Pictures of German Life in the XVth XVIth and XVIIth Centuries Volume Ii Part 9

In 1424, a new horde appeared Wore Ratisbon, with letters of safe conduct from the Emperor Sigismund, one of which was dated Zips, 1423, and was published by the chroniclers. In 1438, another horde pa.s.sed through Bohemia, Austria, and Bavaria; this time they were under a petty king, Zindelo; they also a.s.serted that they came from Egypt, and declared that they were commanded by G.o.d to wander for seven years, because their forefathers had refused hospitality to the mother of G.o.d and the child Jesus, on their flight into Egypt.

In hordes like these they spread themselves, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, over the whole of Europe. In spite of their frivolous finery and cunning lies, there were very few places in which they succeeded in deceiving men. They proved, indeed, everywhere to be wicked heathens, magicians, fortune-tellers, and most shameless thieves. They split themselves into small bands during their distant travels; their leaders, whom they had honoured with all the feudal t.i.tles, in order to give themselves consideration, disappeared. They themselves were thoroughly decimated by their wandering lives, and the persecutions of the local inhabitants.

Their language gives the best explanation of their past. The original h.o.m.ogeneousness of the gipsy language is distinctly visible amidst the various changes which it has gone through in many countries. It appears to be the mode of speech of a single and special Indian race. The gipsy is apparently not the descendant of a mixed Indian people, or of a single low caste of Indians, but of a distinct race of people. The men call themselves everywhere, _rom_; and in contradiction to the western nations, also _calo_, black: their wives, _romni_, and their language _romany-tschib_. The names which their race have had in different countries are numerous and various.

Their language is in its origin and internal structure a genuine daughter of the distinguished Sanscrit, but it has become for many centuries like a beggar and thief; it has lost much of its beauty, its elegance, and its resemblance to its mother and sisters; instead of which it has appropriated something to itself from every country in which these people have tarried in their wanderings, and its dress appears covered with the tatters of all nations, so that it is only here and there that the genuine gold threads are still visible. The race have lost a great portion of their own words, more especially those, that express ideas which they could not preserve in their paltry miserable life in foreign countries. They have lost the Indian expression for parrot, elephant, and lion, also for the tiger and buffalo snake, but sugar--_gulo_, silk--_pahr_, and grapes--_drakh_, they call by their Indian, and wine--_mohl_, by its Persian name. Nay, they have also lost the Indian words for many current terms: they no longer call the sparrow by its Indian name: no fish, and hardly any plants; but undoubtedly they retain those of many large and small animals, amongst others _dschu_, the louse. But in all countries, new representations, images, and ideas offered themselves, and too lazy and careless to form words of their own, they took those of every foreign language and adapted them to the necessities of their own tongue. The result was, that even the gipsies who were in bands, being without firm union, were split in pieces among the various people, so that what they still possessed did not remain common to all, and there arose in every country a peculiar gipsy idiom, in which old recollections were mixed up with the language of the country, in an original way. Finally the _rom_ appropriated to himself almost everywhere, besides the common language of the country that of the rogues, the thieves' dialect, to which he imparted, in friendly exchange, words from his own language.

In Germany he understood gibberish, or _Jenisch_; in Bohemia, _Hantyrka_; in French, _Argot_; in England, Slang; and in Spain, _Germania_.

It is instructive to observe how their hereditary language became corrupted; for the decadence of one language, through the overpowering influence of another, proceeds according to fixed laws. First, foreign words penetrate in a ma.s.s, because foreign cultivation has an imposing effect; next the formation of sentences is taken from the foreign language, because the mind of the people accustoms itself to think after the method of the foreigners; and thirdly, they forget their own inflections; then the language becomes a heap of ruins, a weather-beaten organism, like a corroded ma.s.s of rock which crumbles away into sand or gravel. The gipsy language has gone through the first and second stages of decadence, and the third also in Spain.

The life of this race in Germany was far from comfortable. As their hands were against the property of every one, so did the popular hatred work against their lives. Charles V. commanded them to be banished, and the new police ordinances of the Princes allowed them no indulgence.

Yet they were able to gain money from the country people by soothsaying and secret arts, by doctoring man and beast, or as horse-dealers and pedlers. Often, united with bands of robbers, they carried on a new service during the long war, as camp followers. Wallenstein made use of them as spies, as did the Swedes also later. The women made themselves agreeable to the officers and common soldiers. The cunning men of the band sold amulets and shod horses.

