ART. II.—Shubert: Reise im Morgenlanden, in den jahren 1836 und 1837. (Travels in the East, in 1836 and 1837.) 2 Vols. Leipsic, 1839. With an Atlas of Illustrations.

FEW of those who remember the publication of Chateaubriand's "Itinéraire de Paris à Jerusalem" have forgotten the sensation it produced, by laying before the public eye those lands of history, romance, and fable, which, once the terror and aversion of Europe, had since become the superstitious wonder of the vulgar and a long desired field for literary enterprize. The tribe of tourists that followed, with their tales of personal peril and their national peculiarities, contributed towards keeping up the interest which their talented precursor had awakened: earlier travellers had only for a time excited attention from the learned. Those times are past, and with them much of the danger and novelty of oriental travel. The wonders of nature and art which adorn these interesting regions have proved so fruitful a theme, that even the details have too often become insipid from repetition. We select however on this subject an author of well-known literary attainments, nor can it be denied that the work before us is by far the most interesting and important he has produced. Dr. Shubert is a gentleman both in spirit and language, and the perspicuity and elasticity pervading the work must raise the author to a tolerable rank among the tourists of his day. He possesses one important advantage even over Chateaubriand, viz. a thorough knowledge of natural history.

Hence arise a force and brilliance in his description of scenery, of atmospheric or celestial phenomena; and which, joined with active incident and humorous anecdote, preserve untiring the interest of the work. There is another striking feature in the book before us, which it shares with the " Itinéraire de Paris," namely, pious and exalted Christian sentiment; but in this the author is inferior to Chateaubriand, as the copy to the original. The images of the latter have a lofty if not sublime character, which assimilates them to the words of the prophets, while the thoughts of Dr. Shubert belong to the species which has sprung up so recently in Bavaria, and threatened to spread over Germany, in opposition to the sentiments of the northern or Protestant districts. How it happens that Bavaria has constituted herself the centre of such catholic propagandism is foreign to our purpose; but we must do our author the justice to say that he has not interfered with this or any other essentially political question, except perhaps where he most obsequiously flatters the Austrian government, which is supposed to be at the bottom of this

movement.

M. Shubert's work is dedicated to the Queen of Bavaria, and a voluminous introduction follows, occupying thirty-four pages with utter uselessness. It is entitled "Whither wilt thou go?" and consists of certain juvenile dreams, or inspirations as the author would call them, which might be interesting from Shakspeare or Byron, but are insipid and irrelevant in a star of so much less magnitude. We should, however, act unjustly towards the author were we to say much about his Einleitung-for the simple reason that we have not read it, which we apprehend will be its fate with most English readers.

In the beginning of this tour we are informed of what may assist us in understanding some parts of the work, that Dr. Shubert was in his fifty-seventh year when he undertook the journey, and that he was accompanied by his wife, a draughtsman, and two young scientific friends, of whom we may not have occasion to speak hereafter, invading as they do with their mineralogical hammers even the rocks of the mystic Horeb and Sinai.

But it is time to relinquish these general remarks, and bring the writer forward in his own person.

At page 44 occurs a good description of the author's feelings whilst travelling through Bavaria. It seemed as though the body only, and not the mind, was journeying towards the holy east; nor was it till he arrived in the environs of Enns (in Austria) that the latter also became engaged in the enterprise, and accepted the conviction that its ardent longings were about to be accomplished.

"Perhaps," he says," the elements of this desire lie in the historical interest of the spot. Here existed that ancient nursery of the Christian faith, which even in the first century was illuminated by the dawn of a spiritual day, while the countries around were buried in the deepest night. Here stood the Roman Laureacum (Lorch) which received the feet of the messengers of salvation even in the second century, which the inspired Bishop Maximilian filled with the word of life, and where the Christian warrior and hero Florian found in the waters of the Enns, the death of a martyr.

Our next extract is a description of the scenery in these regions.

"The country from its rich plantations of fruit trees resembles a large and beautiful garden. In the afternoon at Stienberg we were all powerfully struck with the solemn beauty of the surrounding landscape, and the quiet loveliness of the autumnal day; the distant peaks of the Styrian Alps, covered with new fallen snow and glittering in the setting sun, the refreshing breeze that waved the luxuriant foliage, and far and near the mellow notes of the evening bells, seemed like harbingers not only of the day of rest which the morrow would bring forth, but of the

approach of that land which had given to us our corporeal and spiritual Sabbath."

In Vienna the author amused himself with inspecting the spots which have become memorable by the repulse of the Turks in that city; but we pass on to notice one of those adulatory passages alluded to in our earlier remarks, and it certainly is singularly characteristic of the present state of Germany, that a Bavarian of some rank, like Dr. Shubert, should be extolling (even in his own country) not the services rendered him by the diplomatists of his own monarch, but those of a foreign prince. The passage is as follows: "The powerful effect of these introductions and recommendations, which were given me by the chancellerie of state of his Highness Prince Metternich, taught me that the great and comprehensive mind of this statesman is capable of combining the care of the general good, with that of the individual; and that while he strives to guide the powerful stream for the welfare of his country, a poor little rivulet is not beneath his assistance."

