Eger

“ The district of Eger was in 870 included in the new margraviate of East Franconia, which belonged at first to the Babenbergs, but from 906 to the counts of Vohburg, who took the title of margraves of Eger. By the marriage, in 1149, of Adela of Vohburg with the emperor Frederick I., Eger came into the possession of the house of Swabia, and remained in the hands of the emperors until the 13th century. ”

“ From Eger onwards we pass out of the zone of German predominance and into the ancient land of Bohemia, over wooded heights and broad fertile fields, past Marienbad, beloved of our King Edward, and where are also many who love his memory, past Pilsen, and winding along a clear river, the Berounka, its banks crowned here and there by castles and chapels, each with a story all its own yet part of the life of the people of Bohemia, until a sharp curve brings you to the meeting of the waters of Berounka and Vltava within hail of Prague. ”

“ Besides the great cursaal or pump-room, the village contains several bathing establishments, one of which belongs to the town of Eger. In the park, which is also the property of the Eger municipality, there is a bronze statue of Francis I. by Schwanthaler. The mineral waters are saline and alkaline, and act as mild aperients and tonics. They have a great reputation, and have given rise to a considerable literature. ”

“ In 1721 Egede set sail for Greenland with the intention of converting the natives to Christianity, and for fifteen years performed the most arduous duties as missionary, winning by his persevering kindness the confidence of the natives. In 1736 he returned to Copenhagen, where he was made a bishop and director of the Greenland Missions.
Eger (ā ́gėr) , a town of Bohemia, Czecho-Slovakia, on a rocky eminence above the Eger, 91 miles west of Prague; once an important fortress, though now quite dismantled. It has manufactures of woollens, cottons, leather, and soap. ”

“ We move along to Eger or Cheb, where we find a last reminder of the Hohenstaufen in the ruins of a castle and a round two-storied chapel built by Frederick Barbarossa.
During the summer season a through coach from Paris is detached at Eger, whence it is taken to Carlsbad, whither go those who have occasion to repent them of the evil they have wrought in themselves by self-indulgence; there they fast and prepare for the next season of overeating, among peculiarly beautiful surroundings. ”

“ To Elbogen is a drive of an hour and a half’s duration. If we go by rail, we have about half an hour’s walk from the station. The town is situated on a rocky plateau, surrounded by the Eger like an elbow (hence the name) , and its principal attraction consists in a chain-bridge and Haidinger’s porcelain manufactory. We advise good pedestrians to drive to Elbogen before dinner, to dine there at the Hôtel Zum weissen Ross, and then to walk along the banks of the Eger to the Hans Heiling Fels in about two hours. ”

“ I passed through Eger and, on Saturday the 1st of June, at day-break, entered Bavaria: a tall red-haired girl, bare-foot and bare-headed, came to open the turnpike to me, like Austria in person. The cold lasted: the grass in the moats was covered with a white hoar-frost; wet foxes came out of the oat-fields; grey, zig-zag, wide-spreading clouds hung across in the sky like eagles' wings.
I arrived at Weissenstadt at nine o'clock in the morning; at the same moment, a sort of gig was carrying away a young woman driving without a hat ”

“ At the distance of sixteen or eighteen English miles from Eger, lies the now celebrated spa of Marienbad, though a place of yesterday, comparatively speaking. It is situated in a gorge or small valley between cheerful and pine-clad hills; and the houses being all modern, look extremely well. Numerous shady walks are constructed in every direction; and two murmuring and crystal streams run rapidly down the valley. Three of the springs are within a few hundred yards of each other—viz. The Kreuzbrunn, the Carolinenbrunn, and the Ambrosiusbrunn. ”

“ This cave is most curiously connected with religion. Dr. Eger says that there are two small blocks of ice in it which never melt. From time immemorial these « 263 » blocks of ice have been sacred to the Hindoos who worship them—as re-incarnations—under the names of Shiva and Ganesh. Dr. Eger saw offerings of rice and flowers on them. Thousands of pilgrims come every year at the end of July or beginning of August from all parts of India. Thousands of miles have been traversed and hundreds of lives laid down through this journey. Every year people die either before reaching the cave or after. ”

