SIX WEEKS ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1420, 18 February 1873, Page 2

SIX WEEKS ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE.

By a West Coaster. I should doubtless have started on my tour a little earlier in the autumn, in order to gain the longer hours of daylight, but one of the chief objects I had in view was to visit Rome, and I was warned not to go earlier than the end of September if I wished to escape the contagion of the niuch-dreaded malaria, always prevalent in Rome and the Campagna from the middle of June to the end of September. I therefore determined to leave England about the middle of September, and to find myself in Rome about the middle of October, which plan I carried out, thus avoiding the heat of summer and the malaria. I went further south, to Naples, and there, at the end of October, found it warm enough to bathe, with great satisfaction, in the .sea, at seven in the morning, in the beautiful, blue, warm Mediterranean. By avoiding . the summer heats I also escaped a pest I thought I should never be troubled with again when I left Melbourne, Victoria, namely, the ' mosquito, although I was attacked by mosquitoes at Grieste, and also in Venice. From London I went to Newhaven, and after waiting in harbor all night, owing to the rough weather, sailed at seven in the morning for Dieppe, where I landed safely, but very unwell and uncomfortable, after a rough passage of eight hours and a half. I soon began to feel myself at home in the land of blouses, sous, aad centimes, as I had of ten, in my youth, travelled there before, and I was glad tp find that my French had not evaporated during a long Colonial life, but came when wanted "quite natural like." After a short stay in Dieppe I started by a special train to Paris, and arrived there after a very fast run with very few stoppages, only giving even Rouen ten minutes. From what I had heard I expected to find great gaps and. ruined blocks of houses all about. the city of Paris, and that the great buildings fired by the Communists were a heap of ruins ; instead of this, it is hard to believe at first glance that there' are any ruins at all, for the walls of the great public buildings, as the Tuilleries, the Hotel de Ville, and many others, still stand, although the interior is utterly gutted and destroyed ; other ruins not to be found, in fact, do not exist. It is notable that all the destruction, in and near Paris, was caiised by French hands, -^ and that the Prussians actually destroyed no buildings, and left no traces of their presence behind them. The wanton, disgraceful destruction of magnificent buildings by the Communists, was systematic and brutal, and no excuse can possibly be made for it, nor can one pity any of the wretches who met with a sudden and fatal retribution. lam not going to describe Paris, that cannot be necessary nowadays, I will merely mention a few of ray impressions, after many, years of absence from France. Paris gives you the idea at once of a city inhabited by people who are living to amuse themselves and enjoy life as much as possible> not at all the • notion of a city where much trade or manufacture is carried on. No tall chimneys belching forth hideous clouds of smoke, no clash of machinery, no waggons or trucks laden with all kinds of goods filling the streets ; there is plenty of room everywhere, and at any time of the day you can get a clear view of the clean, light-looking city, from any high spot, no smoke or vapor, rising to obstruct the view. Very little coal is used, mostly charcoal gas for cooking purposes, and this accounts greatly for the clear, clean look of the city generally. The streets are wide, and the shops a brilliant and well-filled; Everything gives you the idea of a city inhabited by arilliant, reckless, frivolous, pleasure? hunting population. Since the wan everything is very much dearer than it was, and wages are very high, tradesmen— as carpenters, masons, plasterers, and so on —get on an average from six to nine francs a day, say an average of 6s 3d a day ; bootmakers and tailors get from eight to ten francs a day, and any amount of employment. Living is not quite as dear as in London, where the wages of artisans are about 6s 9d a day of nine hours. The result of these high wages is no greater prosperity ; only more time spent in the cafe, and more expensive clothes worn when off work. For the stranger visiting Paris, these high rates of wages and living, have the effect ol making him pay nearly twice as much for everything he requires as he would have 'paid before the war. The theatres and cafe charterets, the latter the counterpart of the London Music Hall, fill to excess, and the prices of admission and of the refreshments served there are very high. I visited the Closerie des Lilacs j and the ->^ Salle de Valentino, and