HOWITT'S RURAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE OF GERMANY.

We think this volume the most interesting of any thing that WILLIAM Howrry has done. It possesses all his well-known ex- cellences, exhibits fewer of his faults, and derives from its subject the attraction both of novelty and knowledge. In his former works of a similar nature he may be said to have done little more than remind us : in The Rural and Domestic Life of Germany he teaches us. In his "Rural Life of England," or his "Visits to Remark- able Places," the novelty was the novelty of detail or at best of local character : great part of these books only brought images to mind with whose general idea we were already familiar. In the "Germany," especially in "Rural Germany," all is new, all is contrast ; and the difference is much the same as between revisiting a well-known place and a total change of scene. It appears to us, too, that the execution is better. A promi- nent defect of WILLIAM Hovriyr was an endeavour to describe by a complete enumeration of particulars; a mode which often fails of effect, whilst it imparts a heavy and literal character to the com- position. In his Rural and Domestic Life of Germany there is less of the fault, if there is nearly as much of the practice,—or, what comes to the same thing, the fault, from the novelty of the details, does not produce a similar effect. At the same time, there is an equal enthusiasm for the beautiful, and an equal good. feeling, with more of reason and judgment brought to bear upon things. At home, our author had only one case—the positive ; abroad, he has two—the positive and the comparative ; for through- out a great part of the work, either openly or covertly, we have England and Germany compared. The work is essentially a book of travels, though it consists of two divisious,—one containing a general description of German scenery, German customs, and German life ; the other the narra- tive of a tour made to the principal cities, spas, and picturesque places of the country. In the general description, the topics handled by Mr. Ilowirr are the different circumstances that give their character to in-door and out-of-door life, especially in the country, and among the middle classes, or such as occupy the place that the middle classes fill in England ; but he also takes what

may be called the incidents in the life of a people,—as burials, weddings, amusements, and pursuits. In the narrative of the tour he follows the general custom of tourists; describing what occurs in the order of its occurrence. There is, however, a good deal of essential resemblance in the two parts : the tour contains many passages of general results, and the description is often grounded upon some little tour or pleasure-trip. One fault strikes us, though perhaps it may not be a fault, but a truth there was no escaping from : the impression left by the work is by no means favourable to the Germans; and the impression conveyed by the author is contrary to that which the reality seems to have left upon his own mind, as well as contrary to what he wishes to impress. We therefore fancy that the more subtile characteristic spirit has escaped him, or that it is one very difficult to catch and convey to others. This, however, is to be said for Mr. IlowiTr—the conclusion to be drawn from his description resembles that come to by LAING ; so that it probably is not his delineation, but his too good-natured judgment, which is in the wrong. The root of much that is defective in the character of the Ger-

mans originates in their government ; which, as LAING observes, by doing every thing for them and not permitting them to do any thing for themselves, renders them helpless, and, it would seem, something worse—cowardly, selfish, and even passively cruel. The instances of these latter bad points, though clear enough, are somewhat bulky ; but here is an instance of passive helplessness.

HOW TO FIND OUT THE ENGLISH IN GERMANY..

An American gentleman gave us a curious example of this slowness of ac- tion, and in fact introduced himself to us on the occurrence of it. We were embarking on the Danube at Linz, for Vienna. The steamer had not been able to get up to Linz from the lowness of the water. It lay at the distance of twenty English miles further down, and we must be conveyed thither in a common Danube boat. The company had known this fact for three days, yet till the very morning not a stroke had been struck in order to put this boat in a fitting condition to carry down at least a hundred people, of all ranks and in very wet weather. It had neither a cover from the rain nor a seat to sit upon. These had to be hurried up at the last hour. As we went on board, they were still busy putting down the seats. On the plank down which the passengers had to descend into the boat, more- over, stood up, a couple of inches, a stout tenpenny-nail. This nail caught the skirts of every lady that went down, tore several of them, and over it several gentlemen stumbled. The American was standing to see how long it would be before any one would conceive the idea that this nail must be knocked down. Be said, he expected if they were all Germans, from what he had seen of them from a year's residence among them, it would go on to the very end of the chapter. And, in truth, so it appeared probable. One after another caught on the nail. Gown after gown went crash ; but they were lifted off again, and the parties went forward. Gentlemen stumbled against the nail, and cursed it, and went on. At length Mrs. Howitt's gown caught : I disengaged it, and called to a man to bring has hammer and knock it down. Though I said this in German, the American soon after came to me, and said, "Sir, excuse my freedom, but I know you are an Englishman." I asked him how he discovered that. He replied, "By the very simple fact of your having immediately or- dered the driving down of that nail." And he then related what I have stated above.

