For her habits of life, they are simple. self, are puppets, moved to mock and anShe eats little, and of plain food cooked noy her by these dark and invisible agents. in the English fashion; drinks little, keeps At the same time, she has, doubtless, had good hours, rises early, and labors much. good cause for her animosity; but these The morning, before and after breakfast, is restless suspicions are a weakness quite indevoted to what we must call semi-public compatible with the strength of mind, the business. The innumerable letters she re- force of character, and determination of ceives, and affairs she has to arrange, keep purpose, she exhibits in other respects. herself and her secretary constantly em- As a political character, she holds an ployed during some hours. At breakfast important position in Bavaria, besides havshe holds a sort of levée of persons of all ing agents and correspondents in various sorts,-ministers in esse or in posse, pro- courts of Europe. The king generally fessors, artists, English strangers, and fo- visits her in the morning, from eleven to reigners from all parts of the world. As is twelve, or one o'clock; sometimes she is usual with women of an active mind, she is summoned to the palace to consult with a great talker; but, although an egotist, him, or with the ministers, on state affairs. and with her full share of the vanity of her It is probable, that during her habits of insex, she understands the art of conversa- timacy with some of the principal political tion sufficiently never to be wearisome. In- writers in Paris, she acquired that knowdeed, although capable of violent, but eva- ledge of politics and insight into the nescent passions, of deep, but not re- manoeuvres of diplomatists and statesmen vengeful animosities, and occasionally of which she now turns to advantage in her trivialities and weaknesses, very often found new sphere of action. On foreign politics in persons suddenly raised to great power, she seems to have very clear ideas; and -she can be, and almost always is, a very her novel and powerful mode of expressing charming person, and a delightful compa- them has a great charm for the king, who nion. Her manners are distinguished, she has himself a comprehensive mind. On is a graceful and hospitable hostess, and the internal politics of Bavaria she has the she understands the art of dressing to per- good sense not to rely upon her own judgfection. ment, but to consult those whose studies The fair despot is passionately fond of and occupations qualify them to afford inhomage. She is merciless in her man-kill- formation. For the rest, she is treated by ing propensities, and those gentlemen at- the political men of the country as a subtending her levées or her soirées, who are, stantive power; and, however much they perhaps, too much absorbed in politics or may secretly rebel against her influence, art to be enamored of her personal they at least find it good policy to acknowcharms, willingly pay respect to her men- ledge it. The last change of ministry, tal attractions and conversational powers. which placed Prince Wallenstein as foreign On the other hand, Lola Montez has minister at the head of affairs, and Mr. many of the faults which history has re- Berx as minister of the interior, was her corded of others in like situations. She act. Whatever indiscretions she may, in loves power for its own sake; she is too other respects, commit, she always keeps hasty, and too steadfast in her dislikes; state secrets; and can, therefore, be conshe has not sufficiently learnt to curb the sulted, with perfect safety, in cases where passion which seems natural to her Spanish her original habits of thought render her blood; she is capricious, and quite capable, of invaluable service. Acting under adwhen her temper is inflamed, of rudeness, vice, which entirely accords with the king's which, however, she is the first to regret own general principles, his majesty has and to apologize for. One absorbing idea pledged himself to a course of steady but she has which poisons her peace. She has gradual improvement, which is calculated devoted her life to the extirpation of the to increase both the political freedom and Jesuits, root and branch, from Bavaria. the material prosperity of his kingdom, She is too ready to believe in their active without risking that unity of power which, influence, and too easily overlooks their in the present state of European affairs, is passive influence. Every one whom she essential to its protection and advancement. does not like, her prejudice transforms into One thing in her praise is, that although a Jesuit. Jesuits stare at her in the she really wields so much power, she never streets, and peep out from the corners of uses it either for the promotion of unworthy All the world, adverse to her-persons, or, as other favorites have done,

her rooms.

