14th. We left Oehringen at eight in the morning, and arrived at Halle, or Schöneshalle, about twelve, passing through some very pretty mountainous country. In this part of Würtemberg there are some coal mines, but the coal seems to be of a very inferior quality, a brown coal.
The female peasantry dress their hair in a very singular manner, drawing it back from the forehead, and tying it up in a bunch behind, which gives the head a remarkably naked appearance, and increases their altogether awkward and uncouth air. The town is small and very old, and has some considerable remains of ancient fortifications. From Halle we had a very long drive up-hill and down-hill for five hours, through a fertile country well wooded and watered, to Ellwangen, another small town, prettily situated in a valley: the hills on the one side are surmounted by a modern chateau, belonging to the King of Würtemberg; and on the top of those opposite stands a fine large church, to which, at certain seasons of the year, pilgrims flock in numbers from great distances. Before tea I strolled round the town, and afterwards read one of the "Arabian Nights Entertainments" to Sir Humphry, after which we played our usual game at ecarté.
15th. Leaving Ellwangen, we passed through hilly but barren country, and over the most abominable roads possible, to Nördlingen, the first Bavarian post-town. We were every now and then obliged to get out of the carriage from fear of being overturned; and the postilion frequently preferred driving over a newly ploughed field to passing along the road. We however arrived safely at the post-house; thus accomplishing six short leagues in about as many hours. On driving into the town we were, as usual, asked for our passport, which was an English one: the officer took it for French, and I suppose he had never seen such an one before, for he copied the printed title into a paper which he gave me, as a permission to enter Bavaria, as follows:—"Permit to pass, &c. &c., Lord Dudley, particulier," and I could hardly make the man believe that the printed name was not that of the person travelling, but that of the minister. From Nördlingen we drove to Donauwörth, on the Donau, or Danube; passing through Haarburg, a small village, but one of the prettiest spots we had seen since we left the banks of the Neckar. The church and many of the houses are situated on the top of a lofty rock, high above the rest of the buildings, and the whole scene is strikingly picturesque. The Danube at Donauwörth is a small and unimposing stream. Opposite our inn were two boats ready to start for Vienna; they were of considerable size, but wholly built of rough deal planks. Such boats are chiefly filled with merchandize, and rarely take passengers, as their accommodation is very inferior. When they arrive at Vienna, they are broken up and sold as old wood, the current of the Danube being too rapid to admit of boats ascending. We had good accommodation at the only hotel, the Crab, which is out of the town, on the banks of the river; and Sir Humphry determined to remain till tomorrow, to see the fishermen cast their nets in the morning.
16th. Sir Humphry did not feel well enough to-day to accompany the fishermen, but desired them to bring him any fish they might catch; they accordingly brought him a schill, the large perch of the Danube, (Perca lucioperca, Block,) of which Sir Humphry begged me to take a drawing. We then dissected it, and afterwards had it dressed for dinner, and both of us thought it very good, and much resembling cod in taste. Sir Humphry now generally prefers dining alone, and at a late hour for this part of the world, (four o'clock); and I, therefore, where I find a table d'hôte, usually dine at it; for though the business of eating in this country is not one of hasty dispatch, or of such trivial importance as to leave all the powers awake to conversation, yet foreigners who wish to become acquainted with the people and manners, as well as to see them, will, at all events, understand them much better by mixing with them, than by keeping, as is so often the case with English travellers, to their own rooms. While Sir Humphry dined, I took a walk up the Schellenberg, to look at the spot from which Marlborough drove the French at the celebrated battle of Blenheim; and sitting under an old oak, on the top of the hill, I enjoyed the extensive view beneath me. Hardly visible in the distance appeared the towers of Blenheim; nearer stood many a small village, embosomed as it were in the forests; and the Danube, winding through the woods and verdant meadows, now hidden by an interposing hill, then again appearing in many a bending curve, with here and there a small green island, flowed tranquilly on till it reaches the town of Donauwörth, where it receives the tributary waters of the Wernitz, a small river which runs through the town. I hastily took a sketch of the view, the scene of actions which can never be forgotten by the friend of English glory, and then returned to Sir Humphry, and in the evening read to him some of the "Arabian Nights," and Dryden's beautiful poem "The Flower and the Leaf."
