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126 A STROIil, THROUGH BERUN.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
? A Gai^Ery Carried Over The Street On A...
theatre closed in between two churches . Each erection standsrailing quite 1 detache or enclo d sure and of undivide any kind d from ; the the large free handsome space around theatre it built by
in the Greek style , and with a broad flight of steps leading up to itsloftIonic illared portico , occupying the centre of the market-place ,
supported y p on either hand by the twin churches , two of the most imposing ecclesiastical buildings in Berlin , exactly alike in
architecture , and each displaying on three of its sides a portico similar to that of the theatre , only smaller , and Corinthian columned , and
rising above into "a lofty dome , the sacred pair each seeming to reflect the other as they look down from their aspiring elevation
on the profane building so incongruously growing up between them . It was in this Grensd ' armen market that Voltaire ' s " Akakia' *
-was publicly committed to the flames by the hands of the common hangmanwhile with undaunted effronterythe author , surrounded
hj a group , of his friends , stood at the window , of the house No . 20 _^ in the adjacent Taubenstrasseto witness the literary auto da fe .
, A little beyond here lies the ancient district still called Alt Coin , at least coeval with Berlin , but in olden time a distinct city , the
former having been founded on one bank of the dividing Spree , the latter on the otherand their connexion and subsequent
amalgamation having only taken , place in later ages . Coin indeed , however Esau-like deprived of its birth-right , may really claim seniority , for
its now insignificant name is mentioned so early as 1238 , whereas no record of Berlin is found until six years later , though the
supplanter city probably became very soon the place of greater importancesince by 1523 we find that it had been taken as the
model after , which another city , Frankfort on the Oder , wasbuilt .
In one of these old streets near the river , tradition preserves the remembrance of a domestic tragedy , similar , except in its sad
conclusion , to the well-known dramatic story of the Maid , and the Magpie . In the reign of Frederick William I . the offence of
stealing in dwelling-houses had become so prevalent that the king , determined on putting a stop to itpassed a lawordaining that
, , whoever was caught robbing a house should forthwith , without need for further proceedings , be hanged up before that very house ,
as a warning to all others . This almost martial law had hardly been proclaimedbefore a commotion in the house of the Minister
von Happe , in this , Bruderstrasse , announced that a silver spoon ( some godmother ' s iftperhapsfor it is said that the minister
himself set special store g , by it ) was , missing , and suspicion fell on a new housemaid . On examination every circumstance seemed to
testify against her , and as the superiority of her personal attractions and her engagement with a soldier sweetheart had excited the
_enyy and jealousy of her fellow-servants , none came forward to say
a word in her favour * As the law was to be strictly enforced , the
126 A Stroiil, Through Berun.
126 A STROIil , THROUGH _BERUN .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1863, page 126, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041863/page/54/
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