After the war they went about through the country audaciously, the terror of the countryman. In 1663 a band of more than two hundred of them invaded Thuringia, where they distributed themselves, and were considered as very malevolent, because it was reported of them that they reconnoitred the country probably for an enemy. They had in fact become a great plague throughout the country, and the law thundered against them with characteristic recklessness. Orders were issued everywhere for their banishment; they were considered as spies of the Turks, and as magicians, and were made outlaws; even after the year 1700, in a small Rhenish princ.i.p.ality, a gipsy woman and her child were brought in amongst other wild game which had been slain. A band again broke into Thuringia in the eighteenth century, and a law in 1722 declared all the men outlawed. In Prussia, in 1710, an edict was promulgated, commanding the alarm to be sounded, and the community to be summoned together against them, whenever they should make their appearance. On the frontiers, gallows were erected with this inscription: "The punishment for thieves and gipsy rabble, both men and women." As late as the year 1725 all the gipsies in the Prussian states, over eighteen years of age, were to be hanged whether they had a pa.s.sport or not. Even in 1748 Frederick the Great renewed this strong edict. The conduct of the civilized nineteenth century forms a pleasing contrast to this. In 1830 at Friedrichslohra in Thuringia, a philanthropic endeavour was made, and warmly promoted by the government, to reform a band of about one hundred men, by the maintenance of the adults and education of the children. The attempt was continued for seven years, and completely failed.

The name of Stroller disappeared, and the occupation of these possessionless rovers became to a certain degree free from the old defect; but the great society of swindlers maintained a certain organization. Their language also remained. The gibberish, of which many specimens remain to us from the latter end of the middle ages, shows already, before the demoralization of the people by the Hussite war, a full development of old German rogues' idioms. It consists for the greater part of Hebrew words as used by persons who were not themselves Jews; together with these are mingled some of the honoured treasures of the German language, beautiful old words, and again significant inventions of figurative expressions, for the sake of concealing the true sense of the speech by a deceptive figure: thus, windgap for mantle, broadfoot for goose. Few of their words lead us to expect an elevated disposition; the rough humour of desperadoes breaks out from many of them. The practice, like the language of these rogues, developed itself in greater refinement. The usual form in which the resident inhabitants were plundered was begging. The works of holiness of the old Church--an irrational alms-giving--had spread throughout Christendom an unwieldy ma.s.s of mendicancy. In the first century of German Christendom it is the subject of complaint of pious ecclesiastics. In churchyards and in public places lay the beggars, exposing horrible wounds, which were often artistically inflicted; they sometimes went naked through the country with a club, afterwards clothed, and with many weapons, and begged at every homestead for their children, or for the honour of their saints, or as slaves escaped from the Turkish galleys, for a vow, or for only a pound of wax, a silver cross, or a ma.s.s vestment. They begged also towards the erection of a church, producing letters and seals; they had much at heart to obtain special napkins for the priest, linen for the altar cloth, and broken plate for the chalice; they rolled about as epileptics, holding soap lather in their mouths. In like manner did the women wander about, some pretending to give birth to monsters (as for example a toad) which lived in solitude as miraculous creatures, and daily required a pound of meat. When a great festival was held they flocked together in troops. They formed a dangerous company, and even iron severity could scarcely keep them under restraint. Basle appears to have been one of their secret meeting-places; they had there their own special place of justice, and the famed "_Liber Vagatorum_" also, seems to have originated in that neighbourhood. This book, written by an unknown hand about 1500, contains, in rogues' language, a careful enumeration of the rogue cla.s.ses and their tricks, and at the end a vocabulary of jargon.

It was often printed; and Pamphilus Gengenbach of Basle rendered it into rhyme. It pleased Luther so well that he also reprinted the clever little book, after one of the oldest impressions.

To the order of beggars belong also the travelling scholars, who, as treasure diggers and exorcists, made successful attacks on the savings of the peasants and on the provisions in their chimneys. "They desired to become priests," then they came from Rome with shaven crowns and collected for a surplice; or they were necromancers, then they wore a yellow train to their coats and came from the Frau Venusberg; when they entered a house they exclaimed, "Here comes a travelling scholar, a master of seven liberal sciences, an exorciser of the devil, and from hail storms, fire, and monsters;" and thereupon they made "experiments." Together with them came disbanded Landsknechte, often a.s.sociated with the dark race of outlaws, who worked with armed hand against the life and property of the resident inhabitants.

