Class Zl:} jBi H 1 iiofe M mm 1 H f^^ ij' i« ^^ THE HERMIT, by HERMAN RAULEACH BISMARCK, by LENBACH ART IN MUNICH 147 in his studio there were many electric lights arranged for carrying on the work after daylight. He lived in a most artistic Italian villa here, filled with curios, and his studio was formerly opened to visitors, but during his long illness it was closed and many then realized the painting days of the far-famed Franz von Lenbach were over. Defregger paints scenes from the Tyrol that would put any pessimist in a good humor. He was a Tyroler himself, and first drew a bank-note so per- fectly that the vil- lagers declared the boy should have a chance at art, and from that day he walked forth into fame. His villa here shows the money that can be made by painting— IF ONE IS A DEFREG- GER. The accom- panying pictures are two of his works. One, "The Sick Dog," is his latest, and in such favor all Munich is carrying home copies of it. You see the children have bethought them to carry their pet to the animal doctor, and in answer to the little girl's ring, the angry face of the physician peers through the door pane and the small boy who sees it, is speech- less with terror, knowing there is trouble ahead, but the little mother thinks only of the doggy which she wraps up with anxious care, lest he take cold before the doctor can relieve him. THE SICK DOG, by DEFREGGER 148 RAMBLES ABROAD The other Defregger called "The Courting," shows that a timid youth has brought his father for support, to go before to prepare the way, for his own strength is so fast oozing away that all he can do is to clutch awkwardly the little bouquet. The girl's mother rises hospitably at their entrance, but the beloved one only giggles and takes it as a huge joke, while her sisters are much entertained by such a pleasant diversion. THE COURTING, by DEFREGGER Grutzner's merry old monks always come in for their share of admiration; in Makart's "Gifts of Earth and Water," one sees color running riot, and his rich reds make his pictures entirely different from other artists. Stuck is the man for faddists, and his conceptions are so wierd, so bizarre and terrible, one cannot help thinking he must have had some ghastly dreams. His "Sin" in the New Pinakothek represents ART IN MUNICH 149 a woman with eyes that burn and glow, her black hair draped about her adds to the intensity of her expression, and a great serpent coiled over her shoulder completes a picture that is as strikingly wonderful as it is repulsive. Many pictures have been taken from the walls for the St. Louis Exposition, and though one misses them here like absent friends, it is grati- fying to. know Munich added her quota to the German exhibit. The Academy is one of the best places in the world to receive instruction, and art schools are legion. In the Crystal Palace an annual exhibition is held, while the Artists' Associa- tion has now a permanent display in its quarters in the old museum. The Secessionists too are not to be outdone, and yearly display their progress in such impressionistic marvels one is reminded of the would-be art critic, who, wanting to say something and not knowing if the canvas before him was a landscape, figure, or marine, exclaimed: "What a delicious bit," a compliment vague enough to fit any subject. Piloty, the great historical painter, lived here too, and his "Thusnelda in the Triumphal Procession of the Emperor Germanicus," and "Seni Before the Corpse of Wallenstein" are two of Munich's most celebrated pictures, while his "Queen Elizabeth" in the Maximilianeum is almost as good as a per- sonal encounter with the Virgin Queen. In this building there is a feast of great subjects: Richter's "Pyramid Builders," Schwoiser's "Henry IV. at Canossa," Kaulbach's "Coronation of Charlemagne," Schnorr's "Luther and the Diet of Worms," Kotzebue's "Peter the Great," and a dozen others. Cornelius, by his frescoes, gave the impetus to Munich art, Schwanthaler helped it forward and the Bavarian electors and kings have been from early times the patron of artists, as their works in the royal palace indicate, for here the Niebelungen decorations by Schnorr, and Stieler's Bavarian court beauties on porcelain, once seen are never forgotten. 150 RAMBLES ABROAD Olive Shreiner tells of a painter who used a color that no one else could mix and many artists' hearts were filled with envy at the wonderful red their rival had found, so that at his death all flocked to his rooms to discover his secret, and lo, on his breast was a bleeding wound and they went away in silence, for they realized that he had been painting with his own life's blood. That is the case with all masterpieces, for the artists put into them the best part of their lives, and no one knows the cost but themselves. THE CASTLES OF THE MAD KING OF BAVARIA Tke Castles of tke Mad King of Bavaria WHEN Jack reached the top of the beanstalk he could not have been more surprised than the mountain climber in Bavaria, when he suddenly comes upon King Ludwig's palaces. They are only a few hours distant from Munich and as their fame is spreading abroad more travelers are visiting them every year, for their splendor rivals that of Alad- din's magic abode. Ludwig II. came to the throne in 1864 when only eighteen — a victim of envi- ronment and heredity. His wonderful beauty delighted the simple peasants, but from the first he had views that troubled his ministers. His education, unwhole- some and unsympathetic, under a French governess, was entirely unsuited to his tem- perament, and coming later from the twilight of seclusion into the dazzling blaze of royal glory, he made money disappear as in a conjuring trick. His ancestors were the famous Wittelsbach heroes of whom so many romantic tales are told that from boyhood he was [153] KING LUDWIG II. OF BAVARIA 154 RAMBLES ABROAD instilled with the idea that knights commanded and vassals obeyed. One day he was found strangling his younger brother, and when the governess told him he might have killed the little fellow, he calmly announced: "He dared to resist my will and deserves death!" He had the greatest horror of a homely face and would turn away in terror and in many other little ways his eccentricities became so marked that even in childhood he must have been at times demented. LINDERHOF When a young man he paid court to the daughter of the Czar Nicholas of Russia, but later his engagement was announced to the Princess Sophia Charlotte, daughter of Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. The wedding day was near, the state carriages for the bride and groom were finished, even the medals were ordered on which were the faces of the King and future Queen, when suddenly in the midst of the preparations, the engagement was broken, and the Princess refused to discuss the subject even with her own family. Some think CASTLES OP THE MAD KING OF BAVARIA 155 Ludwig discovered that she was in love with someone else and broke it himself, while others believe the Princess found the King's fantastic ideas too peculiar for her taste. Later she married the Duke d Alencon and became a social leader' in Paris, but died under particularly tragic circumstances, as she was burned to death there in the Charity Bazaar in 1896. After that broken engagement, Ludwig' avoided society and preferred to live in the past with his ideal, Marie Antoinette, than in the present with any living woman. With his love of luxury and exquisite taste he kept hundreds of work- ing-men busy carrying out his plans. The Castle of Linderhof near Oberam- magau is copied after Marie Antoinette's Petit Trianon at Versailles, but the copy far excels the original, and its situation nestling down among the surrounding mountains, is most picturesque. The rooms are small and one notices in all of Ludwig's palaces there are almost no accommodations made for guests. The King was of a dreamy disposition, and preferred to be alone. The keynote of his life lies in this remark. When a child he was asked one day if he was not lonely? "Oh, no," he re- plied, "I think of lots of things and am quite happy!" In front of this little castle there is a beautifully laid out terrace which leads to the temple of Venus, and beyond one DUCHESS D' ALENCON engaged to King Ludwig; she was burned to death in the fire at the Paris Bazaar 156 RAMBLES ABROAD sees the snow-capped mountains of the Bavarian Tyrol. The Mecca for all tourists at Linderhof, however, is the blue grotto somewhat similar to the one at Capri, It is lighted artificially, and on entering the cave the blue is so dazzling, one could be easily deceived and think the walls were of real rock, and not merely cement and imitation — a counterfeit of Nature by human hands. On this little lake is the King's swan-boat, in which arrayed as Lohengrin he drifted about listening to the pW!!l---'a^ WKtKf^m^r,^^^m •■ ™ l«£s?'« -''l^^i, " . 1 ^ 1 3m 'J -^ :f ^^^ff'^^ ~^^^ 1 — - — -• ^ -'■'■•■■ /' '"■ ' '" "-■ ^'-^.:^gsis^^" 5' '^*.ai m LINDERHOF playful little waterfalls or looking at the painting that hangs on the opposite side. If any one doubts King Ludwig's insanity let him look at the grotto of Linderhof and fancy a sane man, dressed as Lohengrin, riding for hours at a time, on an artificial lake in a swan-boat moved by machinery! On the grounds there are numerous fountains, statues and arbors, and a Tiirkish kiosk stands a little distance from the castle. There, after dinner, this monarch loved to repair, and CASTLES OF THE MAD KING OF BAVARIA 157 donning a Turkish costume, he would lounge on the light blue satin couches, smoking in true oriental fashion. If a guest were present he was expected to do likewise, and there, in the one little room, they remained for hours, watching the bronze peacocks open and shut, at the King's pleasure, their strange-: looking wings of colored glass. TERRACE AT I.INDERHOF All the rooms of Linderhof are furnished in French style, for Louis XIV. and Louis XV. were Ludwig's models, and he was always eager to imitate their apartments. One of the most attractive is in the form of a circle, with the wall panels of light blue satin, embroidered in gold thread, and the gold embroidery on the satin chairs stands out an inch from the background. The fine portraits are noted people of the French court. The Gobelin room is so called on account of its tapestry 158 RAMBLES ABROAD KIOSK AT LINDERHOF furnishings, and the work on the doors and ceiling is so heavily gilded, it makes one of the showiest rooms in the castle. The King's most intimate friend of flesh and blood was Richard Wagner, for in the great musician he saw some one capable of carrying out his dreams of chivalry. Ludwig was in Paris the first night Lohengrin was given, and from that time he became Wagner's royal patron. But the Bavarians grew jealous of his influence over the King, and the feeling against the musician eventually rose so high, Wagner was obliged to leave Munich. When the Auditorium at Bayreuth was erected, Wagner in- tended that the Niebelungen Lied should be produced there only, but after he lost Ludwig's favor needing more money, he was obliged to sell these operas, and therefore they can now be given in various cities. At the time of the trouble between Prussia and Austria, the Bavarians took sides with the latter and were of course deieated. lohengrin room at neuschwanstein CASTLES OF THE MAD KING OF BAVARIA 159 Excitement throughout Bavaria was intense, and one would naturally have supposed the King's anxiety to be the greatest, but when the messengers brought word to him that his city of Nurnberg had been taken, they found him dressed as Tristan, ready to rehearse "Tristan and Isolde," and it really seemed to the distracted Bavarians that music was more important in the King's mind than affairs of state. LIVING-ROOM AT NEUSCHWANSTEIN The London "Punch" brought out at this time the follow- ing rhyme: "There was a young King of Bavaria Who played on his fiddle an aria, He called for his valet And then for a ballet, This wonderful King of Bavaria." In an erratic way he would suddenly order an opera to be given, and always wished to be alone in the theatre, but it is still 160 RAMBLES ABROAD a question if he appreciated Wagner's music, or if it were the romantic stories and elaborate stage settings of the operas that appealed to him. His favorite color was blue, and his magnificent light blue velvet bed in the Museum at Munich is always a delight to the sightseer. There is only one bedroom in Linderhof, and the bed draperies are in blue velvet embroidered in gold thread, while the heavy railing which separates the end of the room for the great bedstead, is also highly gilded. The articles on the toilet- table are solid gold — worth a king's ransom. However, the King spent more and more time alone; although always majestic, there appeared to be a mist of loneliness about him, few under- stood the man himself. He was a dreamer, not a warrior or statesman, and he neglected the army; but during the Franco- Prussian war of 1871, he was obliged to send Prussia his Bavarian troops, and the Kaiser put thetn under the command of his son, the Crown Prince Frederick. After the war, when the German Empire was formed, the Crown Prince used to go every year to Munich to review this Bavarian part of the Ger- man army, and when Ludwig heard his soldiers cheering this Prince, he grew suddenly jealous and refused after that to receive Frederick on his annual tour of inspection. Linderhof is a little gem, and suggests dainty elegance, but the Castle of Neuschwanstein stands for grandeur and feudal strength. It is not far from Linderhof, and is situated on the top of a mountain. From its turrets one has a view of the mountains, valleys, lakes and rivers extending miles beyond. Inside one sees everything pertaining to the Wagnerian heroes of the Niebelungen, the King's mythical friends. But unfortu- nately, Ludwig's imagination increased with his years, until his pleasant day-dreams turned into horrible nightmares, and he could get no rest. Then on cold winter nights the people would see him driving in his blue velvet sleigh at a breakneck CASTLES OF THE MAD KING OF BAVARIA 161 pace down this mountain, but drive as he would, the phantom of coming insanity always kept pace with him. The famous Sangersaal, or hall of the singers, has a little stage at one end, and the paintings between the windows are of Parsifal, Lohengrin, and Tannhauser. They must be seen to be appreciated. Words no more describe great paintings than they can express the flavor of a peach that someone else has tasted. There is also a Lohengrin room at Neuschwan- stein with scenes from that knight's life, and swans are em- broidered in silver on all the chairs and hangings. Ludwig's boy- hood was spent in the castle of the al- most unpronounc- able name, Hohen- schwangau — high district of the swan and as, according to old traditions, there stood at one time a castle on the oppo- site mountain, Ludwig replaced it, and called the new castle Neuschwanstein, the new home of the swan. The dining-room here is red, and the table is noticeably small. The King rarely gave a banquet and loathed state functions, in fact he seldom appeared in public, and usually made the excuse of not being well. The throne-room can have but one criticism; it is overdone. The pillars are of marble and the walls are magnificently frescoed and richly gilded. There is no throne in this room, as the King died before the palace was finished. Besides these apartments HALL OF SINGERS AT NEUSCHWANSTEIN 162 RAMBLES ABROAD there are others in green and gold, purple, gray and silver. Many of the tables are of priceless lapis lazuli, buhl and malachite, and the wonderful clocks will be marveled at until the end of time. Ludwig believed extravagance a divine right of kings, and the less money he had, the more he spent. The walls of his Neuschwanstein bedroom were exquisitely carved, as well as the bed; in fact, this wood carving looks like THRONE ROOM AT NEUSCHWANSTEIN lace work. The water on the toilet-table poured into