I was
ready and waiting, and drove off comfortably to the railway. The
distance from Dresden to Leipzig is reckoned at fifty-six miles, and
the journey occupied three hours.
The first fourteen miles are very agreeable; gardens, fields, and
meadows, pine-forests in the plain and on the hills, and between
these, villages, farms, country-houses, and solitary chapels,
combine to form a very pretty landscape. But the scene soon
changes, and the town of Meissen (famous for its porcelain
manufactory), on the right hand, seems to shut out from our view all
that is picturesque and beautiful.
From here to Leipzig we travel through a wearisome monotonous plain,
enlivened at long intervals by villages and scattered farms. There
is nothing to see but a great tunnel, and the river Pleisse - the
latter, or rather the Elster, is rendered famous by the death of
Prince Poniatowski. {9}
The town of Leipzig, celebrated far and wide for its fairs, and more
for its immense publishing trade, presents an appearance of noise
and bustle proportionate to its commercial importance. I found
streets, squares, and inns alike crowded. {10}
Perhaps there does not exist a town with its houses, and
consequently its streets, so disfigured with announcements, in all
sizes and shapes, covering its walls, and sometimes projecting
several feet, as Leipzig.
