur. The beauty of the painted ceilings, however, the richness of the various prospects, commanded by the windows, and the great extent of the building sufficiently accounted for the reputation, which this palace has, of being the finest in Germany.

  It is built of stone, which has somewhat the reddish hue of that used at Mentz, and, though several parts are positively disapproved by persons of skill in architecture, the whole is certainly a grand and sumptuous building.

  The situation of Manheim and the scenery around it are viewed to great advantage from the tower of the Observatory, in which strangers are politely received by the Professor of Astronomy, whose residence is established in it. From this are seen the fruitful plains of the Palatinate, spreading, on all sides, to bold mountains, of which those of Lorrain, that extend on the west, lose in distance the variety of their colouring, and, assuming a blue tint, retain only the dignity of their form. Among these, the vast and round headland, called the Tonnesberg, which is in sight, during the greatest part of the journey from Mentz to Manheim, is preeminent.