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
I have devoted so much more of space than I had intended to the
university, and the associations connected with it, that I must be
content to describe in few words, such other objects as appeared to me
most deserving of notice in Prague. Prominent among these is the Juden
Stadt, or City of the Jews; of which I may state, at the outset, that,
of all the extraordinary scenes in which I have ever been an actor,
there are few which, more than my visit to the Jews' Quarter of Prague,
have left upon my mind so vivid and lasting an impression. Let the
reader imagine to himself, if he can, the effect of a sudden transition
from the pomp and splendour of a great capital into a suburb of mean
and narrow streets, choked up with the litter of old rags, broken
furniture, and cast-off clothes hung out for sale; where are aged women
asleep in their chairs,--young ones nursing infants, or, it may be,
perfecting their own unfinished toilets; men, squalid and filthy, with
long beards, flowing robes, and all the other appurtenances which
usually belong to their race; children in a state of nudity; turbaned
heads, features thoroughly Oriental; tarnished finery, books, music,
and musical instruments, scattered about; everything, in short, whether
animate or inanimate, as entirely in contrast with what you have just
left behind, as you might expect to find it, were you transported
suddenly into some region of the earth, of the very existence of which
you had previously been ignorant. I have passed through the classic
regions of St. Giles, the Seven Dials, and Rag Fair. I have gone, in my
youth, under the escort of a police officer, the round of all the most
degraded corners of London; yet have I never beheld a sight, which, in
all that is calculated to bewilder, if not to outrage, the senses,
could bear one moment's comparison with what the Juden Stadt brought
before me. I confess that the first feeling excited was a vague idea,
that to proceed further might compromise our personal safety. Yet I
defy any one who has penetrated but a few yards down the passage, to
abstain from going on. There is about you, on all sides, an air of
novelty, such as it is impossible to resist; and you march forward,
wondering, as you move, whether you be awake or in a dream.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account