“ To Dallwitz.—The Eger Strasse leads to the little village of Drahowitz, where we cross the Eger in a little boat; turning to the right, we follow the bank of the river for about half an hour, till we come to a rivulet in a small valley, crossing which, we arrive in about ten minutes at the broadest of those beautiful Dallwitz oak trees, celebrated in a poem by Körner, and at last take some refreshments at the inn Zu den 3 Eichen. In the little castle of Dallwitz there is an exhibition of different articles of porcelain, made in the adjoining manufactory. ”

“ CHAPTER XVI. NIGEL'S NEW REGIMENT.
On the next day Wallenstein departed as secretly as he had come. Father Lamormain ascertained that he did not return to Eger. One rumour had it that he had gone to his estate in Friedland, which is in the north-eastern part of Bohemia, bordered by Silesia on one side and the kingdom of Saxony on the other, a remote mountainous region, sparsely inhabited. ”

“ In the days when the Turkish Sultan ruled in Hungary as far as Ersekujvar and Eger, the German Kaiser from Eger to the Zips country, and George Rakoczy, Prince of Transylvania, from Zips to the Szeklerland—all three of whom were perpetually fighting among themselves, sometimes two against one and sometimes all together indiscriminately, so that the inhabitants had a very lively time of it—in those days (somewhere about 1650) the learned and reverend Master David Fröhlich was the pride of the Keszmár Lyceum and Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy there. ”

“ It lies on the Eger, which is spanned here by a suspension bridge, 210 ft. long, which is the oldest of its kind in Bohemia, having been constructed in 1826. It possesses several ancient churches, of which one is said to date from 1206, and a town hall built in 1559. Saaz is the centre of the extensive hop trade of the neighbourhood. ”

“ The town-hall, with its remarkable bell tower, dates from the 15th century. Leitmeritz is situated in the midst of a very fertile country, called the “Bohemian Paradise,” which produces great quantities of corn, fruit, hops and wines. The beer brewed here enjoys a high reputation. On the opposite bank of the river, where the Eger discharges itself into the Elbe, lies Theresienstadt (pop. 7046) , an important garrison town. It was formerly an important fortress, erected in 1780 by the emperor Joseph II. and named after his mother Maria Theresa, but the fortress was dismantled in 1882. ”

“ Agria (Erlau, Eger, Jager) , an archiepiseopal see of Hungary, founded in 1009, and made an archdiocese in 1804, by Pius VII. It has 633,804 Latin Catholics; 81,217 Greek Catholics, and 503,107 partly Greek Schismatics and partly Protestants, with a sprinkling of Jews. The parishes number 200, and there are 342 secular clergy, and 51 religious. The vernacular tongue is largely Hungarian and German, but Croat, Slavonic, and Armenian are also spoken. ”

“ The expedition lasted only ten days (APRIL 1st it left quarters; APRIL 11th was home again) ; a sharp, swift and very pretty expedition; [Tempelhof, v. 48-57.] of which we can here say only that it was beautifully impressive on the Reichs gentlemen, and sent their Croateries and them home again, to Bamberg, to Eger, quite over the horizon, in a considerably flurried state. ”

“ The last free choice of bishop was held in 1733. From 1738 on, the Hungarian chancery and the archibishop of Eger proposed to the king three candidates of whom the king selected one.
Union made slow progress among the Rusins of Hungary; it was more than a century, before it took roots. The nobility opposed it, because by it Rusin clergy received the rights of the Catholic clergy in the diet and in the county assemblies, with the participation in county administration. ”

“ To the east the Thuringian Forest is connected by the plateau of the Frankenwald with the Fichtelgebirge. This group of mountains, occupying what may be regarded as ethnologically the centre of Germany, forms a hydrographical centre, whence the Naab flows southward to the Danube, the Main westward to the Rhine, the Eger eastward to the Elbe, and the Saale northward, also into the Elbe. In the north-east the Fichtelgebirge connects itself directly with the Erzgebirge, which forms the northern boundary of Bohemia. ”