17th. Crossing over to the right bank of the Danube by a small wooden bridge, our road passed through many pleasant meadows covered with beautiful anemones, interspersed here and there with the dark blue gentian, and enlivened by numerous herds of cattle. The first poste was Bergheim, and from thence to Neuburg and Ingolstadt. The church steeples of all the villages by which we passed were covered with tiles glazed with different colours, which in the sunshine have a very brilliant and Chinese appearance. Ingolstadt is a small old town, with dilapidated fortifications and walls. The only inn seemed in a similar condition, and the kitchen and some of the rooms being in a state of repair, we were obliged to continue our route. On leaving the town, we crossed over the Danube again and drove on to Vohburg. In the distance we thought we saw the Salzburg Alps, but we were unable to determine with certainty, the clouds having the greatest possible resemblance to distant snowy mountains. The Danube at Vohburg is by no means so wide as the Rhine at Mannheim, but is much more rapid. We again recrossed it, and drove through some marshy land, and a small forest of firs, beautifully green, to Neustadt, where we remained for the night at a most wretched inn.
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.
18th. We left Neustadt in the morning, and drove on through pretty and hilly country, chiefly covered with fir wood, to Postsari, where we came down close upon the Danube, and beheld some most beautiful rocky scenery, far superior in grandeur to that of the Rhine. Immense perpendicular masses of grey rock, with dark fir-trees here and there forcing themselves through the fissures and crevices, form the right bank of the Danube at Abach, a small village at the foot of a hill, on the top of which stands an enormous round tower, the only remaining vestige of a large castle which formerly crowned the summit. Before entering the village the road is hewn through the solid rock, and high above the head of the traveller is a gigantic Latin inscription, cut in the rock, purporting that this work was undertaken and completed by Charles Theodor, Elector of Bavaria; two colossal lions on pedestals mark the spot which was once solid rock. From this little village we passed over the hill to Regensburg, or Ratisbon, which lies in the valley beneath. The appearance of this old city from a distance is not more imposing than when in it, for it has no high towers nor fine prominent buildings. We entered it at about one o'clock, through an alley of young poplars, on the right of which stands a small modern temple, dedicated to the memory of the celebrated astronomer, Keppler. A light pretty gateway leads into dark and narrow streets, at the end of one of which was our inn, the Golden Cross, and the good accommodation we here found, was not rendered the less agreeable from its contrast with that of the wretched inn at Neustadt. In the afternoon I walked out with Sir Humphry to see the town. The greatest, or rather only curiosity it possesses, is the large room in which the celebrated Diet of the Empire used to be held: the exterior has a miserable appearance, and Sir Humphry, instead of going in, went to see some fish in a tank, and wished me to accompany him as interpreter. I went in the evening again to see the hall of the Diet, but it was shut, and the man who shows it was not to be found. From the fish-tank we went to the bridge over the Danube, which is well built of stone, and is entirely paved with large flag stones. The river, already of considerable breadth, rushes through it with astonishing rapidity, and turns a number of mills below it. We then returned and took our tea, and our evening's book was "Palamon and Arcite."
19th. We quitted Ratisbon at nine in the morning, leaving the banks of the Danube to our left, and drove on to Eglofsheim, and from thence generally through or on the borders of a thick and sombre pine forest, through Birkheim to Ergolshausen. The cottages in this part of Bavaria are usually built of trunks of trees, laid horizontally one upon another, like the log-houses of America; and the roofs are covered with shingles, on which are placed large flat stones, to prevent their being blown off. The better ones have generally some picture, the subject of which is taken from the Holy Writings, painted on the front; and at Ratisbon I saw a "David and Goliath," which covered the entire front of a large house three or four stories high. At Ergolshausen we were detained whilst the carriage was mended; this reparation cost eighteen kreuzers, (about sixpence,) and in France, for a similar one, we paid five francs.
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."