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                                 TOUR

                                  IN

                     ENGLAND, IRELAND, AND FRANCE,

                                  IN

                 THE YEARS 1826, 1827, 1828, AND 1829.

                            WITH REMARKS ON

     THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE INHABITANTS, AND ANECDOTES OF
                   DISTINGUISHED PUBLIC CHARACTERS.

                        IN A SERIES OF LETTERS.

                          BY A GERMAN PRINCE.

                             PHILADELPHIA:

               CAREY, LEA & BLANCHARD, CHESTNUT STREET.

                                 1833.




                         TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

                                TO THE

             FIRST AND SECOND VOLS. OF THE LONDON EDITION


The following work being the genuine expression of the thoughts and
feelings excited by this country in the mind of a foreigner whose
station, education, and intelligence seem to promise no common degree of
aptitude for the difficult task of appreciating England, it has been
thought worth while to give it to the English public. The Translator is
perfectly aware that the author has been led, or has fallen, into some
errors both of fact and inference. These he has not thought it expedient
to correct. Every candid traveller will pronounce such errors
inevitable; for from what class in any country is perfectly accurate and
impartial information to be obtained? And in a country so divided by
party and sectarian hostilities and prejudices as England, how must this
difficulty be increased! The book is therefore given unaltered; except
that some few omissions have been made of facts and anecdotes, either
familiar to us, though new to Germans, or trivial in themselves.

Opinions have been retained throughout, without the least attempt at
change or colouring. That on some important subjects they are not those
of the mass of Englishmen, will, it is presumed, astonish no reflecting
man. They bear strong marks of that _individuality_ which characterizes
modes of thinking in Germany, where men are no more accustomed to claim
the right of thinking for others, than to renounce that of thinking for
themselves. This characteristic of the German mind stands in strong
contrast to the sectarian division of opinion in England. The sentiments
of the author are therefore to be regarded simply as his own, and not as
a sample of those of any sect or class in Germany: still less are they
proposed for adoption or imitation here. The opinion he pronounces on
French and German philosophy is, for example by no means in accordance
with the popular sentiment of his country.

The Letters, as will be seen from the Preface, were published as the
work of a deceased person. They have excited great attention in
Germany; and rumour has ascribed them to Prince Pückler Muskau, a
subject of Prussia, who is known to have travelled in England and
Ireland about the period at which these Letters were written. He has
even been mentioned as the author in the Berlin newspapers. As, however,
he has not thought fit to accept the authorship, we have no right to fix
it upon him; though the public voice of Germany has perhaps sufficiently
established his claim to it. At all events, the Letters contain
allusions to his rank, which fully justify us in ascribing them to _a
German Prince_. They likewise furnish internal evidence of his being a
man not only accustomed to the society of his equals, but conversant
with the world under various aspects, and with literature and art: of
fertile imagination; of unfettered and intrepid understanding; and
accustomed to consider every subject in a large, tolerant, and original
manner.

The author of the '_Briefe eines Verstorbenen_,' be he who he may, has
had the honour and happiness of drawing forth a critique from the pen of
Göthe. None but those incapable of estimating the unapproachable
literary merits of that illustrious man, will be surprised that the
Translator should be desirous of giving the authority of so potential a
voice to the book which it has been his difficult task to render into
English.

The following extracts from Göthe's article in the _Berliner Jahrbuch_
will do more to recommend the work than all that could be added here:--

     "The writer appears a perfect and experienced man of the world,
     endowed with talents, and with a quick apprehension; formed by a
     varied social existence, by travel and extensive connections;
     likewise a thorough, liberal-minded German, versed in literature
     and art.

     * * * "He is also a good companion even in not the best company,
     and yet without ever losing his own dignity. * * *

     "Descriptions of natural scenery form the chief part of the
     Letters; but of these materials he avails himself with admirable
     skill. England, Wales, and especially Ireland, are drawn in a
     masterly manner. We can hardly believe but that he wrote the
     description with the object immediately before his eyes. As he
     carefully committed to paper the events of every day at its close,
     the impressions are most distinct and lively. His vivacity and
     quick sense of enjoyment enable him to depict the most monotonous
     scenery with perfect individual variety. It is only from his
     pictorial talent that the ruined abbeys and castles, the bare rocks
     and scarcely pervious moors of Ireland, become remarkable or
     endurable:--poverty and careless gaiety, opulence and absurdity,
     would repel us at every step. The hunting parties, the drinking
     bouts, which succeed each other in an unbroken series, are
     tolerable because he can tolerate them. We feel, as with a beloved
     travelling companion, that we cannot bear to leave him, even where
     the surrounding circumstances are least inviting; for he has the
     art of amusing and exhilarating himself and us. Before it sets, the
     sun once more breaks through the parted clouds, and gives to our
     astonished view an unexpected world of light and shadow, colour and
     contrast.