Without en

GERMAN LITERARY PIRACY.-We find the following in a late number of the London Athenæum. It is from a correspondent:

for corrupt purposes. During her early we have proposed to do is to explain the career, long before her influence or her po- actual relations of the parties, and to counsition became consolidated, the most enor- teract those false statements by which, we mous and tempting offers were made to her repeat, the cause of morality can never be to quit the country and leave the field open truly served. A few words more, and we to the displaced party. These were reject dismiss the subject. The relation subsisted with disdain; and there is good reason ing between the King of Bavaria and the to believe that political feeling influences Countess of Landsfelt is not of a coarse or her, not sordid considerations. Her crea- vulgar character. The king has a highly potion as Countess of Landsfelt, which has etical mind, and he sees his favorite through alienated from her some of her most honest his imagination. Knowing perfectly well liberal supporters, who wished her still to what her antecedents have been, he takes continue in rank, as well as in purposes, one her as she is, and, finding in her an intelof the people; while it has exasperated lectual and an agreeable companion, and an against her the powerless, because impo- honest, plain-spoken councillor, he fuses the verished nobility; was the unsolicited act reality with his own ideal in one deep sentiof the king, legally effected with the con- ment of affectionate respect. sent of the crown-prince. trenching too far upon a delicate subject, it may be added, that she is not regarded with contempt or detestation by either the male or the female members of the royal family few moments while I state a fact which concerns all "I beg leave to trespass upon your attention for a She is regarded by them rather as a politi-those who are, like myself, not only readers but purcal personage, than as the king's favorite. chasers of German books. I wanted, a few days Her title of Countess is accompanied by an since, some tales for children in the above language; estate of the same name, with certain feu- and having received from a German friend a strong recommendation of those by Gustav Nieritz, with a dal privileges and rights over some two list, containing the titles of his works, I chose those thousand souls, who find no reason to com- which appeared most attractive, and ordered them plain of the change. Her income, includ- from London. Among these was one entitled ing a recent addition from the king of twenty of which I discovered it to be a translation of Miss 'Der reiche arme Mann;' after reading a few pages thousand florins per annum, is seventy thou- Sedgwick's story, The Poor Rich Man and the sand florins, or little more than 5000l. In Rich Poor Man.' On turning to the two title pages, addition to this, she has private property of found the words 'Abgedruckt von Gustav Nieritz; but this was all. There was not the slightest hint her own, in the English or French funds, a given that this was a translation; and moreover, great portion of which consists of shares in, on examining it carefully, I found that the scene we believe, the Palais Royal at Paris, left was laid in the Elbthal,' instead of in New Engher by Dujarrier in his will, made on the land-that New York was changed to Hamburgthe hero's name from Harry Aikin' to 'Heinrich day he went out to fight that duel in which Schmidt'-and one of the female characters is reprehe lost his life, and for unfair proceedings sented as going from Germany to England or in which his antagonists have recently been America;' whereas in the original her transit is punished by the French criminal courts from New England to the Southern states. In short, the book is made as nearly as possible a German While upon this subject of her position, it story. I do not know what the German laws are as may be added, that it is reported, on good regards translation, but surely this translation, with authority, that the Queen of Bavaria (to its various changes, ought to have been acknow whom, by the way, the king has always paid little short of literary piracy, misleading all those ledged by the editor. Otherwise it seems to me the most scrupulous attentions due to her who, living at a distance from London, cannot see as his wife) very recently made a voluntary foreign books before ordering them. It ought also communication to her husband, apparently to be a lesson to the metropolitan booksellers to aswith the knowledge of the princes and other the titles in their catalogues, for I must add that, certain the real authorship of tales before they print members of the royal family, that should upon referring to the catalogues of the principal the king desire, at any future time, that the foreign booksellers, I found this ' Reiche arme Mann' new countess should, as a matter of right, designated as a tale by Nieritz. be presented at court, she (the queen) the Druids' places of worship are still to be seen in DRUIDICAL TEMPLES IN SCOTLAND.-Several of would offer no obstacle. the Highlands. Above Dochmaluag, there is a In dismissing this part of the subject, we pretty large one, the stones of which, it is maintained must beg to remind the reader that we do by many of the peasants in the district, are said to not attempt in any way to palliate or justify overtaken with judgment for dancing on the Sabbath have been at one time human beings, which were the kind of connexion subsisting between day. Hence the name Clachan Gorach, or foolish the King of Bavaria and his favorite. All stones.-Rossshire Advertiser.

