Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 55, No. 343, May 1844Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 55, No. 343, May 1844
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
"'I should be most happy, sir; but in Prussia it is not allowed to
change places.'
"'True, true! How could I forget it? I beg your pardon, sir.'
"'These tamned Frenchmans, they do noting but shatter and talk!' said a
fat German sitting opposite to me, opening his mouth for the first time
since we had left Liege, but still keeping his eyes shut.
"'You were saying, sir----?' said I, not particularly gratified by the
remark.
"'I say noting--I shleep.'
"'_Shleep_ as much as you like, but try not to dream aloud, eh? Or, if
you dream, dream in your mother tongue.'
"The German began to snore.
"'Postilion, _vorwarts!_' shouted the conductor.
"We were off at a gallop. I put my head out of the window to try to get
a view of the ruins, but it was vain; they had disappeared behind an
angle of the road. At twenty-five minutes to five, not a second later or
earlier, we drove into the coach-yard at Aix-la-Chapelle."
At Cologne M. Dumas pauses, and fills a hundred pages with the
cathedral, and the legend attaching to it. Most of our readers are
probably aware that the above-named church was commenced by an architect
whose name has been forgotten, and who procured the design for the
building from Satan himself, upon the usual condition of giving a
promissory note for his soul. A certain Father Clement, however, a very
knowing priest, of whom the arch-tempter stood in almost as great awe as
he had ever done of St Dunstan of nose-pulling celebrity, came to the
assistance of the builder, and put him up to a stratagem, by which he
avoided signing away his spiritual part, although he still obtained
possession of the plan for the cathedral. Satan confessed himself
outwitted, but prophesied that the building should never be finished,
and that its builder's name should not go down to posterity. The latter
part of the prediction has been accomplished; but as the present King of
Prussia has declared his intention of finishing the work that has been
so magnificently begun, it seems probable Beelzebub may prove mistaken
in one portion of his prophecy.
Cologne being a large city, somewhat Frenchified in its ways, M. Dumas
manages pretty well as regards eating and drinking; but, as he ascends
the river, matters get worse. He arrives at Bonn at the hour of the one
o'clock meal, called the first dinner, and we find him expatiating on
the subject of German appetites and feeding.
"The Germans eat from morning till night. On opening their eyes, at
seven o'clock in the morning, they take their coffee--at eleven,
breakfast--at one, the little dinner, (a sort of luncheon)--at
three, dinner--at five, another meal, nondescript, nameless, and
abundant--at nine, a tremendous supper, preparatory to going to bed.
Tea, cakes, and sandwiches, fill up the intervals."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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