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Ebook has 17 lines and 5689 words, and 1 pages
JOURNAL OF A TOUR MADE IN THE YEARS 1828-1829, THROUGH STYRIA, CARNIOLA, AND ITALY, WHILST ACCOMPANYING THE LATE SIR HUMPHRY DAVY.
BY J. J. TOBIN, M.D.
LONDON: W. S. ORR, 14, PATERNOSTER ROW.
LONDON: BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, BOUVERIE STREET.
PREFACE.
The following pages were originally intended for the perusal only of my own family and immediate friends. Some of these now persuade me to lay them before the public, believing that, to it, a detail of circumstances connected, as my Journal necessarily is, with the last recreations and pursuits of the late Sir Humphry Davy, must be interesting. To have been in any degree a partaker of the hours of this great man, whose name must shed a lustre over his native land, so long as genius and science shall be admired, I cannot be supposed to imagine otherwise than highly gratifying; and aware that my Journal through him bears an interest it could not otherwise pretend to, I do not hesitate to comply with their request.
The state of Sir Humphry's health inducing him to seek its restoration in a tour on the Continent, he wrote to my mother, who was residing on my account and that of my brothers at Heidelberg, stating his plan to her, and naming his wish to have a son of his "warmly-loved and sincerely-lamented friend," as the assistant and companion of his journey. My mother did not hesitate to suspend my studies during the period of the proposed tour, conscious that in the society of such a mind and acquirements as those of Sir Humphry, mine must advance. And to have been the companion of his latter days, clouded as they often were by the sufferings which I beheld him endure, will be my last pride and advantage; and though the hand of death has laid low many a hope which gilded the future, it cannot deprive me of the recollection of those hours, when I marked his spirit still radiant and glowing
"With the undying energy of strength divine."
Sir Humphry's health was in so shattered a state, that it often rendered his inclinations and feelings sensitive and variable to a painful degree. Frequently he preferred being left alone at his meals; and in his rides, or fishing and shooting excursions, to be attended only by his servant. Sometimes he would pass hours together, when travelling, without exchanging a word, and often appeared exhausted by his mental exertions. When he passed through Heidelberg to see my mother, he named all this to her, and with evident feeling thanked her for her request, that he would on all occasions consider me as alone desirous to contribute to his ease and comfort. I mention this to account for my having so seldom spoken of his passing remarks, and for any apparent change which occurred in our arrangements, named in the Journal.
To give any adequate idea of the beauty and grandeur of the scenes I beheld, must be well known to be impossible by those who have visited these parts of Europe, or been accustomed to view the changing tints and hues of the fine sky that encircles them; but if I have imparted only a faint reflection of the pleasure such scenes bestow, even in recollection, or have given enjoyment to any of my readers, my object will be fully attained, nor shall I then regret having listened to the voice of my perhaps too partial friends. J. J. T.
JOURNAL,
&c. &c.
On my arrival in London I found Sir Humphry better than I had expected, but evidently very weak. He appeared to have altered much during the four years which had elapsed since I last saw him, and it was evident that although his mind was still vigorous and full of energy, his bodily infirmities pressed heavily upon him, and I could not but perceive that he was keenly alive to his altered state. I had hoped to have remained some little time in London, but finding that everything was ready for our departure, I contented myself with calling upon a few old friends, and taking my seat by Sir Humphry's side, his servant George being on the dicky with his master's favourite pointers, we drove from Park Street on the morning of the 29th of March. We slept that night at Dover, which we left the next morning at half-past nine o'clock, and arrived at Calais about twelve, after a beautiful and calm passage. Sir Humphry wishing to be left to repose quietly on his bed in the cabin, I took my favourite seat on the prow, and sat musing on times past and to come, looking upon the curling waves which were glittering with a thousand golden colours in the bright beams of the morning sun. The weather formed a strong contrast with that of the day before, when the only change had been from sleet and snow to hail and rain. The difference between the English and French coasts is very striking; and the contrast between the lofty white chalk cliffs of the one, and the gay and verdant hills of the opposite shore, seems almost emblematical of the national peculiarities of the two countries.
The country beyond Rousbrugge becomes rather more diversified; the hedges, which are formed of small trees, are often very prettily interwoven, forming a fence at once useful and elegant; and we passed the first hill, a very low one, which we had seen since we left Calais. We drove on through Ypres and Menin, and spent the night at Courtrai. All these towns are strongly fortified, chiefly I believe under the direction of the celebrated Vauban, and are called the iron boundary of Holland. They are kept very clean and neat. Ypres has a fine large gothic town-house, with an immense number of windows in it. I read in the evening to Sir Humphry part of the "Bravo of Venice," and he dictated a few pages on the existence of a greater quantity of carbon in the primary world, and on some of the phenomena of the Lago di Solfatara, near Rome. His clear reasoning, and the proofs and facts which he adduces in support of his theories, still show the quick and powerful mind of his former days, when his bodily faculties were in the fulness of their vigour, and not, as now, a weight and oppression upon his mental powers.
In all the churches which we visited, the priests and attendants were busied in preparing them for the next day, Though the subject represented, the Tomb of Christ, with its surrounding scenery, attendants, and guards, was the same in every church, it was much more beautifully executed in some than in others. A part of the church was in general nearly encircled and darkened by hangings of black cloth, and a recess was thus formed, in which, in some of the churches, a stage of considerable depth was erected, on which was painted the scene of the tomb, with its figures, side scenes, and distant views, very skilfully managed. The perspective was well kept; and the whole being very well illuminated by unseen lamps, the effect was quite theatrical.
"All Heaven and Earth are still--though not in sleep, But breathless, as we grow when feeling most; And silent, as we stand in thoughts too deep:-- All Heaven and Earth are still: from the high host Of stars, to the lull'd lake and mountain-coast, All is concenter'd in a life intense, Where not a beam, nor air, nor leaf is lost, But hath a part of being, and a sense Of that which is of all Creator and defence."
The four leagues from Mannheim to Heidelberg are through a country, not one spot of which is uncultivated; this is backed by the finely wooded mountains of the Odenwald, on which are still visible the remains of some of the many castles which formerly crowned the different heights. We reached Heidelberg towards evening, and as soon as I had seen Sir Humphry comfortably lodged in the hotel of the Prince Carl, immediately under the imposing ruins of its far-famed castle, he begged me to go and see my mother, he being too fatigued to accompany me; and on my doing so, I found that my letter, which should have informed her of my approach, had not yet reached her.
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