a golden bowl from the neck of a golden swan. Yet with all the fairy- like splendor, what a pathetic example the melancholy King was of the "boast of heraldry and the pomp of power!" His study was green and gold, somewhat Moorish in design. As one goes from room to room one excuses Ludwig's insanity, for enthusiastic visitors nearly go wild over them too! Everything is in perfect taste, and the materials are of course, CASTLES OF THE MAD KING OF BAVARIA 163 of the very richest. They make Windsor castle look almost bare and shabby, and even the Czar's palaces somewhat commonplace. His building mania is well known, but it is the irony of fate that the Castle of Herrenchiemsee on its quiet little island that Lud- wig thought the least acces- sible from the busy world is now the one most fre- quented. The marble stair- way was never finished, and some of the statues along the wall that were to be re- produced in marble, now stand in plaster. There is a porcelain room so-called because of bits of painted porcelain encrusted in the doors and furniture, and they are as finely painted as miniatures. In the dining-room the table, like that at Sans Souci, was made to go below for the next course, in order that the King might be served without wait- ers. The sleeping- room was in red and gold, so gorgeous that fairyland could not contain one more KING'S STUDY, NEUSCHWANSTEIN bcaUtlful. The KING'S BED, NEUSCHWANSTEIN 164 RAMBLES ABROAD curtains and covering of the bed represent the toil of seven years of the finest embroiderers in Bavaria, and the gold toilet-set consists of several dozen different pieces. The King, how- ever, did not sleep in the red room, but in a blue room where the dressing-table is covered with the finest point lace. The hall of mirrors is undoubtedly the most magnificent room of its kind in the world. It is over one hundred metres long. The double row of chandeliers contain twenty-five hundred candles, all of which were lighted when the monarch made his short an- nual visit of nine days! But the maxi- mum of grandeur was the minimum of contentment. The terrible crisis came in 1886. It was de- cided by the minis- ters that Ludwig must be told that he was no longer fit to rule, but the King then at Neuschwanstein, heard the envoys were coming and had them imprisoned on their arrival! Shortly after they were freed, and having made their plans better, the next delegation abruptly entered Ludwig's room, and told him he was mad. Has such treatment of the insane ever been more unreasonable? To tell a crazy man that he is crazy ! Then they took him captive to the castle of Berg, which was considered the most suitable place for his imprisonment. It is on the lake of Starnberg, and can be seen from the car windows by travelers from Munich to Oberammagau. Every- NEUSCHWANSTEIN CASTLES OF THE MAD KING OF BAVARIA 165 thing was against the King, and he grew rapidly more silent and preoccupied. One day he went out for a walk with one of his physicians, and as they were late in returning, the others feeling anxious, began a search. A hat and coat on the edge of the lake gave the clue, and afterward both bodies were found in the water. It is generally believed that Ludwig, after a struggle, succeeded in drowning both the physician and him- self. A monument on Lake Starnberg marks the spot where the King's body was found. No great events immortalize his reign, no great deeds are associated with his n a me besides his en- cour a g emen t of Wagner. He was not a toiler in the sea of real life. He only sat on the banks and listened to the human ocean with its ebb and flow, until its waves carried him, nothing but brushwood, into a haven of rest. He was buried in St. Michael's church in Munich, and his brother Otto succeeded him on the Bavarian throne. The curse of insanity is upon that brother also, and, as unfortunately he still lives, his uncle Luitpold is now Regent, a man greatly admired throughout Bavaria. Before Ludwig's death, he had in mind another castle, but KING LUDWIG II. BEFORE HIS DEATH 166 RAMBLES ABROAD his ministers refused him the money and it remains unfinished. Although this building mania was an enormous expense to the nation, the Bavarians are grateful now to Ludwig the dreamer, for his air castles took permanent form and are now among Bavaria's proudest possessions. NURNBERG Nurnberg HE who would see Nurnberg in its early quaintness can- not afford to miss the next ship, for the past and present are having a contest here, each one claiming it her own. It has been considered for so long the grave of German antiquity that one is almost shocked now to find that progress has even penetrated through the defiant old stone walls that surround- ed the town, for Nurnberg, once the "City of the Em- pire," with its great citadel of the Middle Ages, its famous artists, thrifty burghers and well- known guilds has part of old wall, nurnberg come back to life again, and its modern industries demand to- day as much attention as did its ancient arts. Other German towns may be more beautiful, but Nurnberg has the advantage over many of the larger cities because it existed way back in the days of miracles. Everything one sees has a story, and all travelers know tradition is more enter- taining than truth. Anything made here since 1500 is con- sidered hopelessly modern. It also has the distinction of being the first place in Germany to have a railroad, and that at once connected with the outer world what, up to that time, had been a world in itself. Nurnberg is in northern Bavaria, the little river Pegnitz [169] 170 RAMBLES ABROAD rambles lazily through the town, at times in a discouraged manner, and the houses have high-peaked Gothic gables, with their narrow fronts picturesquely painted, as much adorned outside as in, while in every niche stands a little saint who looks just ready to step down and join the strollers in the street underneath him. These figures are tucked away so lavishly in all kinds of corners one wonders if there can be as many saints in heaven as on the buildings of Number g. The ancient city wall has been torn down in many places, or ISLAND IN THE PEGNITZ Utilized as a side for a structure against it, but the curious old square and round towers still remain true to their charge, and watch over the town with the pride of old custodians. As every child knows, Nurnberg is the headquarters for playthings and is still unrivaled in its toy manufactories. Watches too were first made here and were called Nurnberg eggs for a score of years afterward. Strangely enough though Nurnberg showed others how to keep track of time, the town itself has lived on regardless of its changes. NURNBERG 171 Perhaps it is best known as the home of the Meistersingfers, for sauntering through the quiet streets they warbled their careless lays, all unknowing their rhymes and rhythms were to form an important chapter in the history of German song. The house of their laureate, Hans Sachs, the cobbler-poet, is held now in the reverence of a shrine — none the less for the fact that it has become a wine shop. Then too everyone visits the tiny tavern, cen- turies old, where, at the sound of a little bell announcing that the sausages were ready, the Meister- singers betook them- selves to drive dull care away. This miniature inn is still open today, the sau- sages sizzle as usual on the stove before you, and though the sound of the bell is still, the name re- mains unchanged, "Bravourst glocklein" — the little bell and sausage inn. Nurnberg is above all else a city of saints and churches. St. Lorenz is especially beautiful, while the old stained-glass windows show the ancients had better coloring than we, and are far richer in tints than the window opposite put in to commemorate the eighty-fourth birthday of Emperor William I. In that church too is the wonderful Ciborium, or pix, the A GLIMPSE OF NURNBERG 172 RAMBLES ABROAD receptacle for the euchorist, a slender stone tower reaching^ almost to the roof of the church. Adam Kraft and his assis- tants worked on it for over ten years, and some figures are so finely carved one cannot distinguish them clearly with the naked eye, but no labor was considered too arduous to beautify a repository for the sacred host. Suspended from the ceiling is the curiously carved wooden piece of Veit Stoss,. called the Salutation, and though once terribly broken by a fall, it is now satisfac- torily restored. For the best example of the great brass, founder, Peter Vischer, go to the church of St. Sebaldus. Now this saint could make icicles burn and do all man- ner of wonderful things, and when an old woman, bound (because she was a sinner), kindly bent down to straighten a candle on St. Sebaldus's coffin, her iron ring immediately burst off, setting her free, and she went on her way rejoicing. In order to have a suitable tomb for so holy a man, Peter Vischer and his five sons gave their best work and put the twelve Apostles around it like a guard, with twelve more figures above and seventy marvelously executed allegorical ones below, while on the other side from the saint the old artist himself stands, like a trade-mark, with apron and chisel. The Bride's Door too is well worth seeing, and Adam Kraft PETER VISCHER ST. SEBALDUS' TOMB IN BRONZE, THE WORK OF PETER VISCHER NURNBERG 175 has done here a monument in which he surpassed even himself. When the Jews were brutally driven from the town, the Frauenkirche was erected on the site of their old synagogue, and there for many years the imperial regalia was kept until it was carried off to Vienna. On the outside of the church is that old clock fashioned in memory of the Golden Bull, the corner-stone of German constitutions. The Emperor sits in the middle and at noon out march regularly the electors to greet him and then obediently return to their places in the clock to the delight of the onlookers in the street. The Germanic Museum is in the old building of a suppressed Carthusian monastery, and though the exhibit is considered one of the finest in Germany, absolutely nothing could equal the attraction of the rambling old building itself. In the midst of one court is a well, over which hangs an iron bucket long since grown too old to work, and another court is flooded with water which rushes from the mouths of iron dragons sta- tioned in the four corners. In wandering through the confusing rooms one loses the way several times, but it is far too interesting to see what comes next to try to find one's self. Furniture, pottery, glassware, weapons, watches of all sizes and shapes, toys, the old goldsmith's best work — everything is here to illustrate "the long pedigree of toil." The brautbecher is a bride's drinking-cup, used at all wedding feasts in early times. It is made of silver and represents the hollow figure of a woman standing, holding in her uplifted hands a small, swinging cup over her head. The groom is supposed to drink out of the cup which is formed by her skirts inverted, balancing meantime the bride's cup while he drinks, for if a drop is spilt from hers, it is considered an evil omen, and it required great dexterity to keep the smaller cup turned gradually to the proper angle. The brautbecher exhibited in this Museum is 176 RAMBLES ABROAD one of the oldest in existence. There is a bed entirely of ebony and ivory that calls forth many exclamations of wonder and admiration, while the series of rooms furnished in different periods show one exactly how the people lived in the Middle Ages. Here too is the pic- ture of Kaulbach's Otto III., exhuming in 1000 the body of Charlemagne, whom he finds seated, as he was buried, on a marble throne, with the sceptre in his hand. Albrecht Durer, the "Evangelist of Art," and father of German painting, has here his Hercules, Pieta, and the portraits of Charle- magne and Sigismund. The old painter's house is re- ligiously preserved by a local society, and as he is the child of whom Nurnberg is most proud, all interest centers in his home. This appreciation, however, came somewhat late, as it was only after Venice and Vienna had offered him a home and princely income that the people of Nurnberg realized how little his native town had ever added to his small means. He was so fine a man that his character is well given in the re- mark of his friend, Phillip Melancthon: "Albrecht Durer's least merit was his art." It is unfortunate that so little of his work CHARLEMAGNE by DURER NURNBERG 177 can be seen here, as only copies of his pictures are kept on ex- hibition. One must stoop to pass through the low doors, and the stairway is narrow and steep, while the rooms are scarcely more than closets. The old kitchen utensils are so fearfully and wonderfully made, he was an artist indeed who could pre- pare a meal with them. The furniture has the unmistakable look of the genuine antique of the sixteenth century, but he was especially to be envied the massive old front door, strongly- ornamented with iron, for had the wolf been there he could never with "all his huffing and all his puffing have blown the: house in." Cemeteries may not seem worthy of a visit to those on a. pleasure trip, but everyone goes to St. John's to pay tribute ta the genius of Durer. " 'Emigravit' is the inscription on the tombstone where he lies, Dead he is, but not departed— for the artist never dies." It is approaching that very cemetery that the so-called stations of Adam Kraft stand. A rich man wishing to atone for a sin, went to Jerusalem, and securing the exact distance Christ carried His cross to Calvary, he also noted each place where He rested, and on his return, the penitent commanded Adam Kraft, the master-carver, to erect at a distance following his measurements, the stone-carved pictures of that scene from Christ's life, and at the end of the distance stands his exquisite crucifixion. These stations or tablets have lately been re- stored, but the succeeding generations did not hesitate to join them on walls, and one sees now, forming part of modern buildings, what were intended for isolated monuments. Nothing could be greater than the surprise of Adam Kraft if he could take what was in his time the lonely walk to the cemetery, 178 RAMBLES ABROAD and see today how progress has changed the rural spot into the center of activity. The Nurnbergers were most lavish with their art, and even fountains in common markets received years of work. The Schone Brunnen, beautiful fountain, is well named, and is re- cently glistening under a fresh coat of gold leaf, while the Gansemannchen on the old goose-market represents, in an extraordinarily life-like man- ner, a man escaping with two geese tucked under his arms. The Burg, Nurnberg's famous castle, commenced in 1050, is surrounded with a moat thirty-three feet deep, and a wall (that was) thick enough to withstand the ter- rifying Huns. In the court- yard Queen Kunigunde planted the sprig from the tree that saved her husband, Henry II., from a farther fall down a steep ravine. History says it is a linden, but nothing but the stump remains, and after eight hundred years there is not enough life left in it to resent being called by any other name. The view from the castle balconies is limitless and many of the great rooms are still furnished. The chapels are Romanesque, with one over the other, but the most curious part of the Burg is that tower in which stands the Iron Maiden who gave the embrace of death. This is a hollow figure with pro- truding spikes on the inside, and after any one was put into it IRON MAIDEN WHO GAVE THE EMBRACE OF DEATH NURNBERG 179 and the clasps tightened that was the end of that story, then the body dropped through a trap-door into the cavern below. All kinds of implements of torture are seen, quite enough to make living in our day preferable. A well is shown, dug by prisoners' hands, hundreds of fathoms deep, and the credulous are always interested to see the hoof-marks of the horse which, urged by its captive rider, made that impossible leap over the wide moat. His escape caused a Nurnberg saying: "The Nurnbergers hang no man