In the old town or Dresden proper, the finest buildings are: the Catholic church, standing near the bridge, an edifice yielding in beauty but to few in Italy and to none in other countries. Here you hear excellent music during the church service; and the King and Royal family, all of whom are Catholics, attend constantly. The Royal Palace is very near the church and not far from it is the theatre. Saxony being a Lutheran country, the public exercise of the Catholic religion was not permitted until Napoleon's time, when he proposed an arrangement to permit to the King and all other Catholics the public celebration of their religion, which proposition was acceded to with universal approbation on the part of the Protestants, and now the Host is frequently displayed in the streets. There are however but few Catholics in Dresden among the natives. So great is the respect for usages and customs in Germany, that the Electors of Saxony, on going over to Catholicism, never thought even of requesting the indulgence of exercising their religion publicly, and the granting it has produced no evil consequence, liberalism and the most unreserved toleration in matters of religion being the order of the day.
The Royal Palace is a very fine and extensive building and the interior is well worth seeing, particularly the superb Riesen-Saal where Augustus II used to give his magnificent fêtes. One of the last and most brilliant fêtes given here was that given by the King of Saxony to the Emperor Napoleon just before the Russian campaign, at which the Emperor and Empress of Austria and most of the Sovereigns of Germany assisted, to do hommage to the great Conqueror.
The Schloss-gasse or Castle Street leads from the Palace into the Markt Platz where the markets and fairs are held. In this place, in the Schloss-gasse and in another street parallel to it, that leads from the porcelain Manufactory to the Grosser Platz (Grande Place), are the finest shops and greatest display of wealth. On the Grosser Platz stands the Frauen-Kirche, a superb Protestant church, and which may be considered as the cathedral church of Dresden. The Platz is large. There is great cleanliness in all the streets of Dresden, and the houses are well built and uniform; but there are few other very prominent edifices except those I have mentioned. On going outside the town by the gate of Pirna stands, almost immediately on the right, on turning down a road, the Gardens and Palace of Prince Anthony. Leaving this on your right and proceeding along the chaussée or high road which is nearly parallel to the river, at the distance of three-quarters mile from the Gate, stands the Palace and Gardens called Der Grosse Garten (grand garden), which you leave on your right, if you continue your route on the chaussée towards Pirna. I have not yet visited the Grosse Garten. There is likewise a fine promenade on the banks of the Elbe, but quite in an opposite direction to the Pirna gate, for to arrive at it from this gate, you must traverse the Pirna street and Grosser Platz; and on arrival near the bridge direct your course to the left, which will lead you out of one of the gates into an immensely long avenue of elm trees parallel to the river which forms the promenade.
DRESDEN, Oct. 10th.
I have been to see the Palace and grounds of the Grosser Garten. The garden and park, for it unites both, is of great extent, and beautifully laid out; but a number of fine trees have been knocked down and mutilated by cannon shot during the battle of Dresden in 1818, when this garden was occupied by the Allied troops and exposed to a heavy fire of fifty pieces of cannon, from a battery erected by Napoleon on the opposite side of the river, which completely commanded and enfiladed the whole range of the garden. How the Palace itself escaped being knocked to pieces is wonderful; but I suppose Napoleon must have given orders to spare it as much as possible. This Palace is of beautiful structure and in the style of an Italian villa; statues of the twelve Caesars and bas-reliefs adorn the exterior. The columns and pilasters are of the Corinthian order. As for the interior, it is unfurnished, and has been so since the Seven Years' war, when it was plundered by the enemy, and has never since been inhabited by the Electoral family. There is a superb rectangular basin of water in this garden. These gardens are delightfully laid out; why they are not more frequented I cannot conceive, but I have hitherto met with very few people there, tho' they are open to all the world. They will form my morning's promenade, for I prefer solitude to a crowd in a morning walk. But one of the gardeners here tells me that on Sunday evening there is generally a good deal of company, who come to listen to the music which is played in a building fitted up for the purpose at one side of the garden. Wine, coffee, beer and other refreshments are to be had; but beer is the favorite beverage. Smoking is universal among the young men; the most ardent admirers of the fair sex never forget their pipe. During the courtship the surest sign that the fair one does not intend to give her lover the basket is when she presents him with a bag to hold his tobacco. Her consent is implied thereby.