     "His remarks on natural scenery, which he views with the eye of an
     artist, and his successive and yet cursive description of his
     route, are truly admirable.

     "After leading us as patient companions of his pilgrimage, he
     introduces us into distinguished society. He visits the famous
     O'Connell in his remote and scarcely accessible residence, and
     works out the picture which we had formed to ourselves from
     previous descriptions of this wonderful man. He next attends
     popular meetings, and hears speeches from O'Connell, Shiel, and
     other remarkable persons. He takes the interest of a man of
     humanity and sense in the great question which agitates Ireland;
     but has too clear an insight into all the complicated
     considerations it involves to be carried away by exaggerated hopes.
     * * *

     "The great charm, however, which attaches us to his side, consists
     in the moral manifestations of his nature which run through the
     book: his clear understanding and simple natural manners render him
     highly interesting. We are agreeably affected by the sight of a
     right-minded and kind-hearted man, who describes with charming
     frankness the conflict between will and accomplishment.

     "We represent him to ourselves as of dignified and prepossessing
     exterior. He knows how instantly to place himself on an equality
     with high and low, and to be welcome to all. That he excites the
     attention of women is natural enough,--he attracts and is
     attracted; but his experience of the world enables him to terminate
     any little _affaires du coeur_ without violence or indecorum.

     "The journey was undertaken very recently, and brings us the latest
     intelligence from the countries which he viewed with an acute,
     clear, and comprehensive eye.

     "He gradually affords us a clue to his own character. We see before
     us a finely constituted being, endowed with great capacity; born to
     great external advantages and felicities; but in whom a lively
     spirit of enterprise is not united to constancy and perseverance;
     whence he experiences frequent failure and disappointment. But this
     very defect gives him that peculiar genial aimlessness, which to
     the reader is the charm of his travels. * * *

     "His descriptions are equally good in the various regions for which
     talents of such different kinds are required. The wildest and the
     loveliest scenes of nature; buildings, and works of art; incidents
     of every kind; individual character and social groups,--all are
     treated with the same clear perception, the same easy unaffected
     grace. * * *

     "The peculiarities of English manners and habits are drawn vividly
     and distinctly, and without exaggeration. We acquire a lively idea
     of that wonderful combination, that luxuriant growth,--of that
     insular life which is based in boundless wealth and civil freedom,
     in universal monotony and manifold diversity; formal and
     capricious, active and torpid, energetic and dull, comfortable and
     tedious, the envy and the derision of the world.

     "Like other unprejudiced travellers of modern times, our author is
     not very much enchanted with the English form of existence: his
     cordial and sincere admiration are often accompanied by unsparing
     censure. * * *

     "He is by no means inclined to favour the faults and weaknesses of
     the English; and in these cases he has the greatest and best among
     them--those whose reputation is universal--on his side."--GÖTHE.




                         TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

                                TO THE

             THIRD AND FOURTH VOLS. OF THE LONDON EDITION.


Since it has been suggested that I ought not to suffer several glaring,
though (as I think) unimportant, errors to pass unnoticed, as if I were
not aware of them, I mention the most conspicuous. The Author says the
Royal Exchange was built by Charles II.; that the piece of water at
Blenheim covers eight hundred acres, whereas I am told it covers only
two hundred and fifty;--he calls the great Warwick Beauchamp, and not
Neville:--alluding to Sir Walter Scott's 'Kenilworth,' he calls Varney,
Vernon; and he lays the scene of Varney's murder of his wife at
Kenilworth, instead of at Cumnor.--There may be more such mistakes for
aught I know. Such are to be found in every account of a foreign country
I have ever seen, with the exception of some two or three works of
faultless correctness and veracity, which nobody reads. Of these Carsten
Niebuhr's may be taken as a representative. Whoever has had the good
fortune to see a work on Germany, which was considerably accredited
here, commented with marginal notes by an intelligent and veracious
German, may have had a fair opportunity of comparing the sum of
misstatements between the two countries. Of our 'natural enemies' I say
nothing, nor of our irritable child, whom so much has been done to
irritate, across the Atlantic. Of Italian travellers, Eustace is given
up as nearly a romance-writer; Englishmen believe Forsyth to be
extremely correct, but instructed Italians point out errors grosser than
any of those here noticed. After all, errors of the kind are (except to
tourists) comparatively unimportant, when they relate to countries which
are not explored with a view to science, but merely for the purpose of
giving the general aspect, moral and physical, of the country. Whoever
succeeds in doing that with anything like fairness, may be regarded as
having effected as much as the extreme difficulty of obtaining accurate
information, even on the spot, will admit; and, in a work like the
present, which makes no pretension to any higher character than that of
chit-chat letters to an intimate friend, will have accomplished all that
it is fair to look for.