until they have caught him." The faith the guards have in these hoof-marks is wonderful in this enlightened age, when not even seeing is believing. The Rathhaus, or town hall, part old, part new, is shown by the custodian's young daughter in peasant garb, quite like a village scene from an opera. It is nothing to her that you have planned to visit four more places before lunch, and do not care for a detailed account of even the door handles from the beginning to the present time. Haste has no meaning for a German and she cannot be persuaded to "cancel half a line, nor leave out a word of it." The old timber roofed hall is as artistic as it is strong and quite triumphs over the new part. Each room has its associations with the great men and great conferences of the past, and the dungeon underneath still hides from daylight its dark record of cruelty. Durer's painting of the triumphal entry of Maximilian was done in the days when a portrait of one man might easily do for any other member of the human family, and it is doubtful if even the Emperor's own mother could have recognized him in that old masterpiece. John Palm's house is now being rebuilt and no record will remain of the home of the good old bookseller whom Napoleon had shot as a traitor. The Nassauer house, the New Law Courts and Melanchton's gymnasium, to say nothing of dozens of other places, are well worth seeing, and the old curiosity 180 RAMBLES ABROAD shops hugging bridges that people do cross, and those miserly remote in back streets, would delight the soul of a Jew. The old silver and ivories are so tempting, the only way to escape is to harden your heart like Pharoah, and strongly resist their appeal to your pocketbook, although of course you will wish afterward you had bought something as a souvenir of Nurnberg, for "Quaint old town of toil and traffic, quaint old town of art and song, Memories haunt thy pointed gables, like the rooks that round them throng." A GLIMPSE OF THE WARTBURG A Glimpse of tke Wartburg SUCH memories haunt the old Wartburg of Tannhauser, of St. Elizabeth, and of Martin Luther, that truth and tra- dition are in open conflict. Be it fact or legend that the keeper tells, it is so interesting, the adulteration only adds to the flavor of the tale, and one swallows it all down unques- tioningly, because here in the old stronghold it has a genuine antique flavor in perfect harmony with the time-worn surround- ings. The Wartburg castle stands in the midst of the Thuringian forest, five hundred and sixty-five feet above the pretty little town of Eisenach. It makes an ideal climb for any walkers who enjoy scaling a perpendicular peak, while for others less gifted in acrobatic feats, an electric car goes part way up, but the easiest ascent is made by carriage, and cabmen seize their prey at the Eisenach station and proudly urge the acceptance of their uncomfortable vehicles, patterned after the chariot that carried Elijah up to heaven, with springs of an antiquity in keeping with the whole place. The Burg was begun in 1070 and does not consist merely of a castle, but of towers of defense before which soldiers still stand guard, and of many separate buildings grouped together, of which first and foremost comes the Landgrafenhaus, or palace. Here, leading to the chapel, is the Elizabeth Gallery with that Saint's "Seven Works of Mercy" frescoed on the wall. She was the daughter of a King of Hungary and after marrying the Landgraf of Thuringia, came to the Wartburg to live. She was pronounced a great beauty and was soon be- loved by the whole country. Her husband, however, was much [183] 184 RAMBLES ABROAD averse to her doing so much for the poor, and one day meeting her when she was as usual on charity bent, he angrily demanded to see what she was carrying, and lo, when she began to un- cover the food, nothing but a mass of roses tumbled out, for her guardian angel, mindful of the need, performed for her at this critical hour a miracle. Terrorized by her stern confessor, she grew, unfortunately, overzealous in her religious scruples, and began a system of penance pitiful in our improved age. After a pathetic farewell, she left her children, believing she must go out into the world; so, re- nouncing the luxury of the castle, she lived among the needy for several years, spinning and toiling for them, and during the plague walked unharmed in their midst. Her husband's death was her life sorrow, and when her young son was turned out from the Wartburg by a jealous uncle, the family were poor in good earnest. Although eventually restored to their inheritance, Elizabeth's health was too shattered by self-denial to enjoy her return, and at her tomb in Marburg so many miracles were claimed to have taken place, she was canonized as the patron saint of Hungary. Her apartments have been recently redecorated with scenes of her betrothal, death, etc., and fancy finding electric lights now in the room she used in 1200! In the Hall of the Singers is a modern painting represent- ing the brilliant scene that took place here v^rhen the Landgraf ST. ELIZABETH'S BEDROOM A GLIMPSE OF THE WARTBURG 185 offered his niece Elizabeth's hand to the prize singer of the land. Then came the great singer's contest, in which Walther of the Vogelweide took part, and where Tannhauser, scorning the others because they knew nothing of real love, launched forth into that description of his days with Venus that sent the astonished guests home in horrified confusion and broke his poor Elizabeth's heart. It is this famous room that Elizabeth means when she enters in the second act of Tannhauser and sings her well known song, "Oh, Thou Dear Hall," and on the back of the small stage here are inscribed selec- tions from the ballads of these minstrels. In the Knights' Building is the Hall of Weapons, where armor of all ages is displayed, over which flags won in many bloody battles are triumphantly hung, making an ideal room of feudal strength and power. All through the castle animal skins, stag-horns and other trophies of the chase abound, and driving up the mountain so many deer are in sight, one understands why Emperor William counts on an annual visit to the Wartburg. The great festival hall runs the length of the upper floor, splendid in carved wood and gold decorations. The other rooms have stone floors and many picturesque stone pillars through them, low ceilings, and small but heavy single doors ■curiously ornamented with iron trimmings, for this building dates from a time when folding doors were unknown. The few old carved chairs are jealously guarded and copied to give ELIZABETH AND TANNHAUSER IN THE SINGERHALL, WARTBURG 186 RAMBLES ABROAD the castle the same appearance that it had "in the brave days of old." Indeed, it ranks today as the finest secular building in existence, of the Romanesque style, and the restored rooms used by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, to whom it belongs, have a strange splendor that makes the Wartburg different from other royal residences. The next building of interest is that where Martin Luther spent nine months, and one sees the same table in it today MARTIN LUTHER TRANSLATED THE BIBLE ON THIS TABLE where he translated the Bible in 152 L His celebrated picture by Lucas Cranach hangs on the wall opposite to that of his gentle friend, Phillip Melancthon, and Luther's parents beam beside him, unmindful of the time when, as their stubborn son, he needed fifteen whippings a day. Mothers of bad little boys should take hope, for the world still rings with this one's renown. The bed, bookcase, old porcelain stove, and some of his letters remain intact, but the blot of ink made when he threw the whole inkstand at the wall where he thought the A GLIMPSE OF THE WARTBURG 187 Devil was tempting him, has been entirely chipped off by relic hunters. Outside his door is inscribed the first verse of his own hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." Martin Luther was no pale-faced recluse, but an honest, straight-forward German, with a wholesome love of fun and the courage of his convictions. After he saw in Rome the corrupt state of the clergy, he boldly remonstrated against the indul- gences Leo X. was selling to obtain money to finish St. Peter's, and declaring the soul did not fly out of purgatory when a sinner's money dropped in the box for pardon, he started the Reformation by claiming repentance came from the heart, not from the pocketbook. When the Pope threatened to excommu- nicate Luther for daring to defy him, he promptly burned the Pope's bull, and at the Diet of Worms, when the mighty Em- peror, Charles V., commanded him to retract his declaration, his brave refusal rang clearly through the rooms: "Here I stand, I can no more!" and would take nothing back. It was later that the Elector of Saxony, Frederick the Wise, fearing the Emperor would imprison him, had Luther kidnapped and carried up to the Wartburg for safe-keeping. His admir- ing host gave him comfortable shelter, while the Reformation spread abroad, and there, in undisturbed quiet, Martin Luther made part of his translation of the Bible, by which priests no longer could be the only readers, but all men and women might read it in their own language and judge for themselves. Thus it happened that one man changed the whole world. The Reformation room depicts scenes from his career, and down in the village is the cottage where, as a boy, he stayed with Frau Cotta. The view from the Wartburg windows beg- gars all description, and a few miles in the distance stands the Burschenschaften monument, erected in memory of the gather- ing the liberty-loving students held here in 1871, when they clamored for reform with a vehemence that knew no abatement 188 RAMBLES ABROAD until a new German constitution was given the people. This monument is made of handsome stone, but because the students erected it, many laughingly insist it looks like a beer mug with the handle left off. Another point of interest below in Eisenach is the house where John Sebastian Bach was born in 1685, and for many years after, Bachs, little and big, every one a musician, congre- gated there annually for a musical reunion, and this custom was kept up without intermission to our own time. At the entrance of the castle there is a welcome inn, where the German life preservers, beer and ham sandwiches, may be secured before making the descent down the mountain, but though sightseers come and go, the old Wartburg defies time. Its years have only added to its dignity and lofty beauty, for the wrinkles that always come with age have been filled by pretty little mosses that hide its scars from view, and enable it to face the world boldly, a monarch among strongholds. WEIMAR w eimar GOETHE said Weimar had a wonderful destiny, like Bethlehem in Judea, it was small but great. The people love to call it the German Athens, and are so proud of its past they quite overlook the mortifying fact that the days of Goethe and Schiller are over and gone and at present only a memory in which they themselves had no part. Weimar is the capitol of the grand duchy of Saxe-Weimar- Eisenach, now belonging to the German Empire, although still governed by its own Duke. Hamilton Mabie calls the town the "custodian of literature," and the late Empress Augusta, wife of the old Kaiser William I., thought it so much more honor to be from Weimar, than to be queen of military Prussia, that to Bismarck's disgust she used to sign her name — Augusta, nee Saxe- Weimar. Karl August was their famous Duke who not only attracted brilliant men to Weimar, but who also had the magnetism to hold them there. To him culture was more desirable than wealth or ducal power, and the encouragement he gave Goethe alone has made him immortal. Like Hubbard, DUKE KARL AUGUST [1911 192 RAMBLES ABROAD he believed "helping a genius is next to being one," and he gave over rooms in his own palace to the four poets, Goethe, Schiller, Herder and Wieland, which they used as studies, coming and going at will. Today one sees in Schiller's room "Wallenstein," "Marie Stuart" and "Don Carlos" illustrated on the walls, while in Goethe's are "Faust," "Hermann and Dorothea," etc. To have their rooms afterward depict scenes from their works was the idea of a later Duchess of Weimar, Maria Paulowna, who being used to the splendors of Russia, R^^^^^ s- ^wrnkmA h ""^"^^aSBB^ PALACE OF THE GRAND DUKE OF WEIMAR made many improvements after her arrival, and brought such great vases of malachite and lapis lazuli to adorn the palace as this modest little Court had never dreamt existed. The small Gothic dining-room of this palace with the walls of carved wood and the Moses conservatory are unique, the latter being filled with a fountain and palms which "half con- ceal and half reveal" the baby Moses in marble, floating pre- sumably among the rushes, while the marble daughter of Pharoah watches him from her pedestal opposite. The original paintings of the heads of the Apostles by Leonardo da Vinci, WEIMAR 193 which he designed for the "Last Supper" in Milan, are the most treasured pictures in the palace, although the old por- traits and tapestries make a rich endowment. The furnishing is quite a contrast to the cold grandeur of other royal resi- dences, for here everything has a meaning, and in the selection of each object it is apparent brains were used as well as money. The town teems with Goethe relics. In fact a week's stay here makes one so familiar with every year of his long life that visitors soon catch the popular feeling and convince themselves that they too knew him person- ally. This philoso- pher-poet never struggled in an attic with want and adver- sity; he was blessed from the first with health, wealth, intel- lect and position, as well as the beauty of Apollo, and fame soon followed. The house given him by the Duke is now the Goethe Museum and has many things replaced in it just as he had them during his forty years occupancy. While wandering in Italy he collected statues and pictures, copies of great works, and on his return scattered them about his home where they still remain. A piano on which Mendelssohn played for GOETHE 194 RAMBLES ABROAD him also stands in its old place, and near by is exhibited the gold laurel crown, jeweled with emeralds, sent by the women of Goethe's birthplace, the city of Frankfort. He died in 1832 in the simple little room off his study, where he worked apart from the rest of the house which was more lavishly furnished, suitable to his position, although nowhere in Weimar, even among the highest, was there any rich magnificence — all that remains indicates unpretentious sim- plicity. A faithful picture of his death hangs in an upper room, so that one sees him in the same arm-chair that is left beside his bed, and as his eyes grow dimmer and dimmer he begs with his last breath for "More light." He, himself, however, made all the brightness of Weimar and it has been dark indeed since he left. The ridiculous young dandy and the grave old scholar are two very different Goethes. As a youth he loved easily and for- got easily, being more in love with loving than with the actual loved one, and his poetic passion cooled as soon as he put it in writing and worked it all out on paper. His works he ad- mitted were his own biography, and it is very apparent from them what a conspicuous role women played in his life. He was many-sided and had learned many trades, while he took up the study of law, medicine, art, music, mineralogy, natural history and the sciences, each in turn, and acquired information "MORE LIGHT"— GOETHE'S LAST WORDS WEIMAR 195 that served him well for his writings. There was no occasion for haste in his life; he lived an experience before writing it, and took sixty years to finish Faust. The Duke Karl August's friendship for him lasted for thirty years, a fine tribute to the qualities of both men. One completed the other. The Duke enabled Goethe to write at will, and he in return brought all his ability to help the Duke in judiciously governing his little duchy. The two were