The Student Life of Germany Part 36

But the intelligence quickly spread, that the Burschenschaft, which by degrees and secretly had again sprung up, had p.r.o.nounced the bann with great formality and haste, and that they were labouring with all their might to compel all other persons into the undertaking, and even to draw the natives into the matter along with them. Active measures were therefore unavoidable on the part of the Senate. It accordingly decreed, on the 13th of August, that immediately with the break of the following day, the members of the Burschenschaft should be brought to trial on account of the promulgation of the bann, and that they should be arrested in such a way, that there might be no concerted plan laid, upon what they should state in their defence, and in such a way also that no student should be absent from home.

On the 14th of August, the beadles received at a quarter to four in the morning, the order to p.r.o.nounce house-arrest to some, and to remove others to the university prison, preparatory to their being called up for hearing. The trial began immediately, and would have been completed the same day, had the laws found obedience. But immediately on the sitting of the court, there arose in every street, the cry of "Bursch, come forth!" This is a call which every student must unconditionally obey, on pain of proscription. It is therefore, as a compulsion in opposition to the laws, and as the most convenient method of speedily raising a tumult, punished with the sharper expulsion.

So ran the ringleaders through the city with a loud "Bursch, come forth!" drew the students together from all quarters, and rushed with them, with great uproar, into the front of the university, where the Senate had speedily a.s.sembled, and stood in presence of the tumultuous throng at an open window. Instead of applying to the Prorector, as they should have done, had they ground of complaint, they even treated with contempt two summonses from the Senate to send deputies to explain their claims or demands, and immediately in the face of the Senate proceeded, with loud outcries, to make a desperate onset on the door of the adjoining academical buildings, with sticks and kicks, so that the upper beadle, to prevent further mischief, was obliged to liberate the incarcerated students. This being accomplished, they commenced their march forth towards Schwetzengen.

The whole city was in uproar. The shops were closed out of fear of the wild faction. Every where chaises rattled through the streets; the boot-foxes ran here and there; the inhabitants looked full of trouble out of their windows; when a student, with his sword in his hand, galloped through the streets with the fearful cry--"Bursch, come forth!" Most of the students went along with the train, only because the Comment, or Students' Code of Laws, demanded it, without well knowing for what purpose. The wild throng rushed into the houses of the dilatory, in order to rouse them out of bed. Hastily, every one packed up what was most necessary and threw it into the carriage, or buckled it upon a horse; and when no longer carriage or horse was procurable, the boot-foxes must become baggage-bearers.

In order to rouse all into a necessary degree of resentment, and to keep it up, the ringleaders circulated false stories. They spread it every where that the authorities had dragged the students out of their beds in the night; that they had thrust them into a hole where none could stand upright, and where there was not a single seat to rest upon; while the fact was, that they who were said to have suffered so much maltreatment in the night, were conducted to the academical buildings in clear daylight. Yet, in the excitement of the moment, these false reports found credit, and with the "Bursch, come forth!"

which raged like a running fire through the streets, they availed in a very short time, to bring the whole student host together.

They who were on horseback placed themselves at the head of the procession; rode hither and thither, in order to quicken the motions of the dilatory, and to maintain the whole train in order. A long line of carriages followed them, of every description that could be got together in the haste of the occasion. Part were chaises, in which the students rode; part were wagons, on which were hastily loaded their packages. All the students had armed themselves in haste, as well as they might, with swords, rapiers, and pistols. They who found no place in the carriages, or on horseback, went on foot, and a great swarm of boot-foxes followed who were loaded with all kinds of house-gear, as pipes, dressing-gowns, coats, and so on. A vast crowd of people, consisting of school-youths who had to thank the students to-day for a holiday, and of all kinds of people who, in a university city, draw support from the students, added themselves to the train, and increased the uproar and alarm, with curses and insults, that the students should be suffered to go away. The inhabitants of the city looked down in wonder and curiosity from their windows roused from their sleep by the noise, and gazed on the motley throng who, with shouts and singing of Burschen-songs, swept by.

At length the rear of the train disappeared through the city gate, and a strange silence reigned in the deserted town. The doors opened, and the Philistines stepped out into the streets together, to talk over the fatal story. In the mean time a professor might be seen, with serious countenance and hasty steps, hurrying through the streets, and people looked doubtfully after him, or one or another of the citizens detained him to s.n.a.t.c.h a couple of words as to what was to be done in this necessity of the Fatherland. Here and there also might be seen a solitary student who had not been able to join the train in time, now hastening towards one or other of the city gates; since every one is compelled, on pain of entire proscription, to quit the city in case of a Marching-Forth, even if he does not join the train.