It has also been suggested that I ought to have given the names of the
persons alluded to at length, instead of merely copying the initials
given in the original. To this I can only reply, that had I the
inclination, I am totally without the power. I know nothing of any of
the persons or incidents recorded; nor have I any means, which are not
equally at the command of all my readers, of guessing to whom the Author
alludes in any case. Inquiries of the kind are as foreign to my tastes
and pursuits as the society in question is from my station in life. I
have regarded these incidents solely in the light of illustrations of
national manners; and the applying them to individuals is a matter in
which I should take not the slightest interest. But since it is obvious
that this is not the common taste, I have rather thought to obscure than
to elucidate those parts of the book which are objectionably personal.
If I could have done this still more, without entirely changing the
character of the work, I should have done it. But by any such material
change I should have made myself, in some sort, responsible for its
contents: which, as a mere translator, I can in no way be held to be.
Whenever I find that the English public are likely to receive, with any
degree of favour, such a German work as it would be my greatest pride
and pleasure to render into my native tongue to the best of my ability,
I shall be too happy to share with the illustrious and humanizing poets
and philosophers of Germany any censure, as I should feel it the highest
honour to partake in the minutest portion of their glory.

       *       *       *       *       *

Hitherto I have found no encouragement to hope that any such work as I
should care to identify myself with, would find readers.

       *       *       *       *       *

The Reviews and other Journals (which, for the most part, have been
divided between excessive praise, and censure equally excessive, of this
slight but clever work) have, of course, not been sparing in allusions
to the personal character of the Author. Of that, and of all that
concerns his residence here, I am utterly ignorant. When I projected the
translation of the book, I believed it to be, what the title announces,
_The Letters of a deceased Person_. All that I now know of the Author's
personal history while in England, (if information from such sources may
be called knowledge,) is gained from the writings of his reviewers.
Whether their representations be true or false, I have not the slightest
interest in discussing. Even if every several anecdote related by him
were a lie, it would remain to be considered, whether or not his remarks
on England and English society tallied in the main with those of other
instructed foreigners, and with those of the more impartial and
enlightened portion of Englishmen.




PREFACE OF THE EDITOR.


The Letters which we now lay before the public have this
peculiarity,--that, with very few and unimportant exceptions, they were
actually written at the moment as they appear in these pages.

It may, therefore, easily be imagined that they were written without the
most distant view to publicity. The writer, however, is now numbered
with the departed. Many scruples are thus removed: and as his Letters
contain not only many interesting details, but more especially internal
evidence of a real individuality; as they are written with no less
uncoloured freedom than perfect impartiality,--we thought that these
elements are not so abundant in our literature as to render such a work
a superfluity.

It was, I must confess, an infelicity which attended the deceased author
during life, that he set about everything in a manner different from
that pursued by other men; from which cause few things succeeded with
him. Many of his acquaintances thought that he affected originality. In
that they did him injustice. No man was ever more sincere and genuine in
his singularities; none, perhaps, had less the appearance of being so.
No man was more natural, in cases where everybody thought they saw
design.

This untoward fate still, in a certain degree, pursues the appearance of
his Letters. Various circumstances, which cannot be explained here,
compel us, contrary to all usage, to begin with the last two volumes,
which the public must accept as the first. Should these meet with
approbation, we hope soon to be able to publish that _preceding sequel_
which will be found no less independent than these. For the convenience
of the reader, we have annexed a short table of contents, as well as
occasional notes, _ad modum Minellii_; for which we beg pardon and
indulgence.

_B----, October 30, 1829._




CONTENTS.


LETTER I.

Departure. Madame de Sevigne. Dresden. Homoeopathic disposition. The art
of travelling comfortably. Reminiscences of youth. Weimar. Grand Duke's
library. The Court. The park. Dinner at Court. Duke Bernhard. Anecdote.
Visit to Göthe. A day in the Belvedere. Late Queen of Wurtemberg.
Granby. English abroad and at home......1

LETTER II.

Gotha. Old friends. Eisenach. The wedding. Hasty flights. The banks of
the Ruhr. Wesel. Fatherlandish sandbanks. Beautiful gardens of Holland.
Foreign air of the country. Culture. Utrecht. The cathedral at Gouda.
Houses built aslant. Fantastic windmills. Rotterdam. The civil banker.
Pasteboard roofs. The golden gondola. Ætna. The lovely girl. L'adieu de
Voltaire......9

LETTER III.