insep- arable and even in death the Prince and the Poet are together, for Karl August paid his two friends the highest honor and commanded that both Goethe and Shiller should be buried with him in the vault intended^ only for the ducal family. The caskets are always covered now with the wreaths laid there from time to time by admiring friends, for all the world today is their audience, and a great gold laurel crown from Prague is kept on Goethe's and a similar one of silver on Schiller's. The park, left just as nature planned it, accompanies the pretty little river in its rambles through the town, and there Goethe wandered for hours, for he declared his best thoughts came to him while walking. Much time was given to reflec- tion with a determination to penetrate to the truth of every- thing in life. He could not be bribed or deceived or awed, every incident of his career was stored away with its lesson for future writing, and "every human being he met sat to him as a model." The park is filled with memories of this ideal Court. In the Roman House and tiny Templar House the two friends tarried a night when the spirit moved them to escape all Court ceremony, and not far from their tiny cottage called the Bark House is Goethe's Gardenhaus, the most perfect retreat a poet could have. Remote from all confusion, aloof from the busy world's toil and traffic, surrounded by dignified old trees and his beloved garden bordered by a modest little river, there 196 RAMBLES ABROAD came to him in the midst of such peace and beauty, the noble thoughts that made him Germany's greatest poet! This wooded spot was dedicated to Frau von Stein, and the curtains she embroidered for the windows of the miniature mansion are ever loyal to their purpose though ready now to fall in tatters. Her needlework was not the only thing about her that Goethe admired, for she cast a charm over him that he never fully threw off, but her house in town is at present GOETHE'S GARDENHAUS occupied by the Greek Church and nothing is left to tell of her varied life there. Schiller's house is open to sightseers, although there is not a great deal of interest there besides his letters, portraits and the uncomfortable bed where he died. He reserved for his own use the small bare upper rooms — high thinking of poets is noticeably benefited by a proximity to the roof. Be- fore he and Goethe became such devoted friends and previous to the days of Karl August's encouragement, his struggle with poverty had proved too arduous for his strength, and when the WEIMAR 197 long-desired recognition at last knocked at his door the dying poet was too weak to rise and open. Now he rests from his toil, but his work lives on, and today his poems are so admired one fails to understand why in his early life the public did not appreciate them. The city has erected a large bronze statue to Schiller and Goethe standing together with clasped hands, and an entire building is given over to the preser- vation of their manuscripts. Liszt was given a house, rent free, and the same old maid-servant who waited upon him, now keeps vigil over his rooms, and the de- scription of his daily life there loses nothing by her telling, for her devotion to her old master is such that she never tires repeating over every day how emper- ors and kings honored him. The collection of jeweled snuff-boxes is large, all useless presents, she regretfully remarked, as he never used snuff, and the walking-sticks are of all kinds of woods, plain and richly ornamented, while wreaths, rings and letters from famous people are too numerous to mention. He always rose at half-past four, and after composing a while, she said he started for church, his religious tendency following him all through life. On his return she placed his coffee on the table, shown in the illustration, and after a little nap on the couch he went over to his desk by the window again and resumed his compositions. He took untold pride in his pupils, delighted to SCHILLER 198 RAMBLES ABROAD be photographed with them, and on Sundays his small upper rooms would not hold all the admirers who gathered there. When traveling he invariably carried with him a deaf piano- board, still there, on which he could practice to keep his fingers limber and yet not call down upon his head the wrath of his fellow-beings. Pictures of his gifted daughter, Frau Wagner, are numerous and also the interesting face of the woman he loved best, who not free to marry him, moved to Italy, staying there away from temptation un- til she died, and in reflecting now on Liszt's life an un- dercurrent of disap- pointment is always distinguishable and LISZT IN WEIMAR au abuudaucc of "hopes that retreat and regrets that remain." Prophets without honor in their own country found in Weimar all the admiration they coveted, and the Library is filled with various souvenirs of noted people, for every posses- sion of genius is considered sacred, no matter how trivial it may be. In the Museum is the great statue of Goethe and Physche, and the mural paintings by Preller of the Odyssey are highly prized, while Lenbach's admiration of the Rem- brandts here influenced him to confine his efforts to portraits and thus he became Germany's greatest portrait painter. Weimar has now a fine art school and every encouragement is given to painters and sculptors. Another school worthy of mention is one that trains girls for service as cooks, nurses, housemaids, laundresses, etc. It is under the patronage of the WEIMAR 199 Grand Duchess; any servant drilled there is in great demand and it has proved a more practical hejp to domestic peace, than hanging up mottoes of "God bless our Home." The present young Duke is trying to follow in the foot- steps of his illustrious ancestors and is deeply absorbed in a plan for national German opera, but even now the Weimar opera compares favorably with that of other cities. This Duke is blessed with vast wealth; from his grandmother he inherited a right to the throne of Holland, and should Queen Wilhelmina die without leaving a child, Duke William Ernest of Saxe- Weimar would be the next king of Holland. The town also boasts of having been the home of Lucas Cranach, whose famous "Crucifixion" hangs over the altar in the Stadtkirche. Her- der was the universally beloved pastor-poet of this church and on every hand one sees his favor- ite motto: "Love, light and life." Mme. de Stael, Thackery and dozens of other writers found inspiration here, and Napoleon, the uni- versal tourist, reached Weimar after his victory of Jena over William IV. of Prussia. Then Karl August's wife, the Duchess Luise, was obliged to receive the Conqueror on the stair- way of the castle, and THE DUCHESS ANNA AMALIA, MOTHER OF KARL AUGUST 200 RAMBLES ABROAD he announced afterward she was one woman his two hundred cannons could not awe or frighten, and he promptly sent her a Sevres tea-service with miniatures of the French Court beauties that is absolutely one of the most exquisite examples of porce- lain painting in existence. Karl August's mother, the Duchess Amalia, was the one who first awakened Weimar to an appreciation of art and letters. In her palace called the Dower House was a table SCHLOSS TIEFURT around which her so-called circle used to gather for literary feasts, and such rhymes and songs and little comedies went round, as made time fly by unnoticed. Her tiny summer home out at Tiefurt looks like a playhouse; there the artist Angelica Kauffman, Goethe and Karl August, and others of this same circle were entertained in rooms so small one can scarcely believe they were meant for real people, but though limited in space their fascination is boundless. There are over three thousand old prints and engravings, in fact not an inch of wall is left vacant and in looking over the variety of subjects the WEIMAR 201 Duchess and her son collected, one has a slight idea how far reaching was their information. The grounds make it a verit- able little Eden; here they took tea on the upper piazza or gave a play in the open which was often attended with such success the Court quickly packed and gave it for a little lark in a near- by village. The Belvidere palace at the end of the park also had an open-air theater where many a merry comedy drove dull care away. There was, to be sure, no great wealth or splendor, and though more ceremonious Courts ridiculed the unpretentious appointments, the fact was beyond question that Weimar had what money could not buy and Goethe summed up its charm when he said: "Where have I not been? Yet I am always glad to return to Weimar." BABELSBURG The Favorite Home of Emperor William I. Babelsburg The Favorite Home of Emperor William 1. AFTER "doing" all the other palaces to be found in Potsdam, the tourists are usually so exhausted that when they hear that Babelsburg is several miles farther on, and not at all imposing, they easily persuade each other that as long as they have seen the important ones, they would better not attempt another palace that day, but save their remaining strength for Berlin that evening. Of course the Old Palace in Potsdam makes one see Ger- man history with one's own eyes, the New Palace asserts its regal grandeur to all visitors, while Sans Sousi quite realizes one's idea of a perfect little retreat, but Babelsburg in its undis- turbed retirement nestles down among its great trees with an unpretentious charm that no other royal abode in Germany can equal. It is nearly always open to the public and free to all, although the caretaker who conducts any one through expects a fee. It is amusing to see his feigned surprise when he is handed something, as everyone knows he calculates at first sight just how much he can make out of each visitor. Babelsburg is modern and built in Norman style. As was the custom among feudal barons, the hall is adorned with trophies of the chase; great boar-heads startle one, stag-horns cover the wall, weapons add to the picturesqueness and suits of armor stand about like sentinels, suggesting to intruders that here dwelt a man of might. The other rooms are in startling contrast. Simplicity reigns supreme, nothing suggests expense or luxury. It might [207] 208 RAMBLES ABROAD easily be taken for the home of a plain country gentleman in moderate circumstances. One scarcely notices the decorations, no masterpieces embellish the walls. There are merely three or four good paintings, the rest are family portraits, a few pictures done by the Crown Princess Frederick and numerous prints of battle scenes and horses. Chintz takes the place of tapestry or brocaded hangings; instead of rare bric-a-brac the tables are strewn with homely little trinkets and work-boxes used by some member of the family. The clocks told the time, they added nothing to the beauty of the rooms. The chairs rested the weary, they would create no envy among collectors of odd bits of furniture except now for their association with the old Kaiser. He was no scholar and yawned when the Empress Augusta spoke of literature, and no coveted editions are seen in his library. The most curious thing found in the rooms is the Emperor's camp bed. That narrow, hard little cot had bedding on it that would have caused disapproval and disgust in a thrifty linen- loving hausfrau. The plainness and stiffness of this bedroom surprise even those who knew his simple tastes. Think of the contrast between the state beds of his various fellow monarchs and this primitive little iron bedstead of the Emperor of Germany! WILLIAM 1 OF GERMANY BABELSBURG 209 Regal pomp had no meaning for him. His daily life ran on with methodical exactness — the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He wrote in his diary when a young man, that he must think of his rank only to remind himself of its duties and must never forget a prince is only a man and the laws for others were also for him, as he would be judged by them ! He stands in history as an emperor, but greater than the sov- ereign was the con- queror in him, and greater than the man, the soldier. His subjects might b e scholars, musicians and artists, he saw in them only warriors. He wanted not brains but mus- cles, not to know their dreams but their cour- age. His one al- mighty aim was to form from the innu- merable antagonistic sovereignties around him a power strong enough to withstand outside nations. He thought only of war, war, war. He was never seen when not wearing his uniform, gunpowder permeated the very atmosphere about him. He viewed the country as a battlefield. He studied maps that he might select the best places to encamp. He moved his army as easily as we do our chessmen. His troops were drilled with EMPEROR WILLIAM I.'S BEDROOM 210 RAMBLES ABROAD relentless severity, no details were too small to be over- looked. On his table the inkstand is from a cannon-ball, the pens are made of splintered lances. The rooms were left untouched after the great warrior's occupancy, and his favorite photo- graphs of his family are strewn over the mantles and tables just as he left them. This home indicated his personality more EMPEROR WILLIAM I. AT THE TOMB OF HIS MOTHER, QUEEN LUISE than anything else. He was not a man who revealed in any way what to him was dearest, and while some claim he con- cealed his feelings, others think he had none to conceal. However, we know his love for his mother, Queen Luise, never lessened. His visit to her tomb before starting for the Franco-Prussian war and his later visit after his victory over the French, which avenged the humiliation Napoleon had brought upon her, proved the memory of his mother came first BABELSBURG 211 in his life. He thought of her in his anxiety and in his victory, and the little vase of cornflowers often stood on his desk, because his mother had loved them. The disappointment of his life was his father's refusal to allow him to marry Elise Radziwill. After his struggle with that sorrow his heart never again asserted any part in his life. He did his duty with a determination that never faltered, he carved out Ger- many's great future with world - famous success, and yet there was always something lacking in his own life. When he first became King of Prus- sia crowds gathered in the streets to at- tack him, but in later years they brought their little children to catch a glimpse of the beloved old Kaiser who regularly appeared every noon at his library window in Berlin. Yet the man himself was as undisturbed by their plaudits as he had been by their curses. True, under him the different German kingdoms and duchies finally united and then proclaimed him Emperor of the Fatherland, this old man who some people had thought scarce strong enough at his brother's death to be even King QUEEN LUISE, by RICHTER MOTHER OF EMPEROR WILLIAM I. 212 RAMBLES ABROAD of Prussia! But with the triumph in his soul the man changed not. Thrilling scenes left no traces on him. When age finally weakened him, braces supported him in the same erect position on his horse. To the people he was always the stalwart soldier, the great conqueror. To him the nation was more than they, its component parts, and though he dealt with them with paternal kindness, a wall of reserve separated his inner from his outer life. Few ever saw the other side. Be- fore conquering other nations the man had conquered him- self. The park surrounding Babelsburg is very extensive and beautifully laid out. On one side the ground slopes down to the river, and on the other it undulates in minia- ture mountains and valleys for miles beyond. Some con- sider its interior insignificant, but no one can pronounce it devoid of interest, for there was William I.'s favorite residence, and the grounds alone make a paradise of it. Empress Augusta's apartments are almost as unpretentious as her husband's, and there, one above the other, they lived their long married life, under the same roof but practically a world apart. Their daughter Louise, the Duchess of Baden, had her rooms more attractively furnished, and the suite of their daughter-in-law, the Empress Frederick, shows somewhat EMPRESS AUGUSTA, WIFE