STUDENT LIFE. THE LANDESVATER. 129 FERDINAND'S BRIDGE, VIENNA. THE "City" of Vienna, to borrow a London expression, forms but a very small part of the capital of the Austrian empire. It is, however, the focus of public business; and from it as a centre, and separated by the fortifications and the promenades which form such an agreeable feature in German cities, radiate thirty-four suburbs, in which reside by far the greater part of the population, which must now amount to nearly 400,000. The daily passing of such an immense multitude to one common point presents a curious and active scene to the stranger. Ferdinand's Bridge, here presented to our readers, is one of the chief thoroughfares; and the coffeehouse at its extremity affords a comfortable lounging-place to view the busy throng, which comprises men of all countries and costumes; and the appearance of the Orientals in their national garb recalls to the mind of the traveller the period when the Turks, far different from the Mussulmen of our times, were already in possession of the suburbs, and this pleasure-loving metropolis was saved from the dominion of the crescent by the heroic Sobieski. AMONG the student-songs of Germany, the Landesvater, or "Song of Consecration," is certainly one of the most remarkable. It probably dates from the Tugendbund, when the deep feeling of indignation at the degradation and cruel spoliation of their native country, by the military extortion of Napoleon and the rapacious cupidity of his marshals, produced that universal burst of patriotism which, at length, in the great battle of Leipzig, insured the liberation of Germany. The singular ceremony of piercing the caps with a sword, at the initiation of a new member, will be sufficiently evident from the following prose translation, as the peculiar rhythm of the original almost defies an interpretation in the same measure. We have annexed the German words for the edification of the curious. The sword is handed round in succession; every member sings the verse solo, and at the fourth line pierces his cap: the chorus joins in, "Thou piercest through," &c. neighbour the cup and sword Nimm den Becher, Wack'rer Zecher, Vaterlaend'schen Trankes voll! Nimm den Schlaeger in die Linke, Bohr' ihn durch den Hut und trinke, Vaterlandes Wohl. Take the goblet, Brave drinker, The president gives his Full of wine of native growth; |