The passage. The planter. The English custom-house. The lost purse.
Macadamized roads. Improvements of London. Specimens of bad taste.
National taste. The Regent's Park. Waterloo bridge. London Hotels. The
bazaars. Walks in the streets. Shops. Dinner at the ---- Ambassador's.
Johannisberg. Chiswick. Decline of taste in the science of gardening.
Favourable climate. The menagerie. Life in the City. The universal
genius. The exchange and Bank. The gold cellar. Court of justice of the
Lord Mayor. Garroway's Coffee-house. Rothschild. Nero. Exeter 'Change.
Wurtemberg diplomacy. Theatre in the Strand. The ingenious man. Too much
for money. Hampton Court. Dangerous fumigation......14

LETTER IV.

Climate. British Museum. Its guards. Strange _Mischmasch_. Journey to
Newmarket. English scenery. Life there. The races. The betting-post.
Visit in the country. English hospitality. The Dandy. Englishmen on the
continent. National customs. Order of dinner. Hot-houses. Audley end.
The Aviary. Short Grove. Sale of Land in England......23

LETTER V.

Advice to travellers. Clubs. Virtue and Umbrellas. Arrangement of Maps.
English wine. How an Englishman sits. Comfortable customs. Rules of
behaviour. Treatment of Servants. The higher classes. Rules of play.
Pious wishes for Germany. Good-breeding of a Viscount. The actor Liston.
Madame Vestris. 'Manger et digerer.' Sentimental effusion. Inconvenient
Newspapers. Drury-lane. Braham the everlasting Jew. Miss Paton.
Vulgarity of the theatre. Coarseness of an English audience......34

LETTER VI.

Barrel organs. Punch. His biography. Ruined Houses. The King in
Parliament. Contrast. George the Fourth. The Opera. Figaro without
Singers. English melodies. Charles Kemble. Costume of old times. Prince
E----. A diplomatic 'bon mot.' Sir L---- M----. Practical Philosophy.
Falstaff as he is and as he should be. The King in Hamlet. The
intelligent actor from Newfoundland. Little circle in the great world.
How the day passes here. Learning languages. The author of Anastasius.
His antique furniture. Oberon. The chorus of rocks. Presentation to the
King. Incidents at the levee. Dinner with Mr. R----. Real piety. His
fashionable friends. State carriage of the King of the Birmans. Mathews
at home......44

LETTER VII.

The auctioneer. The Napoleonist. French theatre. A rout. Lady Charlotte
B----. Politics and conversation. English Aristocracy. The foggy sun of
England. Extraordinary testamentary dispositions. Modern knights of St.
John. Sion House. Richmond. Adelphi. Admirable drunkard. Alexander Von
Humboldt. King of Prussia. The Diorama......58

LETTER VIII.

Journey of business. Gothic and Italian villa. Stanmore Priory. English
country inns. Breakfast. Cashiobury Park. Tasteful magnificence.
Drawings by Denon. Flower-Gardens. Ashridge. Modern Gothic. Woburn
Abbey......64

LETTER IX.

Warwick Castle. Feudal Grandeur. The baronial hall. Portraits. Joan of
Arragon. Machiavelli. Leamington. Guy's Cliff. His cave. Gaveston's
cross. Tombs of Warwick and Leicester. The ruins of Kenilworth.
Elizabeth's balcony. The past. Birmingham. Mr. Thomasson's manufactory.
Aston Hall. Cromwell. Chester. The town prison. The rogue's fête......70

LETTER X.

Hawkestone Park. Uncommonly beautiful scenery. The red castle and New
Zealander's hut. More manufactories. Dangerous employment. The room in
which Shakspeare was born. His grave. Various parks. The Judith of
Cigoli. Blenheim. Vandalism. Pictures. Oxford. Its Gothic aspect. The
Sovereigns as Doctors. The Museum. Tradescant and his bird Dodo. The
blue dung-beetle in the character of a knight. Elizabeth's riding
gaiters, and her lover's locks of hair. The library. Manuscripts. Stowe.
Overloading. Louis the Eighteenth's lime trees. Valuables behind a
grating. Decoration for Don Juan. Portrait of Shakspeare. Ninon de
l'Enclos. Balustrade. Christmas pantomimes......81

LETTER XI.

Conversational talents of the French. Death of the Duke of York.
Adventure at his house. English mourning. Excerpts from my journal. Lady
Morgan's Salvator Rosa. 'What is conscience?' Cosmorama. Skating on the
Serpentine. The blacking-manufacturer's'sporting match.' Visit to C----
Hall. Life there. Lord D----'s recollections of M----. Pictures. The
most beautiful woman. The Park......97

LETTER XII.