Throughout the whole of the middle ages it was impossible to eradicate the robbers. After the time of Luther they became incendiaries, more particularly from 1540 to 1542. A foreign rabble appeared suddenly in middle Germany, especially in the domains of the Protestant chiefs, the Elector of Saxony and Landgrave of Hesse. They burned Ca.s.sel, Nordheim, Gottingen, Goslor, Brunswick, and Magdeburg. Eimbech was burned to the ground with three hundred and fifty men, and a portion of Nordhausen; villages and barns were everywhere set on fire; bold incendiary letters stirred up the people, and at last also the princes. The report became general that the Roman Catholic party had hired more than three hundred incendiaries, and the Pope, Paul III., had counselled Duke Henry the younger, of Brunswick, to send the rabble to Saxony and Hesse.

Undoubtedly much wickedness was laid to the credit of the unscrupulous Duke; but it was then the interest of Pope Paul III. to treat the Protestants with forbearance, for earnest endeavours were being made on both sides for a great reconciliation, and preparation was made for it at Rome, by sending the Cardinal Contarini to the great religious conference at Ratisbon. The terror, however, and anger of the Germans was great and enduring. Everywhere the incendiaries were tracked, everywhere their traces were found, crowds of rabble were imprisoned, tried for their lives, and executed. Luther publicly denounced Duke Henry as guilty of these reckless outrages; the Elector and Landgrave accused him of incendiarism at the Diet before the Emperor; and in vain did he, in his most vehement manner, defend himself and his adherents.

It is true that his guilt was p.r.o.nounced by the Emperor as unproved; but then he was desirous, above all, of internal peace and help against the Turks. In the public opinion, however, the stain on the prince's reputation remained. It is impossible to discover how far the strollers of that time were the guilty parties. The depositions of those arrested are inaccurately given, and it cannot be decided how much of it was dictated by torture. One thing is quite clear, they did not form into any fixed bands, and their secret intercourse was carried on through the medium of signs, which were scratched or cut on striking places, such as inns, walls, doors, &c. These signs were partly primitive German personal tokens, which, as house-marks, may still be found on the gables of old buildings, but partly also in rogues' marks. Above all, there was the characteristic sign of the Strollers, the arrow, once the signal announcing enmity; the direction of his arrow shows the way which the marker has taken; small perpendicular strokes on it, often with ciphers above, give probably the number of persons. These signs are to be found sometimes still on the trees and walls of the high-roads, and it betokens now, as it did then, to the members of the band, that the initiated has pa.s.sed that way with his followers.

In addition to the indigenous rovers came also foreign ones; as in the middle ages, a stream of Italian adventurers again flowed through Germany. Together with the German player rose the cry of the Italian orvietan (Venice treacle) vendor, and side by side with the Bohemian bear were the camels of Pisa. The marvellous Venetian remedies and the harlequin jacket, mask, and felt cap of the Italian fool wandered over the Alps, and were added as new fooleries to our old stock.

The Italian, Garzoni, has given a lively picture of the proceedings of these strollers in his book, 'Piazza Universale,' a description of all the arts and handicrafts of his time. His work was translated in 1641, into German by Matthaus Merian, under the t.i.tle of 'General Theatre of all Arts, Professions, and Handicrafts.' The description of the Italian portrays also in its chief features the condition of Western Germany after the war. The following extract is given according to Merian's German translation:--

"The wandering comedians in their demeanour are uncivil a.s.ses and ruffians, who consider that they have performed beautifully when they have moved the mob to laughter by their coa.r.s.e sayings. Their _inventiones_ are such, that if the toads acted thus we might forgive them, and they all tally together without rhyme or reason; they do not care whether they are sufficiently polished and skilful so long as they can only obtain money. Though they could easily curtail or cloak whatever is coa.r.s.e, they imagine that they give no satisfaction in their business if it is not set forth in the coa.r.s.est manner; on this account comedy and the whole comic art has fallen into the greatest contempt with respectable people, and even the high comedians are banished from certain places, are treated with contumely in public laws and statutes, insulted and derided by the whole community. When these good people come into a town they must not remain together, but must divide themselves among divers inns; the Lady comes from Rome, the Magnificus from Venice,[42] Ruffiana from Padua, the Zany from Bergamo, the Gratia.n.u.s from Bologna, and they must lurk about for certain days, till they have begged and obtained permission if they wish to maintain themselves and carry on their profession; they can with difficulty obtain lodgings where they are known, every one being disgusted with their filth, as they leave for a length of time a bad smell behind them.

