Sketches at various table d'hôtes in hotels, public gardens and the like, were plentiful and perpetual. But the majority were destroyed or put away; out of fifty only one such as "A General in the Prussian Army" (see page [44]) being selected for reproduction.[4]
At Clausthal we joined a party to explore one of the iron mines, and Caldecott gives a sketch of the preparations. A note from our diary will best explain the situation.
"In order to descend the mines at Clausthal, visitors have to divest themselves of their ordinary costumes and put on some cast-off suits of ill-fitting garments left at the entrance to the mine for the purpose. As we approach the mouth of the shaft where the miners are waiting with lanterns to commence the descent, our party,—consisting of four Englishmen—a professor of geology, a director of mines, an editor and an artist—present the somewhat undignified aspect in the sketch. This change of costume is necessary on account of the wet state of the mines, the thick caps being a protection against loose pieces of ore and the wet earth that falls from time to time in the galleries."
Caldecott gives the generally dismal and disreputable appearance of the party with great verve; his own portrait is presented in a few touches in the background, hurrying into garments much too big for him.
On one occasion the artist takes a solitary walk between Thale and Clausthal, a pathway lined in some parts by rows of trees with forbidden fruit, a novel and tempting experience. There being no mention of this route in the guide books, he writes as he says his "own Baedeker" in the familiar practical manner:—
"I start at 3.40 P.M. from the 'Tenpounds Hotel' at Thale to walk up the valley of the Bode, over a wooden bridge, then through a beer garden, round a rocky corner," &c. "The way next through woods of beech, birch and oak; a stream can be heard but not seen. Treseburg is reached at 5.40; a prettily situated village by the water side; homely inn, damp beds."