Brighton. Sunset. Oriental baths. 'Gourmandise' and heroism. Count
F----. Ride on the sea-shore. Almack's ball. English notions of
precedence. The romantic Scot. Sermon and priests. Duties of a clergy.
The windmill. Party at Count F----'s. Highland Costume. Private balls.
Wanderings of the garden Odysseus. Innocent politics......107

LETTER XIII.

Beggar's eloquence. Tea-kettle pantomime and jugglers. Dream
Superstition. The fancy ball. Miss F----. Mrs. F----. Remarks on
society, 'Nobodies.' Pleasures of a ball. Pictures in the clouds. The
French Physician. Amateur Concerts. Chinese feet. Italian Opera. Hyde
Park. English horsemanship......117

LETTER XIV.

Technicalities of English Society. 'Bonne chere.' Captain Parry and his
ship. The Guards' mess. Play. 'Le Moyen age.' Monkeys and Poneys. 'Le
Grand Seigneur dentiste.' Lady Hester Stanhope in Syria. Adam still
alive. Tippoo Saib's shawl. Homeward flight. Lord Mayor's dinner. Lord
H----'s and the Banker's houses. Inaccessibleness of Englishmen. Persian
Charge d'affaires. Courtesy of the English princes. Ride in the
suburbs......123

LETTER XV.

Correspondence. Lord Mayor's feast. Speeches. Caricatures. Dangers of a
fog. English society. Middle classes. Critical position of the
Aristocracy. Freedom of the press. Newspaper extracts. Dinner at Mr.
Canning's. Concert. Easy manners. Liston. The Areopagus. Rev. R. Taylor.
Almack's. Rapid travelling. Prince Schw----. House of Commons; Messrs.
Peel, Brougham, Canning. House of Lords; Duke of Wellington, Lords
Goderich, Holland, Lansdowne, Grey. Value of a ticket for Almack's. Lady
Politicians. Indian Melodrame. Sir Thomas Lawrence. Portuguese eyes.
Prince Polignac. London season. Duchess of Clarence. Countess L----'s
ball. English horsewomen. Breakfast at the Duke of Devonshire's. The new
Venus. Crush of Carriages. Dinner at the Duke of Clarence's.
Fitzclarence family. English-French. Dinner at Mr. R----'s. Marchioness
of L----. Marquis of L----. Bishops' aprons. Concerts of ancient music.
Ambulating advertisements. Mr. R----. Aristocracy in Religion.
Dream......130

LETTER XVI.

Mr. Hope's collection of pictures and statues. Toilette-necessaries of a
Dandy. Ladies' conference. Style of invitations. Duke of Sussex. Major
Kepple. Ascot races. S---- Park. The charming fairy and her
country-house. Windsor Castle. Disaster. Greek boy. British cavalry.
Absence of military pedantry. Balls. Disenchantments. Horticultural
breakfast. Colossal pines. Tyrolese singers. Northumberland-house. Sir
Gore Ousley. Persian anecdotes. Flower-table. Children's balls. Art and
nature. Greenwich. Execution. Contrasts. Party at the Duchess of Kent's.
Marie Louise. King of Rome. Heat. King's-bench and Newgate prisons. The
unconscious philosopher. Vauxhall. The battle of Waterloo. Ball at Lady
L----'s. Phrenology. Mr. Deville's character of myself. Mr. Nash's
library. Dinner at the Portuguese Ambassador's. St. Giles's. Exhibition
of English pictures. Pounds and thalers. 'Excerpts'. Gossip. Visions of
the past. The Tunnel. Astley's Theatre. Parody of the Freischutz.
Bedlam. The last of the Stuarts. Funerals. Omens. Barclay's brewery.
West India docks. Amusing charlatanerie. Westminster Abbey by night.
Dinner at Sir L---- M----'s. Practical Bull. English Opera. New organ.
Miss Linwood. Solar Microscope. Panoramas. Death of Canning. 'Vivian
Grey.' St. James's Park. Respect for the public. Propensity to mischief
in the people. Exclusiveness of the great. London in autumn. Newspaper
facts......146

LETTER XVII.

Descent in a diving-bell. Obliging fire. College of Surgeons. The false
mermaid. The sagacious ourang-outang. Extraordinary recovery. The living
skeleton. Fortune. The desperate lover. Salthill. Stoke Park. Dropmore.
Windsor Castle. Eton. St. Leonard's Hill. Windsor Park. Habits of George
the Fourth. The giraffe