The vexatious formalities of the conveyance-regulations for persons and goods seem to reach the ne plus Ora, especially by railway. Here is an example of

GERMAN RAILWAY-REGULATIONS.

On the railway from Vienna to Baden no tickets are given out within the quarter of an hour preceding the starting of the train. We presented ourselves at the office at Baden half an hour previous. It had begun to rain heavily, and crowds of disappointed pleasure-seekers stood at the window waiting for tickets. Only one man delivered them ; and he, with most ominous coolness, every few minutes turned his eye on the office-clock. At the moment that the finger reached the quarter, he stopped, declared the time up, and refused to deliver another ticket. It was in vain that the indignant throng declared that they had already, many of them, been waiting half an hour : he only answered "that was the rule—he did not make it " ; and the poor people must wait not only the quarter till this train went, but another hour or two for the next. The quarter passed, and the train set out not half filled, leaving the wretched crowd in the rain! Never was the beauty of German formality so beautifully car- ried out.

But at Berlin came the climax. At the railway-office, on accompanying our luggage, a list of Jive-and-twenty regulations was put into my band, and which now lies before me. Several of these rules consisted of two or three great sen-

tences, and none of the clearest. There was a good hour's work to explore the whole extent of this bill of pains and penalties, to see into what liabilities you run yourself, and in default of what formalities you could not go at all. If you were sickly, you could not travel home though it were to save your life ; if you were not in your place in the carriage ten minutes before the starting. time, or at the first ringing of the bell, you would be locked out. Then, if you had not a right ticket, or had an undated ticket, or had by accident changed your ticket with a fellow-traveller, or had not delivered your luggage at the luggage-office half an hour before starting-time—all was lull of penalties and losses ; till we could not help exclaiming-

" Alas, what perils do environ

The man who travels on the iron !"

And bow was a foreigner ignorant of the language to avoid running his head against all these provisos? As soon as my packages were in the office the clerk cast his eyes on them—" Only 40 pounds weight is allowed !" These belong to three persons." " Good ; but here are more than 120 pounds." "Very well ; throw out that box. It can go direct to Heidelberg by the Prachtwagen "—the stage. " What is the weight of it? " It was weighed.

"it cannot go by the stage; nothing is allowed to go by the stage under 40 pounds weight : it must go by the Fahrende-post "—the packet-post, at a great price. "Well, then, clap on that carpet-bag; I don't want it." A man was sent for canvass and string. The package was made heavy enough for the stage-waggon; and I imagined we had come to plain sailing. The man put one trunk Into the scales. " We are three ; weigh them all together." "No," said he, "that is against the regulations," and he laid his finger on the 12th rule of my list. "Every passenger is allowed to take 40 pounds free luggage with him; but if two persons pack their luggage in one case, and it exceeds 40 pounds, it must pay just the same as if it belonged to one." All above 40 pounds pays as 100 pounds; that is, if you have 41 pounds, you pay for 60 pounds overweight—half a silver groschen per mile.

These sort of things are almost endless, and must form a griev- ous drawback to travelling in Germany. However, we are not

writing for future tourists alone; so we turn to more general matters.

THE COUNTRY IN GERMANY.

