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RICE UNIVERSITY STUDIES
mina” (W, II, 45). Seume certainly enjoyed the meeting with the
British officers. This is not only shown by the above letter to
Goschen which was written about seven weeks after the episode,
but also by his later jocular allusion in the Spaziergang to “the
compatriots of Buttler,” a reference to the satirist Samuel Butler
(1612-1680).
In Messina Seume noticed four English frigates, and remember-
ing his own experiences on the transports, he writes: “They are
splendidly beautiful ships, and as often as I see something of the
British navy, I involuntarily pardon the insolent islanders for
their proud ‘Britannia rule the waves’” (W, II, 50). He was,
however, not very eager to make the acquaintance of the sailors,
although he praised the English vessels who came to the rescue
of a ship which had difficulty in reaching the port (W, II, 53).
On the return trip from Syracuse he took the boat from Palermo to
Naples. Because of the insecurity of the times, a Neapolitan war-
ship accompanied the convoy. Seume writes: “The Russian and
English ministers are on the large vessel; we therefore have the
additional honor of sailing very slowly. . .” (W, II, 73). The En-
glish minister to whom Seume refers here was probably Sir Arthur
Paget (1771-1840), the successor to Sir William Hamilton (1730-
1803), the minister to Naples from 1764 until 1800, who shall be
mentioned in greater detail later. Before reaching Siena, Seume
must again have met an Englishman, for he quotes an anonymous
Briton who expressed surprise at the “foolish” names of the
Italian towns Acquapendente and Acquafiascone (W, II, 117).
On his way to Paris, Seume passed through Switzerland. He
writes, “In the Hotel ‘Krone’ in Schaffhausen there was a very
fine company of merchants, salesmen, and Englishmen” (W, II,
158). Thus we have reached the end of the Spaziergang. The high
spot of the tour certainly was Seume’s Mt. Etna expedition with
the Englishmen.
Compared to the southern trip, the northern tour which followed
in 1805 is disappointing from our point of view. Apparently on
that journey, which is written up in Mein Sommer 1805, Seume did
not meet more than one Englishman, a fact easily explained by
the renewed outbreak of hostilities between England and France.
The wise English traveler stayed at home until Napoleon’s final
defeat. The lone Englishman, whom Seume met during the
crossing of the Baltic Sea between Copenhagen and Kiel, is pre-
sented as a foolish man. He is silent throughout the voyage and