THE BATHS OF KISSINGEN.
Kissingen, Bavaria, 2c1 August 1845. The celebrity which this spa has obtained may render some account of it acceptable to English readers, especially to such as labour under some ambiguous incognoseible form of disease, which drags in vain assail at home, and are half- inclined therefore to try the effect of a course of its waters. I reached Kissingen on the 18th July; consequently have spent a fortnight in drinking the waters and acquainting myself with the 'localities," to use a some- what slipslop modern phrase. The site of the town is precisely similar in cha- racter to that of almost every. Bavarian village; which is usually placed in a valley, embosomed in wooded hills, and having a stream running close to its walls,---for walls of course there were here, as you see elsewhere in all countries which have been the scene of war for ages. The Saal runs sluggishly past, turbid with the red sandstone mud, except after rain, when it rushes along at a furious rate, swollen by the hill-side torrents. A very rich alluvial soil occupies the valley for some miles; which is chiefly under meadow, purposely inundated every May by the Saal's slimy fertilizing waters; whence the damp and unhealthy character of Kissingen during the following month or six weeks. The river is about the size of the Mole at Mickleham or the Lea at Tottenham.
The country around Kissingen is very agreeable; and I think the drives and walks are more varied and interesting, to English tastes, than those of most water- ing-places in Germany. Vast forests full of game, roebuck, boar, cock of the wood, and other wild animals, abound in the immediate neighbourhood; and the Klaus-Hof woods are traversed by allees innumerable, where you may ride or walk, protected from the sun, for miles. Many shorter excursions near home afford charming prospects; whilst the foreground, at this season, offers the incidents of rural life under its most picturesque aspect. The primitive cow or oxen warns, carrying the yellow sheaves of corn, or ploughing in the rye-stubbles—the bright- coloured handkerchiefs of the women engaged in reaping or binding the corn, with the three-cornered hats of the men—all these make up groups worthy of a Gains- borough's pencil to attempt.
But the pleasures of champetre rambles are not the portion of the Kissingen water-drinker, alas ! For him the environs might almost as well be barren and trackless. Enough if the prescribed ceremonial can be performed by one whose infirmities induce a pilgrimage of six hundred miles, to a dull village in a bot- tom' in search of relief. I am forced to walk as much as would cover two or three miles, every morning before half-past eight o'clock; (most visiters complete their task by eight) at eleven I take a mineral bath; at one o'clock it is cus- tomary to dine; which operation, together with the going to and from the dining- place consumes at least an hour and a half; you must drink again at six o'clock, and ;Talk as before, or, it may be, half an hour less; at the end of which you walk to your lodgings—mine are a short half-mile off. I leave you to judge how much of an invalid's energy is disposable for any other out-of-doors object during the day. Nevertheless, I have contrived, on mornings not dedicated to the bath, to drive out three or four times, for a couple of hours, in a rough shaking vehicle -and pair, one may hire in the place. Few people diversify their existence by such recreations; and the means of riding and driving out are accordingly but scantily provided by the inhabitants. The lodging-houses are now fully tenanted; yet I do not observe any large number of English on the promenades. The visiters appear for the most part Germans, with many Russians and some French.
It is difficult to convey an idea of the destitute condition the Kissingen larders exhibit. The plentiful lack of the matter of victuals which prevails at the table d'hOte of the • Kur-Haus " (or royal establishment for lodging and feeding the guests) is deplorable. There would have been no getting through my probation Bare had I been condemned to the diet of the aforesaid Kur-Haus; which not only is bad in itself, but so deficient in quantity as to leave you almost as empty at the end of the repast as when you sat down to table. An universal discontent reigns among the guests, as might be expected: but there is no redress; and in despotic countries it is curious to observe how little anybody ever dreams of the possibility of a remedy for any grievance, unless the Government takes the thing in hand ! You will ask, how we manage, since here is no raven to feed us by stealth. The fact is, we have discovered a chophouse in a by-street, wherein plain but nourishing food, and abundance thereof, (such as beef, and venison of the roe- buck, partridges &c.,) is to be had, and that for the same money you pay for a Barmecide's meal at the Kur or the Hotel de Hassle. This discovery we have been generous enough to impart to our friends; so that there are some worthy subjects of Queen Victoria who have their rations here as elsewhere.
And now you have a general notion of the famed Kissingen; whose curative waters certainly do appear to possess marvellous qualities, and to achieve the re- moval of many tiresome and obstinate derangements of the abdominal viscera, as well as to chase away peccant humours and chronic affections of the muscles. They are nowise unpleasant to take; and one of the springs, the Max Brannen, seems to supply the working people with their habitual beverage, serving the purpose of our beer-shops or their pestilent rival the gin-palace. Some person- ages of rank and importance are here, who mix with the general company on the public walks in the most unpretending manner: the Queen of Wurtemburg, the Princess of Salms, the Dutchess of Attenburg, among the Germans; the Dutchess of Montrose, the Ladies Combermere and Leveson, with their Lords, among our own nobility. A Count Schonbom drives his elegant wife out in a caleche and four dark greys; which equipage is admired by those who have never beheld Sir Henry Peyton on "the bench; as the sporting phrase goes; and who can look with complacency, therefore, upon horses hanging their heads down, whilst the driver's hands are a foot asunder, each grasping a-bunch of reins, himself seated on a line with his team!
All the world are talking of the coming " progress" through these parts of our Queen and Prince Albert. Our landlord, conceiving this topic to possess an extreme interest in our eyes, politely brings us daily the Wurtzburg and Frank- fort papers, and points out the paragraphs to our notice which contain particulars of the expected festivities in honour of her Majesty's visit. This, and the " Beet- hoven lest" at Bonn, occupy all minds at present. Politics are a thing new heard of here, and religions broils seem to be rare; so that newsmongers must live on hors d'ceuvres, or starve. Not thus with the populous cities of Germany. If we go to some of them on leaving Kissingen, I expect to find as much stir on the subject of public affairs as at Paris or Bordeaux. A question exists whether any good effects are deducible from this, however, especially as far as Prussian subjects are concerned: but it is one which it is beside the purport of this letter lint here is another English M.D. whom patients standing in awe of their fashion- able doctors in London can ask advice of' and thus evade giving the said doctors ,arahrage,--whieh, if the patient consult the first-named gentleman, is but too 111* t°
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