I Replied That It Was Not My Fault;
That It Was Given To Me In That Shape By The English Consul At Bruxelles
And That It Was Not My Province To Give To The Consul Any Directions As To
Its Form And Tenor.
The Commissary of Police then asked me what business I
was about in travelling, and the following conversation took place:
"Was
haben Sie fuer Geschaefte?" - "Keine; ich reise nur um Vergnuegen's Willen." - "
Sonderbar!" - "Worin liegt das Sonderbare, dass man reist um ein schoenes
Land zu sehen?"[20] - He made no answer to this, but one of his coadjutors
standing by him said in a loud whisper, "Ein Herumreiser," which means an
adventurer or person who travels about for no good, - in a word, a
suspicious character. I then said with the utmost calm and indifference:
"Gentlemen, as soon as you shall have finished all your commentaries on the
subject of my passport, pray be so good as to inform me what I am to do,
whether I may go on to Mayence and Frankfort as is my intention, or return
to Bruxelles." The Commissary, after a slight hesitation, signed the visa
and I then carried it to the bureau of the Commandant, whose secretary
signed it without hesitation, merely asking me if I were a military man.
In the afternoon I went to visit the Dome or Cathedral. It is a fine
specimen of Gothic architecture, but singular enough the steeple is not yet
finished. In this Cathedral the most remarkable thing is the Chapel of the
Three Kings, wherein is deposited a massy gold chest inlaid with precious
stones of all sorts and of great value, containing the bones of the
identical three Kings (it is said) who came from the East to worship the
infant Jesus at Bethlehem.
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