When the train arrived in Schwetzengen, the discontented saw that the territory of Baden was not safe for them, and that by pa.s.sing the frontier they would enjoy more freedom. Suddenly there followed them from many quarters the report "The dragoons come, to fall upon us!" and all ran with wild haste to Ketsch, a village on the Rhine, where they caused themselves to be ferried over into Rheinish Bavaria. This false report of this falling of the troopers upon them had thus arisen.

Immediately on the occurrence of the excess here related, the Senate held it necessary for the protection of the city, hastily to request a hundred dragoons to be sent for from Mannheim. These hundred dragoons marched out of Mannheim, about nine miles below Ketsch, only at half-past two o'clock in the afternoon, after the students had, in fact, crossed the Rhine at Ketsch; and they never directed their march at all against the students, but rode direct to Heidelberg. As it was then there well ascertained that the Marchers-Forth had taken up their quarters for the present in Frankenthal, where part of them were lodged in the town, and part of them had encamped in the neighbourhood under tents, and that many of them had become involved in the transaction through erroneous information, a member of the Senate was requested by the Curatorium to proceed to Frankenthal, and to endeavour to bring the young men to reason. This took place on the sixteenth of August, but without success. On the contrary, the emissary of the Senate was sent back with a remonstrance, very numerously signed, which concluded with a menacing clause, and demanded that the Senate should guarantee the whole body of students against all penalties, on account of this transaction, and should cause Heidelberg, without delay, to be evacuated by the troops. It was also added, by word of mouth, that the bann p.r.o.nounced on the Museum, could not be retracted.

A similar endeavour, made through the university Amtmann, on the eighteenth of August, received as little attention, although the Museum, in many points, had yielded to their demands, and thereupon was immediately relieved from the proscription. The resentment against the Senate continued unabated; and therefore, on the evening of the eighteenth, in all haste, the academy was declared to be under the bann; this, however, was not done through the voting of individuals, but effected by the dreaded ringleaders p.r.o.nouncing the bann, demanding then the others to accede to it, though many were opposed to it; and thus the resolution was pa.s.sed in a painful silence, since individuals saw dangers on all sides of them if they refused. Yet in that night, and in the course of the next day, numbers quitted Frankenthal, and returned towards Heidelberg. Here, when they came to understand exactly the real circ.u.mstances of the case, there was regret and general discontent. A great number of the most n.o.ble young men loudly declared the bann to be dishonourable, to be null and void, because brought about by deception; to be contrary to all custom and precedent, and thereupon came some of the most artful proceedings to be talked of: for example, that in the remonstrance sent to the Senate, there were forged names of students who were absent at the time, and that the menacing clause had been surrept.i.tiously introduced. In fact, the natives of Baden had had no part in the declaration of the bann.

On the twentieth of August the cla.s.ses again were opened, while the trials were still proceeding. The ringleaders were punished with expulsion; others were banished for a certain term; and a greater number imprisoned for a longer or shorter period. The attention of the court was turned by these events afresh on the still continuance of the Burschenschaft, and it was pursued with yet greater severity of proscription than before. But the Studentschaft had so far achieved its original object, that its demands on the Museum were for the most part conceded.

Such Marchings-Forth are of rare occurrence, yet this is not the only one that has taken place in Heidelberg. Many years before this, occurred a something similar one, on account of contentions with the military, which then lay in Heidelberg.

A student, as he went past the watch-house, forgot to take the pipe from his mouth. He came into contention thereupon with the soldier on guard, who called an officer, by whom the student was very much insulted. This gave occasion to a Marching-Forth, which, however, proceeded no further than to Neuenheim, about a mile from the city, whence the students at once returned, all their demands being complied with; which, were, that a full amnesty should be guaranteed for all that was past, and that the soldiers should be removed. Moreover, the military were obliged to post themselves on the bridge, the officer at their head, and so present arms while the students marched past again into the city in triumph, and with music playing before them.

Where soldiers and students are brought together in one city, collisions are inevitable; at least in the smaller cities, where both cannot be sufficiently mixed and lost in the great ma.s.s of the people.

Many contentions have heretofore arisen out of such collocation; and thus occurred also the Marching-Forth from Giessen in the year 1819.

