Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1872-07-31

NbNlNili JdlN ~, IO'-
Surprising you have already received my
letter of the 9th inst, will now give you
a short description Of Prague and what we
saw in that old city so full of history and
Romanism.
1t contains about 10000 inhabitants
The river Moldace, stream about as large
as the Holston, divides the town into two
parasitic old and new. This river is
spanned 10y five handsome bridges, not
such as we are accustomed to see at home,
but such as will last thousands of years
such as are real ornaments to city.
Prague is one of the oldest cities in Eu-
rope, dating from A. d. SO7. Hardly any
city in Northern Europe has played so
conspicuous a part in the history of the
world, especially religious world. From
the tower of the Royal Castle it looks like
city of churches. Indeed it must be so,
when we remember that there were three
thousand priests living in Prague at one
time. The churches are all large and old.
In the Teyn Church we saw the pulpit of
John Huss, the tomb of Tycho de Brahe,
and great many of the tombs of the Kings
and mobiles of Bohemia. This church has
often been used for q Coronation Hall it
dates from the ninth century. 1t is open
every day from six TO twelve o'clock
there the devOtees of the Romish Church
go daily and count their beads before the
pictures upon the walls, or the relics of the
aged place themselves to beg of those who
visit the church, but it seemed to me that
many of those who came to pray had hard
~ enough to live upon themselves. Some
times we would see a devoted Romanst
stop in the street before the plaster statue
of some monkish saint, fall upon his knees
and say his prayers
The Cathedral, or Saint Vets Dome, is
the largest church l have ever seen. 1t
was partially destroyed sometime ago by
the commandment of the city, but is now be-
ing restored, though slowly. Here for
the consideration of twenty cents
you are shown twelve chapels, each one of
which contains the relics of kings, some
martyrs, and mobiles; pictures of the lead
ing men in the Romsh church during the
middle ages ; and we were shown what
were represented to us relics of the apos-
ties, part of the sponge and cross used by
the Romans and Jews at the crucifiXion-
pedestal of a candle-hOlder which came
from Solomon's Temple-a piece of the
table cloth used at the last supper-the
skulls of several apostles-thorns from the
Crown of Thorns, &c, &C., TO intinity.
This cathedral also contains some hand
some wood carvings, several centuries old
the ring on the door said to have been
grasped by Wenceslaus when killed by his
brother; the silver tomb of Saint Nepo-
muk (which contains the ashes only of
the Saint which cost one hundred thou
oehh L-tllllb -NtpOILuh VI ~Ntl'p-
mucene was a priest of Prague. He
refused 10 reveal what the Queen
had confessed TO him, and was
thrown off the old stone bridge into
the river. a monument marks the place
where he was thrown off, and near it is a
bronze statue of the Saint Every year
thousands of pilgrims come to his statue
and worship before it, He is considered
the 4" God Of Bridges " by all Bohemia.
The Church of the Crusaders is built
after the model of Saint Peters at Rome,
though not as large 1t contains the
graves of many of the crusaders, with
their armour.
In Saint Nicholas Church we saw some
thing we often read about but seldom see.
All around the altar We're hanging paper
shields, each bearing the name of some
person who was short time before alive.
The names were placed there by the fami-
lies or relatives of the deceased persons,
and are prayed for at a certain number Of
guilders q day. Here also we saw q wood
en- representation of Christ upon the
cross, and were told that whoever prays
before this three different times every
day for a week, would receive forgive
ness for all the sins committed
during one hundred days, and a month of
such praying would render one infallible
for five years, and some other acts of devo-
ton infallible for life.
The Imperial Palace is one of the largest
in Germany, though not very interesting.
1t contains the room in which the dispute
arose which gave birth to the thirty years
war. From the windows of this room the
two Counselors and Secretary of the King
were thrown, but strange TO say, although
they fell sixty feet, yet they all escaped I'M
hurt. One Counselor happened to fall up
on the other, and it is said he raised up
and begged his pardon.
The Castle has many towers one OF
which was used for tOrturing prisoners.
Its walls extend downwards fifty feet into
the ground and there are two cellars, one
under the other. The upper cellar is built
in the shape of bottle, and was used for
starving people to death in. They were
let down into this hole and left
to starve. Here they found the
bones of the prisoner who had preceded
them these they must cast into the lower
cellar, knowing before many days theiI
own bones would be thrown into the same
horrible sink. Others were tortured by
being placed just above the dying prisoner
and being compelled to hear his moaning
The cells in the upper stories are about
three by four feet, not large enough TO al
low the victim 10 lie down His torture
consisted in being compelled to stand al
ways. Here also were the thumb screws
and the Iron Maiden, the inside of which
was filled with knives. This iron figure
would embrace a man, and, at the same
time, more than one hundred knives would