But we carried on until we came to a large open space fronting a beautiful
piece of water, which I was told was the Alster. As I walked through the
narrow streets, I was struck with the peculiarity of the gables of the
tall houses being all turned towards the thoroughfare, and with the
stupendous size of the churches. We halted for a moment, in the porch of
one of the latter, and my notions of decency were not a little outraged,
by seeing it filled with a squadron of dragoons, the men being in the very
act of cleaning their horses.
At length we came to the open space on the Alster, a large parade, faced
by a street of splendid houses on the left hand, with a row of trees
between them, and the water on the right.
There were two regiments of foot bivouacking here, with their arms piled
under the trees, while, the men were variously employed, some on duty
before the houses, others cleaning their accoutrements, and others again
playing at all kinds of games. Presently we came to a crowd of soldiers
clustered round a particular spot, some laughing, others cracking coarse
jests, but none at all in the least serious. We could not get near enough
to see distinctly what was going on; but we afterwards saw, when the crowd
had dispersed, three men in the dress of respectable burghers, hanging
from a low gibbet,--so low in fact, that although their heads were not six
inches from the beam, their feet were scarcely three from the ground.
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