Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary, Visited in 1837. Vol. IIGleig, G. R. (George Robert)
History
Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary, Visited in 1837. Vol. II
Gleig, G. R. (George Robert)
Austria -- Description and travel; Bohemia (Czech Republic) -- Description and travel; Germany -- Description and travel
Of Toeplitz itself I may truly say, that I have never seen a
watering-place more perfectly attractive in every sense of the word.
The town is not large; its population falls short, I believe, of three
thousand, and the houses are in proportion; but there is about it an
air of cleanliness and civility which is peculiarly gratifying,
especially in Germany, where, sooth to say, the latter quality is not
always prominently conspicuous. Approaching it, as we did, from the
side of Dresden, you drive through a species of suburb,--that is, along
a road lined on either side by neat mansions, slightly detached from
one another, and are carried first into a street, wide, and clean, and
spacious, and then into the Platz, or square, which forms a constituent
and important part of every German town, be its dimensions what they
may. From the square again, which has a considerable declination
towards the north, you pass into another street, where all the
principal hotels are congregated, and at the extremity of which is the
chief attraction of the place, Prince Clari's palace, with its noble
and delicious gardens. These latter come as near to perfection in the
peculiar school to which they belong, as any thing of the sort which in
any part of the world I have visited. They are laid out in long
umbrageous walks, in exquisitely kept lawns, in bowers, alcoves, and a
lake at once extensive and well managed; and are, with characteristic
liberality, thrown open to the public at all hours, both of night and
day. Nay, nor is this all. Bands of music play here and there amid its
alcoves; there is a sort of coffee-house or restaurateur within the
gates; and the theatre may almost be said to form part of the
establishment, so close is it planted to the prince's residence. There
is exceeding kindliness of heart shown in all this, of which it is not
easy for us, the creatures of a different education, to estimate aright
the value. We should be bored beyond expression were our parks and
pleasure-grounds thronged from dawn till dusk by kings, princes,
nobles, citizens, and peasants. To the Prince Clari, the consciousness
that it affords the means of innocent recreation to his
fellow-creatures seems to be the chief enjoyment which he derives from
the possession of this lordly residence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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