The military having in the most unallowable manner acted towards the students, and one of the students coming to a quarrel with an officer, was extremely insulted by him. There appeared in consequence of this a ministerial rescript, in which it was ordered that the military in future should only be called out against the students by a requisition from the Senate, and that all acts of illegality already alleged against the military on the part of the students should be strictly investigated, and every just satisfaction made to them. There immediately appeared a judgment on the part of the military college, by which the officer who had insulted the student was condemned to fourteen days' close arrest, which was immediately to take place; and was, moreover, required, in the presence of the rector of the university and of the colonel of the officer, to beg pardon of the student. The aforesaid ministerial rescription was now made known to the students by four deputies of the Senate, who waited on them in the place of their retreat; whereupon they immediately resolved to return to Giessen, and to restore every thing to its old course and order.

To give yet another example of a Marching-Forth, we may take the disturbance in Gottingen in the year 1818. Contentions arose between the then students and the members of some of the trade guilds; amongst others, with that of the butchers' guild. The house of a butcher who had especially insulted the students was very much damaged, and the windows of another house beaten in. A commission was despatched by the government to Gottingen to inquire into and quell the disturbance. The means, however, which were adopted in order to bring the incensed student youth again within the bounds of order, were not the most fitting; and the calling in of the military only made the matter worse.

The students refused to succ.u.mb to a strange power. They boldly attacked the hussars; these drew their swords, and in the skirmish many students were dangerously wounded. About eight hundred of the students now marched out to Witzenhausen. They sent by the hands of four deputies, a memorial to the Senate, who delivered it and returned. In this doc.u.ment they complained, that one of their fellow-students had been maltreated by a butcher, and that the butcher had not been visited with the punishment due to his offence; that the sending of a royal commission altered the condition of their rights; that the authority of the same had been so far illegal that the reigning prince had not yet confirmed it; and finally, that the people had been attacked by the military in time of peace, whereby many had been wounded.

The ministry, thereupon, issued a rescript, which commanded the whole body of students to return, and if they refused obedience, threatened them with the loss of every claim to future employment by the state, as well as of all stipends that they might enjoy.

After an absence of more than eight days, the greater part of the students, who had scattered themselves through the country, returned, exerting, however, on their side a right of retaliation, by declaring the university to be for two and a half years under the bann to all foreigners. The foreigners immediately took their departure, and only about six hundred students were left in Gottingen,--about half of the number who had studied in it before those disturbances took place.

In Witzenhausen the people had fleeced the students of nearly all their cash. All necessaries of life, during their abode there, were raised to a monstrous price, and the burgers of that place charged them individually for a week's lodging as much as a louis-d'or. Therefore now, to quit Gottingen, they were obliged to dispose of every thing that they could possibly spare.

Many natives also, spite of the menaces of the ministers, quitted the cities; and Gottingen, in fact, presented a melancholy aspect. The departure of the foreigners was injurious to the city, in two respects; many workmen depended on them for subsistence, and besides this, they left many debts behind them. It was natural, in these circ.u.mstances, that many workmen too should quit the place, since their means of livelihood had failed, and thus the emptiness of Gottingen became still more apparent.

The sentence of the ministry upon these disturbances condemned one student to entire expulsion; many to the Consilium abeundi, or confinement in the university prison; and the master butcher also was punished with eight days' imprisonment, with bread and water. There was a further commission appointed for the trial of the originators of the bann, and these also were punished.

Thus peace and order were again restored; and in order to maintain these, precautionary measures were adopted; namely, every one studying in Gottingen, and every fresh comer, must sign a declaration, that he would take no part in the carrying into effect the bann p.r.o.nounced against the university; and that he would never, either by word or deed, allow it to be supposed that he acknowledged that bann as actually existing. Spite of all these regulations, it was a very long time before Gottingen was able to regain its former state of prosperity.

These Marchings-Forth may serve to show how jealously the students defend their privileges, not only against individuals, but even against the state. The student avenges himself upon any one by whom he is unjustly attacked. A ludicrous story connected with these practices occurs to our recollection, which happened very shortly after the tragic act of Sand.

An actor, who played heroic characters in the theatre at Darmstadt, was at the supper-table in the inn there, and gave a loose very freely and sourly to his remarks upon students and universities. A student from Heidelberg, who was present, and had in his possession a letter to deliver to this very actor, determined to punish him a little for his observations, and therefore on this evening did not present him the letter. In the morning he went to the dwelling of the actor, caused his room to be shown to him, and finding him alone, inquired with a dark countenance--"Are you the Herr Court-actor F----r?" "Yes."--"Are you really the Herr Court-actor F----r?"--he reiterated sternly.