saw the can-can danced in all its glory. The best French acting, at the Theatre Frangais, for example, is far superior to anything we have in London j but the highest class of French actors have always excelled any : thing we, can produce in that line. In the comic way I thinjc the English stage carries off the palm ; but for finished', polished, hi^h-class drama, give me the French stage. The Grand Opera House, which will take a million of francs to complete inside, is a magnificent building, excelling anything of the kind in the world, I may safely say, for I. have seep all the great theatres and public buildings of any note in the world, and nothing compares to the Grand Opera in Paris! Perhaps when the French have paid $hp two milliards yet due to Germany, they will be able to devote a paltry milliononly the two-thousandth part of the dett yet dve — to finishing this gloripns bnu^ting — one of the monuments 6| fiie exr Emperor's greatness and extravagance. I wonder the Communists spared' this noble pile. The Emperor and HausmanuV made Paris what it is — the most beautiful city in the world ; they opened up all the slums, formed splendid boulevards, and raised great piles of - handsome buildings where wretched hovels of filthy dens alone existed. Versailles, so often described, cannot be overrated; it is grand in the[extreme, the grounds being much more imposing thaD the Chateau, which is not much to look at, although very grand inside, containing much worth a visit. St. Cloud is smashed up, demolished, but the beautiful grounds are not injured. . ; The French still hate the Germans with a degree of intensity, and swear revenge, quite ignoring the recollection /of the ills they wrought in Germany for years at the commencement of this century ; I fancy when they begin to feel the burden of paying the interest on the money paid to Germany, aome

250,000,000 francs at five per cent., amounting, however, in reality to L 12,000,000 per annum, as much was issued at 75, besides all the debt accumulated by their own expenses, tb^eir heat will cool very considerably. The present generation will have disappeared before the French are in a position to attempt any war, and the rising generation will not feel the same thirst for vengeance. On my way to Strasburg I had many interesting conversations with Prussians and Bavarians belonging to the Army of Occupation, and also with Alsaciens, Lorrainera and others, who had been present during the whole campaign, and the general opinion seemed to be that all parties had enough of war, and were not at all anxious for any more. Strasbnrg Cathedral, the highest spire in Europe, or in the world, and a splendid pile altogether, is uninjured, and stands there as I recollected it twenty years ago. Considering what a tremendous hammering Strasburg underwent, I was surprised at the few signs of iuin visible and the little damage done to any important part of the city ; it is very strongly fortified, and the Germans are making it stronger still, but with the ordnance of the present day, carrying so many miles, ramparts and walk are nowhere, advanced forts are the only important defence, like Mont Valerien at Paris, which seems a great distance from the city, and yet which really commands Paris and could seriously check an enemy advancing on the city. I next revisited Carlsruhe, after an absence of twenty years, and found it little altered ; a little improved, perhaps, and a trifle increased in extent. Munich, that genial, beery, lazy old place, looked as pleasant as ever in a beautiful early morning sun, and I could have spent a week there very, comfortably, but I was anxious to push on to Vienna, so I only spent one night at Munich. The scenejy between Munich and Vienna is magnificent, especially when you get close to the Tyrol and have a capital view of the Tyrolese Alps ; the autumn tints were really gorgeous, and there was enough of vegetation left green and fresh to make the landscape charming ; the vines had not .yet lost their leaves, which were of various rich tints and hues, and the last of the grapes were not all gathered. The scenery about Salgburg is as fine as you can get anywhere j it is soft and yet grand, with the Tyrolese mountains in the background. whole country I passed through, from ~ Strasburg to Vienna is very fertile and every inch under cultivation, a great part occupied by vineyards ; there are no hedges, ditches, or walls, so there is no &nd lost that will grow any crop ; the various holdings are only divided by stone landmarks. Vienna is a very extensive city, of some 850,000 inhabitants, composed T)f a population drawn from all sorts of nationalities, and speaking the most varied dialects and langrages. The city is increasing rapidly ; since their last war the Austrians have devoted themselves to industries of all sorts