"But when they come into a town and are permitted to perform their tricks, they cause it to be made known by handbills, the beating of drums, and other war sounds, that this or that great comedian has arrived; then the woman goes after the drum dressed in man's clothes, girt about with a sword, and thus the people are invited in every place: 'Whoever would see a beautiful comedian, let him come to this or that place.' Thither come running all the curious people, and are admitted for three or four kreutzers into a yard, where they find a platform erected, and regular scenes. First there begins splendid music, just as if a troop of a.s.ses were all braying together; then comes a Prologus, making his appearance like a vagabond; afterwards come beautiful and ill-adorned persons, who make such a cackling that every one begins to find the time long, and if perchance any one laughs, it is more at the simplicity of the spectators than because he finds somewhat laughable. Then comes Magnificus, who is not worth three h.e.l.lers; Zany, who truly does his best, but waddles like a goose walking through deep mud; a shameless Ruffiana, and also a lover, whom it would be disgusting to listen to long; a Spaniard who knows not how to say more than _mi vida_, or _mi corazon_; a pedant who jumbles all sorts of languages together; and Buratinus, who knows no other gesture than that of twirling his hat or his hood from one hand to the other.

The best of them has so little capacity as to be unfit either to boil or roast, so that the bystanders all become weary, and laugh at themselves for having so long given heed to such insane tricks. And a.s.suredly they must be idle folk or superlative fools to allow themselves to be caught there a second time; the incapacity of the players in the first comedy they perform, is so well known and cried down, that others of respectability are mistrusted on their account.

"There are now-a-days many genuine dramatic performances in vogue at almost all the market-places and fairs, namely the plays of Ceretani, of orvietan vendors, and other similar fellows. They are called Ceretani in Italy because it is presumed they have their origin and first commencement in a small spot called Cereto, near Spoleto in Umbria, and afterwards gradually attained such credit and consideration, that when they were to be heard there was as great a concourse of people a.s.sembled as were ever collected by the cleverest doctor of the liberal arts, nay even by the best preacher who ever entered a pulpit. For the common people run together in crowds, gaping with open mouth, listen to them the whole day, forget all their cares, and G.o.d knows how difficult it is,--even the peasants find it so,--to keep one's purse in such a throng.

"When one sees these cheats take a whole lump of a.r.s.enic, sublimate, or other poison, indiscriminately, that they may make proof by it of the excellence of their orvietan, it should be known that, in the summer-time before they came to the place, they have filled themselves with lettuce dressed with so much vinegar and oil that they might swim therein, and in winter they stuff themselves upon fat ox-brawn well boiled. And this they do that they may by means of the fat of the brawn and oiliness of the salad, with the coldness of their nature, obstruct the internal pa.s.sage of the body, and thus weaken the sharpness or heat of the poison. They have besides this also a secure way of managing, namely, before they enter the place they go to the nearest apothecary, who generally in the towns is in or near the market; there they ask for a box of a.r.s.enic, from which they select some small bits, and wrap them in paper, begging the apothecary to deliver the same to them when they send for it. Now when they have sufficiently extolled their wares, so that nothing more remains but to make proof of them, they send out one of the bystanders, in order that there may appear to be no fear of deceit, to the apothecary, that he may obtain some a.r.s.enic for the money which they give him. This said person runs forthwith, that there may be no hindrance in such useful work, and as he goes, considers that though he has been deceived a thousand times, he cannot be so this time, he will see well to that. Meantime he comes to the apothecary, demands the a.r.s.enic for his money, receives it, and runs with joy to the orvietan vendor's table to see the marvel; this one holds meanwhile in his hand little boxes, amongst them one wherein he puts the aforesaid a.r.s.enic, he speaks and addresses the people for a time before he takes it, for in a case of so much danger there must be no haste; meantime he changes the aforesaid little box for another, wherein are small pieces of paste made of sugar, meat, and saffron that they may appear like the former. These he then eats with singular gestures as if he were much afraid, and the peasants stand by open mouthed to see whether he will not soon burst asunder; but he binds himself up firmly that this may not happen, although he knows that there is no occasion for it; he afterwards takes a piece as large as a chestnut of his orvietan or stuff, and all the swelling disappears as if there had been no poison in question. 'This, dear gentlemen, will be a precious orvietan to you.' Whereupon the peasants undraw their purse strings, and thank G.o.d that they have such a dear good man, and can obtain in their village such costly wares for so little money.

"But who would venture to describe all the cunning practices whereby these strollers contrive to make and collect money? For my own part I fear I should never get to the end of it. Yet I cannot refrain from describing some of their tricks.

