52
TIÏAVEMUNDE.
on, may return ; a word, a cloud, the flight of a bird, may persuade me irresistibly that I have no right to be at ease. The same arguments may convince me that I am wrong to be uneasy.
Travemnnde has been undergoing improvements for the last ten years, and, what is more, the improvements have not spoilt it. A magnificent road has been completed between Lubeck and the sea; it forms one embowered avenue, under the shade of which the postilions convey you through orchards and hamlets, thinly scattered among the fields, to the mouth of the river. I have seen nothing so pastoral on any other coast. Though the town is lively, the surrounding country is silent and rural; it is a meadow, level with the sea, whose pastures, enlivened by numerous flocks, terminate only where the green turf is bathed by the salt water.
The Baltic here has the appearance of a lake, and its shores have an aspect of tranquillity that appears supernatural. One fancies one's self in the midst of happy shades, in Virgil's Elysian fields. The view of the Baltic Sea, notwithstanding its storms and rocks, inspires me with the idea of security. The waters of the most dangerous gulfs do not convey to the imagination the impression of extension without bounds. It is the idea of infinity which awes the man who stands on the borders of the great ocean.
The tinkling of the sheep-bell mingles with the ringing of the bells on board the steam-boats, in the port of Travemnnde. This sudden reminiscence of modern industry, in the midst of a country where a pastoral life is still that of a great part of the population, appears to me poetical without being ex-
HOLSTEIN FISIIEKMEN.
53
citing. This region inspires a healthful repose; it is a refuge from the encroachments of the age, and though level, open to the eye, and easily traversed, one feels here as much in solitude as thoim`h in the
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midst of an island difficult of access, and where man has not disfigured nature. Here repose is inevitable — the mind sleeps and Time folds his wings.
The people of Holstein and Mecklenburg possess a serene kind of beauty, which accords with the gentle and peaceable aspect of their land, and the coldness of their climate. The colour in their cheeks, the even surface of the country, the monotony of their habits, the uniform aspect of the landscape, all is in harmony.
The hardships which the fishermen have to encounter during winter, when, to reach the sea, they have to cross a border of three leagues of ice, whose broken surface often presents chasms that are perilous to overleap, impart a kind of excitement to a life that would be otherwise very monotonous. Without this winter campaign, the inhabitants of the coast would languish in the corner of their huts, wrapped in sheep skins. The opulence of the sea-bathers upon this fine shore, is a source from which the peasants during summer obtain sufficient to supply their necessities for the rest of the year, without exposing themselves to so much peril and fatigue ; but man wants more than the necessaries of life. Among the men of Travemnnde the winter fishery is the source of every superfluity; the dangers which they voluntarily face during this rude season, enable them to gratify their more elegant tastes. It is for earrings, or a chain of gold for the neck of his mistress, or for
54.SUBLIMITY OF FLAT SCENERY.
a satin cravat for his own — in short, it is, not to eat, btit to adorn himself and those whom he loves, that the fisherman of Travemunde struggles at the peril of his life against the billows and the ice. He would not face this needless danger if he were not something above the mere animal; for the wants of luxury spring from the nobler part of our nature., and can perhaps be subdued only by a sentiment still more noble.
This country pleases me in spite of its uniform aspect. The vegetation is luxuriant. On the fifth of July the verdure still appears fresh ; the seringas in the gardens scarcely begin to blossom. The sun in these sluggish climes* is like a great lord, rising late, and showing himself for only a short time. The influences of spring begin but to appear in the month of June, when the days are again about to decline. But if the summer be short, the days are long, and then there reigns a sort of sublime serenity throughout a landscape in which the horizontal sim is scarcely visible, and where the sky is, in itself, the chief object. In viewing this land, level as the sea whose flow it scarcely arrests — a land sheltered alike from the revolutions of nature, and from the troubles of society—we are touched with that kind of admiration which we feel in gazing on the face of a virgin. It is, by comparison, like the pure charm of the eclogue,
* The author, in the remarks which here follow, appears to be alluding rather to the general climate of the Baltic Sea, than to that of its southern coast, which he has been just describing, and to which some of his remarks will not apply. The latitude of Travemunde is very nearly the same as that of York. — Trans
STEPPES OF RUSSIA.
55
after the meretricious adornments of our comedies and romances. It is not picturesque, but rural and pastoral, and yet, not the rural or the pastoral that is seen elsewhere in Europe.
The ten hours' twilight renders a walk at night delicious : at this moment a solemn silence pervades the atmosphere; it is like the suspension of life; nothing speaks to the senses; and my thoughts, lost in the contemplation of the pale stars of the north, soar far above the earth.
But to feel the charm of these illusions, we must come from a distance. Nature is fully appreciated only by civilised strangers; the native rustics do not enjoy, as we do, the world which surrounds them. One of the greatest benefits of society is, that it renders the inhabitants of cities alive to the beauties of the country. It is civilisation which teaches me to be pleased with those lands destined by nature to preserve to us the image of primitive life. I fly from saloons, from conversations, from good hotels and easy roads, in short from all that piques curiosity, or excites admiration in men born in semi-barbarous societies ; and, notwithstanding my aversion for the sea, I embark to-morrow in a vessel, all the inconveniences of which I shall brave with joy, provided it bears me toward the deserts and the steppes. The steppes! This eastern word alone inspires the idea of the unknown and the wonderful; it awakens in me a desire, which supplies the place of youth and courage, and which reminds me that I am come into this world only on the condition that I should traveclass="underline" such is the fatality of my nature. Shall I confess it ? I D 4
56BURNING OF STEAMER NICHOLAS I.
should perhaps never have undertaken this journey, had it not been for the steppes of Russia!
My carriage is already in the packet-boat : the Russians say it is one of the finest steamers in the world : they call it Nicholas the First. This same vessel was burnt last year crossing from Petersburg to Travemunde : it was refitted, and has since made two voyages.
Some superstitious minds fear that misfortune will yet attach itself to the boat. I, who am no sailor, do not sympathise with this poetic fear; but I respect all kinds of inoffensive superstition, as resulting from the noble pleasure of believing and of fearing, which are the foundation of all piety, and of which, even the abuse, classes man above all other beings in creation.