OF WILLIAM I. BABELSBURG 213 more taste, but the whole house was unquestionably not fur- nished to surpass more lordly dwellings, but merely for a com- fortable home for a hard-working man. There in the quiet of nature he rested from toil and surrounded by an unbroken stillness and peace he felt less the burden of his enormous responsibilities. SOME ATTRACTIONS OF PARIS Some Attractions of Pans ^^ T NFORMATION now is vulgarly common," and knowl- I edge may be acquired by merely reading advertise- ments. Pictures of Paris' fine buildings, as familiar to the stay-at-homes as to the travelers, recall the story told of a man who praised some views of Constantinople: "Very like," he said, "very like," although when questioned, acknowledged he had never been there himself, but had had a ■brother who always had a great mind to go. There are undoubtedly people who do not enjoy Paris, who are quite insensible to its charms and remain non-conductors of its fascinations, but the fault is more often in the state of their mind or digestion than in any lack of interesting things to be seen. Then, of course, there is always the patriotic element to deny its beauty with the oft reiterated exclamation: "America's good enough for me!" and one American family hurried home last autumn because the son had been made president of a foot-ball team. Naturally the world's masterpieces faded into nothingness at the prospect of winning such coveted laurels. Accommodations are provided for all tastes. The exclu- sive go to the Hotel Ritz, where the few guests pay for the many who cannot afford to go. The splendor-loving now go to the Elysee Palace Hotel, where the immovable, pompous lackies, in knee breeches and silver chains, are so far above attending to your wants that they evidently think: "They also serve who only stand and wait." The old Continental still holds its former patrons who prefer to go "where they are known," although the comfortable [217] 218 RAMBLES ABROAD Regina now attracts Americans who compare it favorably with New York. The quantity of new hotels in Paris is only ex- ceeded by the number of pensions, where "enough is as good as a feast" — ^^in spite of the fact that the complaining guests would prefer the feast. The Hotel Bristol and the L'i\.thenee are pronounced excellent, and in fact there are hotels enough for any one wishing to change weekly during a year's stay. The students who can afford neither hotel nor pension live usually happily, if not sumptuously, on nothing a year, and buy from the street venders just enough to satisfy the appetite, until, with a franc earned or borrowed, they may dine with the delight of a Beau Brummell at a cheap cafe. The best part of a true Parisian's day is his dinner, and the cafes are so crowded every night one would think their motto: "Do not put off until tomorrow what you can eat today." The expert chefs use their art to disguise ordinary dishes, so that everything is served a la masquerade, and general indigestibles covered with "soothing sauce" are eaten regardless of their heart-burn flavor. Everywhere is the spirit, "Let us eat, drink and be merry," and though it shortens their days it lengthens their nights. At the Tour d'Argent, Frederic prepares his famous pressed duck and takes daily as much pains with it as an artist would bestow upon his supreme effort. It is so picturesque to see the white-haired old man anxiously basting before you the savory morsels, that the feast for the eyes is as pleasing as that later to the palate. The Cafes Voisin, Cuban and the Cafe de Paris rival each other in their delicacies. Each restaurant has its own special piece de resistance. At Marguery's, on the Boulevard, the fillet of sole is unsurpassed, while Durand has the reputation of cooking eggs in every way known to man. At Duval's SOME ATTRACTIONS OF PARIS 221 numerous places everything is standard, and one is sure of procuring a good meal at a comparatively low price. The Cafes de Madrid and Armenonville have held a long sway in Paris, and now as the custom of five o'clock tea is rapidly growing, many distinguished-looking women are found in the afternoon at Paillard's and Rumpelmeyer's. Fuller's little American place has a perennial patronage, but every season a different cafe is in vogue. They spring up with mushroom rapidity, and unless, like the more fortunate they have some past tradition to hold the public interest, they are in favor only as long as the whim of fashion lasts. You will never know until you visit London how near you can go to another cab and yet not touch it, nor until you are in Paris how many times a day you can collide with another cab and not be killed. The cochers are often more like brutes than their horses. They are no respecters of persons, and in the usual exchange of words when they are not paid enough, it is just as well so few travelers understand what they say. Their voices alone suggest a revolution. After a collision with another cab, a cocher will shout back all kinds of insults to the other cabby who has promptly driven off, and though far out of hearing, the irate cocher continues his shouting just for his own satisfaction, until the affair assumes dramatic com- plications. With the hundreds of automobiles ploughing unmercifully through the crowds one needs as many eyes as Argus before crossing the streets, and timid women reach with sighs of relief the little life-saving stations in the middle of the boulevards, where they try to collect enough courage to leave these little islands and plunge again into the sea of con- fusion. If there is transmigration of the soul no one would care to return to Paris as a horse. There is a society here now similar to our Humane Society, but the beating goes on with such 222 RAMBLES ABROAD unabated force that one wonders if the society has grown weary in well doing. Any one with a little money may take a cab, but it requires intelligence to reach one's destination in a bus. Their omnibus system is considered by the Parisians absolutely perfect, and covers the city's entire territory. It is often one's experience that the busses go everywhere except where one wants to be. If you do not go to the station to wait the next bus with the expectant crowd, your efforts to stop one along the streets will make you as ridiculous as a comic valentine. It requires the nimble feet of a premiere danseuse to mount to the top, and skill is more required than grace. One could go to a different church almost every Sunday in the year, these edifices are so numerous. Notre Dame is, of course, the favorite, and has been the scene of so many magnificent celebrations it would be interesting to see even if it were not architecturally beautiful. The Madeleine, with its wonderfully adorned bronze doors, is the church of the aristoc- racy, and the music is exceptionally good. It is lighted from above, and as there are no side windows, with the enormous crowds, the air is stifling, and ushers are often kept busy with fainting women. La Trinite is especially noted for its fine organist, M. Guilmant, while the rococo St. Roch and St. Eustache are always visited by sightseers, and the latter on Good Friday has the best music in Paris. The most imposing church just finished, of the Sacre Coeur, situated on a height, is visible from all parts of Paris, and many brave the climb up Mont- martre to see its vast interior. St. -Germain TAuxerrois, opposite the Louvre, defies time. Its old bell that rang the signal for the death of the Huguenots in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572, is now owned by the Comedie Francaise and is still rung whenever "Charles IX." is SOME ATTRACTIONS OF PARIS 225 played. Dr. Morgan's American Episcopal church has a large congregation, and our countryman, Dr. Thurber, greatly en- deared himself to his people who go regularly to the little church in the Rue de Berri. The Russian church is a little gem and the exquisite decorations always cause exclamations of admiration. There is no organ, and while a portion of the finely-drilled choir sing the accompaniment, the rest sing the THE MADELEINE air, and the resulting harmony could not be surpassed in an angel choir. When leaving the Russian church it is customary to walk or drive through the Park Monceau, in which are situated some of the finest French homes, among others that of M. Menier, the so-called Baron de Chocolat. In the Faubourg St. Germain, aristocracy, having taken root, refuses, in spite of encroaching trade, to move over on the plutocratic Champs Ely sees. The Countess de Castellane's home, in imitation of the Petit 226 RAMBLES ABROAD Trianon, is the center of the curious gaze, while the houses of the late Ex-Queen Isabella of Spain, and the Rothschild brothers, receive their share of public attention. The fine residence of Dr. Evans, the American dentist who assisted Empress Eugenie in her flight, was leased to the state during the Expo- sition of 1900, and known as the Palais de Sovereigns, was the abode for all royal guests of the Republic. STE. CHAPELLE, AND PALAIS DE JUSTICE In the old part of Paris stands the Palais de Justice, the law courts, on the site of the ancient palace of the early kings which was their dwelling-place before the Louvre was built. Down below in the Conciergerie, the cell of Marie Antoinette, now a chapel, and that of Robespierre are shown once a week. The old Ste. Chapelle, close at hand, reminds one of Hillis' remark that Gothic architecture is a petrified prayer. It SOME ATTRACTIONS OF PARIS 229 was Louis IX. who erected it as a receptacle for the Lord's crown of thorns and other presumably holy relics he had pur- chased during his crusade, and its antique stained glass win- dows, recently restored, reflect the richest possible tints. The Louvre, so long used as a royal residence, represents the work of scores of architects, the generosity of dozens of kings, to say nothing of the taxes of many generations of people. It is now considered the finest museum in the world, and it requires two hours merely to walk through it, even though not stopping. The Venus de Milo holds her court down stairs amid hundreds of other priceless statues, while the paintings up - stairs recall the day that the great painter Millet, arriving an unknown country boy in Paris, said he was sure when he entered Paradise he could experience no louvre more ecstatic sensation than when he saw those miles of pictures for the first time. In the Luxemburg Museum the modern paintings and statues are placed, as an artist must be dead ten years before his work is transferred to the Louvre. In the Palace of the Luxemburg the Senate has its meetings, but it was originally built as a home for Marie de Medici to console her for leaving the Pitti Palace in Florence, and Rubens was then commanded to paint for it those numerous pictures of her life that now adorn the walls of the Louvre. The Place de la Concorde has had a remarkable existence. 230 RAMBLES ABROAD Louis XIV. 's modest equestrian statue, surrounded with figures representing Justice, Strength, and Wisdom, caused a passing wit to inscribe beneath it: "Here we see Vice on horseback, and Virtue on foot," and the Revolution speedily removed the whole statue. It has been said that columns in France should be put up on hinges that they might be more readily taken down! L'ARC DE TRIOMPHE , To celebrate Marie Antoinette's wedding, elaborate fire- works were to be set off here, but as they exploded unexpect- edly, this square became the scene of a frightful panic — an evil omen, people said, for the young bride's future. The guillo- tine, devised by Dr. Guillotin, stood too in the Place de la Concorde to do its ghastly work, and Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI., Robespierre, Charlotte Corday and Mme. Roland all SOME ATTRACTIONS OF PARIS 231 perished on this spot. In the center, at present, is the Obelisk of Luxor, and though the fountains play daily on each side, as Chateaubriand said: "All the water in the world would not suffice to wash away the blood shed there." Statues representing the large cities of France surround the square like a guard, but since the Franco-Prussian war that of Strassburg has been draped in black. It is significant that after their loss the French did not tear it down — the score be- tween France and Germany is not quite settled and many hope one day to recover that city. The old land- marks of the Boule- vards, the Porte St. Denis, and the Porte St. Martin, were erectedby Louis XIV. in memory of his Dutch and German ^^^'^ ^'^ napoleon, in les invaodes victories, but the Arc de Triomphe is the finest arch in the world. It is over one hundred and fifty feet in height, and Napoleon built it to commemorate his ninety-six battles. In a most mod- est way he ordered a figure of Fame on one side, with a trumpet to proclaim afar his victories, while opposite History writes them down, and Victory crowns him! Only royalty is allowed to drive under this arch, consequently during the Republic the main passage is barred with a chain. 232 RAMBLES ABROAD In an unbroken line one can see from L'Arc de Triomphe down to Napoleon's other Arc du Carrousel in the Tuileries Gardens, one of the finest vistas in the world. When the de- feated Emperor, departing for St. Helena, took his last look at these then unfinished mockeries of his triumph, another pang must have been added to his downfall. But his return was unprecedented among all his triumphal entries into Paris. It NAPOLEON'S TOMB was in the reign of Louis Philippe that his remains were brought from St. Helena to be laid in the Hotel des Invalides, and it was one of the greatest days ever known in the city. As the great doors of the Invalides were thrown open to admit the coflfin, the old Chamberlain, as in former days of Napoleon's reign, announced unexpectedly in a loud voice: "The Emper- or!" and the surprised crowds were as startled as if the living man had entered. He lies there now in a red granite sarco- phagus, with his brothers, Joseph and Jerome, nearby, guarded by a nation. SOME MORE ATTRACTIONS OF PARIS Some More Attractions of Pans PARIS never sleeps. The crowd on the boulevards during the day is only equaled later by that great mass of people who, like somnambulists, walk in the night. The innumerable artificial lights make a good substitute for the sun, and the nocturnal glare was once described by a little boy who said one evening: "Why, its just as light out as a feather!" The streets draw one forth like a magnet; it is almost im- possible to withstand their attractions, and aimlessly carried along with the human ocean one can appreciate the remark of a Swedish king that he longed to renounce his kingdom to go back to the life of a Paris boulevardier. Rich and poor, good and bad, prince and bourgeois, thieves and grisettes all saunter along together, and where they are going is as difficult an enigma as whence they all came. Like the lilies, they apparently neither toil nor spin, yet they are arrayed in a way that would make Joseph's coat of many colors pass unnoticed among them. Places of amusement are as numerous as the churches. So much has been said of the cost and beauty of the Grand Opera House that many upon first seeing it are disappointed. Too much gold work is the usual criticism of the interior, but the beauty of the marble stairway, with its alabaster balustrades and the richly decorated foyer awe even the critics, while the enthusiastic Parisians consider it one one of the wonders of the world. The Opera Comique has a fine modern auditorium and the performances given are far superior to our ideas of comic [235J 236 RAMBLES ABROAD opera. One has the advantage of hearing there, at prices far more reasonable than for grand opera, some of the best music written. The Theatre Francais has a stock company, the Comedie Francaise, unrivaled for excellence. It is called the House of Moliere because it w^as that actor-playwright who combined, at an early date, several little troops under his own name, and Louis XIV. added brilliancy to the initial