"Yes!"--"Now!" cried the student, with a loud voice, and thrusting his hand into his bosom. The poor hero, who imagined he had got a dagger there, darted at full speed away. The student laughing called him back.

"Stop!" said he, "stop! it is only a letter!"

In recent times, when people are not so pliant towards the students, the Marchings-Forth have more and more disappeared. In the year 1838, the students conceived that their rights were infringed by the gendarmerie. They a.s.sembled at the Hirschga.s.se; one of them stated the case to the rest, and invited them to subscribe a memorial on the subject to the Senate, requesting the removal of those gendarmes. As the doors were in the meantime all guarded by the Ch.o.r.e people, so all complied with the invitation. When all had signed, they returned to the city in one body, two and two abreast; sang "Free is the Bursch," and presented their memorial to the Prorector. They derived, however, little satisfaction from this proceeding; and as the doc.u.ment contained expressions dishonourable to the Senate, some of the ringleaders were punished.

But the cry "Bursch, come forth!" has not always been employed for the purpose of effecting a Marching-Forth in opposition to the laws. It has on many an occasion served to a.s.semble speedily the Burschen for the n.o.blest objects. It was thus in Heidelberg, when at one time the bitterness against the Jews had spread itself through Germany. Suddenly a great throng of Handwerksburschen in this city also, and others of that cla.s.s who have nothing to lose and always a chance to win something in every revolution, had got together, and scoured the streets, crying "Hep! Hep!" They hastened to the houses of the Jews, to plunder them and mishandle their inmates. The city soldiers were called upon to disperse the rioters, but in a cowardly manner refused to do their duty. People were in a great perplexity how to protect the unfortunate Jews. Some students met the then Prorector, who was on his way to the Senate, and engaged to him speedily to restore quiet if he would only allow them to cry, "Bursch, come forth!" The Prorector took the responsibility upon himself, and scarcely was the shout of "Bursch, come forth!" raised, when from all sides came running the students, armed with their swords. One of those who came first, placed himself at the door of one of the richest Jews in the city, against whom the ma.s.s of the mob were most desperate, and drawing his sword, called to the pressing throngs, full of zeal for the good cause--"Only over my corpse lies your way into this house!" The a.s.sailants fell back with terror; other students speedily came to his aid, and chased away the rabble.

One of the professors took a sword from the hand of a student, and led on the sons of the Muses. They surrounded the houses which the rioters had already forced their way into, holding their drawn swords before the windows so as to prevent all escape, while others, rushing into the house, seized the plunderers, and gave them into the hands of the police. Peace was in a very short time restored. The Jews made a public acknowledgment of their thanks to the academicians, and the Senate cited before them such of the students as had most distinguished themselves, in order to thank them themselves, and through them to thank all the others who had given such timely and successful aid.

In other circ.u.mstances of danger too, the students have often distinguished themselves. This has been especially the case in fires, where, placing themselves in long rows from the scene of burning to the river, they have made the water-buckets pa.s.s from hand to hand with astonishing celerity, and all the time have relieved their work with singing.

Once also they executed, in Heidelberg, justice in the promptest manner. It was when, at the instigation of Prussia, Baden lost again the freedom of the press, which the Grand Duke Leopold had conferred on it at his entrance on the government. Over this circ.u.mstance a great bitterness was felt in Heidelberg. Just at this crisis the Prussian students at that university celebrated the birthday of their king, as they are accustomed to do every year. This took place in a Commers in Neckarsteinach, and as they are often accustomed, they returned to the city in the evening in an illuminated barge, down the Neckar, with fireworks. A report had spread itself, that the people, who beheld the spectacle from the Neckar bridge, would insult the Prussians, when they pa.s.sed under the bridge. The police were concerting preventive measures, when the other students requested to be allowed to maintain the peace. It was granted to them; and in the evening, they awaited quietly in their kneips the intelligence of the approach of the festive barge. They then spread themselves amongst the crowd upon the bridge.

As the boat now drew near, and the customary "Vivat, the king of Prussia!" was heard resounding from it, the mob on the bridge began to bawl out a "Pereat!" and one Handwerksbursch was bold enough to fling down a stone. In a moment such a storm of cuffs and boxes on the ears was rained down from all quarters on the disturbers, that they were compelled to fly from the hands of those who were an overmatch for them; thus the bridge was speedily evacuated by the whole tribe, and the barge came to its anchorage without further molestation.