VOL. XIII. No. II.

17

I

From the Westminster and Foreign Quarterly Review.

SWITZERLAND AND ITS CONDITION.

Die Schweiz und ihre Zustände. Reise-erinnerungen. (Switzerland and its Condition. Recollections of Travel.) By Theodore Mugge. Hanover: 1847.

In the volume before us, the picture of Zurich, and even part of Berne and St. the social, moral, and physical condition of the cantons during the year preceding the war, throws much light on the events that have subsequently occurred, and on what may prove to have been the last hour of the existence of the Swiss Confederacy.

The author is one long well-known in Germany, though, we believe, not yet to English readers, to whom, however, the interest of the subject he has chosen will now, perhaps, afford a favorable opportunity of introducing him.

Gallen, present little more than the gentle hills of the neighboring Wurtemberg and Baden, which, indeed, in the Black Forest, can show far more rugged and mountainous districts. They are merely Steppe countries, whose highest summits do not exceed two thousand feet. The range extending from the south of the canton of Freyburg to the lake of Constance, including the Rigi, and reaching to a height of 5,500 feet, may be considered to form the first mountain girdle of Switzerland. Southward of this, from the Lake of Geneva, stretches another and loftier range, forming Mount Pilate and the Schwyz mountains, and terminating with the Santis peaks on the

further south, running from Savoy through the Bernese Oberland, which it separates from the Valais. In this range rise the enormous masses of the Schneehorn, the Finster Aarhorn, the Jungfrau, &c., whose peaks are covered with everlasting snow and ice, and which link themselves with the mightiest chain of primitive granite and gneiss, which fill the Tyrol, and separate Switzerland from Italy. Towards the plains of Lombardy the descent is rapid and abrupt, forming a striking contrast with the gradual rise on the northern side.

Few countries in Europe have claims to attention so many and various as those of Switzerland, yet it has been its singular fate, while it has been more visited than almost any other, to be less generally un- Rhine. The third mountain wall lies still derstood. Its rocks and glaciers, and roaring torrents, and blue lakes, the magnificence of its mountains, and the charms of its pastoral valleys, have been gazed at and described until the returning tourist has become a terror to his friends. The name of their William Tell is a household word over all Europe, and been repeated till in sheer weariness, we must imagine our critical German friends have taken to declaring," they don't believe there ever was any such person." But few have concerned themselves much with the subsequent fate of a people with whose early struggles they have felt so warm a sympathy, and the only class of the Swiss people with which strangers have formed much acquaintance has been that of the landlords and postillions. It is not very uncommon to hear the cantons The populations occupying western spoken of as if they were provinces, and the Switzerland and the shores of the Lake of Diet regarded in the light of a House of Geneva speak French. The German lanParliament; instead of which it is a Con- guage prevails over all the north and east; gress of Ambassadors, who do but obey at the foot of the St. Gotthard, the Spluexactly the instructions given on every gen, and the Simplon, it meets the Italian; question, and have no further authority and in the Grisons a dialect of the Latin, than is afforded by the Federal Pact or the Romansch, is chiefly used. Treaty of Alliance. To this difference of language and phyEven the physical character of Switzer-sical character is added a still greater land is often mistaken, from the circum- diversity in mode of life and occupation, in stance of tourists running so nearly in the social institutions and religious faith, and, It is by no means entirely a we may even add, in forms of government, land of high mountains. The cantons of for at all events, until lately, the cantons Aargau, Thurgau, Schaffhausen, Basel, of Switzerland, though all bearing the same

same tract.