performance in their new theatre by the glory of his royal presence. The company has retained its title through all succeeding generations, and in the winter of 1900-01, when its rebuilt edifice was finished, President Loubet copied, as nearly as possible, the way in which the Grand Monarch had opened the original building. Owing to the former fire no expense has been spared to make this theatre fire-proof, and the heavy marble pedestals support- ing valuable statues are on wheels that in time of danger they may be quickly rolled out of the room. The best actors and actresses of France have been trained in this Comedie Fran- caise, and when attending one is sure of a finished performance with no little detail neglected. It is subsidized by the govern- ment and the retired players are pensioned. Mme. Bernhardt used to criticize severely M. Clairtie, the director, because he repeated over and over the old dramas; she declared under his management no innovations were introduced and nothing done for the progress of art. Mme. Bernhardt does not believe in letting well enough alone, for as there is no such thing as standing still, she thinks that if one is not going forward one must unconsciously be drifting backward. The majority of Paris theatres are old, badly ventilated and heavy looking, but the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt is a pleasant exception. It is light in tone, well arranged, and in American fashion ladies are asked to remove their hats. With this exception and at the Opera, where those on the main SOME MORE ATTRACTIONS OF PARIS 237 floor are requested to wear evening dress, hats usually assert their rights, and feathers wave defiance in many of the other theatres. When Cardinal Richelieu wore not only the scarlet hat but virtually the crown of France, he added to his vast palace opposite the Louvre a good sized theatre, for the old prelate thought it no sin to divide his time between God and the world — and the latter usually had the larger share. When Queen Anne moved her little son, Louis XIV., into this gorgeous Palais-Cardinal its name was changed to Palais-Royal, and later it was occupied by the Dukes d'Orleans. King Louis Philippe, who was helped to the throne by one revolution and driven off by another, lived in it, also Jerome Bonaparte when a king without a kingdom; and Philippe Egalite built, to obtain more money by its rental, that gallery in whose cheap little jewelry shops all is not gold that glitters, and in the many second-class cafes the proprietors vie with each other in cheating their customers. The palace proper is now occupied by the Council of State. The markets early in the morning are worth visiting. Even raw meats and fish are made to look inviting. In the little butcher-shops everything is especially prepared, croquettes are breaded ready for cooking, and housekeeping in France is almost as delightful as when manna dropped daily from heaven. No baking is ever done at home. The rolls and bread arrive every morning fresh from the baker's and the latter comes in those very long sticks — well named the staff of life. In the Magasin de Louvre and Bon Marche, down to the tiny shops whose entire contents are temptingly displayed in the windows, everything that has ever been made can be found. The jewelers' dazzling windows in the Rue de la Paix make one think all the world's gems on exhibition; the choicest 238 RAMBLES ABROAD products of all the arts are in Paris, for it is the sample-room for the world's trade. Before the Tour Eiffel was built, those indefatigable tour- ists who want "to get the view," always went up the Column Vendome, but as it grew to be a favorite place of suicide no one is now allowed to go to the top. Because it is made of Russian and Austrian cannons it is often inferred that the name came from one of Napoleon's battles, whereas it really comes from the square where it stands, originally the site of the palace of the Duke of Ven- dome. Although the Commune tore it down, its bronze shaft has been care- fully restored. Another place to get the view is from the Tour St. Jacques, the only remaining COLUMN VENDOME part of au old Gothic church, up whose tower Pascal used daily to make those tests of atmospheric pressure that made him an authority on that subject. When the Bastille was torn down, Lafayette sent Wash- ington one of the keys, a memento still treasured at Mt. Vernon. Walls twenty feet thick did not stop the fury of the enraged populace, and during the Revolution the Bastille fell like a house of cards. The Column of July stands at present on SOME MORE ATTRACTIONS OF PARIS 239 its site, with a statue of Liberty on the summit, holding a broken chain in one hand and a torch in the other. The sombre Pantheon was intended to hold the remains of Genevieve the saint of Paris, but by a not unusual deflected interest one finds her resting-place over in the church of St. Etienne du Mont. The Pantheon has been periodically changed from a church into a temple of fame for the great men of France. Mira- beau, Carnot and Vic- tor Hugo lie there, and there too are the empty tombs of Vol- taire and Rousseau. Even those who do > not care to do any- thing so cheerless as to visit tombs, go to the Pantheon to see the fine frescoes just finished by the great- est painters of the day. Jeanne d'Arc and many o ther French heroes and heroines have scenes from their lives depicted on its walls. The height of every aspiring Frenchman's ambition is to become a member of the Institute. This organization of tal- ented men is composed of five academies of which the French Academy, comprising the "Forty Immortals," is possibly the best known. One often used to see a caricature of Zola knock- ing at a door, meant to be that of this Academy, which had JEANNE D'ARC AT CORONATION OF CHARLES VII. (PANTHEON DECORATION) 240 RAMBLES ABROAD repeatedly denied him admittance. The annual meeting of the combined five branches is held every October in the old build- ing of the Institute, and as admittance is only by invitation, and space limited, a man once said, when waiting outside with a crowd, that it was more difficult to get inside than it was to be made a member! The costumes of the Academiciens are embroidered with green palm leaves, and all wear cocked hats. • The meeting is conducted with state ceremony and as the distinguished men file in, in a body, the escorting soldiers present arms. The old Viscomte de Bornier was the most applauded speaker in 1900, and the chair made vacant by his death was then offered to one of France's greatest writers, Rostand of "Cyrano de Bergerac" and "L'Aiglon" fame, while Rene de Bazin's recent election is an honor to the Academy as well as to himself. The Institute dates back several hundred years, and the members enjoy considerable social prestige, but the honor of membership is not now so highly estimated as in former years. Many famous men have unfortunately been overlooked by it until too late. Balzac, Alphonse Daudet and the immortal Moliere were never members, but a tardy tribute was paid the latter by placing his bust in the Institute a few years ago with this apologetic inscription: "Nothing is lacking to his glory, but he is lacking to ours." Foreigners who think the painted-faced women seen on the boulevards who suggest the dressmakers' competitive exhi- bitions, and who raise their skirts to such startling heights to display their silken petticoats and stockings, any one indeed, who thinks these creatures typical French women does the noble women of France a great injustice. One can rarely see in any country so many distinguished women as in an audience at the Institute, when the aristocracy gathers to pay tribute to genius. SOME MORE ATTRACTIONS OF PARIS 243 In the same way many sightseers leave with a false idea of Parisians' amusements, for most men making the rounds of the so-called "sights of Paris," apparently forget that one can find places that cater to the low tastes of humanity in every city in proportion to its size, and overlooking entirely higher- class attractions they depart with the satisfied feeling that they have really seen Parisian life. The Ecole des Beau Arts is under the Academy of Artists, and it is in that school that the gifted pupils are rewarded with the Prix de Rome that enables them to remain four years in Rome at the expense of the French government. There are so many advantages for art students and so many great masters located here that Paris rivals Italy in its rank as an art center. Jean Gobelin's old dye-works on the banks of the Seine continue today under government ownership the making of those unrivaled tapestries. It is particularly interesting to watch the workers. Each one chalks out his design on a screen of threads, and with his pattern near at hand then winds his shuttle in and out. Twenty-four shades for each color make the exquisite blending of tints in their creations, and gobelin blue takes its name of course from this factory. Six square inches a day is considered a good amount for one worker, and beside the tapestries being made, many old pieces are on exhibition, so that a visit to this unique establishment is well worth one's while. The old Musee de Cluny is the headquarters for the glories of the past, and mediaeval art reigns here supreme. Furniture and tapestries, paintings, porcelains, shoes frotn all countries, musical instruments, altar pieces, robes of Knights of the Holy Spirit, and the precious Golden Rose from the Pope, are all here together. The old building itself is as interesting as its contents, and the baths of the Roman Emperors who had on 244 RAMBLES ABROAD this site a palace, are still extant and make a valuable addition to the curios. Mme. de Sevignee's home, the Hotel Carnavalet, now belongs to the city and has been turned into a museum where the municipality's antiquities are shown. Among Paris' many libraries the Biblioteque Nationale ranks at the head of the world's great collections of books and the Hotel de Ville, the city hall, is an imposing modern edifice with splendid decora- tions inside and out, valuable busts are in all the niches and illustrious portraits cover the wall's. The spring exhibition of paintings, formerly held in a salon of the Louvre, still keeps the name "Salon," although now it is held in the Grand Palais. This great building and its smaller companion, the Petit Palais, have been left standing since the Exposition of 1900 and are found very useful for exhibitions and other public spectacles. The Grand Prix and the opening of the Salon are tv/o events which no one can afford to miss in May. In the last few years the Salon has had a would-be rival in the exhibition of independent artists called the Salon of the Champs de Mars. This competition has been a benefit to both sides, however, and the public now has two feasts of the finest pictures of the year. The Bourse, or stock exchange, looks on the outside like a great temple, and in its enormous hall two thousand men can easily mingle. Frenchmen are always excitable, but the confusion on this stock exchange would have made the Tower of Babel appear quiet and peaceful. On Sunday afternoons all Paris drives in the Bois de Boulogne, and though there are many fine turnouts they are not so numerous as the smart traps seen in London. Street cabs are admitted and along side a perfectly-appointed equi- page will come a rambling old fiacre which, built to hold three comfortably, is often occupied by eight or nine ragged spend- SOME MORE ATTRACTIONS OF PARIS 245 thrifts who give themselves regularly this Sunday treat. It is almost impossible to cross the wide Champs Elysees with the stream of carriages and motor cars, and the orders of the policemen, who look like pigmies, are generally no more noticed than if they were toy soldiers. The old boatmen, the Parisee, who gave the city its pres- ent name, have also furnished its coat of arms — a boat. The motto, "Though she goes through many tempests she is never overcome," is particularly appropriate for Paris, for in spite of the many desperate struggles, after each sacking the noble buildings have risen again like the phoenix from its own ashes. THE ELYSEE PALACE The Elysee Palace THE official residence — one could scarcely call it home — of the Presidents of France is not shown to the public. Even Baedeker, the sight-seer's help in time of trouble, suggests no day when it may be visited. The soldiers on duty in front of the palace sternly refuse admittance to everyone and, unlike other royal abodes, there is no opportunity to see the inside unless one receives an invitation to some of the festivi- ties. It is one of the oldest buildings in Paris and now stands proudly aloof from the finer palaces of the day, as though its past traditions more than counterbalanced its present deficiencies. Built by Count d'Evreux in 1718, it was later bought by Mme. de Pompadour, who lived in it as often as Louis XV. would permit. In her day the most magnificent entertainments of Paris were given there. Watteau shepherdesses being in vogue, the Marquise gave a "fete bergere," when a flock of little lambs, nicely combed and beribboned, were led in the great salon by fair shepherdesses in satins and lace. Unfortu- nately these little lambs saw other little lambs in the mirrors, and belying the proverbial meekness of their disposition, they attacked their supposed rivals with such vehemence that the evening ended abruptly amid broken glass, wounded lambkins and fainting women. The Marquise left the palace to a son of Louis XV., but it soon changed owners again, and Louis XVI. bought it, with all its costly furnishings, for two hundred and fifty thousand ■dollars. Later, during the occupancy of the Duchess de Bour- bon, she beautified it so greatly it was given its name at that time of Elysee — Bourbon. [2491 250 RAMBLES ABROAD During the Revolution it degenerated into a public garden^ where balls, fireworks and balloon ascensions were given on the grounds, while gamblers reveled in their sport in the gorgeous apartments. The next owner was Murat who, with his wife, Napoleon's sister Caroline, lived here in a style that quite eclipsed the- splendor-loving Emperor. They left it for their kingdom in Naples, but the Salon Murat remains today quite as when they used it. It is a long, narrow room, poorly lighted by two windows, with a painting by Vernet that represents Murat's triumphal entrance into Naples. Poor Murat, his reign was soon over, and though dead these many years it was only a short time ago that Naples decided he was worthy to be laid to rest among her other kings. Napoleon occasionally sought refuge here from Court fatigue, and Josephine spent the month before her divorce in its seclusion, while Queen Hortense stayed here months at a time. The chess-table of Napoleon stands just as he left it, and after the great Emperor himself was checkmated at Waterloo, he went back to the Elysee for a few hours repose. On this spot the second abdication was signed, resigning the crown he said he had picked from the gutter on the point of. his sword! He left the palace for the last time by a side way, but the crowd outside the wall saw a state carriage drive out through the main entrance, and gazing eagerly THE PALACE, FROM THE GARDEN THE ELYSEE PALACE 251 after it, they did not know until later they had been tricked again. Next came Wellington to take up his abode in the rooms of his vanquished enemy, and later the Elysee fell to the lot of Charles X.'s son, the Due de Berry, who was brought back here dead after being murdered one night at the Opera. During Louis Philippe's reign it was given up to the accommodation of different people, who from some service done the King in his days of need, expected shelter in his hour of triumph. When Louis Napoleon was elected President, he chose the Elysee for his offi- cial residence, and he waited one long anxious night to hear the result of his Coup d'Etat in the room where President Loubet now holds his ministerial councils. Of course after he became Em- peror, Napoleon