Landau

“ Meanwhile, the landau was carrying the pair along the leafy roads towards the sea, and soon it was threading its way by the crowded First Line Beach full of bustling commercial activity. Great droves of muscular coolies were pushing loads which good British dray horses would not lightly have tackled ”

“ But this morning, instead of an answer, I received an invitation from Countess Lidia Ivanovna for this evening.”
“Ah, so that’s it, that’s it!” said Princess Myakaya gleefully, “they’re going to ask Landau what he’s to say.”
“Ask Landau? What for? Who or what’s Landau?”
“What! you don’t know Jules Landau, le fameux Jules Landau, le clairvoyant? He’s crazy too, but on him your sister’s fate depends. See what comes of living in the provinces—you know nothing about anything. Landau, do you see, was a commis in a shop in Paris, and he went to a doctor’s ”

“ He could not understand why we would not drive through to Nicæa in a landau in one day, like the ordinary tourist; this, with a suitable escort, made the journey quite safe, and it is a common thing for travellers to do. But to ride there in three days with our camp, sleeping on the way, was another matter. Every extra hour spent loitering in any one district heightened the risk of being attacked by brigands. X tried to explain that it was for the sake of her health, which only made him more bewildered; surely a landau was more suitable for invalids! ”

“ The legal side of the private ownership of land is treated under Real Property and Conveyancing (see also Landlord and Tenant, and Land Registration) .
LANDAU, a town in the Bavarian Palatinate, on the Queich, lying under the eastern slope of the Hardt Mountains, 32 m. by rail S.W. from Mannheim, at the junction of lines to Neustadt an der Hardt, Weissenburg and Saarbrücken. Pop. (1905) 17,165. Among its buildings are the Gothic Evangelical church, dating from 1285; the chapel of St Catherine built in 1344; the church of the former Augustinian monastery, dating from 1405 ”

“ But, alas! there was no pleasure in driving in that neighbourhood—the road being only a track of deep sand. One bright and tempting morning the doctor and myself mounted our steeds, and leaving our affairs at the castle in the faithful charge of Meliboeus, wended our way towards the capital of the colony. The river at the ferry has a picturesque appearance, precipitous rocks forming its sides, and two bays, a mile apart, terminating the view on either hand, where the river winds round projecting head-lands. ”

“ To the South we observed a large plain some ten miles wide, with snowy peaks rising on the farther side. In front was a hill projecting into the plain, on which stood a mani wall; and this latter discovery made me feel quite confident that I was on the high road to Lhassa. About eight miles off to the NNW. were high snowy peaks, and as we went farther we found a lofty mountain range, with still higher peaks, three miles behind it. We had travelled half-way across the waterless plain, when we noticed a number of soldiers' heads and matchlocks popping in and out from behind a distant hill. ”

“ Successful daring makes its own way; and when the dangerous bend of the river was passed, and the wind had gradually wailed itself to rest like a passionate child, his boatmen were as elated as if the triumph had been their own. They reached the landing-place, ruled by an old oak, beneath whose shade the sea-kings must have stood: the crew went on to the little village, whose houses were already those of promise; while Edward loitered after, languid with the luxury of exertion, and the softness of the now lulled and lovely night. ”

“ Finally came Landerneau, and the train continued its way towards Brest without us.
We found the old town well worth exploring. It is situated on the Elorn, or the river of Landerneau, as it is more often called. The stream is fairly broad here, and divides the town into two parts. It is spanned by an old bridge, bordered by a double row of ancient and gabled houses; and rising out of the stream, like a small island or a moated grange, is an old Gothic water mill, remarkably beautiful and picturesque. This little scene alone is worth a journey to Landerneau. ”

“ To the south stood a long range of wooded hills—also with an absolutely flat sky-line. We ourselves were not higher than 1,400 ft. above the sea level. My animals stumbled along over a region of much-broken-up débris; then again travelling was easier, although heavy, over tufa, sand and ashes. On descending to a stream, 1,200 ft. above sea level, we slipped terribly on the steep argillaceous slope, and the animals had great difficulty in climbing up on the opposite side, where we made our camp. ”