Berne, Aargau, Zurich, Basel, and all the most important towns, lie in the milder and less elevated region, and it is not till we have passed this that we find ourselves in the true pastoral highlands.

common name of Republic, comprehended | M. Mugge soon found that though the imalmost every variety, from the most com- posts of the government were light, those plete democracy, through various forms of of the innkeepers were enormously heavy. oligarchy, up even to the limits of absolute In the little town of Schaffhausen, one of monarchy in Prussian Neufchatel. the branches of industry carried on with Instead, therefore, of wondering that a the greatest vigor is the "exploitation" of confederacy composed of so many hetero- strangers who come to gaze at the beauties geneous materials should not always remain of the falls of the Rhine; and the approach perfectly united, we shall be rather inclined of the migratory flocks of travellers is to ask what is the powerful bond which has watched for as anxiously in its season as in hitherto cemented together elements so some other countries that of the birds or discordant. We believe that bond to be a fish, which make an important part of the deep and well-grounded conviction in the people's subsistence. "A fine summer minds of the Swiss, that whatever may be brings thousands of the welcome gold-scatthe defects of their political institutions, tering guests-a bad one keeps them back; they are, beyond comparison, preferable to and since every Swiss brings with him into those of the countries by which they are the world as an original instinct, the prosurrounded; and although the organs of pensity to money-making, it is an occasion arbitrary governments, in the German press of national mourning when the state of the in particular, lose no opportunity of ex- weather seems to threaten a bad harvest of pressing themselves shocked at the commo- tourists." It is hardly necessary to say, tions of Switzerland, and of thanking that the concourse of idle visitors tends in heaven that they are "not as these men," Switzerland, as everywhere else, greatly to yet the Swiss themselves are often greatly the demoralization of the people, and is amused at the pity bestowed upon them, unquestionably one of the obstacles in the and could be tempted, by no possible in- way of their happiness and true progress. ducement, to exchange a system which The extortions of innkeepers had it affords them so many solid advantages for seems at one time risen to such a height, tranquillity beneath a paternal gripe like as to threaten to work its own cure by dethat of Austria. priving them of their accustomed prey; The unhappy dissensions to which the and they found it expedient to enter into country is at present a prey need not make a coalition, and agree to carry on their us forget the whole previous course of its predatory occupation for the future with history; and if we compare the amount of more moderation, since when, travellers ensuffering experienced by Switzerland from joy the advantage of regular though severe war and civil discord in the five hundred laws, in place of being subjected to unceryears during which the Confederacy has tain piracy. The allied innkeepers, whose subsisted, with that endured by any mo- names are to be found in most guide books, narchy in the same period, the result of the have established a price current, according comparison will certainly not be in favor of to which every guest is to be fleeced; and whether his dinner be good or bad, abunOne of the first symptoms by which the dant or scanty, he has the satisfaction of author perceived that he had entered the always knowing what he is to pay for it. Swiss territory, although the soil and its At the moment of M. Mugge's arrival, productions, the people and their language, the city of Schaffhausen was preparing for were exactly similar, was the negative the celebration of a festival of one of those blessing of the absence on the frontier of many associations for rifle-shooting, music, gens-d'armes, or custom-house officers, and or other purposes, ostensibly of amusement, the pleasant consciousness that neither he which have arisen in Switzerland since nor his luggage would have to be subjected 1815, and which have had, he thinks, no to scrutiny in search of passports or contra- small share in bringing about the subseband goods. He learned also that in the quent movements, "by contributing to republic of Schaffhausen, which he had now keep alive the consciousness of freedom, entered, the taxes paid by the inhabitants and a feeling of brotherhood among the did not amount to more than about eighteen citizens of different cantons." pence a head per annum, while their neigh- The ruling powers have not been blind, bors across the frontier, who rejoice in a however, to the dangerous opportunities. Grand-Duke, pay eight times that amount. these meetings might afford-indeed have But how short-lived is human happiness! afforded-for the expression of discontent,

the latter.