IIL moved to more regal apartments in the Tuileries and gave the Elysee over to his fiancee, Mile. Eugenie de Montijo. It was her home until she drove to Notre Dame to be married. In the following year Napoleon and Eugenie made many improvements in the palace, and the Empress' bathroom still looks very attractive with its walls of mirrors, painted with vines and flowers, a copy of one of Marie Antoinette's. But, alas, they could not stay in Paris to enjoy the result of their efforts— "sufficient unto the day is the leader thereof" in France. The old guard who showed me through the building M. LOUBET PRESIDENT OF FRANCE 252 RAMBLES ABROAD had been in the service of Eugenie at the Tuileries and never tired of talking of her charms. When he came to an old cheval glass of the Empress', he said — with the gallantry of a courtier — that he regretted he could not in looking into it see, as she used to, her own beauti- ful face. During the Exposition of '67, Alexander of Russia sojourned here, followed by the Sultan and the Emperor of Austria. The King of Sweden and Sophie of Holland attended many balls held in the palace, and last but not least, with oriental splendor, came the Viceroy of Egypt. With such a record of guests, is it surprising the Elysee is proud of its past? The old tapestries are undoubtedly its chief treasures. In the Salon of Cleopatra one represents the banquet given by the Egyptian Queen in honor of Mark Antony, when for dessert a priceless pearl was passed to the conquering hero. In the room that was Eugenie's bedroom, used as a study by some of the Presidents, hangs the original gobelin of Marie Antoinette. It has been copied for the French Republic to give the Czarina of Russia, a gift exhibited in 1900 at the Exposition, and the marvelous sheen of the red velvet gown aroused exclamations of delight from the admiring crowds that gazed daily upon it. In the study here is a modern revolving book-stand and a common office-chair, but the desk of Louis XV. is so richly decorated with gold bronze that some of the simple-hearted Presidents have thought it too fine for daily use. •Napoleon I.'s bedchamber contains the famous tapestry of the "Judgment of Paris," in which Mme. de Maintenon had objected so strongly to the nudity of the three goddesses that she wished the gobelin workers to clothe them! After his assassination. President Carnot's body lay in state in that room, and for four days the French people filed by in tearful homage. THE ELYSEE PALACE 253 One of the choicest little rooms is the Gray Salon, where the hangings and furniture, in the style of the Empire, are in pearl satin, embroidered with silver thread. It is now part of the suite belonging to one of M. Loubet's sons. The Council Room, with its long table and leather chairs, contains the portraits repainted under Napoleon III. of his contemporary sovereigns, among others the late Queen Vic- toria, at the age of twenty, and Pope Pius IX. M. Loubet THE COUNCIL ROOM presides at the meetings in a chair of Napoleon, with many electric buttons near at hand to summon instantly his various messengers. The state dining-room, with its red hangings embroidered in gold, is a dark, dismal place in the daytime and can only be used with electric lights. It opens on a winter garden, entirely of glass, with green hangings, palms, and beautiful statues. Dinner guests are expected to promenade through this garden, but its erection was a grave mistake, as it has made all the 254 RAMBLES ABROAD other rooms on the ground floor too dark to be habitable. The Salon Murat is often used as an additional dining-room, but during the siege SALLE DES FETES of Paris it was turned into an emergency hospital for dressing the wounds of the victims. The Salle des Fetes has a finely- painted ceiling and the walls are hung with old tapestries representing scenes in the life of Jason and Medea. The gobelin portieres are doubly precious for their groundwork of gold thread. The most conspicuous object in the room is a large marble statue called "Twilight" that is marvelously lovely. This room, in which the President receives his guests, is not half large enough, and the lack of suitable accommoda- tions for the crowds that flock to the Elysee balls is as perplex- ing a problem as the inadequate size of our White House. The Loubet family usually spend their evenings, when at Tiome, in the com- fortable billiard- room, or in the salon on the first floor. In the latter the carpets and chairs are of ex- quisite tapestry, but it lacks what Herrick called "sweet disor- der," as its stiffness suggests the old- the grand salon THE ELYSEE PALACE 255 fashioned best parlor, where comfort was overcome by would- 'be grandeur. On entering the President's dining-room, just as the cloth was being laid for his luncheon, it was noticeable how like the simple little Sevres centerpiece, holding a few growing flow- ers, was to those used daily oil less pretentious American tables, and many other little things show his democratic taste. From the window one has a fine view of the gardens that ex- tend to the Champs Elysees, and the President's garden-par- ties are notable features of the summer season in Paris. The entrance to the palace is en- closed in a peculiar glass cage, draped with crimson velvet hangings on which are embroidered the familiar letters " R. F.," the initials, of course, of the French Republic, but often jestingly spoken of as the trade-mark of the Rothschild Freres, whose increasing wealth has made them owners of half of Paris. There are some celebrated paintings in the palace, and most of the bric-a-brac is well chosen, but here and there, along side a rare work of art, will stand a hideous ornament in impossible taste, with as great a difference between it and its neighbors as there has been between the various royal and bourgeois occupants of the palace. Yet, in spite of its incon- gruities and discomforts, the old Elysee challenges ones inter- est still. It has seen so many changes and sheltered such illustrious personages that as one walks now through the rooms one cannot be inseasible of a fragrance that still lingers about it of the splendor of its past. THE PRESIDENT'S DINING-ROOM THE CASTLES OF FRANCOIS I. Tke Castles of F rancois L IT has been said that the reign of Francois I. educated Europe. Be that as it may, it was that French monarch who made culture fashionable and, though he lived back in the Middle Ages, one finds in France today almost as many souvenirs that still recall his name as those left by Louis XIV. and Napoleon, while a visit to his castles through Touraine makes an ideal driving or motor tour. When young he was a beau ideal of knighthood, handsome, brave and polished. He was cleverer than his contemporary, Charles V. of Spain, more elegant than Henry VIII. of England — and more profligate than both put to- gether. This was the time of the "Old Regime," the Renaissance and the Reformation. Each of these young rulers enjoyed despotic power, and their reigns are marked by great events, but all three died prematurely old — more depraved than princely. Francois' court was noted for its splendor, for he attracted the most beautiful women and most gallant men of the day. [259] FRANCOIS I. 260 RAMBLES ABROAD The least conspicuous figure there was his wife, Queen Claude. She never attempted to understand state affairs, but busied herself with her embroidery, and after a few years of shameful neglect she obligingly died, leaving the King too glad to be rid of her to reflect on the fact that he had probably broken her heart. Diane de Poitiers made her first appearance at Court to beg the King's pardon for her father, then a prisoner. Her beauty, afterward world famous, so charmed the sensuous monarch that the father was freed and the daughter became the captive — albeit a most willing one. She assumed the greatest power at Court, and when she realized that Francois had tired of her, she made a successful onslaught on the foolish heart of the King's young son. It was that admirer who, when he became Henry II., gave Diane the beautiful castle of Chenonceaux. This gift, the King said, was made because her husband had died unrewarded for his services to the crown. He was evi- dently a man who did not let his right hand know what his left hand was doing, and it was never quite clear to any one but the enraptured King just what those services were. Francois had made of this castle one of the finest buildings in France, and Diane added the wing that is built right across the little river. It was there the fair chatelaine said CLAUDE, WIFE OF FRANCOIS I. THE CASTLES OF FRANCOIS I. 261 she threw her wishes out one window and her regrets out the other. No one however coveted her neighbor's house more than Catherine de Medici did in regard to her rival's possessions, and as soon as the King died she turned out Diane with the utmost haste, and then fre- quently honored Chenon- ceaux herself with lengthy visits. It ranks as one of the most beautiful dwellings ever built by man, and with its sloping grounds, noble old trees and peace- ful little river, it has a nat- ural setting particularly charming. It is more a home and less a fortress than many of the other castles of the Middle Ages, and an additional attraction was the fact that it alone of all Catherine de Medici's castles was free from the stain of blood. She would send for Tasso, the favorite poet from Italy, and taking him out to Chenon- ceaux would seat herself in the garden with her beautiful women about her and listen for hours to his rhapsodies. She knew well that to hold her sway she must dazzle the people, and every day some wondrous entertainment was given. Writers say one night fireworks in such quantities were displayed on this little river Cher, it seemed the whole stream was on fire, and then suddenly a long shower of beautiful flowers surprised the delighted guests. Thus with feasting and merriment here her dark deeds were temporarily forgotten. DIANE DE POITIERS 262 RAMBLES ABROAD Among its guests the old castle can boast besides Tasso, of Voltaire, Rousseau, Anne of Austria, "La Grande Mile.," and many other notables. It is but a few hours distant from Paris and on certain days the present owners open it to visitors. The gorgeous room of Francois L is quite the most attrac- tive, and another very interesting one is called "the room of the CHATEAU DE CHENONCEAUX four queens," as is was occupied successively by Catherine de Medici, Mary Queen of Scots, Margaret of Navarre and Louise of Lorraine. The gallery has had many of its best pictures removed, but the old tapestries and curious decorations are well worth seeing. After the death of the German Emperor in 1519, three claimants came forward for his throne, but in spite of much bribing, the Electors at Frankfort decided in favor of Charles V. of Spain, the late Emperor's grandson. Chagrined THE CASTLES OP^JF^RANCOIS I. 263 at his defeat, Francois then determined to form an alliance with Henry VIII. of England, and at their meeting, which resulted in naught, such a display was made by both sovereigns, one trying to outdo the other, that Guines is still spoken of as the Field of the Cloth of Gold. The pomp and regal attire of their retinues that day rivaled in brilliancy the famous meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Meanwhile the subtle Charles had leagued with Wolsey, the power behind the English throne, and Henry was easily persuaded by him to form an alliance with Spain instead of France. Then disappointed Francois began a war with Charles and was defeated and taken prisoner at Pavia. The only redeeming feature was that the Spanish soldiers tore his coat into bits for souvenirs, spoiling his fine raiment, but pleasing his vanity. After that battle he wrote his mother the well-known lines that rearranged to interest posterity have come down to us as: "All is lost save honor." He proved later he had none to lose. It is customary now when driving in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris to stop for refreshments at the Cafe de Madrid. It marks the spot where Francois, on his return from Spain, built the Chateau of Madrid, that was so ruthlessly destroyed during the Revolution. In that storehouse of the past, the old Musee de Cluny in Paris, one is still shown the exquisite enamels that ornamented its outside walls — the largest specimens of such work in existence. From the time of his sojourn in Spain and Italy, Francois became the most enthusiastic patron of art. He brought Leonardo da Vinci and other artists back to France with him, and gave the painter a home near his own castle of Amboise. He is buried there in the little chapel of the castle whose delicate stone carving makes it a gem of architecture, and a most appropriate resting place for a great genius. It is dedi- 264 RAMBLES ABROAD cated to the memory of the sacred hunter Hubert, and its exquisite daintiness is in refreshing contrast to the sombre gloom of the rest of the castle. The designs are carved as minutely as frost pictures on a window-pane in winter, and the stag that appeared with the crucifix to the hunter Hubert is impressive even in our miracle-disputing days. At Amboise the King entertained his old adver- sary, Charles V., when he stopped on a friendly visit, and the description of the festivities reads like a fairy tale. The castle is situated on a height, and knowing the Emperor disliked to climb steps, the King had an inclined plane made in one of the towers, by which Charles could ascend to his apartments in a carriage without taking a step. At Amboise Charles VHI. of France was later born and eventually killed here, according to popu- lar stories, by hitting his head against the top of a low doorway. It was here too that a few years later Catherine de Medici invited Mary Queen of Scots to come out on one of the balconies to see the great massacre that delighted the blood- thirsty soul of the Queen Mother. To punish the conspirators against the young King Francis I., and to thwart their plans to get him from her control, she had them strung up on the balcony, here to hang until her vengeance was satisfied and then the rope was cut and the body dropped and buried itself LEONARDO DA VINCI THE CASTLES OF FRANCOIS I. 265 in the river Loire below. The Queen Mother, however, in her enjoyment of such sights, had not counted upon the results, for the dead bodies, piled up in such horrible numbers, made the air so foul in a few days that Amboise was no longer safe as a residence, and finally Catherine was obliged to move the pitiful young Francis aud the beautiful Mary Stuart to a healthier habitation. MAISON DE FRANCOIS PREMIER. Another association with Amboise was the long imprison- ment here of Abd-el-Kadir, the heroic Arabian chief taken prisoner in the French war under Napoleon IIL The castle underwent extensive restorations under Louis Philippe and is now owned by the Orleans family. The Louvre that Philippe Augustus had erected was more a stronghold than a palace, and after tearing it down Francois began the erection of the fine facade that still bears his name, 266 RAMBLES ABROAD and he bought the land, now the Garden of the Tuileries, for the erection of a subtirban villa for his mother. ■ Some of the Raphael paintings that hang in the Louvre today were done at his request. He covered his walls with masterpieces, his tapestries were the finest made; Titian, who never saw the King, was commanded to paint his portrait. :!