“ The road they skirted was overshadowed by an impending cliff, clothed with a rich and verdant foliage; and, not far distant, a waterfall dashed its foaming sprays into the dark, rocky channel of the extensive river below, giving a character of grandeur to a scene almost unequalled even in Switzerland; a country so justly famed for its exhaustless magnificence. ”

“ Landon, "live here in the mountain of their own free will; a few of them are allowed a little light whereby reading is possible, but these are the weaker brethren; the others live in darkness in a square cell partly hewn out of the sharp slope of the rock, partly built up, with the window just within reach of the upraised hand. ”

“ Again there is a Breton proverb which runs thus: “There will always be something to talk about in Landerneau.” Mostly this is used when a widow marries again, which may be taken to mean much or little, as one chooses.
Landerneau has a fine little tidal harbour, and its streets and wharfs are busy with the hum of coastwise traffic and river life, and, with its Church of St. Thomas of Canterbury and its “best and cleanest inn in the bishopric” (Hôtel de l’Univers) , as a traveller of a century or more ago once wrote, it has no lack of interest for travellers. ”

“ Yet Landerneau is a flourishing place of some ten thousand inhabitants, with extensive manufactories, saw mills, and large timber yards. Vessels come up the river and load and unload; and, on bright days when the sunshine pours upon the flashing water, and warms the wood lying about in huge stacks, and a delicious pine-scent goes forth upon the air, it is a very pleasant scene, and a very fitting spot for a short sojourn.
It also deals extensively in strawberries, exporting to England many thousand boxes of the delicious fruit that grows so largely in the neighbourhood. ”

“ The sky was a sheet of saffron, amber and rose, reduplicated in the glassy sea, and the peaked island of Landegode in the west, which stood broad against the glow, became a mass of violet hue, topped with cliffs of crimson fire. I sat down on deck and tried to sketch this superb spectacle, in colours which nobody will believe to be real. Before I had finished, the sunset which had lighted one end of Landegode became sunrise at the other, and the fading Alps burned anew with the flames of morning. ”

“ From Constance to Lindau we had an enchanting sail over an emerald sea, with many a pretty village gleaming along its shore, “like a white swan on her reedy nest;” and then green hills, that soon turned into denser clouds, as it were, and directly, almost in a flash, the snow-covered Alps!
Railway from Lindau here; and such a succession of pictures! Long, green valleys, dotted with picturesque villages; chains of wooded knolls; ranges of dark, pine-covered mountains, overtopped in places with a vast jumble of cones; snow-covered Alps again, that shone in the sunlight like molten silver! ”

“ On one side was Hampshire, whose dark outline was in shadow; on the other, the green and undulating shores of the Isle of Wight, whose verdant meadows came down almost to the strand. The trees were leafless, but the sunshine played upon their branches; behind them the sea was clear and dark, but before them it was like fire, for the winding of the creek brought the bay directly below the setting sun, with whose glory the whole west was kindled; it was too bright to look upon,—a glory like the track of passing angels. ”

“ While they were speaking a man came with the message that Peter must come immediately to Anton's saw-mill, for Landolin was in great danger.
Just as the butcher's soup was served, and Peter's mouth was watering for it, he was obliged to leave.
CHAPTER LXIX. The wild water rushes from mountain to valley. It flows and splashes through all the ditches. Even through the middle of the road a small brook has torn its way. It is all so merry, and to-morrow it will not be there.
In the fields men work busily; every year they cut the grass and grain. ”

“ Gretchen.
Time flies swiftly when we are sightseeing; and it was late in the autumn of 18— when I reached Lindau. Lake Constance lay before me, a pale, green sheet of water, hemmed in on the south by bold mountain ranges, filling the interim between the Rhine valley and the long undulating ridges of the Canton Thurgau. These heights, cleft at intervals by green smiling valleys and deep ravines, are only the front of table-land stretching away like an inclined plane, and dotted with scattered houses and cloistering villages. ”