"One rushes through the street, having with him a young girl dressed in boy's clothes, who bounds about, jumping through a hoop like a monkey.

Then he begins to tell, in good Florentine, some remarkable jests or pranks, and meanwhile the little maiden sets to work in every kind of way, throws herself on all-fours, reaches the ring from out of the hoop, then bends herself backwards, and picks up a coin from under the right or left foot, with such graceful agility that the lads have pleasure in looking at her. But finally he also can do nothing farther than to bring out his wares, and offer the same for sale as well as he can.

"But those who boast themselves of being of the race of St. Paul, make their appearance with much consequence, namely, with a great flying banner, on one side of which stands St. Paul with his sword, but on the other a heap of serpents, which are so painted that one fears to be bitten by them. Then one of the party begins to relate their genealogy, how St. Paul, in the island of Malta, was bitten by a viper without injury, and how the same virtue was accorded to his descendants; then they make divers trials, but always keep the upper hand, having a bond and seal thereupon. Finally they lay hold of the boxes which are standing on the table or bench, take out of one a salamander, two ells long and an arm in thickness, from another a great snake, from another a viper, and relate concerning each how they had caught it when the peasant was reaping his corn, who would have been in great danger therefrom, if they had not come to his relief. Thereupon the peasants become so frightened that they dare not return home till they have had a draught of the costly snake-powder, and bought still more to take home to their wives and children, that they may be preserved from the bite of snakes and other poisonous reptiles; and the game does not end herewith, for they have still more boxes at hand, which they open, and take out of one a rough viper, out of another a dead basilisk, out of another a young crocodile brought from Egypt, an Indian lizard, a tarantula from the Campagna, or somewhat of the like, whereby they frighten the peasants, that they may buy the favour of the Holy Paul, which is imparted to them by small written papers, for a consideration.

"Meanwhile, because the people are still a.s.sembled together, another comes, spreads his mantle on the ground, places upon it a little dog which can sing _ut_, _re_, _mi_, _fa_, _so_, _la_, _si_; it makes also frolicksome somersaults, somewhat less than a monkey, barks at the command of its master, who is very ill clad, howls when the Turkish Emperor's name is mentioned, and makes a leap into the air when this or that sweetheart is named; and finally, for it is done to obtain h.e.l.lers, his master hangs a little hat to his paw, and sends him round on his hind feet to the bystanders, for travelling expenses, as he has a great journey in prospect.

"The Parmesan also does not neglect the like opportunity with his goat, which he brings to the _Platz_; he makes there a palisade, within which it walks up and down, one foot behind the other, and sits up on a little platform of hardly a hand's breadth, and licks the salt under its feet. He makes it also go round upon its hind legs, with a long spear over its shoulder, making fools of all beholders, who present it with pence for food.

"Sometimes a bold rope-dancer is to be seen, who walks on the rope, till at last he breaks his leg, or falls headlong; or a daring Turkish juggler who lies on the ground, and allows himself to be struck on the chest by a great hammer, as if he were an anvil; or by a jerk, tears up a big pile which has been driven by force into the ground, whereby he obtains a good sum for his journey to Mecca.

"Sometimes a baptized Jew makes his appearance, who bawls and cries out, till at length he collects a few people, when he begins to preach about his conversion; whereby one comes to this conclusion, that he has become a crafty vagrant instead of a pious Christian.

"In short there is no market-place, either in village or town, where some of these fellows are not to be found, who either perform divers facetious juggling tricks, or sell various drugs.

"These are the tricks of charlatans, strollers, and jugglers, and other idle people, whereby they get on in the world."

Here ends the narrative of Garzoni. Numberless light-footed people also of the same cla.s.s thronged into the German market towns. But besides the old traders and jugglers, a new cla.s.s of strollers had come into Germany, harmless people of far higher interest for these days, the wandering comedians. The first players that made a profession of their performances came to Germany from England or the Netherlands, towards the end of the sixteenth century. They were still accompanied with rope dancers, jumpers, fencers, and horsebreakers; they still continued to furnish the courts of princes and the market-places of great cities with clowns and the favourite figure of jack-puddings, and soon after, the French "Jean Posset," on bad boarded platforms still continued to excite the uproarious laughter of the easily amused mult.i.tude. Shortly after, the popular masques of the Italian theatre became familiar in the south of Germany and on the Rhine. At the same time that the regular circulation of newspapers commenced, the people received the rough beginnings of art; the representation of human character and the secret emotions of restless souls by the play of countenance, gestures, and the deceptive illusion of action.