Here you look in vain for any thing like the green fields and hedgerows of England, with their scattered trees, groups of beautiful cattle or flocks grazing in peace, and sweet cottages, farm-houses, and beautiful mansions of the gen- try. It is all one fenceless and ploughed field. Long rows of trees on each side of the roads are all that divide them from the fields, and in the South these are generally fruit-trees. The beauty of Germany lies only, or with few exceptions, among its hills. There, its woods and green yanks and clear streams are beautiful; but from one region of hills to another, extend only huge and open plains, marked with the road-side lines of trees. The popula- tion is not scattered along, as in England, over hill and dale, in groups and single residences, of various grades and degrees of interest ; while the luxuriant fences, the meadows and uplands charming with grass and flowers, old, half- hidden lanes, and trees standing here and there of the noblest size and in the freedom of natural beauty, make the plainest part of the country enchanting. All here is open and bald : the people are collected into villages of the most prosaic kind, and no gentry reside among them. In fact, what we call country_

life in England is here unknown. • • •

Far and wide, the country, without a single fence, covered with corn and vege- tables, as seen from the heights which bounded it, presented a most singular appearance to an English eye. Its predominating colour, at that time of the year, was that of ripening corn, but of different hues according to its different degrees of ripeness and the different kinds of grain. This is not planted in those vast expanses which you see in the corn-farms of Northumberland and Lincolnshire, but in innumerable small patches and narrow stripes, because be- longing to niany different proprietors. Some is also sown in one direction and some in another, with patches of potatoes, mangel-wurzel, kidney-beans, &c. among it, so that it presented to the eye the appearance of one of those straw table-mats of different colours which one has seen.

GERMAN PEASANTRY.

In Germany the peasants are the great and ever-present objects of country. life. They are the great population of the country, because they themselves are the possessors. This country is, in fact, for the most part in the hands of the people. It is parcelled out among the multitude ; and wherever you go, instead of the great halls, the vast parks, and the broad lands of the nobility and gentry, as in England, you see the perpetual evidences of an agrarian system. The exceptions to this, which I shall afterwards point out, are the exceptions, they are not the rule. The peasants are not, as with us, for the most part to- tally cut off from property in the soil they cultivate, totally dependent on the labour afforded by others—they are themselves the proprietors. It is perhaps from this cause that they are probably the most industrious peasantry in the world. They labour busily early and late, because they feel that they are la- bouring for themselves. The women and children all work as well as the men, for it is family-work ; nay, the women often work the hardest. They reap, thrash, mow, work on the allows, do any thing. In summer, without shoes and stockings, clad in a dark blue petticoat and body of the same, or in other colours according to the costume of the neighbourhood, and with their white chemise-sleeves in contrast with their dress, and with their hair burnt of a singed brown, or into different hues, with the sun, they are all out in the hot fields. Nay, you may even see women driving a waggon in which two or three men are sitting at ease smoking. They take the dinners to the fields, frequently giving to the lesser children a piece of bread and locking them up in the cottage till they come home again, the older ones being at the school till they join them in the afternoon. This would be thought a hard life in England ; but hard as it is, it is not to be compared with the condition of labourers in some agricultural parts of a dear country like England, where eight or nine shillings a week, and no cow, no pig, no fruit for the market, no work in the winter, but dependence for every thing on a master, a constant feeling of anxiety, and the desperate prospect of ending his days in a union workhouse, is too commonly the labourer's lot. The German peasants work bard, but they have no actual want. Every man has his house, his orchard, his road-side trees, as we have seen, commonly so hung with fruit that he is obliged to prop and secure them all ways, or they would be torn to pieces. Be has his corn-plot, his plot for mangel-wurzel, for hemp, and so on. He is his own master; and he and every member of his family have the strongest motives to labour. You see the effect of this in that unremitting diligence which is beyond that of the whole world besides, and his economy, which is still greater.

This volume is illustrated by a variety of wood-cuts, of a cha- racter and freshness that bespeak their truth : they are not merely pretty pictures embellishing the pages, but graphic facts affording substantive information. Whatever objects are required to be shown—whether a head-dress or an old castle, the features of the country or of the people, a merrymaking or a burial-ground—the artist has sketched them on the spot, and each is introduced in its proper place : thus the cuts come in apropos, and are neither too few nor too many.