with a will, so that Austria has made rapid strides of improvement of late years, by which, of course, the capital, Vienna, benefits greatly. The Great International Exhibition of 1873, to be held at Vienna in May next, is expected to be a great success ; the building, fast approaching completion, is very extensive — larger than any former Exhibition building, and fl ith extensive grounds. It stands between the Piater, the great park of Vienna, and the Danube, or rather the various ramifications of the Danube, which are about being brought into one straight stream by a great cutting. In Vienna, as in all the large continental cities you meet military at every turn, and the barracks are immense piles of brickwork, built in the form of castles. Li Vienna there are plenty of theatres and a very fine opera house, in the centre of the city, at which there is generally an excellent company. There are also several cafe-charterets, where the singing is nearly always in the Viennese popular dialect, which a North-German scarcely understands, but which, from old times, I understood and greatly enjoyed, as it is generally accompanied by very good comic acting. These cafes are usually very crowded, and the heat and smoke are rather excessive. The Viennese are noted as "c in fideles Yolk," a thoroughly goodnatured, pleasure-loving people. There is plenty for the sightseer in Vienna--r m,n,seumg, picture galleries, statuary, palaces, and gardens. ' From the Austrian capital I shaped my course for Trieste, .the only seaport of Austria, and a thoroughly Italian town it is. The scenery on the way to Trieste is very grand, and you crop the chain of mountains by that wonderful piece of railway engineering, the Sommering Pass.

Sou pats through countries inhabited by various races and nationalities, and speaking various languages and dialects, as Lower Austria, Styria (Steienmarck), Canada (Krain), and then the Italian country on the gulf. The gulf of Trieste, as it were, a part of the Gulf of Vienna, which everyone knows is in the Adriatic. Trieste is an important port, increasing in importance yearly, whUe that of Venice has dwindled to a mere trifle. It is a very long journey from Vienna to Trieste, and much of it through a mountainous country, requiring much expense and skilful engineering to run a railway through. The level country round Vienna is perhaps the most fertile, and possessing the warmest, most congenial climate in Germany. From Trieste I went to Venice, queen of the Adriatic, beautiful Venice, etc. You approach the city in the sea, by a long embankment, formed to carry the railway, and you are deposited by the railway people on the side of one of the great Venetian canals, where, instead of crowds of cabs and omnibusses, there is a fleet of gondolas waiting to convey passengers and luggage to the various hotels. These gondolas have a somewhat sombre appearance, being all painted alike— black, draped with black cloth, and you glide along at a good pace through the many turns and crossings of various canals, passing other gondolas with only a hair'sbreadtb between the two, but no scraping or collision, while the motion is easy and pleasant — no shaking, rolling, or swerving, ,and you recline at your ease under cover from sun and rain. I landed at the steps of my hotel, and after securing a room, toi.k a glass of Vienna beer, which you find all through Italy, and indeed in every part of Europe, brewed by the noted Dreher of Vienna I was at Dreher's great Bier-halle when in Vienna, and to the accompaniment of a really splendid orchestra, playing all the finest music, I witnessed 2000 people drinking Dreher's beer and having supper ; the beer there, of course, is supplied direct from the great brewery, the bier-halle forming part of the premises. At Grieste I slept in a room fronting the sea, and, as it was warm, left my window open all night, and to my surprise found in the morning that mosquitoes had banquetted on me during the night and raised little lumps all over my hands, arms, and face. At Venice these little pests served me the same way, although I nearly suffocated myself with the smoke of great postilles, aaid to be an infallible remedy against mosquittoe3. I visited St. Mark's, the Doge's Palace, Bridge of Sighs, numbers of fine churches, picture galleries, the splendid palace of Prince Giovanelli, approached by splendid white marble steps, rising out of the canal, met a friend :< on the Bialto," enjoyed a glorious day of light and sunshine on the Grand Canal, and in fact thoroughly saw all Venice, and was much pleased with it ; there not a horse or a wheel in Venice. From Venice I went to Bologna, a very quaint and peculiar old city, with its looming tower, and arcades to every street, and both sides of the street, so that you walk in perpetual shade wherever you go. There