At first, carriages
still passed over the bridge; it was not until some time afterwards
that the full extent of the damage was ascertained, and the passage
of carriages over the bridge discontinued for many months.
As I had seen the town of Dresden several years before, and the only
building new to me was the splendid theatre, I took advantage of the
few evening hours of my stay to visit this structure.
Standing in the midst of the beautiful Cathedral-square, its noble
rotunda-like form at once rivets the attention. The inner theatre
is surrounded by a superb broad and lofty corridor, with fine bow-
windows and straight broad staircases, leading in different
directions towards the galleries. The interior of the theatre is
not so spacious as, judging from the exterior, one would imagine it
to be, but the architecture and decorations are truly gorgeous and
striking. The boxes are all open, being separated from each other
merely by a low partition; the walls and chairs are covered with
heavy silken draperies, and the seats of the third and fourth
galleries with a mixture of silk and cotton. One single
circumstance was disagreeable to me in an acoustic point of view - I
could hear the slightest whisper of the prompter as distinctly as
though some one had been behind me reading the play. The curtain
had scarcely fallen before the whole house was empty, and yet there
was no crowding to get out. This first drew my attention to the
numerous and excellently contrived doors.
April 16th.
The Dresden omnibuses may be cited as models of comfort; one is
certain of plenty of room, and there is no occasion to dread either
the corpulent persons or the furs and cloaks of fellow-passengers.
A bell-pull is fixed in the interior of the carriage, so that each
individual can give the coachman a signal when he or she wishes to
alight. These omnibuses call at the principal inns, and wait for a
moment; but the traveller who is not ready in advance is left
behind.
At half-past five in the morning it called at our hotel. I was
ready and waiting, and drove off comfortably to the railway. The
distance from Dresden to Leipzig is reckoned at fifty-six miles, and
the journey occupied three hours.
The first fourteen miles are very agreeable; gardens, fields, and
meadows, pine-forests in the plain and on the hills, and between
these, villages, farms, country-houses, and solitary chapels,
combine to form a very pretty landscape. But the scene soon
changes, and the town of Meissen (famous for its porcelain
manufactory), on the right hand, seems to shut out from our view all
that is picturesque and beautiful.
From here to Leipzig we travel through a wearisome monotonous plain,
enlivened at long intervals by villages and scattered farms.
