Connecticut western news., 1872-08-16
OUR EUROPEAN
CORR RESPONDENCE.


 OUR EUROPEAN
 CORR RESPONDING
 PARIS, July 22d, 1872.
 Friend Pease-We are some HOO miles nearer home than we were at the extreme point of our journey, yet, notwithstanding We are more than 5000 miles from it We feel quite at home, having come back 10 more familiar scenes, and into the vicinity ot more prompt communication with our friends by mail. Moreover, we are daily accosted in the streets by Americans, and 1t 1t We're not for the fact that foreign tongue salutes our ears ut every turn, and that we are at times annoyed in our at tempts to communicate our wishes to those around us. we should feel quite as though we were in an American city We'll! here we are, and having, or making little leis- ure, while July sun is pouring his heated beams upon the broad pavement, propose to use that leisure in fulfilling partial promise made to you that I would give you some account of trip, part of which was off from the beaten track of most tourists
 Leaving Honlburg and Frankfort on the Maine on the 27th of May, we had for the most part very pleasant trip to Nurem burg, once one of the most important towns in Europe. The only exception to a de- iighttal ride this day, was, that part of it was one of the most extensive forests in Germany, (and there are many of them, which, however, was not wholly devoid of interest for these forests are filled with such beautiful pine timber, that there was pleas ure in looking at it, and I was coveteous enough to wish that few thousand acres of 1t were ID our vicinity. Entering Nurem- burg early enough in the afternoon 10 take cursory view of the city, our purpose was to leave the next day for Prague, Sc. But we were soon so struck with the quaint ness ana curiosity of the old city, that we voted tue following day to more thorough examination of it, unanimously. The older and major part of the city is surrounded by walls, on which there were said to be some 366 towers. At present there are some 70 or 80, and under one of these through huge gateway we entered the city. Per haps can give no better general descrip- ton ot 1t than in the lines of Longfellow,- " In the valley of the Pegnitz where across broad
 meadow lands.
 Rise the blue Franconian mountains, Nuremburu
 the ancient stands,
 Quaint oh town of toll and traffic, quaint old town
 of art and song,
 Memories haunt thy pointed gables, like the rocks
 that round them throng, Memories of the Middle Ages, when the emperors
 rough and bold. Had their dwelling in thy castle, timedefying, cen
 turies old: And the brave and thrifty tongues boasted in their
 uncouth rhyme, That their great imperial city stretched its hand
 through every cline; In the courtyard of the castle. bound with many
 an iron band, Stands the mighty linden glanted by Qaeen Gun
 nigundi's hand.'' The courtyard, the old castle, the great tree, the prison, and the deep well and huge old tower we visited, all in connection with the old castle. In the prison we were shown the relics of semi -barberous age, in | the instruments of torture which were used | to punish crime, or to extort confessions | from suspected persons, which are too hor- | rible to bear description. I will allude to | only one of these, the "Iron Virgin" A | human form made of iron and large enough | to enclose man, opening on hinges, and | lined with spikes some six inches long, de signed to pierce the head and body when closed, and beneath which deep pit opens to receive the mangled form when released from their horrid embrace. Others were exhibited, almost as hideous, and all of | them in dark and musty cells, that were themselves hell without the torture. The l castle wall, over 800 years old, is 320 feet deep, beautifully stoned up with dressed | masonry the diameter being about nine feet. Some 300 feet down, subteranern passage | opens out to the prison through which pris- oners came for water. The old tree is in | deed curiosity, and doubtless is old as | represented. The legend connected with | its planting is doubtless familiar to you, as editors are supposed to know everything | The castle IS founded on a rock, and eleva- ted above the town, SO that the view from it is magnificent. The museum of the city is full of the rarest of curiosities, (but have neither space nor time to enumerate them whichdate far back in the centuries and many of them go far to prove the adage that there is nothing new under the sun. The ornamented gables, and the many sto- ries in the huge high roofs of the immense dwellings are great curiosities and so are the numerous and quaint old fountains and churches. On the following day we at- tempted to book ourselves for Prague, but breech in the railway, resulting from the fearful freshet which had occurred few days before in the river Maddan, prevented us from getting ticketed through and caused the only railway detention that we have ex- perienced in our whole journey thus far. This delay caused us to spend part of day and night in the old city of Eger, which opened up to us new field of history con- nected with the famous or infamous Wal lenstein, you doubtless know, for the req son l have already assigned. We saw the room in which he was murdered, and the instrument by which the work was accom- plished. We examined also the old castle in which four of his generals were conspi- rators the same night. The tower of the old castle, over thousand years old, looks well for another thousand, and is an inter- esting object as it is constructed of black lava.
 Prague was finally reached through charming country, over splendid railroad, but one of the most sinuous ever saw out of mountain country. The description of Nuremburg answers almost equally well for old Prague. In the former we met only