is a very extensive university at Bologna, containing some 3000 students, from all parts of the world. The women dress like the Spaniards, with the high back-comb and the mantilla, and never appear in bonnets or hats ; they are dark, olive complexioned, and many very pretty, besides having a coquettish way of courting attention, which they enjoy much. The Viennese girls are pretty and good-natured, and fond of flriting, but they have not the style of the Bolognese. Bologna is noted, of old, for its capital sausage, the excellent mortadella, and not without reason, for it is really very good and palatable ; it is made of the choicest meat only, and is dear, 3£ lire the kils, which is about 3 s 4d a pound. All through Italy I got plenty of fruit of all sorts, although the season was far advanced, but the climate is sd good, and the soil so fertile, that they have both very early and very late crops of everything. Splendid grapes at Jcl a pound, apples about Id a pound, pomegranates |cl each, place fruit within everyone's reach. On my way to Boulogna I pasted through the noted cities of Padua, Hovigo, and Ferrara, but did not make any stay there. At Padua, I parted with a friend who had travelled from London with me, but who had to go home from Padua, not being well enough to go on. Between Bologna and Florence the railway crosses a mountainous country, to the east of the Apennines ; and from a great height in the mountains you see Pistoja far below in the plains, just below the railway, and about an hour afterwards arrive in the city of Pistoja itself. .Firenze la Bella, c l'Antica, is beautifully situated on the Arno, in a sort of natural amphitheatre, formed by the hills and mountains near, and the neighborhood of Florence for miles round is dotted over with villas -and pretty, glistening white houses. You get a capital view of Florence and the valley of the Arno from Fiesola, a place that was flourishing when Rome was in her infancy, and where I saw the remains of an old heathen temple and an amphitheatre. In Florence, there are picturegalleries, statues, palaces, libraries, churches to be seen, occpying much pleasant time, and it is a gay city, occupied chiefly by pleasure seekers. Here you have the celebrated Venus de Medici— a lovely sculptured figure. On the way from Florence to Rome I passed through a fertile country, well cultivated, always level plains with high mountains on either side, and all the cities, towns, villages and castles are on the mountains, often seemingly in nearly inaccessible spots, partly built thus iD olden times for safety from one another, and partly to escape the damp and floods in the plains, during autumn and winter. I passed many notable places, as Arezzo, Perugia, 1 Aastia, Afsisi, Feligno, Spolito, Terni, Monte Rotondo, all noted in ancient and modern times as well. To visit everything worth seeing in Rome you should stay there longer than I did, say for a month ; but I saw all that one generally hears of as being worth seeing iv Rome. I did not see the Pope, for of late he has shut himself up so completely that no one outside the Vatican ever sets eyes on him; but I saw and spoke to Cardinal Antonelli, who is, perhaps, more worth seeing than his infallible master, ( r rather ward, for Antonelli is the leader and real master. Strangers have a difficulty in getting admittance to the Vatican now, and it was only by special favor that I got in, and saw the splendid paintings, the Siatine Chapel, and the endless quartity of statuary, comprising many of the chef-d'osuvres of the world. St. Peter's I aebeen too often described for me to redescriptioa of it ; suffice it to Bay,

I was not disappointed, and its grandeur impressed me much. There are some 300 churches in Rome, many of them most magnificent, and built in a costly style. I visited so many cf them that at last I hardly recollected one from the other. I am sure I must have seen some 500 St. Sebastians, stuck full of arrows, on my travels, some thousand paintings of the Virgin, fully a hundred, more or less, beautiful Venuses, and, in fact, acres of magnificent paintings, in public and private galleries, till my neck had a crick in it from looking up so much. Museums and libraries by the score, palaces by the dozen, till one becomes a sort of art repository oneself. The antiquities of Rome are imposing and most interesting, and it is only by seeing them, and the immense extent of ground covered by the old ruins, tint one can form a conception of what a grand, populous old city ancient Rome was with its three millions of inhabitants, and all that wealth and luxury could invest and produce. I was very much impressed with Rome, and could spend weeks there, poking about among the classical ruins, one seems to recollect so well from one's school and college days. Modern Rome, since it has