It is remarkable also, that almost precisely at the same period, the first entertaining novels were written for the people. And these spontaneously invented pictures of real life had reference to the strolling people; for the adventures of vagrants, disbanded soldiers, and in short all those who had travelled in foreign countries, and had seen there an abundance of marvels, and undergone the most terrible dangers with almost invulnerable bodies, were the heroes of these imperfect creations of art. Shortly after the war, Christoph von Grimmelsausen wrote 'Simplicissimus,' 'Springinsfeld,' 'Landstorzerin Courage.' and the 'Wonderful Vogelnest,' the heroes of which are gathered from strollers; these were followed by a flood of novels describing the lives of rogues and of adventurers.

The war had rendered the existence of the settled population joyless, their manners coa.r.s.e, and their morals lax. And the craving for excitement was general. Thus at first these modes of representation allured, by bestowing what was wanting to this ungenial life. They endeavoured with much detail to represent either an ideal life of distinguished and refined persons, under entirely foreign conditions, such as antique shepherds, and foreign princes without nationalities; this was done by the highly educated; or they tried at least to enn.o.ble common life, by introducing into it abstractions not less coa.r.s.e and soulless, virtues and vices, mythological and allegorical figures; or they caught endless materials from the lowest circles of life, to whom they felt themselves superior, but in whose strange mode of life there was something alluring: they depicted strollers or represented clowns and fools; and this last development of art was the soundest. Thus these rough families of jugglers, buffoons, and rogues were of the utmost significance to the beginning of the drama, theatrical art, and novels.

But besides the numerous companies, who wandered about either modestly on foot or in carts, vagrants of higher pretensions rode through the country, some of them still more objectionable. To be able to prognosticate the future, to gain dominion over the spirits of the elements, to make gold, and to renew the vigour of youth in old age, had for many centuries been the longing desire of the covetous and inquisitive. Those who promised these things to the Germans were generally Italians or other foreigners; or natives of the country, who had, according to the old saying, been thrice to Rome. When the new zeal for the restoration of the Church brought good and bad alike before the tribunal of the inquisition in Italy, the emigration of those whose lives were insecure must have been very numerous. It is probably from the life of one of these charlatans that the adventures of Faust have been gathered and formed into the old popular tale. After Luther's death, it is evident that they penetrated into the courts of the German princes. It was an adventurer of this kind, "Jerome Scotus,"

who, in 1593, at Coburg, estranged the unhappy d.u.c.h.ess Anna of Saxe Coburg from her husband, and brought her into his own power by villainous means. Vain were the endeavours of the Duke to obtain the extradition of Scotus from Hamburg, where he lived long in princely luxury. Five-and-thirty years before, the father of the Duke Johann Friedrich, the Middle-sized, was long deluded by an impudent impostor, who gave herself out to be Anne of Cleves (the wife who had been selected for Henry VIII. of England), and promised him a great treasure of gold and jewels if he chose to protect her. Another piece of credulity bore bitter fruits to the same prince, for the influence which Wilhelm of Grumbach, the haggard old wolf from the herd of the wild Albrecht of Brandenburg, gained over the Duke, rested on his foolish prophecies concerning the Electoral dignity and prodigious treasures. A poor weak-minded boy who was maintained by Grumbach, had intercourse with angels who dwelt in the air-hole of a cellar, and declared themselves ready to produce gold, and bring to light a mine for the Duke. It may be perceived from judicial records, that the little angels of the peasant child had a similarity, unfavourable to their credibility, to our little old dwarfs.

There was at Berlin, about the time of Scotus, one Leonhard Turneysser, a charlatan, more citizen-like in his occupation, who worked as gold maker and prepared horoscopes; he escaped by flight the dismal fate, which almost always overtook his fellows of the same vocation who did not change their locality soon enough. The Emperor Rudolph also became a great adept, and amalgamated in the gold crucible both his political honour and his own Imperial throne. The princes of the seventeenth century at least show the intense interest of dilettanti. During the war the art of making gold became very desirable. At that period, therefore, the adepts thronged to the armies; the more needy the times, the more numerous and brilliant became the stories of alchemy. It was proposed by an enthusiastic wors.h.i.+pper of Gustavus Adolphus, to make gold out of lead; and in the presence of the Emperor Ferdinand III.

many pounds of gold were to be made, by one grain of red powder, from quicksilver; a gigantic coin also was to be struck from the same metal.