The journey from Vienna down the Danube in a steamer affords the traveller few objects of importance; but the following description of the Castle of Vissegrad is worthy of notice. "In

the afternoon the thunder clouds like mountains towered over the forest of Bakony, whilst the sun in his progress above them illuminated the antique structure of the triangular Castle of Vissegrad (Plenteswurg) in which the noble Matthias Corvinus passed a time of joyful repose in the company of our great countryman, the astronomer Regiomontanus.' This latter name is of the more importance at present from the prominent place it occupies in the life of Columbus, adverted to in M. D'Humbolt's Examen critique sur la Geographie du Nouveau Continent. The country about old Orsova and the baths of Hercules near Mehadia is interesting on account of the classical recollections they awaken, and the description of our author evinces the clear and precise investigation of a naturalist." A wooden bridge crosses the little rivulet of Jardesdizka, which is rich in trout and other fish; then appear those ancient and seemingly immutable trenches said to be the commencement of a Roman aqueduct; next the fertile though rock-bound valley of Mehadia with its handsome buildings and romantic scenery invites the traveller to a lengthened stay. Here are the first traces of the baths of Hercules; and although the surrounding country may want the charms of the gardens of the Hesperides, it bears abundant marks of the force of the patron demi-god. Wild heaps of fallen mountains, torn from their places by the waters of the Czerna, are strewed about the meadows, as though the hero had commenced but not completed

the task of clearance; or as if some vast deluge had received from these rocks a momentary check, till gathering strength from opposition, the invading flood had forced them before it and scattered them in its way. Mehadia a township of about 1500 souls lies on the left bank of the Bella Laka on the site of the Roman Ad Mediam.

On the Temples of Hercules and Esculapius which existed here some centuries ago, were found inscriptions which proved that the baths of Hercules were known to the Romans and much esteemed for their healing qualities. They are situated about forty minutes walk from the township, on the rocky banks of the Czerna. Large masses of granite cross the bed of the river, especially on the right, and form rocks in the higher ground; from the fissures in these proceed the vapours which, condensed in the upper part of the mountain over beds of granite, marlschist, and a compact grey chalk, form the springs that supply the salubrious baths. There are twenty-two springs in all, and their presence is announced to the traveller by the smell of sulphuretted hydrogen, which has been compared to the effluvia of putrid eggs. The quantity of heated water thus supplied is considered inferior only to a few of the springs of Iceland. Zimmermann has calculated exactly the quantity of water produced by nine of these springs, and found it to be on an average 6525 cubic feet in the hour, or one half more than all the aqueducts of Paris convey to that capital.

"We walked along the verdant meadows which border the river Czerna, or under the shadowy roof of the forest up to the cataract. On the green turf and in the shadow of the shrubbery the crocus speciosus appeared with its modest blossom: the vine in a wild state is not uncommon on the borders of the forest, and the fig-tree is seen near the spring of Hercules growing in the open air: a singular proof of the wildness of the climate. Among the birds we fancied we heard that poetic inhabitant of the East the wild cooing-dove (columba risoria.)"

This is a fair specimen of the style of our author, surrounded as he proceeds on his journey with classical and historical recollections, and seizing every interesting and characteristic feature with some feeling and judgment. But the East affords scenes and incidents more striking and important.

At length the author finds himself on the Black Sea, surrounded by the waves of the Bosphorus:

"The impetuosity of the stream of the Danube at its entrance into the Black Sea is so great as to carry the current of fresh water to the distance of three miles and a half due east from the mouth of the river; as may be discovered by the taste. Steering south we soon lost this companionship, and entered at once the vast domains of the Black Sea.

It is remarkable that even in calm weather the waves of this immense expanse of water rise to a considerable height; this arises from its being the point where the high peaks of the Caucasus on the east, the girding mountains of Hæmus and Olympus on the south, and the sloping plains of the countries of the Danube on the west and north, finally commerge, and by the powerful contrast of plains and mountains keep the atmosphere in a perpetual excitement; the Black Sea being on a great scale what the squares in front of one of our lofty domes is on a small one, that is, the focus of a constant fluctuation of wind and weather. The mind of the wanderer is moved like the waters round him when he finds himself for the first time in the vicinity of the stage that witnessed the deeds of the youth of mankind; there in the east arose the Sun of the second cosmic day (zweiten Weltages) of history, and there in the distant south it reached the meridian zenith."

Dr. Shubert often descends to observations and remarks that bear the stamp of his usual quaint acuteness.

"The next morning most of us tried in vain to rise from our beds to cast our longing eyes towards that spot on the western coast where Tomi, the ancient capital of Scythia Minor, was situated, and where the banished Ovid sung the pains of expatriation. We had been seized with that affection which resembles death without ever producing it; that disease in which we feel oversatiated without having tasted food, tired to death without having walked, and intensely active even in repose. It seems as if we were no more ourselves, but the tossing ship; the brain seems fastened to the top of the mast; and in lieu of thoughts, the rattling wheels and cracking engines have taken possession of the head, and deprived it of all power to keep itself erect. In this state we passed the fine day of the first of October."

The author gives a detailed account of Constantinople; we forbear to insert it, but lay before our readers the following description of Stamboul while ravaged by that Oriental scourge, the plague.

"In spite of the clamour of the violin and the yelling song of the gypsies resounding through the streets of Galata, it did not present the appearance of a goddess who could be prompted by such music to dance and merriment. A protracted drought, emaciating for months past the countries on both sides of the Bosphorus, had strewn ashes upon the head of the queen of Turkish towns; the plague had appeared in the interior with a violence unknown for many years, and a severe conflagration had lately consumed some of the most showy streets. Whilst we were in Pera a fire broke out in some of the miserable Turkish huts situated on the south-easterly slopes towards the Arsenal, and we were only saved from the impending danger by the resolution of some Franks who came to our assistance. If we walked towards the sea through the grove of cypresses near the Turkish cemeteries we were sure to meet the porters bearing away the dead in hair-blankets, and the harbour was full of small boats loaded with coffins and biers.