“ The Indian gave a guttural "Good-night," and Landless strode on through the thinning woods. Shortly he emerged from the forest and saw before him tobacco fields and a house, and beyond the house the vast sheet of the Chesapeake slumbering beneath the moon. There was a beaten path leading to the house. Landless struck into it and followed it until it led him beneath a window which (having been once sent with a message to the Surveyor-General) , he knew to belong to the sleeping-chamber of Major Carrington. ”

“ But these were not the attractions of that solitary pond in my eyes. Its charm was a little island which seemed to float upon the dark water; one side of the pond was covered with ancient willow trees, whose long pendant branches drooped for ever over the same mournful mirror. One of these trees, by some natural caprice, shot out direct from the bank, a huge, straight bough that formed a complete bridge to the little island—at least so near that a rapid spring enabled me to gain it. There was only one tree on this miniature island—a curiously shaped but huge yew tree ”

“ Unable to prevail on them to taste anything, the farmer next solicited them to repose, "having upstairs a room", he said, "at their service, containing a couple of beds."
"That I cannot accept under the present circumstances" said the General; "but, booted and spurred as I am, I will sit here on this bench within doors, provided that you," addressing himself to his aid-de-camp, "keep watch without, and give me the signal the moment the detachment appears in sight. May Heaven grant that the man speaks truth! delay in such a case is more to be desired than precipitation ”

“ After lunch, 21⁄2 kil. from our camp, we passed on the left bank a delightful tributary coming from the W.S.W. Its mouth was 8 m. wide, and poured forth waters of the most beautiful emerald green.
Five hundred metres farther down another large tributary, 30 m. wide, coming from the north-east, was observed on the right bank. Farther still, the river formed a large basin 300 m. wide. Lovely forest flourished round the sweeping curve of the basin. There was simply a solid mass of marvellously fresh foliage, with hardly a break through which, it seemed, a human being could pass. ”

“ The sky, of that intense purple which marks a slight frost, was covered with floating clouds, and on the further edge, sheltered in their shadow, were scattered a few pale stars; but the broadway of heaven was flooded by moonlight; no longer shut out by the thick forest,–her rays silvered whatever they touched, and the long grass of the plain looked like undulating water, so thickly did the crisped dew lie upon it, and so clearly did the moonshine glitter through the frosted moisture. Ernest gazed upon the dark and distant castle with an emotion for which he could not himself have accounted ”

“ Landor began to pull these down and construct a house, never finished, though he managed to live at the place. He planted trees, imported sheep from Spain, improved the roads, and intended to become a model country gentleman. In the spring of 1811 he went to a ball in Bath, and seeing a pretty girl, remarked to a friend, ' That's the nicest girl in the room, and I'll marry her.' The lady, named Julia Thuillier, was daughter of a banker of Swiss descent, who had been unsuccessful in business at Banbury and gone to Spain, leaving his family at Bath. ”

“ We waded up to our waists through a freezingly cold stream, and climbing steadily higher and higher for six miles, we at last reached another and loftier plateau to the N.E. of the one where we had camped in the morning. The altitude was 18,960 feet, and we were surprised to find four lakes of considerable size close to one another on this high tableland. The sun, breaking for a moment through the clouds, shone on the snow-covered tops of the surrounding mountains, silvering the water of the lakes, and making a beautiful and spectacular picture, wild and fascinating in effect. ”

“ Lindau is a picturesque old place, as it stands rising, as it were, out of the very waters of the Lake of Constance, and the great mountain of the Sentis, with its peak of six thousand feet high, is a fine object in the distance; while the gorge of the Upper Rhine offers many a grand effect of Alpine scenery, not the less striking when looked at with a setting sun, which made the foreground more massive and the hill tops golden ”

“ Poor Mansing, who, worn out and in great pain, was sitting close by me, looking vaguely at the lake, had an extraordinary vision, the result, probably, of fever or exhaustion.
"Oh, sahib," said he, as if in a dream, though he was quite awake; "look, look! Look at the crowd of people walking on the water. There must be more than a thousand men! Oh, how big they are getting!... And there is God ... ”