An Obelisk, Erected A
Few Years Since To The Memory Of General Daun, Occupies A Small
Eminence On The Right.
On the left is the plain of Klephorcz, where
the Austrian army was drawn up.
{5}
At eleven o'clock on the same night we reached
PRAGUE.
As it was my intention to pursue my journey after two days, my first
walk on the following morning was to the police-office, to procure a
passport and the all-important pass-warrant; my next to the custom-
house, to take possession of a small chest, which I had delivered up
five days before my departure, and which, as the expeditor affirmed,
I should find ready for me on my arrival at Prague. {6} Ah, Mr.
Expeditor! my chest was not there. After Saturday comes Sunday; but
on Sunday the custom-house is closed. So here was a day lost, a day
in which I might have gone to Dresden, and even visited the opera.
On Monday morning I once more hastened to the office in anxious
expectation; the box was not yet there. An array of loaded wagons
had, however, arrived, and in one of these it might be. Ah, how I
longed to see my darling little box, in order that I might - NOT
press it to my heart, but unpack it in presence of the excise
officer!
I took merely a cursory glance at Prague, as I had thoroughly
examined every thing there some years before. The beautiful
"Graben" and Horse-market once more excited my admiration. It was
with a peculiar feeling that I trod the old bridge, from which St.
John of Nepomuk was cast into the Moldau for refusing to publish the
confession of King Wenceslaus' consort. {7} On the opposite bank I
mounted the Hradschin, and paid a visit to the cathedral, in which a
large sarcophagus, surrounded and borne by angels, and surmounted by
a canopy of crimson damask, is dedicated to the memory of the saint.
The monument is of silver, and the worth of the metal alone is
estimated at 80,000 florins. The church itself is not spacious, but
is built in the noble Gothic style; the lesser altars, however, with
their innumerable gilded wooden figures, look by contrast extremely
puny. In the chapel are many sarcophagi, on which repose bishops
and knights hewn in stone, but so much damaged, that many are
without hands and feet, while some lack heads. To the right, at the
entrance of the church, is the celebrated chapel of St. Wenceslaus,
with its walls ornamented with frescoes, of which the colours and
designs are now almost obliterated. It is further enriched with
costly stones.
Not far from the cathedral is situated the palace of Count Czernin,
a building particularly favoured with windows, of which it has one
for every day in the year. I was there in an ordinary year, and saw
365; how they manage in leap-year I do not know. The view from the
belvedere of this palace well repays the observer. It takes in the
old and new town, the noble river with its two bridges (the ancient
venerable-looking stone structure, and the graceful suspension-
bridge, six hundred paces long), and the hills round about, clothed
with gardens, among which appear neat country-houses.
The streets of the "Kleinseite" are not particularly attractive,
being mostly tortuous, steep, and narrow. They contain, however,
several remarkable palaces, among which that of Wallenstein Duke of
Friedland stands pre-eminent. {8}
After visiting St. Nicholas' Church, remarkable for the height of
its spire and its beautifully arched cupola, I betook myself to
Wimmer's gardens, and thence to the "Bastei," a place of public
resort with the citizens of Prague.
I could now observe the devastation caused by the rising of the
water shortly before my arrival. The Moldau had overstepped its
banks in so turbulent a manner, as to carry along with it several
small houses, and even a little village not far from Prague, besides
damaging all the dwellings upon its banks. The water had indeed
already fallen, but the walls of the houses were soaked through and
through; the doors had been carried away, and from the broken
windows no faces looked out upon the passers-by. The water had
risen two feet more than in 1784, in which year the Moldau had also
attained an unusual height.
From the same tower of observation, I looked down upon the great
open space bought a few years ago, and intended to be occupied by
the termini of the Vienna and Dresden railroads. Although several
houses were only just being pulled down, and the foundations of but
few buildings were laid, I was assured that within six months every
thing would be completed.
I have still to mention a circumstance which struck me during my
morning peregrinations, namely, the curious method in which milk,
vegetables, and other provisions are here brought to town. I could
have fancied myself transported to Lapland or Greenland, on meeting
every where carts to which two, three, or four dogs were harnessed.
One pair of dogs will drag three hundredweight on level ground; but
when they encounter a hill, the driver must lend a helping hand.
These dogs are, besides, careful guardians; and I would not advise
any one to approach a car of this kind, as it stands before the inn-
door, while the proprietor is quenching his thirst within, on the
money he has just earned.
At five o'clock on the morning of the 15th of April I left Prague,
and rode for fourteen miles in the mail-carriage, as far as Obristwy
on the Elbe, at which place I embarked for Dresden, on board the
steamer Bohemia, of fifty-horse power, a miserable old craft,
apparently a stranger to beauty and comfort from her youth up. The
price charged for this short passage of eight or nine hours is
enormously dear. The travellers will, however, soon have their
revenge on the extortionate proprietors; a railroad is constructing,
by means of which this distance will be traversed in a much shorter
time, and at a great saving of expense.
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