“ The first lake which stood out, blue and bright, was the little mountain-lake, Egeri, the lake of Lucerne, Zug, Sarnen, and others. By degrees, the whole region was unvailed, and it was an enchanting scene. But now, lying there in its whole extent, in the full blaze of daylight, the beautiful, affluent earth, it was no longer remarkable for the attractiveness of its beauty. Every object seemed so miserably small, and human beings as mere nothings. The landscape lay there, immovable and lifeless, like a map. ”

“ The Schwarze (Black) Elster rises in the Lausitz range, on the southern border of Saxony, flows N. and N.W., and after a course of 112 m. enters the Elbe a little above Wittenberg. It is a sluggish stream, winding its way through sandy soil and frequently along a divided channel. (2) The Weisse (White) Elster rises in the north-western corner of Bohemia, a little north of Eger, cuts through the Vogtland in a deep and picturesque valley, passing Plauen, Greiz, Gera and Zeitz on its way north to Leipzig, just below which city it receives its most important tributary, the Pleisse. ”

“ Sir Eustace had lost no time in summoning the castle to arms, and to all appearances Edgar and his companions were caught in the iron jaws of a trap.
"We are lost, Master Edgar," cried Peter despairingly, as Edgar caught him up at the head of the winding staircase which, led downward to the dungeons they had left. "The alarm is sounded, and 'tis impossible that we can escape in face of the castle garrison."
"Courage, Peter!" cried Edgar. "Let me aid thee with Sir John. There is still a slender thread of hope left to us, and we must follow it." ”

“ Even now, the queer conical, isolated hills of the neighbourhood are called islands, and it is easy to picture Glastonbury as an isle rising among lesser ones out of a bright, azure estuary stretching away and away to the Bristol Channel. The Saxon king, Edgar, whose royal castle has given the name to the town of Edgarly, must have had a fine view in his day. ”

“ Edgar himself was educated among the Danes in East Anglia, under the care of his relative, Alfwena, dowager queen of the converted Viking king, Gudrum, or Gorm. Hence he had early conceived such a partiality for the Danes, that during his reign he was accused of showing too much favour to those foreigners at the expense of the natives. It was in his time that the two highest ecclesiastics in England, the archbishops of Canterbury and York, were men of Danish extraction; and to judge from the diplomas issued by him, he must certainly have been served by several Scandinavians ”

“ Edgar’s death took place in the year 975, and he was buried at Glastonbury. By his vigorous rule and his statesmanlike policy Edgar won the approval of his people, and in the Saxon chronicle we have poems commemorating his coronation and death, and describing his general character. The only fault ascribed to him is a too great love for foreigners and for foreign customs. Edgar strengthened the hands of the provincial administration, and to him has been attributed the reorganization of the English fleet. ”

“ Edgar looked at the priest, who motioned him to reply.
"Father Armand and I, Edgar Wintour, esquire of Wolsingham, command."
"And bitterly shall ye rue the day ye lifted hand against Eustace de Brin. Think ye to overcome me? Think ye I have no friends who will send hosts of men-at-arms to trample you into the mud whence ye came?"
"Sir Eustace de Brin," replied Edgar calmly, "think well over thy situation. No word will we allow to reach the outer world from this castle, and the men-at-arms of which thou speakest will never come to thine aid." ”

“ Edgar retired to Scotland to his sister Margaret, whom he found the mother of nine children, continuing the same peaceful, active life in which he had left her, and her holy influence telling more and more upon her court. Many Saxons had come to live in the lowlands of Scotland, and the habits and manners of the court of Dumfermline were being fast modelled on those of Westminster in the time of Edward and Edith.
Malcolm and William Rufus were at war, and Edgar accompanied his brother-in-law to the banks of the Tyne, where they were met by William and Robert. No battle took place ”

“ The mountains rise with dignity just across the water and break pleasingly into the valley of Eagle Creek, a few miles up-stream. To the rear of the town an inconsiderable flat does but give space and setting before the mountains rise again; while just below the military post stands the bold and lofty bluff called the Eagle Rock, with Mission Creek winding into the Yukon at its foot. Robert Louis Stevenson said that Edinburgh has [285] the finest situation of any capital in Europe and pays for it by having the worst climate of any city in the world. ”