Another cause which often compels the students to quit the university, and indeed in all stillness, is debt. That the young men at the High-School may readily fall into debt, is easy to conceive. Most of them were till this time at schools where they were quite dependent on their parents, and have now, for the first time, considerable sums in their hands; and beyond this, the way into debt is made so particularly easy to the student. The landlords, the shopkeepers, and all others, who derive an advantage from the students, freely give credit, or _pump_, as the students term it. They do it the more willingly, since it is a good opportunity to make the account a little larger (since the English and students, as the student says, generally chop above the ear, that is, suffer themselves to be overcharged); and moreover, the students look on it as a certain prerogative, of which many are compelled to avail themselves, who, especially in their first year, need more than their remittances. A master tailor who was much in mode amongst the students, once attempted to put an end to this silently acknowledged privilege, but it cost him dear. This man sent round a list amongst his colleagues, by which every one who signed his name bound himself to give no more credit to any student. But this list had not circulated far, when the students became aware of the fact. They a.s.sembled themselves that evening at their kneip, armed with their swards, proceeded thence to the house of the tailor, dashed all the windows in, broke open the doors, and rushed into the workshops and store-rooms of the tailor; where they cut to pieces, and bored through all his pieces of cloth and ready-made clothes, so that they were totally ruined. The actors, indeed, were punished, and required to pay all the damages, but the tailor had for ever lost the business of the students, and his fellow-tradesmen took warning from the transaction.

The academical laws have endeavoured to put a check on this facility of debt-making, by determining that all demands for credited wines and spirituous liquors, excepting the regular choppin of wine or beer set before his guests by the landlord or master of an ordinary,--all demands of the masters of coffee and billiard-rooms, as such,--all play debts, demands for carriage, sledge, or horse-hire for more than one journey, which may be made on students, shall not be recoverable in a court of law; and it is also enacted to what extent credit for all necessaries of life, for books, and such things, may be given, so as yet to leave a legal right of recovery. In order to make themselves secure against a student, whom they are afraid may attempt to quit without discharging his debt, the creditor is accustomed to take the usual and effectual way, that is, to go and lay an arrest on his departure-testimonial, which will then not be handed to the student by the university office, till he has paid his debts; by which means it becomes very difficult to quit the place without a fair settlement with his creditors. One way, however, remains for him. In the university cities are people who lend money to the students at a high rate of interest. These the student pumps, as he calls it,--and, as claims for money lent to students are untenable before the court, these people generally get the loss when a student runs off, as well as all those other creditors who have not protested against the delivery of his testimonial. This burning through, or running through the rags, as starting without paying is called, was formerly much more frequent than at present. If it now sometimes happens, yet the cases are very rare in which they do not afterwards pay as soon as they are in circ.u.mstances to do it. When these escapes were made, it was generally at midnight; or in this manner,--the youth's companions accompanied him in a Comitat, or one of their regular departure-processions, but another student was set in the first carriage, in the place of honour, as though it were he who was leaving. When they had, however, quitted the city, the real departer took the place of honour, and the pretended one then quietly returned to the city. On such occasions was song the song, of course not till the immediate danger was past--

Forth from here, the Manichaeans watch us.

The Manichaeans are the creditors, so called after the old much reprobated sect of the Manichaeans, who in the third century held the doctrines of the Persian heretic Manes.

Upon a wearied steed, a Jena student flew, In stumbling career, the fields and meadows through; And full of dread, with which the Philistines imbued him, Still wildly looked behind, lest creditors pursued him.

_The Renommist_.

Mr. Traveller had now, in Heidelberg, studied for half a year the customs and general life of the students. Gladly would he yet longer have sojourned amongst his new friends; but he could only remain on the continent till autumn, and wished to make use of this time, in acquainting himself with some others of the most celebrated of the universities of Germany. After long delay, a day was finally fixed during the Easter vacation. His way lay through Leipsic and Berlin, and it was agreed to set out in a hired carriage as far as Weinheim, there, till the arrival of the post-wagon, to celebrate the last farewell.