become the capital of united Italy, and the seat of Government has made rapid increase, and building is going on in every direction to supply the increasing demand for houseroom. The presence of the Pope, up in the Vatican, does not trouble the Romans a bit, he is nearly forgotton already in the excitement and business of a new life, free from the heavy deadening trammels of the Church. As usual in cases of reaction the people rather despise and look askance at the priests and monks now. It must take a lot of contributions to keep up tho army of clerical gentry in Rome ; they are as plentiful as the Italian fleas. Naples, "see it and then die," as the poet wished ; well, it is a beautiful bay indeed, and the city charmingly placid along the shores, but I could see it and yet not be satisfied to die after that gratification, as having ful6lled my mission on earth. I went to Pompeii, and was certainly impressed with the wonderful reality of a city covered in ashes for two thousand years, and now brought forth as it then existed, fresh, as if it were yesterday. It was a very large city, and not half of it is yet uncovered, but a vast deal has been brought to light, and slowly but steadily further .excavations are goiug on. Mount Vesuvius I ascended, with a young Parisian friend of mine, without a guide, a feat very rarely accomplished, and we nearly paid dear for our risk, for we were benighted in the lava fields, and did not get down to Poctici until late at night, after various escapes and adventure, thoroughly knocked up and dead beaten. I sent the boatmen, who were waiting for us, home by sea alone, and we took the last train, fortunately then going in to Naples. There is a long roundabout way of going up Vesuvius, which is easy until the cone is reached, but anyone taking that route has to take a guide, or be torn to pieces ; I detest guides, it spoils the whole affair, so I tried the ascent from Poctici, and had not my plaging boatmen kept me out at sea in a felucca for three hours, on my way from Castelovo, we should not have been benighted ; but another time I should avoid three miles over the scoria or lava fields, hopping about from point to point of gigantic cinders for three or four miles is trying to say the least of it. After a few more days in Naples, glorious bathing in the Mediterranean, and various excursionists, I returned to Rome, thence by Florence, Pistoja, Bologna, Modena, Parma, and Piacenza, Caselpustalengo, and Lodi, to Milan. At one place the floods had carried off the railway bridge, and we had to get out of our train, ferry over a roaring river, and proceed by a train waiting for us on the other side. The floods have been very disastrous in Italy this autumn, doing enormous damage. Milan is a splendid city, standing in the midst of the fertile Lombard plains ; the cathedra), to my fancy, is the handsomest and most pleasing of all the numerous cathedrals and churches I have seen ; it has just been cleaned outside, and the beautiful snow-white marble has a magnificent effect ; the very roof is all marble, everything about it is solid white marble ; from the top of the Campanile I had a glorious view of the plains girted by the snow-capped Alps. I visited mauy splendid galleries of paintings in Milan ; among other noted paintings there is a, said to be, splendid Venus, more than life-size, but it is hung in such a grim light that after dodging about for a quarter-of-an-hour to get the right light on it, I cleared out in despair. In Turin there is not much to see, but it is a fine, well-built city, with Sue wide streets and good squaies, or piazzas ; of course there there are galleries again, statues, and so on, and I looked at some, but I was getting pretty full up of that, and realised the fact that you can have too much of a good thing. There is more stabbing and knifing in Turin than in auy city in Italy, and not a night goes by without a brawl and a case of stiletto j I thought Naples bad enough, but the Turinese are the worst, it seems. I passed through Mont Cenis tunnel, seven miles in twenty-five minutes, went up through France to Paris, by St Michel, Chamberry Bourg, Macon, Chalons, Beaune, Nuits — how I thought of all the good Burgundy grown about here, and what casks and casks of it were piled up at all the stations, and passed us on the trucks Prom Dijon, I passed through a very uninteresting country to Paris. After a day or two more in Paris, I took my departure, and via Calais and Dover reached London once more, having travelled pretty hard, seen a vast deal, spent a lot of money, enjoyed myself, and felt quite ready to settle down quietly for the winter, now so fast approaching. This year, particularly the autumn, and specially October, the wet has been very excessive, all over Europe, and it does not seem inclined to get drier yet, either.