[504] greeted by so many, once more, whom I had not thought to meet again. Among the rest, I found there his brother, the sculptor, whom I had failed to see at his atelier in Berlin,—a grave but agreeable person, younger, I suppose, than the poet. But I could not stop long with them,. . . . and came back to our arrangements for leaving North Germany. June 5.—We left the Saxon Switzerland this afternoon, in a boat resembling a gondola a little, managed by three men, of whom one steered, and the two others drew it with a tow-rope, at the rate of about three miles an hour up the Elbe. . . . . The mountains on either side of the river, during the fourteen or fifteen miles we passed through them in this way, are grand and picturesque, in several parts reminding us of the Highlands on the North River. . . . . At last, just as the mountains began to subside into gentler forms, and become covered with cultivation, we came in sight of Tetschen, an enormous mass of building, standing on a bold rock above the Elbe, with a corresponding rock still bolder on the other side, round the bases of both which are gathered—as is so often the case—a village, formed at first for protection, but now thriving with industry and trade. Tetschen is called a castle, and has been built at different times, from the year 1000, when it was a possession of the King of Bohemia, down to the last century, when, about 1706, the last additions were made, that gave it its present vast extent. It has, however, nothing military in its character, though it was held and fortified as a military position by the Austrians in the wars both of 1809 and 1813. We found a carriage on the shore, waiting to receive us, for we were coming to make a visit to the family at the castle,1 and though the time of our arrival was uncertain, something in the look of our boat made them suspect who it was, and induced them to send kindly to meet us. The passage up to the castle was winding, partly through
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1 In the early spring, when forming his plans for summer travel, Mr. Ticknor found it—strange to say—by no means easy to get information about the routes through Austria, especially for Upper Austria and the Stelvio Pass into Italy. He was referred for such inquiries to Count von Thun—Hohenstein, who frequently came to Dresden, and on whom Mr. Ticknor called when next he arrived. The Count showed the utmost kindness in answering all questions, and, before the interview ended, invited Mr. Ticknor to bring all his family for a visit to Tetschen; the party then including—besides the children and three servants—a German landscape—painter, Herr Sparmann, whom Mr. Ticknor had engaged to travel with him for three months as a teacher. Mr. Ticknor accepted the invitation as cordially as it was given.
Boston, J. R. Osgood and company, 1876.
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