Towards five o'clock, on the appointed morning, Freisleben and Hoffmann went to call their friend Von Kronen, and were astonished to find the long-sleeper already up and prepared. "I'll tell you how it happened,"

said he; "I had given my boot-fox orders to rouse me out of bed at four o'clock, be it as it would. This morning, while it was yet quite dark, he rushed into my room with his lantern, and startled me out of the sweetest dreams, with the cry of 'Fire! fire!' 'Where then, where?' I demanded. 'Get up,' said he, 'in a moment, and come with me.' I sprung out of bed, threw on my clothes, again demanding, 'Tell me though, where is the fire?' He then quietly answered, 'Here, you see it, in my lantern!'"

The friends laughed at the ingenuity of the boot-fox, and hastened to Mr. Traveller. They found him already dressed, and busy with his boot-fox, in packing the dress-suit in which he had yesterday paid his farewell visits to the professors. The room looked desolate and inhospitable; and on the walls on every side peeped forth the nails, on which had been suspended pipes, pictures, and other house-gear. On the floor, packing paper lay every where in heaps; here and there lay a pair of old shoes, some old boxes, and the like; upon one chair a trunk, and on another a hat-case. In one corner of the room lay a heap of books which were to be sent direct to England. The writing-desk was open, and there lay the purse, the watch, and all that belongs to the pocket, whilst a stick, and the umbrella in its case leaned against it.

Astonished at these changes, Freisleben's spaniel ran about the room, smelling at every thing in the most particular manner. The carriage now rattled up; the stout driver made his appearance, and announced that all was ready. Hastily the maid brought in the coffee, and hastily was it drunk. The driver and the boot-fox carried down the luggage; Mr.

Traveller put on his travelling coat, the friends lit their pipes, and all hastened to the carriage. The maid was below and wished a happy journey; the boot-fox, to whom some remaining pipes and the little coffee-machine was given, said--"I thank you many times; and, fare you well;" and as the carriage set off, the old House-Philistine thrust his head with his white nightcap out of the window above, and with sleepy voice cried--"a happy journey!" But the maid remained standing at the door, and looked after the carriage till it turned the next corner.

Mr. Traveller carried with him from Heidelberg only happy recollections, and rarely can we say this of a place; therefore, as the carriage swept round the turn of the road at Neuenheim, he bade a last and regretful farewell to the little city which, stretched along the bank of the Neckar.

Having arrived in Weinheim, the friends first took a walk up the lovely Birkenau Thal. They had just returned thence, and seated themselves in the inn to a breakfast _a la fourchette_, when a whole troop of youths arrived on foot. They were clad in blue-and-white frockcoats and blouses, with belt round the waist, wore for the most part straw hats; carried each a stout knapsack on his back; in their hands held short cudgels; and had a basket-flask suspended by a riband that pa.s.sed over the breast. They were Wurtzburg students, who had penetrated by Wertheim into the Odenwald, and had traversed that ancient and forest land in every direction. Von Kronen and Freisleben found amongst them some old acquaintances. They gave them a hearty welcome; and the new-comers, who were full of life and good humour, related many of their travel adventures,--how they came to a village where it was the Kirchweih, or wake; and how the young bauers came to hard cudgels with them, because they had enticed from them the loveliest maidens on the dancing ground; of the Wild Hunter, the Felsenmeere, or Sea of Rocks, and of the solitary Jager-house, where they had been obliged to pa.s.s the night on straw, as there were no beds to be found for so many guests. They felicitated themselves on all the pleasure that they promised themselves in Heidelberg. The whole company was very merry; they did not spare the excellent Hupberger, and totally forgot that on the heels of this welcome must come a speedy parting. But suddenly the landlord stepped in, and announced that the Eilwagen had arrived. The whole company broke up hastily, and accompanied Mr. Traveller to it. It was high time when they arrived at it, and the Englishman had scarcely leisure to take a hurried leave of his friends. He promised to send them notice of the other universities that he should visit, gave them another hearty shake of the hand--the postilion had blown his bugle, and the wagon rolled on its way. "Tell the English," cried Freisleben to him, as he still looked out of the window, "that the German students are not so bad as they have been described to them." "Honi soit qui mal y pense," replied Mr. Traveller. While this pa.s.sed, the other students had raised the

SONG OF THE DEPARTING BURSCH.

A Mossy Borsch now forth I wend, O G.o.d! Philister's house defend.[47]

Yes, native home, I come to thee; Myself must now Philistine be.

Farewell, ye crooked streets and straight, Through you no more I walk elate: With songs no more make you astir, With noisy joy and clink to spur.

Ye Kneips, why would ye me delay, My sojourn here has pa.s.sed away.

Oh! beckon not with your long arm, Make not my thirsty heart thus warm.