After the peace, the adepts resided at all the courts; there were few dwellings where the hearth and the retorts were not heated for secret operations. But every one had to beware how he trifled with the reigning powers, as the paws of the princely lions might be raised against him for his destruction. Those who could not make gold were confined in prison, and those who were under suspicion, yet could fabricate something, were equally put in close confinement. The Italian Count Cajetan was hanged in a gilded dress, on a gallows at Kustrin the beams of which were adorned with cut gold; the German Rector von Klettenberg was beheaded at Konigstein, where fourteen years before, Bottiger was kept in strict cloistral confinement, because he had produced innocent porcelain instead of gold. There is no doubt that it was the case with the adepts and astrologers, as it ever has been with the leaders of a prevailing superst.i.tion, that they were themselves convinced of the truth of their art; but they had strong doubts of their own knowledge, and they deceived others as to their success, either because they were seeking the means to attain to greater results, or because they wished to appear, to the world, to understand what they considered of importance. These however were not the worst of the lot.

The most mischievous of all were, perhaps, the skilful impostors, who appeared in Germany, France, and England, with foreign t.i.tles of distinction, s.h.i.+ning with the glimmer of secret art, sometimes the propagators of the most disgraceful vices, shadowy figures, who by their worldly wisdom and the limited intercourse of nations were enabled to bring themselves into notoriety. Their experience, their deceptions, their secret successes, for a long period overpoweringly excited the fancies of Germans. Even Goethe considered it worth his while to repair to the spot and set on foot serious investigations as to the origin of Cagliostro.

The changes in the moral diseases of that society, of which we are the representatives, can be gradually traced. After the war astrology and horoscopes fell into disuse. The princes sought for red powder, or the unknown tincture, whilst the people dug for money pots. Dilettante occupation with physical science introduced again to the people the ancient divining rod, by which springs, murders, thefts, and always concealed gold, were to be discovered. The superior cla.s.ses again realized in their own minds the ancient belief in mysterious men, who by unknown proceedings, in unfathomable depths, had obtained the power of giving supernatural duration of life, and had confidential intercourse with the spirit world. Besides the honourable order of Freemasons, with their Humanitarian tendencies, there arose more secret unions, wherein the weak minded of the time were enticed to a refined sensuality and sickly mysticism, and an extensive apparatus of absurd secret teaching.

Since the end of the last century a vigorous dash of the waves of German popular strength has washed away these diseased fantasies. The old race of strollers too have diminished in number and influence. It is only rarely that Bajazzo, with his pointed felt cap, bewitches the village youth; the meagre neck of the camel no longer stretches itself to the flowering trees of our village gardens, the black dog seldom rolls his fiery eyes at buried chests of silver. Even the impostors have learned to satisfy higher demands.

CHAPTER VIII.

ENGAGEMENT AND MARRIAGE AT COURT.

(1661.)

It has ever been part of the German character to maintain propriety of conduct in intercourse with others, to keep up a good appearance, to do homage to superiors, and to require a respectful demeanour and address from inferiors. The forms of intercourse were accurately defined, and the number of significant turns of speech was not small, which introduced every social arrangement, and like a boundary stone, preserved the pathway of life. But the groundwork of all this old precision was a sound self-respect, which gave to individuals a feeling of certainty as to what was to be conceded or received, and therefore civility was generally real. If there was any discord in his soul, the German did not usually conceal it; and then he became so thoroughly coa.r.s.e, that he gained evil repute with all the western nations. It is true, princes were accosted with much devotedness, words of submission were used as now; but the prince and the citizen, the n.o.bleman and the artisan, met together as men, and a strong word or a warm feeling often broke through the most courtly forms. This, however, changed after the war. The old feeling of decorum was lost, the egotism of the unbridled was harsh and wounding; the proper, but often narrow-minded pride of citizen and n.o.bleman was broken, and the simple patriarchal relation between prince and subject was lost during thirty years of calamity and distrust. Men had become more prudent, but weaker, and for the most part worse.

But the beginning of a new state of society was visible. With all this ruin Providence had mercifully sent a remedy. By many a roundabout way, through French and Italian fas.h.i.+ons, and after long wanderings in every foreign nationality, the German mind was to be renewed. It was a wonderful trial of durability, but it was necessary. Like Prince Tamino in the magic play, the poor German soul pa.s.sed through French water and Italian fire; and from that period a weak flute-like tone sounds only occasionally in our ears, telling us that the German character has not yet sunk entirely under foreign phantasies.

