"When in foreign countries," says an old author, "I
fall in with a man too helpless for a Frenchman, too ceremonious for an
Englishman, too pliable for a Spaniard, too lively for a Dutchman, too
cordial for an Italian, too modest for a Russian--a man pressing towards
me with oblique bows, and doing homage with ineffable self-denial to all
that seems of rank; then my heart, and the blood in my face, says, 'that
is thy countryman.'" How true! and how often have I lighted on such
countrymen.
North Germany commences as soon as you leave behind you Nurenberg and
Cassel. Cassel, in comparison with Hamburg resembles an Italian town.
The Thuringian Forest separates north and south. The north is a
coast-land, commerce its destination; the south inland: hence
agriculture and industry are more suitable. The spirit of the South
German is more directed to what is domestic: a fruitful soil rewards his
labour, and alleviates it by the juice of the grape. The mouths of his
rivers and his harbours allure the North German into foreign lands; his
father-land is there, where he finds what he seeks, and what his own
country has denied him.
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