and for the formation of societies for very who would fain keep the people in ignorance different purposes; but they could not at- and slavery, and establish their own power on tempt to suppress them; and the radicals, the ruins of Switzerland. A school director, from Aargau, followed on the same side,' who have gained so entirely the upper hand warning the people against narrow-mindedness, in the largest cantons, have mostly been dis- spiritual darkness, lies, Jesuits and Jesuitism, tinguished members of these associations and declaring he saw symptoms of a renewal of Counsellors, deputies, presidents and bur- social harmony, in the love of music that had gomasters have been taken from their that day brought them together. The Landamranks, and the societies have served as man of Aargau condemned the caprice and insinprops to their power, and rallying points in cerity of party, and exhorted his hearers times of danger; "but the old aristocrats to remain true to their personal convictions. have always kept aloof from them, and the two clergymen, from the banks of the lake of The best of the really popular speakers were great majority of their members has al-Zurich, who made very humorous speeches, ways consisted of young men of the middle classes."

"The present meeting at Schaffhausen was on the occasion of a musical festival, to be celebrated on the 14th and 15th of June, 1846, and guests were streaming in from far and near, not merely from various parts of Switzerland, but also from Germany.

full of allusions, that were taken up with enthusiasm by the assembly."

To M. Mugge, as a German, there was something striking and attractive in the bold, free tone of the speakers on this occasiontheir calling things at once by their names, instead of seeking to envelope their mean"The quiet old town was dressed out in all ing in a thousand ambiguous coveringsthe holiday finery that could be mustered; the and in the circumstance of their addressing old stone houses were hung all over with gar- themselves to the assembled people, withlands of leaves and flowers, which were also sometimes suspended across the street; and the out any one fearing any of the awful consegates were decorated till they looked like tri-quences which, in Germany, are supposed umphal arches; and mottoes and sentences- to result from their participation in political some of welcome to the visitors, some to the knowledge. "In Switzerland it is by no honor and glory of Switzerland, and sometimes means necessary to be a Radical to admit exhortations to unity, or to faithfulness, and that the people have a full right to hear devotion to the cause of liberty, were introduced whatever their fellow citizens may have to in a hundred places through which the throng

was pouring in--in carriage, on foot, or in say to them."

steam-boat.

.

The early history of the country, and the who laid the foun"On the great market-place of the town, memory of the men called the Herrenacker, or Lords' Field-where, dation of its freedom, are sure to find a place in former days, knights and nobles held tourna- among the stock topics of orators on these ments-was erected, at the expense of the city, occasions. The valor, the fidelity, the puthe grand banqueting booth, where eight or rity of morals, the unquenchable love of nine hundred of the singers and their friends liberty, which belong, or are supposed to were entertained till a late hour in the night, belong, to the character of the Confederates, and where were made the political speeches, form appropriate subjects for compliment; never wanting at any Swiss meeting. There were, of course, a good many oratorical flour- and William Tell, Winkelried, or ishes, introduced to tickle the vanity of the auditory; but there was also many a true, earnest, and kindling word uttered, that would not be readily forgotten.

66

some

other hero of the olden time, never fails to make his appearance in due season, and to produce his due effect. "William Tell is the weak side of the Swiss; they believe The president of the association, M. Schen- in him as in the Gospel, and will not yield kel, made a very animated speech, in which he to criticism one iota of his story; although extolled his native country as having been for ages an island of freedom and refuge for many it is in fact a matter of very little consewho might have perished in the political storms quence to them whether such a person as of surrounding nations. He declared that the marksman of Uri ever lived or no." Switzerland was resolved never to shrink from Against this opinion of Herr Mugge we any struggle which should lie in the way to a must take leave to protest; and the actrue victory, and feared only torpor, indiffer- knowledged powers of German criticism ence, and a peace which was the peace of the could, in our opinion scarcely be worse emgrave. "Several speakers rose after him who spoke ployed than in endeavoring to extinguish forcibly on the subject of the present dissen- the glory of a name that has kept alive the sions; and a M. Bentz, from Zurich, pronounced fire of patriotism in the hearts of successive a philippic against the Jesuits and their allies, generations for five hundred years. In the