It has been customary to consider the intellectual sway of Italy and France, from Opiz to Lessing, as a great calamity. It is true, it has given neither beauty nor strength to the German; but we are no longer in the position of the great man who for a century struggled against French taste. It was with him a duty to hate whatever caused a hindrance to the wakening popular vigour. But we should at the same time remember that this same foreign element protected the German from the extreme of barbarism. Our imitation was very clumsy, and there was little worth in the original; but it was to the countless bonds of international intercourse that the Germans then clung, that they might not be utterly lost. The moral restraints upon the wilfulness of individuals had been broken, and the meagre externals gathered from abroad, of fas.h.i.+on, respect, gallantry, and a taste for foreign refinements were the first remedy. It was a new kind of discipline.

Whoever wore a large wig, and later, even powder in the hair, was obliged to hold his head elegantly still, wild movements and violent running were impossible; if men were not prevented by their own delicacy of feeling from boldly approaching too near to women, a hoop and corset were a rampart for them; if the courtesy of the heart was less, the duty of being gallant in conversation was a benefit. In a circle where a coa.r.s.e soldiers' song had been preferred, a polished song from Damon to Daphne was a great improvement, and even the fade cavalier, who cut his finger-nails in society with a gilded knife, and threw himself down with a French flourish, was by far more estimable in society than an unbridled drunkard, who in his intoxication did the most unseemly things, and could not open his mouth without an oath.

Those who a.s.sumed to be the elite in Germany soon fas.h.i.+oned their life after the foreign model. Even during the war many foreign customs had become naturalized; not only in court ceremonials and in the intercourse with amba.s.sadors, but also in the dress and manners of the citizens. However great was the influence of France, that of Italy was not much less. The service of the _cicisbeato_, and the "State"

ceremonials, had penetrated from Italy into France; the Roman court long remained the highest model, in all questions of etiquette, to the diplomats of Europe. Both countries took their share in holding sway over Germany. In the south, Italy ruled till the eighteenth century, indeed in Vienna it continued still longer to influence the aspect of the higher society; but in the north, especially in the Protestant courts, the French model prevailed, and this copy, like the other, was a clumsy one. But whilst at the great courts, for example Vienna, the cavalier a.s.sumed at least something of the impulsive versatility of the Italian; in the smaller towns social intercourse was slow and prolix, carried on in endless phrases, which appeared the more grotesque in proportion as the men were coa.r.s.e who endeavoured to set themselves off by the use of them.

Thus was the sunny path, along which men approached the chosen of their hearts, charmingly strewn with the flowers of foreign manners. Whatever of indigenous was retained, was adorned with laborious gallantry, and became still more tedious. Before we attempt to give a specimen of honourable German love, it will be fitting to disclose to the sympathizing reader something of the style of courtly wooing and marriage. Therefore the following gives the course of wooing of a cavalier, about the year 1650:--

"When a person of condition at Vienna wishes to marry some one, he begs of her parents to allow him to wait upon her, but he must already have made her acquaintance, and know that she is well inclined towards him.

When this has been granted by her parents, the affair is already half agreed upon, and he gives his servant a new livery, and dresses himself in his best. Every day he must write to her early, and inquire what she is doing, what she has dreamt of, when she will drive out, and where she intends to dine. Besides this, he sends her a nosegay, for which sometimes a ducat must be paid. Then she returns him an answer, and he makes his appearance at her door at the right time, helps her into the carriage, and rides next it with head uncovered, on the side where his lady sits. When they arrive, he dismounts, opens the carriage door, and again hands her out. In Austria they generally offer themselves as guests to the houses of others. When he has learnt where his lady is to dine, he offers himself also as guest, and does this half an hour beforehand. When at table, he presents a finger-gla.s.s to his love alone, even though there may be more distinguished ladies there; he offers, it is true, the water to others, but none accept; his lady alone does not refuse. Then he places her chair, waits upon and converses with her; when she desires to have something to drink, he hands it to her on a plate, which he holds under the gla.s.s whilst she is drinking; he places fresh plates before her and takes the old away, and he always pledges her health to his left hand neighbour. After dinner he again hands her the finger-gla.s.s, for which reason he sits next her; he then removes her chair, fetches her gloves, fan, and veil which she had left, and presents them with a profound reverence. After the repast is over, the hostess takes his lady with her to her room.

There also he begs for admittance, which is not refused him, and waits upon her in like manner. From thence they go to vespers, and then in summer to the Prater, or in winter in sledges with torches. This state of things continues for at least three months.