Page:Rambles and Researches in Thuringian Saxony.djvu/248

212 between them is the Count. The nuptial couch is still shown to strangers, in the Junkern Kammer, as a precious relic. A splinter of it, worn instead of the busk, is said to destroy all jealousy in the female heart. Many relics still remain confirmatory of the tradition. At Tonna are preserved the turban and gold cross of the fair Saracen; and the Burgomaster of Kirschberg possesses, in the old Castle of Tannerode, near Eisenach, an old carpet, on which the whole history is embroidered.]



Weimar. Dear L,

You can easily imagine my eagerness to see Weimar. No one who knows anything of German literature, or German literary men, but has heard of Weimar; and few can have read a tour in Germany without learning that the Muses had taken up their residence here, and that the Grand Duke’s capital was, in all respects, a second Athens. Some enthusiastic gentleman has discovered wonderful topographical analogies between the valley of the Ilm, with its purling stream, and the Academic groves and Ilyon’s waters. Without pretending to rival the fervour of this classic tourist, I can assure you