I one day went up to two gentlemen or country squires in the
market-place, (I heard afterwards that the one was called Benzenauer,
the other Tucker,) who were walking there, and asked alms from them, as
poor fags were accustomed to do. Tucker said to me, "From whence are
you?" and when he heard that I was a Swiss, he was surprised, together
with Benzenauer, and said to me, "But are you really a Swiss? If that
is the fact, I will adopt you as a son, and I will assure you of that
here before the council in Breslau; but, in return, you must promise to
remain with me, and accompany me wherever I go." I answered, "In my
native place I was given in charge to a certain person; I will ask him
about it." But when I asked my relation Paul about it, he said, "I have
conducted you out of your own native place, and I will conduct you to
your own friends again, and then whatever they bid you, that you can
do." I therefore declined this offer. But whenever I came before the
house I was not allowed to go empty away. Thus I remained for a time in
Breslau; was also three times ill in one winter, so that they were
obliged to bring me into the hospital, for the travelling scholars had
a particular hospital and physicians for themselves. Sixteen hellers
were also paid weekly from the Town-house for each sick person, by
which one person could be well supported. Care was then taken of the
patients, and they had good beds, only they were not clean; so that I
rather lay upon the floor than in the beds. During the winter the fags
lay upon the floor in the school; but the Bacchants in small chambers,
of which there were several hundreds at St. Elizabeth's. But in summer,
when it was hot, we lay in the church-yard: collected grass, such as is
spread in summer before the doors on Sunday in the gentlemen's
streets,[2] and lay in it, like pigs in the straw. When however it
rained we ran into the school; and when there was thunder we sang
responsories and other sacred music the whole night, with the
Subcantor. Now and then after sapper, in summer, we went into the
beer-houses to beg for beer. And the drunken Polish peasants would then
give us so much, that I was often unable to find my way to the school
again, though only a stone's throw from it. In short, there was plenty
to eat here, but there was not much study; and of true piety no one had
an idea. In the school at St. Elizabeth's, indeed, nine Bachelors of
Arts read lectures at the same hour, and in the same room; still the
Greek language had not yet made its way anywhere in the country;
neither had any one printed books, except the Preceptor, who had a
printed Terence. What was read had first to be dictated, then pointed,
then construed, and at last explained; so that the Bacchants had to
carry away thick books of notes when they went home.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account