*7^^irr^ Thanks to his encouragement, a school of painting was estab- lished and the Renaissance spread abroad. He always showed favor to men of talent and used to entertain Benvenuto Cellini, who covered the royal table with the golden vessels engraven by his skill, while Rabelais, Clement Marot and other wits were the King's companions. No better example of the Renaissance architecture can be found than in that old house that still stands in Paris, called the Maison de Francois Premier. Some claim it was brought, THE CASTLES OF FRANCOIS I. 269 stone by stone, from Fontainebleau, its original site, to lodge the King's sister, Margaret, the Pearl of the Valois, but more likely it was intended for a Paris home for one of the Court beauties. Francois I.'s facade of the old castle of Blois far exceeds the efforts of his successors. A later owner, Gaston d'Orleans, ROOM AT BLOIS WHERE DUC DE GUISE WAS ASSASSINATED by his would-be improvements nearly ruined the whole build- ing. Louis XIL's side he has marked with his crest, the crown and porcupine, while we know the rooms of that fasci- nating Queen Anne of Brittany by her emblem, the ermine. In Francois' wing one sees cut in everywhere his device, the salamander, with his motto: "I am nourished and I die in fire." Even the plumes of the King's hat were fastened with a jeweled salamander, and one finds it like a trade-mark on everything he created. His beautiful carved open stairway 270 RAMBLES ABROAD remains in our day unsurpassed, for the stone carving looks like lace work. But the fame of Blois is greater than its beauty. It is celebrated as the place of murder of the Duke de Guise. The door is shown through which the effeminate Henry III. came to gloat over the body of his enemy. Shocked, however, at sight of his victim, he started back, exclaiming: "My God, he looks greater dead than alive!" On the floor above, Cath- erine de Medici had her apartments. In one room the walls are covered with two hundred carved wooden panels, no two alike. Each one opens by a secret spring, and in these niches Catherine kept those poisons she found more convincing than argu- ments. She died here in 1589. Another death - chamber shown at Blois is that of Anne of Brittany, the only woman to be twice Queen of France, for after her gain in the loss of her first husband, Charles VIII., she promptly married his successor, her old lover, Louis XII. A window is shown where Marie de Medici escaped, after her son thought affairs of si ate would be more benefited by her absence than by her presence and confined her in this prison-home, and here too Anne of Austria brought her boy, little Louis XIV., for safe-keeping when the cannonading of the Fronde made Paris too dangerous for real comfort. In addition to its having been CATHERINE DE MEDICI'S STUDY AT BLOIS The Panels Cover Secret Niches THE CASTLES OF FRANCOIS I. 273 sought as a strong place of refuge in rebellions, it has also been the home of beauty and pleasure, for Mme. de Pompadour loved to preside over her worshipping Court here in imitation of the real queens before her. There is no railway and one must drive from Blois to Chambord, a distance covered in about two hours. It was Francois' favorite castle, where from its wonderful roofs he CHAMBORD, DOUBLE SPIRAL STAIRWAY could watch the hunts, and its carved chimneys make one wish our modern builders could reproduce the masterpieces of their predecessors. With its doors concealed in panels, and its secret stairways, Chambord is typical of the King's intriguing life. It is situ- ated in a park of twenty square miles, has over four hundred rooms, and the stables used to accommodate twelve hundred horses. The well-known double spiral stairway is a perplexing 274 RAMBLES ABROAD surprise for all visitors, as people may ascend and descend at the same time, occasionally seeing each other, but never meeting. At Chambord, Moliere gave before the Court his first pre- sentation of the "Bourgeois Gentilhomme." The castle was given at a later date by Louis XV. to his father-in-law, King Stanislas of Poland, and afterward to that interesting roue- warrior, Marshal Saxe. After the Revolution it was purchased by subscription and presented to the young Duke of Bordeau, who took from it his title of Count of Chambord. The castle is so immense and the rooms with their vaulted ceilings so marvelous that there is no more satisfactory edifice in Touraine to visit to give one an idea of the magnificence of the French Court at that period. Even now, in the silence of abandonment, it is sublime. Not content with these vast buildings, Francois completely changed Fontainebleau, and his bedroom and gallery there today are most imposing in their richness. In the palaces of St. -Germain, Loches, and Rambouillet, he made elaborate alterations; like Nebuchadnezzar, he could boast of what he had created by the might of his power, but in his old age how the strength of these buildings must have mocked the shallow character of the royal builder. For twenty years he had carried on war, and the money that should have been spent for the soldiers' pay was lavished on dissolute women. The whole country was impoverished. The people had no voice, the King's wish was law. He had ill treated two good wives and at last, disgusted with all women, he wrote on the window-pane at Chambord: "Often woman varies; he is a fool who trusts her." His persecution of the Reformers was one of his greatest errors, but he should be judged by comparison with his contemporaries. Henry VIH. was chopping off his wives' THE CASTLES OF FRANCOIS I. 277 heads, and Charles V., having weakly abdicated, amused himself in a monastery by rehearsing his own funeral. If you would know the French King as he really was, read Victor Hugo's "Le Roi s'amuse," or see Verdi's opera of Rigoletto, and then weighing his vices against his virtues, remember he was a product of his' time. Look among any collection of miniatures and you will see the immortal faces of his favorites. He left palaces sumptuously built and gorgeously furnished, but the King who had not a single moral with which to bless himself, will be looked upon con- temptuously until his buildings have crumbled to dust. A GLIMPSE OF WINDSOR CASTLE A Glimpse of Windsor Castle THE vast change that King Edward made in Windsor Castle before making it his home, caused wide-spread comment and a general hope that the so-called im- provements would not disturb those sumptuous old rooms of other sovereigns whose historic memories can never be suc- cessfully replaced by modern splendor. Windsor Castle, one of the largest and most magnificent royal residences in the world, has been, during the seven hun- dred years of its existence, prison, fortress and palace. Its dungeons proved foul and fatal to many an agonized captive; its drawbridges, portcullis, and thick walls made it an impreg- nable feudal fortress, while even today its wells and under- ground passages make it quite independent of the outside world, and it could accommodate an army that would be able to withstand there a long seige. As a birthplace of English princes, the last resting-place of kings, the scene of the origin of the Order of the Garter, and Queen Victoria's constant home, it has been the background of English history for centuries. The name comes from Windleshore, an old Saxon word, suggesting there the winding of the Thames river. Edward the Confessor gave the whole estate to the monks of West- minster, from whom William the Conqueror bought it when he determined to build a mighty castle. Norman kings then hunted the wild boar in its forests that time and the gardener's skill have now changed into a quiet Italian park. Here Ed- ward III. celebrated his splendid tournaments. Queen Elizabeth gave her gay fetes, and Queen Anne was here when the wel- come message came from Marlborough announcing his victory [281] 282 RAMBLES ABROAD of Blenheim; while at Windsor too a poor Scotch king sighed for his freedom for many a long year, when imprisoned in its boundaries. It is about an hour's distance by train from London, and the most conspicuous part of the enormous building is the round tower, or massive keep, that was used as a dungeon ROUND TOWER, WINDSOR until 1660. From the battlements there is a most remarkable view enabling one to see into dozens of other shires. The east front is the least familiar part of the castle, be- cause it contains the private apartments, and is rarely shown a visitor, while only a royal carriage is allowed through the gateway on that side. Consequently the entrance best known is by the porter's lodge, and by visiting it on certain days dur- ing their Majesties' absence, the state apartments are shown sightseers. On assuming control. King Edward commanded that the suite of his father, closed since the day of his death, be at last A GLIMPSE OF WINDSOR CASTLE 283 thrown open and refurnished, so that the gloom that hovered over these locked doors has now vanished. Queen Alexandra occupies several of the rooms known formerly as Queen Vic- toria's private apartments, which she has had done over in a lighter and more modern style, and as she is noted for her exquisite taste, her possessions are always well chosen. She EAST FRONT, WINDSOR CASTLE has now for her own use the curious silver toilet service which belonged to Queen Anne over two hundred years ago, in which is included a long silver-framed cheval glass of unusual work- manship and beauty. In the Audience Room hang valuable old tapestries of Esther and Mordecai, which are continued on the walls of the Presence Chamber, and Janet's old poi;trait in this room of Marie Stuart is as familiar to us from prints as is the face of an old friend. In the Guard Room are the weapons of all ages, and a shield of gold and silver presented on the Field of the Cloth 284 RAMBLES ABROAD of Gold by Francois I. to Henry VIIL Of course it is said to be the work of that master goldsmith, Benvenuto Cellini, but had he done all the pieces attributed to him in Europe, he would have put to shame the busy bees, and the industrious ants could well be reproached for laziness. In the Guard Room too are England's three great heroes, Marlborough, Nelson, and Wellington, and Nelson's statue stands on a pedestal made from the mast of the ship on which he said, "England expects every man to do his duty," and then paid with his own life the price of her victory. St. George's Hall -is overotwo hundred feet in length, with a table down the center hospitably long enough to seat the unexpected. The walls and ceilings are paneled, while the latter is richly emblazoned with the arms of every knight who ever belonged to the Garter, and fine por- traits of its presiding sovereigns alternate between the win- dows, with spears, helmets and shields. Banners are hung all along the hall, for it was iatended especially for the use of the Order of the Garter. In the Grand Reception Room is the tapestry of Jason and Medea, the finest Gobelin that Charles X. of France could find to send to George IV. in acknowledgment of the English monarch's hospitality to the two unfortunate brothers of Louis XVI. The room is quite French in style, with Louis XVI. fur- niture of gilt and tapestry. A great malachite vase, sent by a Czar of Russia, has for a rival in one's interest the two THRONE ROOM, WINDSOR CASTLE A GLIMPSE OF WINDSOR CASTLE 285 immense granite vases given by Queen Luise's husband, Frederick William III. of Prussia. At Windsor too is treasured the finest example of Sevres china in existence, a dessert service made for Louis XVI. In the Throne Room stands the Ivory throne from India which is carved just as finely as those little ivory card-cases one usually sees^hoicely guarded under glass. The portraits by Lawrence and Gains- borough, the glisten- ing crystal chande- liers and the rich brocaded blue velvet walls make this room one of the most royal in the castle. In the long cor- ridor stands the life- size statue of the Prince Consort, with that pathetic figure of the Queen clinging to him, and underneath are graven these words: "Allured to brighter worlds and led the way." All along this passage are placed the gifts sent her late Majesty at the Jubilee, including rare embroidery from the Emperor of China, monstrous feather fans from Africa, and such priceless ornaments as are considered worthy a monarch's acceptance. The Waterloo Salon which is nearly one hundred feet long, serves frequently as a banqueting-hall, and could be quickly changed into a theatre for any performance the Queen desired to hear. On the walls are the portraits, mostly by Sir Thomas Lawrence, of the sovereigns and generals who fought in the war that ended in the battle of Waterloo. In that hall Queen Victoria once danced with Napoleon III., the nephew of the man whose crushing defeat by the WATERLOO SALON 286 RAMBLES ABROAD English a while before had occasioned the naming of the room. Windsor has an unrivaled collection of paintings, the Rubens Room contains eleven of this artist's masterpieces, and in the Van Dyke Room hang the best examples of that Dutch master, including the well-known portraits of the children of Charles I., and of his Queen, Henrietta Maria. In the Council Room are the old painters, Andrea del Sarto, Holbein, Ho- garth, Rembrandt, etc., while in the King's Closet hang the best works of the Dutch school. Be- yond the Green Drawing - room are the Crimson and the White; the magnificent Library abounds with rare editions and priceless manuscripts, and one walks on forgetting in the beauty of the last room the wonders of the one before. The Oak Room was often used as a small dining room and it is most attractive with its Gothic oaken panels, richly ornamented with gold, while the wall tapestry, a present from Louis Philippe, recalls the day when the late Queen went down the great stairway here to meet him, the only time an English monarch ever welcomed a French king to England. Luther's old Bible is carefully preserved, the edition of Shakespeare owned by Charles L and also his collection of mini- atures which, with recent additions, ranks first in the world. There are hundreds of other relics handed down from monarch to monarch, and the rich furniture, buhl cabinets, rare orna- VAN DYKE ROOM' A GLIMPSE OF WINDSOR CASTLE 287 ments encrusted with jewels, the priceless tapestries and old gold plate, make Windsor a veritable storehouse of valuables. Not the least of these was the old guest-book of Queen Victoria, where the signatures now call forth memories of dynasties that have been overthrown, and of kings without kingdoms, yet the Queen's long reign continued without interruption. Four Czars of Russia, an Emperor of Mexico, a King of Prussia, and three Emperors of Germ an y, Louis Philippe and Napo- leon III. of France, the Prince Imperial, Pedro of Portugal, the Mad Ludwig of Bavaria, and nearly all the reigning fam- ilies of Europe, have written their names in that book with their own hands, and looking it through now recalls stories of assassination, war and tragedies in striking contrast to their happy visits at different times to her late Majesty, when these royal personages were fortunately blinded to their future fates. St. George's Chapel at Windsor has a roof of such unsur- passed stone fan tracery that even were the chapel empty of all else, one should go far to see it. Besides the royal tombs of Henry VI., Henry VIII., and Jean Seymour, and that of Charles I., St. George's is famous as the place of installation of the Knights of the Garter, the most ancient and honorable order of chivalry in England. It was formed in King Edward III.'s time with but twelve members and the sovereign, but has steadily grown since, and now one sees all great personages QUERN'S PRIVATE DINING-ROOM, KNOWN AS THE OAK ROOM 288 RAMBLES ABROAD whom England wishes to honor, wearing its broad blue ribbon across the shoulder. At St. George's many great events have been celebrated, including King Edward's wedding and her late Majesty's owfi impressive funeral in 1901. The Albert Chapel, rich in mosaics, porphyry, alabaster, lapis lazuli, and malachite, and the great marble statues of Life and Death, contains the tombs of the Duke of Albany, and of the King's son, the Duke of Clarence, who died a few years ago. From its name many expect to see, in this Albert Chapel, the grave of the Prince Consort, but this was only intended to be a memorial to him, for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert now lie side by side at Frogmore, a mile beyond Windsor, thus united during life with a never-ending devotion, in death they are no longer separated.