During the battle of Dresden, the slaughter in this garden was immense, and the Allies were finally driven out of it. The gardener related to me an affecting story of a young lady of Dresden, whose lover was killed in this battle and buried in the Grosser Garten. She has taken it so much to heart that she comes here three or four times in the week to visit this grave and strew flowers over it. She remains for some time absorbed in silent meditation and then withdraws. She has a settled melancholy, but it has not yet affected her understanding.
DRESDEN, Oct. 15th.
I met with my old friend, Sir W.I., who was travelling to Berlin, with the idea of passing the winter there and of proceeding in the summer to Moscow. Thro' the interests of my friends, Col. D——— and Baron de F——— I have been ballotted for and admitted a member of a club or society here called the Ressource. It is held in a large house on the Markt Platz, and is indeed a most agreeable resource to all foreigners; for 'tis in this society that they are likely to meet and form acquaintance with the noblesse, principal bourgeoisie and litterati. It is conducted on the most liberal scale and not confined to those of birth and fortune. Good character, polite behaviour and litterary requirements will ensure admittance to a candidate. This society consists of members and honorary members; among the honorary members are foreigners and others whose stay in Dresden is short; but whoever remains for more than one year must cease to be an honorary member and must be ballotted for in order to become a permanent member, and should he be blackballed he ceases to belong to the society altogether. This is a very good regulation. A year is a sufficient time of proof for the character and conduct of a person, and should he during this interval prove himself obnoxious to the members of the society, they can at its expiration exclude him for ever afterwards.
No enquiry is made as to the character and conduct of a person who is admitted as an honorary member: it is sufficient that he be recommended by a permanent member, which is deemed a sufficient guarantee for his respectability. In this society there are dining rooms, billiard rooms, card rooms, a large reading room. Here too is a small but well chosen library and three or four newspapers in every European language; all the German newspapers and reviews and the principal periodical works in the German, French, English and Italian languages. The English papers taken in here are the Times, Courier and Chronicle. Of the French, the Moniteur, Journal des Débats, Constitutionel, Journal du Commerce, Gazette de France and Gazette de Lausanne, and of the Italian the Gazette di Milano, di Venezia, di Firenze and di Lugano. Every German newspaper is, I believe, to be found here. The Society lay in their stock of wine, which is of the best quality; good cooks and servants are kept. Dinners go forward from one to three. You dine à la carte and pay the amount of what you call for to the waiters. Coffee, liqueurs and all sorts of refreshments are likewise to be had. Supper, likewise à la carte, goes forward between nine and eleven. The evening before supper may be employed, if you chuse, in cards, billiards, or reading. Very pleasant and useful acquaintances are made at the Ressource, since if a foreigner renders himself agreeable to the gentlemen who frequent this society, they generally propose taking him to their houses and introducing him to their families. After an introduction, you may go at any hour of the evening you please: but morning visits are not much in fashion, since the toilette is seldom made till after dinner, which is always early in Germany. There is no getting dinner after three o'clock in any part of Dresden. Besides the Ressource there are several other Clubs here, such as the Harmonic and others. The public balls are given at the Hôtel de Pologne twice a week, viz., one for the Noblesse and one for the Bourgeoisie. None of the female Bourgeoisie are admitted to the balls and societies of the Noblesse, and only such of the males as occupy posts or employments at Court or under Government such as Königs-rath, Hof-rath, or officers of the Army. It is therefore usual, when the Sovereign wishes to introduce a person of merit among the Bourgeoisie into the upper circles, that he gives him the title of Rath or Counsellor; but this priviledge of being presentable at Court does not extend to their wives and daughters. All the Military officers, from whatever class of life they spring, have introduction de jure into the balls and societies of the Noblesse, and are always in uniform. But when they attend the balls of the Bourgeoisie, it is the etiquette for them to wear plain clothes: at the balls of the Bourgeoisie, therefore, not an uniform is to be seen. I observed by far the prettiest women at the balls of the Bourgeoisie, and very many are to be found there who in education and accomplishments fully equal those of the Noblesse, and this is no small merit, for the women in Saxony of the higher classes are extremely well educated; most of them are proficient in music and are versed in French and Italian litterature. They seem amiable and goodnatured and by no means minaudières, as Lady Mary Wortley Montague has rather unjustly termed them; for they appear to me to be the most frank, artless creatures I ever beheld, and to have no sort of minauderie or coquetterie about them. Beauty is the appanage of the Saxon women, hence the proverb in rhyme:
Darauf bin ich gegangen nach Sachsen,
Wo die schönen Mädchen auf den Baümen wachsen.